Calling all spider experts

Birneybau

thecornflake wrote: »

That's not a spider, that's a spoon !

I see you've played spidey/spoony before.

Fizgig Bandicoot

frank reynolds wrote: »

gross!

there's worse than that out there.
they have re-introduced the "Raft Spider" to the UK and Ireland, and it can be found in water bodies like canals, lakes, rivers etc...

and... they're HUGE...

http://www.irelandswildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image4.png

Why'd I have to look? !

jester77

frank reynolds wrote: »

gross!

there's worse than that out there.
they have re-introduced the "Raft Spider" to the UK and Ireland, and it can be found in water bodies like canals, lakes, rivers etc...

and... they're HUGE...

http://www.irelandswildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image4.png

Not much meat on them.

o1s1n

I had a door open yesterday evening to the back garden to let some of the cool breeze in. Was sitting in the front room watching the TV. Heard a lot of buzzing over my head - assumed maybe a big insect had flown in.

Turned the lights on - 15 daddy long legs flying around my sitting room :eek:

Went upstairs - girlfriend had left the windows open. Same deal, daddy long legs everywhere.

This is where the spiders became useful. We have high ceilings and there were cobwebs in some corners which caught most of the little bastards. Without them there I'd have been chasing them all over the house all night.

jester77

o1s1n wrote: »

I had a door open yesterday evening to the back garden to let some of the cool breeze in. Was sitting in the front room watching the TV. Heard a lot of buzzing over my head - assumed maybe a big insect had flown in.

Turned the lights on - 15 daddy long legs flying around my sitting room :eek:

Went upstairs - girlfriend had left the windows open. Same deal, daddy long legs everywhere.

This is where the spiders became useful. We have high ceilings and there were cobwebs in some corners which caught most of the little bastards. Without them there I'd have been chasing them all over the house all night.

Vacuum cleaner is your friend here, have had to do this a few times with mosquitos and fruit flies. Just don't forget to empty the bag, had a a vacuum cleaner full of maggots one summer when I didn't!

o1s1n

jester77 wrote: »

Vacuum cleaner is your friend here, have had to do this a few times with mosquitos and fruit flies. Just don't forget to empty the bag, had a a vacuum cleaner full of maggots one summer when I didn't!

Oh you genius!! I was trying to figure a way to get rid of them and kept turning up a blank. Was going to go bug spray but then I'd have to dispose of the bodies as they fell. (eugh!)

frank reynolds

Fizgig Bandicoot wrote: »

Why'd I have to look? !

its awful. i hate spiders, and i live on the water, so i'm sh!tting it every time i go out the back. AAGH!

Hownowcow

frank reynolds wrote: »

its awful. i hate spiders, and i live on the water, so i'm sh!tting it every time i go out the back. AAGH!

Are you a duck?

Pat Mustard

frank reynolds wrote: »

and... they're HUGE...

http://www.irelandswildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image4.png

The following extract is about Raft Spiders:

Courtship is a protracted affair, involving a very careful approach by the male across the water’s surface. He has every reason to be cautious. Should he inadvertently trigger the female’s instinctive predatory response he could easily become her next meal.

When he finally gets close enough to the female both sexes bob their bodies slowly up and down in a spidery courtship dance. Mating itself only takes a few seconds, after which the male makes a swift exit.

Alright

I found a false widow spider in my shed a few years ago and didn't kill it.
Now I find many including this one.

http://imgur.com/a/EdFQk

Does very much look like a false widow. Only ever saw the one, it only stood out to me cause of it's size. They're not as dangerous as some British newspaper articles will have you believe.

frank reynolds

just gonna pop this down here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NyeNHR1i09s/S_lqibs_AsI/AAAAAAAAAU0/YzuxfL3Zg90/s1600/wolf+spider+with+babies.jpg

yep, that's a wolf spider, carrying around her young. :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

fvck sake. :mad:

wexfordman2

frank reynolds wrote: »

just gonna pop this down here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NyeNHR1i09s/S_lqibs_AsI/AAAAAAAAAU0/YzuxfL3Zg90/s1600/wolf+spider+with+babies.jpg

yep, that's a wolf spider, carrying around her young. :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

fvck sake. :mad:

Thanks,

I don think im gonna stop shivering for a month after that one!

Pat Mustard

frank reynolds wrote: »

just gonna pop this down here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NyeNHR1i09s/S_lqibs_AsI/AAAAAAAAAU0/YzuxfL3Zg90/s1600/wolf+spider+with+babies.jpg

yep, that's a wolf spider, carrying around her young. :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

fvck sake. :mad:

Amazing photo.

Fratton Fred

A friend was bitten by a spider last year and her foot and lower leg swelled up. The doctor gave some advice, but essentially she just had to put a kind of poultice on it and wait.

The doc claimed it was a spider that is fairly unique to south Dublin/north Wicklow. Sounds like bull to me, do any of you experts know of this chap?

DoesNotCompute

jester77 wrote: »

Vacuum cleaner is your friend here, have had to do this a few times with mosquitos and fruit flies. Just don't forget to empty the bag, had a a vacuum cleaner full of maggots one summer when I didn't!

My dog loves to eat daddy long legs. She chases them and tries to jump and catch them in mid air. Yum.

mayobumblebee

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRP2GFyA47ciP6Dw0FyXYtCXW89jAFBaIH0rxz0ybUqIaT7SJW9IA
could be a garden spider i have LOADS of them where i am and they get bigger than that. but i like spiders so i dont mind them. they also can be lighter or darker than the pic i put up

Richard Hillman

namloc1980 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what kind of spider this fella is?? Looks freaky. He's out my back garden right now!!!! That's a 5c coin next to him:

LINKY

It looks like a Spider I found in my room a few years ago. If it is the same spider then that is just a baby. The one I found had a sack the size of a euro coin. Lets just say there was a massive splat when he got introduced to the Argos book. You could actually hear the rest of its body fall on my carpet floor, he was that big.

Tar.Aldarion

I think it's this:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dR7SxtFtpO4/TfDKSpX6sPI/AAAAAAAAG8Q/mOpDP4QMbWw/camelspider_thumb%2525255B1%2525255D.jpg

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6181009664/hA92E8F38/

CrazyRabbit

Wilberto wrote: »

Just imagine trying to step on that.......it'll bite your legs off!!!

Most are harmless. And they are the ones that get eaten in many parts of the world.

dan1895

So many pansies on this thread. They're harmless creature who do nothing but make our live better by killing the really horrible things.

Wilberto

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Most are harmless. And they are the ones that get eaten in many parts of the world.

I was wondering when someone was going to say that, although frankly, I thought it would have come sooner!!


Ya, I've heard that most (if not all) tarantulas are pretty harmless? I wouldn't be too sure if I'd ever eat one though, and besides, there can't be that much meat on them!! You'd need about 10 of the feckers to get you any bit full!!

CrazyRabbit

Wilberto wrote: »

I was wondering when someone was going to say that, although frankly, I thought it would have come sooner!!


Ya, I've heard that most (if not all) tarantulas are pretty harmless? I wouldn't be too sure if I'd ever eat one though, and besides, there can't be that much meat on them!! You'd need about 10 of the feckers to get you any bit full!!

Oh...they grow to the size of a dinner plate. Plenty to eat, and tons of protein in them.
Children in the native Amazon tribes hunt them, roast them and eat them. Actually, here's a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra4WmE-joMQ

tony 2 tone

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

I think it's this:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dR7SxtFtpO4/TfDKSpX6sPI/AAAAAAAAG8Q/mOpDP4QMbWw/camelspider_thumb%2525255B1%2525255D.jpg

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6181009664/hA92E8F38/

I hate you so much right now

Pat Mustard

dan1895 wrote: »

So many pansies on this thread. They're harmless creature who do nothing but make our live better by killing the really horrible things.

I'm not sure that it's as simple as people being pansies, as such.

To many people, there is a very real instinctive negative response to our arachnid friends, which is normal in many people, I think. I don't think that it's a choice; I think that it's a genuine fear, ranging from disgust in some people, towards something verging on panic in other people.

The fact that most spiders, including Irish spiders, are completely harmless to people, does not seem to enter into the reckoning. I suppose that one could argue that this fear is irrational in most cases.

But I agree with your point about the practical benefits that spiders provide.

--Kaiser--

Fearing spiders is an evolutionary defence mechanism, same as a fear of snakes. All spiders and one quarter of snake species are venomous, and we don't know how dangerous they are going to be based on size etc...

Hownowcow

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Fearing spiders is an evolutionary defence mechanism, same as a fear of snakes. All spiders and one quarter of snake species are venomous, and we don't know how dangerous they are going to be based on size etc...

Thank you. I did not know that.

--Kaiser--

Hownowcow wrote: »

Thank you. I did not know that.

Well, actually not all, but something like 99.99% of all spiders. In most cases it's not dangerous to humans

ottostreet

I'm not really afraid of them based on them being venomous, because I didn't know that (apart from the obvious ones)!

I just think they're absolutely horrible looking things and they freak me out, and now that I think about it...I don't know what it is exactly that I hate about them.

gw80

false widow, their an invasive speicies

TheChizler

Wonder if I can hijack this and see what you think, is this a False Widow as well? There's no obvious markings bar a paler section on its back.

Compost Spider

Ghost Buster

Who cares so long as it fits up the hoover:eek: