Just found this beasty and wondered if anyone could identify it for me. I’m sure it’s very nice but not a big fan of spiders and want to make sure I can go to bed safe.

That my friend looks like a fake widow
Not deadly but some people have nasty reactions to bites so remove it carefully

It disappeared pretty quickly once it realised it was having its photo taken. I’ll keep an eye out for it as we have a toddler and he’s fascinated by bugs.

It’s not false widow ( s.nubilis). It looks more like a Neriene clathrata[/i] to me. Maybe something in the Neriene family. It is a female though if that helps. In all probability its fangs would have a problem piercing skin if it tried to bite. The toxicity of its venom will be low and reaction mild unless you have an allergic reaction to it.

Hijack, Hi Roper, quick question, my Euathlus Sp Red is about 15 to 20mm in length including the legs just a baby, anyway it has dug a cracking tunnel for itself and doesn’t come out any more and hasn’t eaten for a month, do I need to be worried? I can see it ok as the tunnel is against the glass and it seems fine and moves about in its cave, it has a nice fat bum so I don’t think it’s starving, cheers PJ.

Not a FW IMO
Lace webbed spider??

Where did you find it?

peajay, if it has a good sized bum and is digging well then it sounds like it’s fine. Just make sure the temps and humidity are OK. If you don’t have one, a small water dish is good just to prevent dehydration. Try checking on it late a night and see if it is more active too. They can be a little skittish and shy until they mature.

P.S. I think ven0m has it with the Amaurobius family.

It was in my kitchen. No sign of it this morning so hopefully it’s found somewhere else to live.

Thanks Roper, I have a bottle top in a corner and a humidity sensor and keep the corner dampish, amazing little things!

Lace webbed spider

From Wikipedia: Around the second year of life, Amaurobiidae spiders lay an average of 40 eggs in a breeding chamber spun of silk, where the mother will protect the eggs until hatching. When the young are born, they will consume their egg yolk, and then devour their mother before emerging from the chamber.

… and people are complaining about their kids over on the teenager thread, they don’t know how lucky they are!

Peajay, it sounds like you are doing well with it. Maybe it is just getting ready to moult? You could try making it a little more humid if you are worried. Not too much though.
Perhaps you could post a photo too 🙂 I never get bored seeing them.

Ahh don’t the words ‘breeding chamber’ ‘consume’ and ‘devour’ make it sound so sci-fi 8)

Here comes my first ever try at posting a pic, probably won’t work but here goes!

That’s it changed

the slash after the 5 should be inside the square bracket, just before img

I’ll try again,

Must be an age thing but I just don’t get it,
any way here goes again!

Just painful to watch 😀

here you go!

image by bigdoddsie1, on Flickr

How the hell did you do that!! 😯
Thanks, I feel like I’m pissing in the dark!

Don’t bother with image tags for Flickr pics. Find the picture on Flickr, click the icon to share the image (looks like an arrow coming out of a rectangle), and where it says “Grab the HTML/BBCode” click on the button that says “BBCode” then copy everything from the text box above and paste it directly into the post here on STW.

Cheers, will give that a try next time I’ve something worth posting!

good photo peajay. It looks like your T is a happy chap and well looked after. Maybe a little tubby which could explain why it has not been eating much recently but looks like a good set-up.

Thanks Roper, it’s my first T, read a couple of books on them but it’s a slow learning curve when nothing happens for a month, can see why you would have a few of them and have more to do and watch over a month!
Ta PJ.