@Pete8 I wish i didn't look into the article you high-lighted.........not a fan of spiders at the best of times, no wish to really see how many different ones there are, how big/small they are, where they are likely to hide. Although I have known a couple of people who have had diagnosed (by doctors) spider bites, usually around their face...........most unpleasant I gather.
Spiders do so much good work, I admire them and like them - getting one out of the bath though is another matter! I'm quite relaxed about having one up to about 1/4" on me, but no bigger. When I see a big one scuttle across the floor I just mention to it - 'you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone' - usually works a treat! The only ones I hoover-up are the ones that have the body the size of a full stop and ridiculously long spindly legs - they way outnumber me and seem to survive just on eating each other, which seems a bit pointless
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I can just about manage to cope with a teeny tiny money spider on me.........bigger than that and I'm an arm flailing, jig dancing, ducking and diving mad woman!
I posted this spring about having a load of spider bites, but from whom I do not know. They don't swell up, just a bit itchy and disconcerting to thinking a spidery darling nibbling my neck in the night. I used to live in a farmhouse and get them all the time.
Kim, you could just go and say hello, no need to touch.
I have no problem with spiders at all ... even huge ones ... I grew up on a farm and then lived in and old mill and the mill buildings were full of the biggest spiders and webs you've ever seen ... but I've never been bitten ... I might be more wary if I had.
Wonky used to be absolutely terrified of them, turning white and sweaty and shaking ... but she's a lot tougher now
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
frogs like those spindly ones...I also have wood louse spiders in a brick pile, red look a bit like scorpions and they do bite...also I NEVER BUT NEVER touch anything with more than four legs...I just came across these little darlings when gardening, they seem to like pots but they hide in the drainage holes and nooks and crannies
I think false widows are a victim of their name and appearance (the 'skull' pattern on their back). They have been in quite a few scare stories in recent years in the press as they make for a good bit of sensationalism, but as I understand it they have been here for a couple of hundred years without doing much/if any harm to people.
Some people react badly to their bite, as they do with other spider bites, wasp stings, horseflies etc, but I dont think they are any more of an issue than any other spider in the UK, and are just as unlikely to actually bite.
I doubt London Zoo would be interested in having them tbh, we have loads of them overwinter in our window frames here, I don't think they are particularly unusual.
Just my limited knowledge of them however, so if you have serious health concerns then Id seek more authorative advice. Not quite sure how you would eradicate them from the garden anyway though
Posts
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I'm quite relaxed about having one up to about 1/4" on me, but no bigger.
When I see a big one scuttle across the floor I just mention to it - 'you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone' - usually works a treat!
The only ones I hoover-up are the ones that have the body the size of a full stop and ridiculously long spindly legs - they way outnumber me and seem to survive just on eating each other, which seems a bit pointless
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I have no problem with spiders at all ... even huge ones ... I grew up on a farm and then lived in and old mill and the mill buildings were full of the biggest spiders and webs you've ever seen ... but I've never been bitten ... I might be more wary if I had.
Wonky used to be absolutely terrified of them, turning white and sweaty and shaking ... but she's a lot tougher now
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Some people react badly to their bite, as they do with other spider bites, wasp stings, horseflies etc, but I dont think they are any more of an issue than any other spider in the UK, and are just as unlikely to actually bite.
I doubt London Zoo would be interested in having them tbh, we have loads of them overwinter in our window frames here, I don't think they are particularly unusual.
Just my limited knowledge of them however, so if you have serious health concerns then Id seek more authorative advice. Not quite sure how you would eradicate them from the garden anyway though