Killer Spiders! EEK!

[Daisy317]

So I was in the basement today scrubbing out cupboards in the soon to be exclusive "wine room" and found some unsettling critters scurrying about!

I have a wood stove in my basement and the corresponding wood pile tends to bring in some interesting 8 legged creatures from time to time and I'm not usually scared or taken aback by them... HOWEVER...

This thing was, I kid you not, probably the size of the palm of my hand! It was most likely a wood spider which are common and pretty harmless around here, but still shockingly huge and it was a quick bugger.

My cat was sitting on a chair in the room with me (she follows me everywhere) and usually finds pleasure in catching and killing the spiders we find, but she went over to this one, gave it a "long distance sniff" and backed away... The thing was that huge and mean looking!

Needless to say, I don't want to find out if that guy has any friends so I give up on the cleaning for today!

 

[xanxer82]

Wood spiders are certainly running around this time of year.

 

[Tom]

Make sure it don't drop in when fermenting.. Then again, a little? protien never hurts. LOL

 

[Green Mountains]

Oddly enough as I read this my wife is spraying every corner of the house because of a PROBABLE spider bite she took on the top of her foot earlier.

 

[Wade E]

Make sure it is not a Brown Recluse as those carry the Flesh eating venom which a nephew of my mechanic lost an arm to. I came home last year to a spider outside our front door that had a nest in the corner, it was about the size you speak of and it was very aggresive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It wouldnt even let me in the door. Every time I even approached it it got all hunkered down and lunged forward at me which made my hairs on my neck and arms stand up cause Ive never seen this before. I got back in my car, went to the store and bought some Raid and sprayed the **** out of evertything!!!!!!!! I usually like spiders and ignore them cause they are good and eat bugs but this one had a serious attitude problem and it needed to be adjusted!

 

[djrockinsteve]

I remember growing up on the farm seeing a "massive" spider on the foundation block. This things body had to be @ 2 inches across.

I know they are good for getting alot of bugs but could they do it away from the house! Snakes Too!

 

[Wade E]

Which nrings to me yesterday as while I was at work my wife called asking what snake is about 3' long, black with a gold stripe going down its body. I hope thats a Gardner cause it was sun bathing right outside our basement door and when she got closer it slitherd away to a whole under the foundation in between rocks! We both love snakes so hopefully its not poisonous cause we are both stupid enough to get too close to it!

 

[Daisy317]

Wade... If a spider was doing that to me I would probably do the same thing... Wonder how long it was living there!?

 

[Racer]

Which nrings to me yesterday as while I was at work my wife called asking what snake is about 3' long, black with a gold stripe going down its body. I hope thats a Gardner cause it was sun bathing right outside our basement door and when she got closer it slitherd away to a whole under the foundation in between rocks! We both love snakes so hopefully its not poisonous cause we are both stupid enough to get too close to it!

I'm no expert on snakes but here's a link to help verify what it was for sure.

 

[Wade E]

Well I looked at a few sites and didnt see a pic of a garter that looked much different then what Im used to but that site showed many different variations of the same snake. I showed my wife about 5 pics and she kept saying no un til I got to this one and immediately she was thats it!!!!!!!!

 

[St Allie]

you know..

locally we have a spider called the avondale spider and it is as big as a dinner plate.

spielberg imported them for one of his horror films.. I forget the films name.

they were insured and had to be returned intact from the filmset.

Allie

 

[whine4wine]

you know..

locally we have a spider called the avondale spider and it is as big as a dinner plate.

spielberg imported them for one of his horror films.. I forget the films name.

they were insured and had to be returned intact from the filmset.

Allie

I was reading a little on NZ and you have quite a few interesting critters down there.....especially the birds.
I was also looking at satellite imagery of your country, looks like a very cool place.

 

[Dugger]

I was reading a little on NZ and you have quite a few interesting critters down there.....especially the birds.
I was also looking at satellite imagery of your country, looks like a very cool place.

It is an interesting place! - one of my sons was down in NZ and Australia and we thought he might stay in one of them - I advised him to pick NZ - not only is it beautiful, but nothing there kills you ( other than perhaps a redback spider) whereas in Australia, practically everything that moves kills you!!. On top of that, for you deer hunters out there, in NZ there is no closed season, no bag limit and no licence required to hunt and parts of the south island are overrun with deer ( no natural predators).
Allie - is it true there are no snakes in NZ?
.. Doug

 

[Wade E]

The movie was ARACHNOPHOBIA.

 

[TheTooth]

As a spider-fearing fool... I would have launched a full-scale attack on that spider.

 

[Daisy317]

As a spider-fearing fool... I would have launched a full-scale attack on that spider.

*imagining you gearing up in camo and arming yourself with several cans of raid and a giant fly swatter*... lol

 

[myakkagldwngr]

We have a spider around these parts you see most of the time in older houses. It might be what you were talking about.
We've always just called them "house watchers". They will definitely get after you when they think your about to smash them.
I've seen them with a body about as big as the first joint on your thumb and then the legs would be about 4 or 5 inches from tip to tip.
When you see one with an egg sack about the size of a quarter, there will be a gazillion of them soon.
Personally, in the older houses, I'ld use a 22 cal. with rat shot in it for them.

 

[St Allie]

Allie - is it true there are no snakes in NZ?
.. Doug

absolutely no snakes Doug.. not even in our zoo's..

and the redback is an australian spider.. more venomous than its' cousin the 'katipo spider' which we have here.

it's really only a danger to babies or people with very low immune systems.. they live on the coast and you very rarely see one. I've been here almost 30 years and never seen one myself and not heard one report of anyone being bitten by one in that time.

Allie

 

[Wade E]

That no snakes amazes me! How can that be? Ive heard the story of how they were driven off but how did they never come back?

 

[Dugger]

Wade - you sure you're not thinking of Ireland? or did they have a pied piper in NZ as well!!
Yes, this snake thing is quite amazing - there are no snakes in Newfoundland here in Canada either - how can that be that snakes exist in most places but a few places get exempt?