FAO: Spider Experts - What is this??

Dangerous-Danni said:
I find that very hard to believe to be honest!
And even if it is true the chances of that happening in the U.K are extraordinarily low, you would have 100x+ chance of getting run over! Better start culling all the cars on the road hey?
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There are a number of UK spiders that can bite people and some people can have severe reactions to the bite. There are also some imported spiders, some of which can survive in some parts of the UK (notably the southwest of England) and which can be quite dangerous.

It's possible that his mother is hypersensitive to some spider venom, like some people are to bee stings. If that's the case, a spider bite that would be merely painful for a few days to someone else might kill her. In those circumstances, I'd kill spiders in her house, too.

Before replying, bear in mind these things: I leave high-friction material draped over the edge of my bath to provide a "ladder" for spiders that fall in my bath to climb out. I deliberately leave spider webs in the corners of my downstairs rooms to encourage spiders to stay. I have left a gap in the skirting in my kitchen, in the corner most favoured by spiders, as a "spider doorway". I have quite a few spiders living in my house, including a startlingly big one that rules my front room. I have never seen another spider in there, so I assume it runs them off or eats them. It wouldn't fit on my hand unless it "stood up". I even talk to spiders in my house, explaining that the rules are that they can live in my nice warm house (apart from the bathroom, which is freezing and doesn't have any spiders living in it, only passing through) as long as they stand still while I can see them. Spiders scurrying around give me the wibblies.
 
Unusual to see those indoors. They're outdoor spiders.

If I recall correctly, they have a fairly nasty bite.
 
Yeah it's a type of garden spider.

For some reason, when I was young (around age 8-10), I had a bizarre fascination with spiders. We had loads like that in our garden. I used to feed them crane flies and stuff. I had one of those grow really big. What I find even more weird is that I actually used to pick them up and handle them (kinda cruel in retrospect), but the thought of something like that crawling around trying to push it's way through the cracks in my hands creepy nowadays. Yet it did not bother me in the slightest when I was younger.

Edit: And those don't bite.
 
My mistake - Having checked, it seems I was thinking of a different variety of orb spider, one which isn't native to the UK. There are so many different spiders. The UK ones can bite humans and there have been reported cases, but will run away rather than bite if they have the chance. The biggest recorded danger to humans, apparently, is shock. They hang around in their large webs, which are often inconveniently face height. A nice stroll in your garden...big spider on your nose!
 
lol thats one of the most common spiders I've ever seen. Back at home theres loads of those in peoples gardens, tiny things I used to pick up as a kid. Like you said, its no more than the size of a 50p, sometimes they can be a bit larger though - it's not really a 'big' spider in UK spider terms.

You should see some of the ones in bournemouth, I had to get a spider out of the house a few weeks ago and its leg span was the size of my palm!
 
Bloody wimps :p

You shoulda seen the beast i had sitting next to my foot when i was cleaning out the pond in the back yard.

You lot would have pood yourself on site :p
 
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