Not for arachnophobes.

is it dead?

[Richie]

I hope so..

[Jayneflakes]

There are some very poisonous spiders out there in the world, but none in the UK, so carefully catching a spider here and looking at it will do you no harm. I found one in work today and saved it from a splatting by one of our lads. Once I started to explain that it was a female hunting spider he was more interested, then I showed him how to identify them and what features they have. Saved the poor little ( 2.5 inch leg span) girl and let her go and hunt vermin. Spiders really are our friends, they eat the things that can harm us, do remember that folks.

I thought that handling a Goliath Bird eater was brave, they are not renowned for their docile temperament, mind you neither are Honduran Curleys, but I held mine fairly often until she got too big and bitey.

[Richie]

I have to get rid of the spiders in our house... (as her that wears the Dragon Jeans that must be obeyed..diss likes them alot..)
So I do try and catch them and them put them out side and then tell them off, as in not to return inside....


I did have a pet spider called spidy that lived in my old shed that I caught and fed flys too... but that is another story...................... (trailed dots)

.

[Richie]

found another one...

He's gonna be my outhouse toilet pet.. as I found him / her there...

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by Richie

found another one...

He's gonna be my outhouse toilet pet.. as I found him / her there...

That one is a little boy, look at the end of the pedipalps for the clues, the spherical grippers are used for mating.

[gruntygiggles]

This is a Cardinal Spider, I got this pic off google, but I had one of these in an old house I lived in. It was a male one, with pedipalps enlarged for mating and was all black. It was the scariest thing I have seen as by christ it could move quickly across the floor. Finally caught it and got the video camera out. I was really enjoying looking at it, because it was not like any house spider I had ever seen before and it was super aggressive. Had it under a pint glass on the table. Only problem was, the bf came home and decided that to get a really good shot, he'd have o lift the glass up for a few seconds. I got close, he lifted the glass, I went for the shot....the spider went for me.
Obviously, the spider was not jumping for me, but it felt like it at the time and I almost hyperventilated with fear and shock. I screamed and nearly wet myself! The ex was too scared, so I had to catch it again!

I have loads of stories of spiders, including one where I cam face to face with a black widow in Texas. That was amazing, most were just scary or pathetic (on my part)!

[Jayneflakes]

Awwww, lovely photo GG. Would love to hear your Widow spider stories.
Hugs
Jayne
XXX

[gruntygiggles]

Well, a pretty simple one, but amazing for me nonetheless. I was visiting a friend in Texas who took me out to his buddies house to help hang venison in the smokehouse. We'd been in there for about an hour, got all the strips hung up and were just sorting the smoker out. I was leant against one of the supporting posts and Cameron stopped in the middle of a sentence and said, "Cheryl, don't turn around and look, don't think I'm having a joke with you, just walk forward slowly, but do it now". Strangley, I didn't feel at all scared and in typical Cheryl fashion (which I got from my dad) I refused to move unless he told me what was there. He wouldn't. So, I said, "Hmmm, we're in Texas, in a dark place and it's a wooden wall behind me. It can't be a snake because you've already checked for them so I'm guessing a spider. It can't be a Brown Recluse because you woldn't be able to see it against the wood from there so it must be a Black Widow". He told me to shut the f up and just move so then I knew I was right. I did move away from the wall by about a foot and turned around to look at it. As much as spiders do make me uncomfortable, I am fascinated by them and there's no way on gods earth that I would let myself be that close and not have a bloody good look.

I turned around and there she was, proud as any spider could look, super shiney and I was amazed a actually how small it was. Well, I say small, but this spider has the biggest butt in the spider kingdom. I swear, in comparison to tarantulas, these things have the most enormous abdomen in comparison to the rest of the body and legs. Just how they move themselves is something else....lol.

She was a beauty, she just sat there on the wall, shiney black with three teeny red dots on her abdomen. I never got to see the major red marking which is on the underside, but funnily enough, didn't think it was the time to be picking her up to have a look....lol.

Next story may be about the Tarantula that stopped me in my tracks on my way to the shower block at a campsite in Arizona! The thing had a rucksack on it back and was wearing doc martins ffs!