h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I boxed it (her?) in in the end with some books and a piece of a picture frame so I could look down and see.

Now...card and a jar...

Will size be proportional to scariness or are some really small spiders really nasty?
I know there aren't supposed to be nasty spiders in England but you never know...

Kat...size is definitely NOT proportional to nastiness.

here's some more interesting stuff from the oragle...


http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art97b/benspid.html

alec.

All this is making my skin feel strange! That's pretty amazing though! Isn't it true that humans have not yet figured out how to make an equivilent of a web? Or something of that ilk anyway?

I shovelled my spider out of the window in the end.

20:47 GMT, Sunday:-

Doris has woken up and proceeded to do a circuit around the ceiling. She has been visited today by Grandad's brother, a lay UK spider expert who says she's not a house spider - tenegaria gargantua, her legs are not hairy enough and there's no banding or marking on her body. We tried to place a pint glass over her to aid identification, but it was too small to catch her without trapping a leg or two .

After a (small amount of) discussion, we've decided to leave Doris alone for the rest of her natural & then take her up to a local museum for further identification.

Sounds like your pal is a Tegenaria of some sort- probably Tegenaria atrica. If you want to see loads of pictures of scary spiders, see http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Agelenidae/Agelenidae.htm but watch out, it takes ages to download. Whateve rit is, don;t worry as it won't hurt you if it;s one like this. Look at the 'chevron' pattern on the back - if it has this, it's probably an Agelenid and harmless to humans. Don;t worry about the so-called hobo spider found in america mentioned on the webpage - the european ones do not bite people.

what great pictures, I'm not worried about Doris biting, she was crawling over my feet last night & has just obligingly crossed the wall behind the 'puter. She's no discernable markings on her back, but is it's any help, her web's just a long string about 1mm wide.

I think it's probably plain by now that I'm not in the least bothered by 'creep-crawlies' now if it was a moth

Moth...my room...now! HELP MEEE!!!

This is a great thread.

And MOTHS! EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I hate them. My cat's like to eat them, so we have nice bonding exercises in trying to kill the flying icky intruder.

You know, I think moths and butterflies can sense I don't like them! I got home to another one in my room!

My dog loves snotting moths and then...watching them as they creep around on the floor.

How's the spider Granny? Has it made a web?

And more importantly, has it caught any Daddy Long Legs in there?
(man, I hate those things....)

Her webs don't seem as if they could catch anything, they're just long strings. I have seen her eat a little house spider tho', and since she's been about there's been no moths. Daddy-long-legs I always catch and put outside, partly because I like 'em & partly 'cos they make the 's sick

At the moment she's perched atop of the curtain pole, it seems like a favourite place of hers, but she's due to have her evening constitutional anytime now.

This is weird! She seems to have adpoted you not hte other way round! I wonder why she stays

Probably 'cos I'm not too bothered about her webs hanging from the ceiling adds a bit of character to the room , goes with the skull table lamp very nicely, and of course she has great fun chasing the moggies

heehee...you could start a spider hotel!

my dad got bit on the eyeball by a wolf spider once.

i've also got a tenant in the bathroom. i've called him bert.

xx

Oops Kat, I wish you hadn't said that, we've got another lodger, this one's a common house spider, the gargantuan type, not as big as Doris & brown in colour. She's taken up residence in the spare bedroom I think I'll hate to start a B&B, anyone got a recipe for Moths a la Mode?

If I start talking about you setting up hotels for really nasty things do you think they would come too? That wouldn't be very nice at all!

Have you tried introducing the two spiders? Oh wait would one eat the other?