[Klaas]

Yesterday I found a big spider in my shower, those typical "house spiders" you find here in Europe (brown, a bit hairy, +/- 1-2 cm big). I killed it and threw it away. Funny thing is that today a spider nearly looking exactly the same was sitting on the exact same spot in my shower. Killed this one too and looked around where they might come from but I only found two spider webs each with one smaller spider (those with a very small body but long legs).

Well I was wondering if I'm overlooking something, where these things might be hiding and how to prevent them coming back. It's very hot since a few days, much hotter than usual and my window is always open in the bathroom, so they might come through there.

I'm not really scared of them but don't like having physical contact while showering with those big ones

[CrazyThumbs]

I hate spiders, and every now and then there will be like 4-5 in my bathroom that I have to kill in the course of a couple days. I dont know much about spiders though.

[King Tutankhamun]

It might just be the time of the year when more of them come out. They are usually more quite in winter and colder times but are more active during the summer.

(I like taking pictures of spiders, it can be fun. But I'd rather have them be outside of the house. )
Here's a pic I took of one: http://n00098.myspac.../98633291_l.jpg
I looked it up and it is known as a Habbronattraus Americanus or something like that.

Good luck with your spider problem.

[Lorian]

Woah, that is an amazing picture. If I saw that spider I'd be terrified, we don't get very big spiders here in England. Here is a picture of one I took a couple of days ago:

[Klaas]

Nice pic desmond

I think I found which one it is:
http://www.hobospide...info/index.html

First I was thinking that it's a large domestic house spider but on that site they tell you can easily find hobo spiders in bath tubs because they're very bad climbers (can't get out). It seems they are poisonous though, and quite dangerous at that in some cases.
My girlfriend has such a spider bite once and still has a big scar of it, probably by one of these things.
Well fortunatly I'm not staying too long anymore in this dorm with those nasty spiders. We even have rats in the cellar :/

[King Tutankhamun]

Thanks.

That looks like a nasty spider.

The 'big bad' spiders in California are the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse and a few others. I remember my 3rd grade teacher was bitten by a recluse and her leg swelled up massively huge and she had to be hostpitalized.

Watch out for the poisonous ones.

[Klaas]

Well the site is saying that hobo spider bites are as bad as those of the brown recluse :/
But I've been looking a bit further and it seems that the European hobo spider isn't really poisonous

[Argalius]

We have spiders too here, eventhough we have those (gaas in dutch...) in front of our windows. We also have (pissebedden in dutch...) all over the place

[Klaas]

Pissebed = woodlouse (handy those firefox/interglot dictionaries )

Yeah we have lots of them too here but not in our house. The name "pissebed" (pee bed ) is because they are usually found in sourish and/or moist places. So if you pee in your bed and don't clean it up you can expect them to pay you a visit

Yeah, don't have wire netting in front of my window, might be handy to keep them out. Thanks for the idea

[Centurion_13]

Quote

I'm not really scared of them but don't like having physical contact while showering with those big ones

if you're calling 1-2 cm spiders big you may not want to come to australia.

Nice picture desmond.

lorian, that one reminds me a bit a st andrews cross spider.

those hobo spiders look similar to huntsman spiders in australia.


in australia spiders are everywhere.
no matter where you go with 2m of you there will always be a spider. we get reall big nasty ones down here, and we easily have the worlds most deadly snakes. infact a week ago I came with in a few metres of the worlds 1st and 2nd most deadly venomous snakes

[Klaas]

Lol, well we Europeans aren't really used to large spiders, 1-2cm is really big here . I think large house spiders are probably the largest ones around here, haven't seen anything bigger than that. We once had a spider twice as big though but it was in a bag of special soil for flowers, so probably it travelled with it.

[Centurion_13]

I often see 10 to 15cm spiders sometimes larger.

[goldenratiophi]

Centurion_13, on Jun 22 2005, 04:19 PM, said:

in australia spiders are everywhere.
no matter where you go with 2m of you there will always be a spider. we get reall big nasty ones down here, and we easily have the worlds most deadly snakes. infact a week ago I came with in a few metres of the worlds 1st and 2nd most deadly venomous snakes

Yes, I know this from watching Stever Irwin on Animal Planet....

[King Tutankhamun]

Wow, those spiders are huge Shan!

I once found a big black and yellow one on a 4 foot web in our front yard, it was about the size of your palm with its legs out.

The biggest in house spiders are probably the 'daddy-long-legs' here for us.

[Centurion_13]

biggest house spiders we get are probably huntsmans.

they can flatten themselves as thin as paper to crawl under cracks etc. about 10 to 15 cm. painful bte but not deadly. eats other spiders, mosquites etc. generaly non aggressive
http://www.usq.edu.a...ages/402B10.jpg

here are some others
heres the deadly funnel web
http://www.ento.csiro.au/insect_id/images/.../funnelweb1.jpg
heres a redback. very deadly
http://www.amonline....ngerous/13a.jpg
heres a st andrews cross spider. they weave special crosses into their webs which reflects insect attracting ultraviolet light
http://www.logopix.c...y/StAndrews.jpg
heres an orb weaver, generaly harmless but make nice webs
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/features/spi...s/gardenorb.jpg
a mouse spider, pretty venomous
http://tofuhut.rackn...s/July%2014.jpg

[King Tutankhamun]

We call that "Redback" spider a Black Widow over here.

Wow, that mouse spider is kinda creepy looking.

[Lorian]

... I am never going To Australia...

[Klaas]

Lorian, on Jun 22 2005, 10:52 PM, said:

... I am never going To Australia...

Lol me neither.

When I was younger I've been to a "spider demonstration" where they showed really big spiders (we call them bird spiders). Well it was cool watching them, but taking them in my hand was a step too far

That last one in those pics looks pretty nasty, we Europeans are certainly not used to such beasts. Well actually we aren't used to anything, the only really dangerous animals we have here (Belgium) are giant wasps but you don't see them often (only saw three of them in my whole life). My uncle was once stabbed by one, had to go to hospital for a few weeks.

[Centurion_13]

just so you guys are't overly scared. since the invention of anti-venom very, very very few people have died from spider bites after recieving medical attention within time. no people with snake bites have died after recieving first aid in time and getting to a hospital.

[Brian]

I had several black widows in my hose reel. I took these pictures a few years ago with my old camera so they are out of focus but you can get the general idea. I also took a movie its movement as it walked through the jar. Their bites can be deadly, so if you are bitten by one of these you probably want to go to the hospital. If you have an allegic reaction or are a child, their bites can result in death. In the picture of the black widow in the jar, you can see her fangs and they are huge. They call them black widows because once they mate with the male spider, they sometimes but rarely bite them and eat them, hence the name the Black Widow.

http://img26.echo.cx/img26/2906/picture511...lpics1792sm.jpg

http://img26.echo.cx/my.php?image=picture5...lpics1822oa.jpg

The Black Widow here appears gray in color because i sprayed poison all over it, so the gray stuff on it is poison, my way of saying thanks for being poisonous.
http://img219.echo.cx/img219/5056/picture5...lpics1844kp.jpg

This post has been edited by Brian: 23 June 2005 - 05:07 AM