Spiders!

[nd5056]

Update!

He's still alive. So far staying up near the ceiling. And it's about 15 feet high where he is. If he holds out until 10pm he may live as my son will be home and he is a member of the catch and release program.
...

I'm a member of a bit different catch & release club, and this is out Tee:

 

[luvflorida]

Did he look like this?

I saw this thread and just knew I had to repost a picture of the spider we found outside our garage a few years ago. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[JessicaR]

Dear Mr. Giant Black Spider in my bathroom,

I was frightened when I saw you way up high near my ceiling because of your size.

I started packing when I saw how quickly you could run.

Enjoy the house.

This is hysterical and really made me laugh picturing it!

Did he look like this?

I saw this thread and just knew I had to repost a picture of the spider we found outside our garage a few years ago. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This - just made me so sorry for opening this thread. Sleep? Yeah, maybe tomorrow.

 

[luvflorida]

This - just made me so sorry for opening this thread. Sleep? Yeah, maybe tomorrow.

At least he was outside! I kept telling myself that he was too big to get inside!

 

[java]

Luvflorida is that why you are moving?!

Sad news to report. He's been flushed. He made a fatal error of trying to drop down on me as I was going to brush my teeth. Smashed with a swifter type thing. He uncurled himself and tried to run, but alas his days were numbered and he was quickly flushed. Twice. Just in case.

 

[luvflorida]

Luvflorida is that why you are moving?!

No, but the night I saw that beast, I wanted to pack up and head to a hotel!

 

[RNMOM]

I don't HATE them, I realize they do a lot of good for us like eating other bugs. I am frightened of them cause they always seem to be higher than I can reach and often seem to leap at me when I try to get them. The thought of one crawling around on me and down my shirt just makes me want to scream.

To my credit, I say one of those pale ceiling spiders on the door frame yesterday and I let him/her be. I did suggest it find a better place to hide cause I might not be so kind later.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories in the book, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten":

1. The Lady Leaves the House:
One morning this week I saw my next door neighbor leave her
house. She was in her full power mode, business suit with luggage for
the day: briefcase, laptop, gym bag with her clothes for the fitness center
after work, designer lunch bag, and the garbage to take out.
She locks the door, turns and calls “Good morning,” to me across
the driveway takes three steps and then screams,
“AaaaaaGGGGGHHHH!!!”
Spider Web! She has walked full force into a spider web, fighting
off the sticky goo, swatting every which way, all the time wondering,
“Where is the spider now?”
So she flings the bags in all directions, going into a high kicking,
flapping, unidentifiable dance, sort of like a sand hill crane mating ritual.
She swats her hair and runs back to the door. Breaks the key in the
lock. Runs to the back door, repeating the “AAAAAAGGGGGHHHaaah!”
that drifts off with a sort of Doppler Effect as she rounds the house.
The lady thinks this spider is about the size of a lobster and has
big poisonous lips and fangs. She’ll probably jump in the shower just to
make sure no trace of the spider or its web is left with her.
2. From the spider’s perspective
Now here’s a different view of the scene, that of the spider. It’s a
perfect late summer morning for a spider spinning a web. Just the right
level of humidity. Our spider has been up since dawn, checking all the
connections, throwing out a few new lines, thinking of all the nice little
gnats she’ll have for breakfast.
She is feeling good.
All of a sudden chaos breaks loose – it’s an earthquake, tornado,
and hurricane thrown together in a blender. Her web is torn loose and
wrapped around a moving haystack. This huge hunk of raw, running,
painted, sprayed meat is making a sound the spider has never heard
before, “AAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!” It’s too big to wrap up and eat later. It’s
moving too much to hold down. “What do I do?” the spider wonders. “Do
I jump, hang on and hope, dig in?” 2
Our spider has caught a human being. The big question for the
spider is where is this human going and what will it do when it gets
there?
3. What will the spider do?
If she survives she will really have something to talk about – the
one that got away that was THIS BIG. “And you should have seen the
JAWS on that thing!”

Full story

 

[PizzieDuster]

You do realize that, statistically speaking, you are never more than 6 feet away from our arachnid friends.

STOOOOOOP IT! (In my 7 year old voice!)

My sister kills spiders with hair spray.

I once lived in a studio apartment and had a horrible infestation of daddy long legs. I got so use to them I bought one of those long lighters and would just lite them up and hear them pop. Or, I would vacuum them and then tape the hose closed. Gross, mean, I'm completely aware of Karma.

My older sister jokingly told me that they would come and get me through the toilet that they could swim. I freakin believed her. I even believe the story of a snake coming up through the toilet.

 

[PizzieDuster]

Did he look like this?

I saw this thread and just knew I had to repost a picture of the spider we found outside our garage a few years ago. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

STOOOOOOOOOP it....I'm telling mom. If I have a nightmare...... What did you do with it? ugh, oh, I feel something on me...thanks a lot...Oh, just got the chills, later.

 

[leebee]

Did he look like this?

I saw this thread and just knew I had to repost a picture of the spider we found outside our garage a few years ago. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Can I point out that we don't have these things in Maine? Follow your heart and move north! Seriously, I would have about died if I'd seen this! Outside? This sucker is big enough to open the door and let himself IN! How would you kill one of these? He's too big to step on (imagine him wrapping his legs up around your shoe ) and think of the mess! What do you do about a spider this big?

(oh heck, now I have the creeps!)

 

[luvflorida]

Recently I was sitting here in front of my computer when I felt something fall onto my left eye and flutter about on my eye lash. Naturally I rubbed my eye to find a tiny spider caught in my lashes. Of course I squished him or her when I rubbed my eye. I am not one to be afraid of spiders but yes, I did shudder over this one.

STOOOOOOOOOP it....I'm telling mom. If I have a nightmare...... What did you do with it? ugh, oh, I feel something on me...thanks a lot...Oh, just got the chills, later.

Can I point out that we don't have these things in Maine? Follow your heart and move north! Seriously, I would have about died if I'd seen this! Outside? This sucker is big enough to open the door and let himself IN! How would you kill one of these? He's too big to step on (imagine him wrapping his legs up around your shoe ) and think of the mess! What do you do about a spider this big?

We didn't kill it, we relocated it. As big and scary as they look, tarantulas are actually quite harmless, at least that's what I've been told and I keep telling myself. I (and I emphasize "I" because nobody else would go near the beast) used a broom to sweep/carry him across the street to a desert area. It's the only tarantula we've seen in the almost five years that we've been in Arizona. No, I take that back. A few days after the encounter with this tarantula, another one showed up outside our door, so make that two. The first tarantula we left alone, it was the second one that I relocated on the broom! At first, my husband swore it was the same one, but I think it was a member of his family coming back for revenge.

 

[laughinplace199]

All I can say is that I regret ever opening this thread. Why did I even do it? I should have known better.

I will retreat now to my happy place. Is it too early to start drinking?

I was thinking the exact same thing. It's 5:00 somewhere.

 

[laughinplace199]

I'm terrified of spiders and finding them in the bathroom is scary. I mean, you just get out of the shower and there's a spider. It doesn't matter if you're part of the "catch & release" program or the "you came into my house uninvited and now you must die" program, who wants to deal with a spider when you're buck naked?

STOOOOOOP IT! (In my 7 year old voice!)

My sister kills spiders with hair spray.

I once lived in a studio apartment and had a horrible infestation of daddy long legs. I got so use to them I bought one of those long lighters and would just lite them up and hear them pop. Or, I would vacuum them and then tape the hose closed. Gross, mean, I'm completely aware of Karma.

My older sister jokingly told me that they would come and get me through the toilet that they could swim. I freakin believed her. I even believe the story of a snake coming up through the toilet.

My friend and I tried to do that once when we were teenagers. He wouldn't die though, he was just stuck in his web because of all of the Aqua Net we sprayed on him. We named him Sticky.

 

[denisem]

I'm not generally skeeved by spiders or insects, but all bets are off when I'm in the bathroom and "vulnerable".

I was once using the facilities and noticed a huge beetle-like thing with grassphopper legs near my pantleg. That thing got hit with a napalm of toilet bowl cleaner before he knew what was happening. (The joys of living in FL; even with a monthly bug spraying, some still get through.)

And beware of wolf spiders with babies! Google image that if you're brave. Big, tough DH smacked a momma wolf spider once and he was very creative & colorful in his expletives. The babies go flying all over and we spent a good while spraying and vacuuming before I felt safe...

 

[Atlas722]

I had a problem in this house with what I think were wolf spiders last year
I never liked them before, but man did that jump to a whole new level. The ones in the house were always on the floor. They didn't build webs or climb and they were HUGE.

I am already dreading the possibility of their return. If I see even one I will call an exterminator so fast it won't even be funny. I am not spending another fall anxious all the time.

I woke one day last year and my front lawn was covered in ground webs. My thought is they must have found their way in from that point. I want to say we only ever found about 10 or 12 but that was more than enough.

The spiders that you mentioned aren't wolf spiders. They're funnel web spiders that are totally harmless.

 

[dhcoffey]

I hate spiders, too! We did have one living in a corner of the kitchen for a couple of years. We even named him Fred. He and I had an agreement: He stayed in his corner, he could stay. Fred kept his end of the agreement. Until the day I noticed Fred had a friend living in his corner with him. That's the day my DH took Fred and his friend to live somewhere outside away from the house. No spider babies in here!!!