False Widow spider media frenzy..

WTF!!?

As I understand it these have been part of our flora and fauna for donkey’s years.. We had loads of them at our house on Dartmoor and although I admit to assassinating one, as a rule they were generally completely inoffensive..

I can’t switch on facebook at the moment without another warning..

http://news.sky.com/story/1153770/false-widow-spider-gives-boy-red-raw-wound

I’ve had horsefly bites that looked worse than that!

The article talks about someone being “bitten by the flesh-eating false widow spider as he slept”. If the thought of being bitten by a flesh-eating spider who pretends that her husband is dead whilst you’re sleeping isn’t scarey, then I don’t know what is.

They don’t mention how much flesh the spider managed to eat from the poor schoolboy’s arm, although I am grateful that he contacted Sky News after it happened to warn everyone.

That’s it, I’m killing every spider I ever see.

I was bitten on the ankle by one of these last year or the year before. No amputation was required.

Boxfish…but it’s given you amnesia and you can’t remember what year it is.
Contact sky news immediately.

Sister is law found one climbing up their front door in North London last week. Absolutely massive thing. My brother killed it.

Thought they could only be as big as a 50p?

I don’t want massive venomous spiders on my door!

My house is full of ’em.
I had an egg sack hatch recently and I counted 32 of the feckers in my porch.
No bites so far, but hey – there’s always time.

Thought they could only be as big as a 50p?

The size of a house I tell you!

Bwahahaha

Got huntsmen as big as me hand that drop off the guttering. White tales and red backs in the garage. England, chill out!

Reading the comments in that article it says “my mother was bitten by one on holiday” how the hell did she know it was on holiday? Spider suitcase? It’s toiletries were in a small zip lock bag?

Panic! Panic! Panic!

Their immigrants too!!! Panic!

Well balanced article at the Daily Mail

The media frenzy on this at the moment is ridiculous. We’ve had these in our house for around 4 years so far. Occasionally you’ll find one on a wander, but in the main they keep themselves to themselves and kill loads of flies.

This was the first one we found, and it freaked me a bit as it appeared to have a skull on its back (Appetite for Destruction anyone?).

We’ve never had any as big as the ones the media claim are around though.

Would they kill a slug?

They kill to eat. Who the **** would want to eat a slug?

We had one set up home under the TV cabinet in our old house.. so it was always a gamble reaching under to retrieve lost toys..

There was another in the shed that was embroiled in a tense stand off with Gert, a giant house spider for a few months.. they eventually just picked an end of the shed to colonise and kept out of each others path..

It was always fun when I went in to get my bike out to count the carcasses of various insects, birds and neighbourhood pets that littered the floor beneath those two noble behemoths..

Who the **** would want to eat a slug?

Hedgehog.

Why would a spider want to eat a woman or a boy?

Because it’s hungry ?

[quoteThey kill to eat. Who the **** would want to eat a slug?

Just thinking of jam jar gladiators.

Found this one in our bathroom sink the other day:

A friend of mine who now lives just south of Bude posted a couple of photos on Fb yesterday of one clinging to a lump of wood she’d just brought in to put on the fire. She didn’t scream and run from the house, though; far too level-headed for that. Big spider, mind, I wouldn’t want to get bitten by one.

They were in our garage at the old house, in all the time i was in the old house i saw them out in the open maybe twice, i would have to hunt to find them, they stay out of the way and just get on with keeping flies and insects at bay, i would clean out the shells of the dead insects now and again, as they went through hundreds!

The only real issue i would say is that their webs were a bit lower and in some instances, head height, so maybe not a nice thing to walk into if you didn’t know they were around, i know they’re not ‘medically significant’ bites, but meant to be as bad as a wasp/bee sting, so i’d rather avoid being bitten. I guess the guy with the leg issue had an allergy, same with people stung by wasps, he probably also left it until very late to seek medical attention.

It’s all a non story really, just because their common name has ” widow ” in it. They are beautiful little spiders and are quite shy.
Where I live it is normal to find moths in food cupboards. Most people buy sticky insecticide pads, but these end up full of dead moths. They smell a bit too. We have a nest of Steatoda nobilis. They are very clean little things and Run away if a biscuit hand goes near.
They have not been a problem for thousands of years so can’t see why it should change now.

I found a pretty mean looking one in the bath the other day. I didn’t have a camera but this is a drawing of it.

Hahaha now that made me smile.

Proper lolz and just made the mrs give me a dirty look as she was nodding off!
The markings on the real ones are pretty cool tho.

Go Away. David Thorne drew that.

Lol…I recognised the David Thorne spider too…which makes it for me the easiest spider species to spot 😯

Was watching a documentary with these little beauties this morning, it has to tuck in its fangs to be able to walk…

Sydney Funnel Web Spider:

False widows are pretty crap by comparison.

scott_mcavennie2 – Member

This was the first one we found, and it freaked me a bit as it appeared to have a skull on its back

My brother still calls them megadeth spiders. When he stops squealing, anyway.