I have picked up millions of spiders in my life and not once have I been bitten by one.
It has actually pierced my skin.
Should I be concerned or excited for when webs start shooting out of my wrists?
P.P.

Was it one of these?

What kind of spider?

Don’t forget – with great power comes great responsibility.

It was probably a brown recluse out of your fruit bowl…

Grim picture linky

ROPER/HARRY THE SPIDER TO THIS THREAD PLEASE !!! 😉

On the upside, you’re going to have sex with Emma Stone soon.

Had a little look on that there web thingy and found it to be a tube web spider.
I had no idea UK spider bit people.

extra layer of spider fear now firmly in place

I was bitten on the ankle by a False Widow spider a few weeks ago. My garage is full of them. If only I could train them to attack burglars.

EDIT: Ankle swelled up a bit for 3 or 4 days. No other effects….apart from the 6 extra eyes growing out of my head.

How many spiders in this country can bite you?
Pics please so I can avoid.

My garage has a few false widows in it too. At least I hope they are false ones…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM1U7AWc7OI&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

Remember: he’s more scared of you, than you are of him. Or her.

Remember: he’s more scared of you, than you are of him. Or her.

I’ve never seen a spider barricade himself in his bedroom and stuff a towel into the crack at the bottom of the door after seeing me 😳

You’ll know that they are false widows as a real black widow will still be attached to you when it bites as it doesn’t retract it’s fangs after biting. Nice.

Still waiting for my “first encounter” with a nasty spider. Seen a few big bum Orb Weavers here in Aus but it’s winter so most will be hidden away.

My two biggest fears when I get out riding here are: riding in to a massive web with a spider like the one pictured above in it and the other is meeting an angry Eastern Brown Snake across the trail….

All spiders bite, its how they kill and eat. The reason most UK spiders don’t bite people is they do but their fangs are either too small or wrongly shaped to pierce the skin. As most native UK spiders are small there are very few reported bites.

Also all spiders have venom. Though most UK spiders would be pretty harmless to humans. You will probably experience slight swelling, soreness, redness at the swelling etcetera. I have heard of a mild fever from a false widow but have never seen the reports so couldn’t be positive.
The only time to be concerned would be if you are allergic to the venom. Similar to people who have allergies to bee stings. So if you get bitten just be observant.

On a side note false widows and many other spiders will not bite unprovoked. They are not particularly aggressive or even defensive and biting would be their last choice.
I would much rather be bitten by a UK spider than someones cat, dog, hamster, gerbil….

If you do get strange swelling, colouration etcetera could you post some photos?

real black widow will still be attached to you when it bites as it doesn’t retract it’s fangs after biting

I think thats a myth.

Oddly I got bitten twice by a spider that had snuck down the front of my top while riding on Sunday. Not sure what type, but although slightly irritating, not as bad as a mosquito bite after 24 hrs.

In the plus side, being able to climb buildings is ace!

Orb Weavers here in Aus

Australian: “Mate, I hate spiders.”

Englishman: “Me too, I’m bloody terrified of them.”

Australian: “We’ve got spiders that, if they don’t actually kill you, can cause your nervous system to fail, your flesh to die and rot, and your arse to shut down. What do yours do?”

Englishman: “Er, they kind of crawl about a bit.”

Black widow has a red spot on their back.

Mooly – Member

Had a little look on that there web thingy and found it to be a tube web spider.

Didn’t watch the documentary on UK spiders? Yes, they bite but not deadly …

Got bitten by small spiders many times.

Found this bad boy in my bedroom a while back.,. Didn’t get close enough for it to bite me.
you also get those red and cream ones that can give a nasty bite. Think they eat woodlice

I got bit once, don’t like spiders much now

I suffered a plague of woodlouse eating spiders, nasty biting scum!

Bite it back!

We had false widows in the garden but they seem to have moved on/died out. Always heralded with screams of WHAT THE **** IS THAAAAAAAT.

I was bitten by a house spider once. Curiously I watched the bloody thing as it scuttled towards me and bite my little finger. Totally unprovoked. One of the most bizarre moments of my childhood.

House Spider

Not qute true about the black widow markings chewkw. ( spider geek hat on).
some black widows have two red spots on their back. the North American, probaby the most famous, has a red hourglass mark on its ventral side. Some black widows dont have any markings at all but some young black widows can vary in colour and markings. Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, the european black widow has 13 spots. These are found throughout the med and probably best avoided.

Errrrr…..own it with bombers?

Do you have any spiders which have to be kept in a case in a case in a case roper? Or is that just the scorpions?

How are those ones that hunt in groups coming along? Been out and about yet? 🙂

The coolest spider ‘fact’ I’ve ever been told is that spiders have such potent venom because they needed it to kill and eat other spiders as they evolved before insects.
I haven’t checked this for accuracy but I do like to think of it as a spider eat spider world 🙂

Tube webs are non-native, quite common in areas near major ports. Common as muck around Portishead/Avonmouth area. Apparently can be quite aggressive and the bite is supposed to be on Bee sting levels of pain and irritation.

You’ll live…

Remember: he’s more scared of you, than you are of him. Or her

.
I’ve never seen a spider barricade himself in his bedroom and stuff a towel into the crack at the bottom of the door after seeing me

boardinbob –pure class

Reported it on here before, but had a house spider once that was too frikkin big to be covered by a pint glass without trapping it’s legs – freaked me out, especially as it came past me in my sleep to get where we found it – i.e. through open window, across bedroom to en-suite bathroom.

Eurghh – hate em, even if they can’t hurt you!

Double post

When I was much younger I used to hang out at a mates place up the street, with a shed out the back we used to play in. Because it was close to a brick wall one side, there was no window there, and a Diadem/Cross/Garden Orb spider had a web between the two walls. We used to catch flies and feed it, and let it run around in our hands.
Until the day it bit me! It was quickly put back in its web, but that shattered my confidence in spiders to this day. And that was nearly fifty years ago.
I’m not as bad as boardin’ bob, though! 😮

Lots of false widows outside/inside the brickwork of our porch. They keep away from me and I keep away from them – so all is good. They don’t pay rent though but I’ll let it slide.

Got into my bed one night after a few pints. Turned light off then felt something… Picked it up and thought it felt like a sultana so threw it on the floor.

Woke up next morning and thought about the likelihood of a sultana being in my bed, checked the floor… Massive squashed spider!

Loads of these bastards at work… No bites so far thankfully, but i take great joy in squirting them with laquer thinner if they ever wander indoors…

…and some of these 😉