Question for those in England/London (how much, house, to live in)

[j_rode]

I was just wondering what types of spiders you have in England, primarily in the London area. I hate all sorts of spiders, small, medium, big in size, hate them all, they really creep me out. Here where I live in the U.S. we only get small house spiders in the summer/early fall months. How is the situation with spiders in homes over there?

[mellat]

I lived in London for 2 years and didn't notice any awful looking spiders. Just the regular tiny house ones. Maybe someone else noticed them but I didn't.

[Mooseketeer]

I live in Oxfordshire ( about an hour and a half by train) in a rural-ish area and we get mainly small house spiders but occasionally a big spindly one will wander in. I hate the things ( really phobic) but it's not a problem at all compared to many other parts of the world. Just don't stay in an Ivy-covered B&B !

[richt1971]

I live in the north of the UK and hate spiders. Used to live in a house with lots of old trees around it as a kid and we'd get very large house spiders! Where I am now in town I get about 6/7 a year house spiders mainly in the fall as you said as that's mating season or time to meet my boot!
The UK really has very few nasties...adder snakes the exception but they only live in certain marshy area's of the UK.

[redstephie]

London Zoo do something called a Friendly Spider Programme
A few years ago our youngest daughter became really phobic about spiders. I don't like them either!
I took her along to this session which includes group hypnosis. It was a really interesting afternoon and at the end of it we all went over to the spider house and virtually everyone was confident enough to let a spider run across their hands. Then they had their photo taken holding a HUGE hairy spider.
Can't remember how much it cost - think it may have been approx £75 - but it was worth every penny.

By the way, a few summers ago my neighbour had left her french doors open and discovered an adder in her sitting room - definitely an adder not a grass snake! She was listening to The Archers at the time so maybe it was a fan!

Sorry - hope I haven't worried any Archers listeners!

[Brian-K]

Originally Posted by j_rode

I was just wondering what types of spiders you have in England, primarily in the London area. I hate all sorts of spiders, small, medium, big in size, hate them all, they really creep me out. Here where I live in the U.S. we only get small house spiders in the summer/early fall months. How is the situation with spiders in homes over there?

Winter: small, short legged spiders that tend to hide and dont show themselves much

Summer: HUGE, long legged spiders that tend to jump and run frantically when scared and come out alot.

[Lola Getz]

Originally Posted by Brian-K

Winter: small, short legged spiders that tend to hide and dont show themselves much

Summer: HUGE, long legged spiders that tend to jump and run frantically when scared and come out alot.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say! I find those big ones in the bathtub from time to time and shriek every time.

One of my British friends told me that it was bad luck to kill a spider. I responded that I'm an American so it doesn't apply to me.

Fortunately, there don't seem to be nearly as many spiders here as in the States, particularly in the US south generally, and they're not the nasty poisonous kind. My dad was bitten by a brown recluse in Georgia a few years back and the aftermath wasn't pretty. It was shocking that such a tiny spider could cause such damage.

[rees]

Well way north,its the same as other parts of the country, we just get house spiders,some small some a wee bit bigger.
The long legged ones usually come out around september and are called daddy long legs, and they do get everywhere.
Wasps in summer (if we get a summer in the north) are annoying they are so cheeky, they get real close to you and on the food/drink.
As richt1971 said we have very few nasties here.