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False widow spiders
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Biding their time. They want to consume youStevieKielyStanwat said:We have three in the roof-lantern in our lounge. Pretty much keep themselves to themselves.2 -
Are these things actually real? I feel like they’re a mythical beast perpetuated by people from the countryside, like a Kent version of the Loch Ness Monster.0
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I feel the other way. The number that I see I’m sure they are fast becoming Britain’s most common speciesse9addick said:Are these things actually real? I feel like they’re a mythical beast perpetuated by people from the countryside, like a Kent version of the Loch Ness Monster.2 -
Yep my garage/gym is home to about 20 of them and my conservatory has a few, the shed has a few more too.stackitsteve said:
I feel the other way. The number that I see I’m sure they are fast becoming Britain’s most common speciesse9addick said:Are these things actually real? I feel like they’re a mythical beast perpetuated by people from the countryside, like a Kent version of the Loch Ness Monster.
All the proper dark ones.
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@PopIcon, I've got several. The one I use most, and my favourite lens, is one of these. I also have one of these, It's good but I hardly use it now, if I'd bought the 100mm lens first I'd never have bothered with this.
But you don't need that sort of lens to get in close. In fact, I can get in closer with a 50mm prime mounted on some cheap extension tubes. This extension tube/prime set up is the best value for money photographic equipment I've ever got.
Something else I've found indispensable is a ring flash. When you get in that close the depth of field drops away dramatically. The only way to keep the image sharp right across the spider's body is the close the aperture down to its minimum size. You can't do that though without adding some artificial light, though. I couldn't afford the official Cannon one (wasted all my money on Macro lenses), so I took a punt on this cheaper version. I couldn't be more happy with it.1 -
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This 6cm beauty is in my front room. I guess its just a household spider but must admit never seen on this size. Next size up must be a tarantula!0
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That's a house spider, not a false widow1
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Yes I said it was a house spider but couldn’t find a thread on them so I post here. I hope it doesn’t throw people into confusion.1
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Yeah - they're bloody huge! I caught one a few years ago under a pint glass and its legs reached all the way round the circumference of the glass. When I threw the decker out I was nervous I'd get a knock on the door five minutes later and it would walk back in saying 'don't do that again'14
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. Friend just posted this Instagram:
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WTF !!1
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I hope that’s Jeremy Beadles hand!
hate spiders with a passion - they are just so sinister5 -
I’m not their biggest fan but we tolerate each other. Never thought of them as sinister but that actually sums them up perfectly for me.Swisdom said:I hope that’s Jeremy Beadles hand!
hate spiders with a passion - they are just so sinister0 -
Had a couple of these guys up here in Northamptonshire this summer, luckily not hand size but do seem to be new to these parts.0
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I really regret opening this thread5
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Knowing that the guy who posted that is the nicest kindest guy, I can well imagine him plucking it off his neck and having a little chat with it after that photo! 😆
It does look ready for an arm wrestle though…0 -
@Dazzler21, Sorry it's taken me two years to tell you this, but I'm pretty certain that these aren't False Widows. Their abdomens have a velvety look and there are no white lines around the outside. Their legs are too thick and too consistently dark. Also, whilst Steatoda can be highly variable in colour and patterning, these look too dark.Dazzler21 said:
Yep my garage/gym is home to about 20 of them and my conservatory has a few, the shed has a few more too.stackitsteve said:
I feel the other way. The number that I see I’m sure they are fast becoming Britain’s most common speciesse9addick said:Are these things actually real? I feel like they’re a mythical beast perpetuated by people from the countryside, like a Kent version of the Loch Ness Monster.
All the proper dark ones.
I don't know but I think these are possibly Ground Spiders (Gnaphosidae), but I'm not certain. Their abdomens look a little too rounded and the spinnerets (that's the messy bit of their backsides) aren't easily visible. Also, I can't find one with that pattern on its back. My best guess is either Scotophaeus or Zelotes, but I really don't know.
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Saw this one yesterday morning. Possibly the longest false widow I've seen. Judging from the small abdomen, I think it's a male which is a surprise as they are usually a bit smaller.
Perhaps not as exciting as this though: A Labyrinth Spider. Normally, if you get too close they retreat down their funnel webs too far to get a close view and usually they end up facing away. This one was too intent on eating whatever it had (some sort of beetle?) so it let me get a good close look.
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I really wish I hadn’t opened this thread now. I’d run a mile, in about ten seconds, if I saw that.0
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I've got a proper spider phobia, but a morbid obsession to open this thread every time I see a new post - fuck knows what I'd do if I found one of them in my house!0
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Where as my little girl was more than happy holding this a couple of years back. I was sweating filming her
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I'm not terrified of them, just no chance I want them touching me.0
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Thanks to this thread I felt something moving up the back of my knee whilst dozing on the bed covers this morning, automatically thinking the worse gave it a whack, and it was the pooches cold wet nose.9
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Its funny how other peoples phobias or reaction to things they are frightened of can make me react. For spiders I get that if you watched arachnophobia as a kid they would bother you and the fact they are the apex predator of the insect world, I also get the way they move can freak people out.
My missus is terrified of them, even the baby tiny ones and it's got to me, I used to pick them up even the big fat black ones, now they get gently picked up in tissue paper or a glass to be taken outside, I won't ever harm them and want them doing their thing outside in the tomato plants eating the black and green flies, or getting the midges and mosquitoes that plague the evenings
I used to spend a lot of time in subterranean structures and the spideys down there would make your hair curl. Real monsters and I'm happy to admit I didnt like them crawling on bare skin but didn't dwell on their presence. One of my mates got bit on the hand by something that I assume was one of them and the bite site was horrendous
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Similar to you that my missus has an irrational fear of them. Fortunately I'm still grown up about them and haven't been impacted by her fear. Unfortunately, the kids have followed suit of my missus. I say unfortunately but it does have it's upside when we have a decent sized house spider doing the rounds in the living room, in that it's a perfect way of keeping the family at arms length. They freak out when I pick them up and try and show them that there genuinely is absolutely nothing to be scared/fearful ofCarter said:Its funny how other peoples phobias or reaction to things they are frightened of can make me react. For spiders I get that if you watched arachnophobia as a kid they would bother you and the fact they are the apex predator of the insect world, I also get the way they move can freak people out.
My missus is terrified of them, even the baby tiny ones and it's got to me, I used to pick them up even the big fat black ones, now they get gently picked up in tissue paper or a glass to be taken outside, I won't ever harm them and want them doing their thing outside in the tomato plants eating the black and green flies, or getting the midges and mosquitoes that plague the evenings
I used to spend a lot of time in subterranean structures and the spideys down there would make your hair curl. Real monsters and I'm happy to admit I didnt like them crawling on bare skin but didn't dwell on their presence. One of my mates got bit on the hand by something that I assume was one of them and the bite site was horrendous
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Mrs Stig used to have a phobia about them and would freak out at even a tiny money spider. She's now completely cured, the cost of her therapy was quite expensive though - spending a lifetime with me
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A couple of months ago, I had a huge specimen like the black one above fall from a gutter and onto the back of my hand; I promptly launched it, but it seemed black, chunky and quite fuzzy. I agree with Stig that I don't think it is a FW.Dazzler21 said:
Yep my garage/gym is home to about 20 of them and my conservatory has a few, the shed has a few more too.stackitsteve said:
I feel the other way. The number that I see I’m sure they are fast becoming Britain’s most common speciesse9addick said:Are these things actually real? I feel like they’re a mythical beast perpetuated by people from the countryside, like a Kent version of the Loch Ness Monster.
All the proper dark ones.
As he pointed out, it could be wall spider or mouse spider, but most of the pictures of them online tend more to be brown/reddish. However, it could be a genetic variant, the same as a melanistic (dark pigmented) version of other species (c.f the famous study by Tutt et al. on pepper moths and the evolutionary correlation with industrial pollution). I have seen a few around; for those who are wary of long legged types, although it was large, it wasn't as creepy as some others....it seemed cuddly in comparison with some of the specimens that you can get in the tropics!1 -
I still derive a stupid amount of pleasure from flicking a tomato top across the table at one of my offspring and shouting "Spider!"Works every time.7
