Forums

Posted: 10-08-2011 13:03 Post subject:

you mean you don't like these?? http://www.flickr.com/photos/selectasucculents/5378319082/ Very Happy

Posted: 10-08-2011 13:29 Post subject:

That one isn't so bad. I don't mind them in extreme close up, even makes them look mildly likeable. It's when they get all leggy that I freak out. Had to try and revert an umbrella the other day that had been inverted by gales and even that perturbed me slightly. Big mechanical spider Sad

Posted: 10-08-2011 17:15 Post subject:

come on wimps n have a look!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CdgqF4IoE&NR=1&feature=fvwp ( I doubt i would like spiders as much as i do now if they had these in the UK) Very Happy

Posted: 12-08-2011 09:47 Post subject:

One bite from disaster after black widows invade factory
By Mark Branagan
Friday, 12 August 2011

The quiet town of Barton-upon-Humber in north Lincolnshire has three rather dangerous guests. Two black widow spiders, including a deadly female, and a brown widow were captured by staff at an engineering firm after scuttling out of US-imported aircraft engines and surprising workers who were stripping the engines down.

The men caught all three of the venomous creatures by placing glasses from their works canteen over them and using pieces of cardboard to trap them – without realising that a single bite could be fatal. They are now keeping them alive in jam jars and an office display case on a table in the engineering works, feeding them flies and smaller spiders.

The spiders, which travelled over from Kansas with the engines on a KLM flight and aboard a North Sea ferry, will probably end up in a British wildlife park.

On Monday morning supervisor Matt Eales, Dan and Dave Peacock, Darren Elliott and Dave Holden – who said they had never encountered anything worse than harmless house spiders in imported engines – lay underneath the two old 747 engines and started working on them with spanners.

Mr Holden, 48, from Lincoln, said: "I noticed this spider come scuttling out while one of my colleagues was on the floor, under the fan case. He said: 'Look at the size of that thing.' I said: 'That is not a normal spider.' It was only a foot away from his head while he was spannering away. We got a glass from the canteen area of the workshop and put it over it with a piece of card underneath it and tied some cloth around it." Staff later identified the spider as a female black widow from its distinctive red markings. Later that afternoon, a male black widow emerged, and on Tuesday the team came into work to find a third spider, a slightly less venomous brown widow, hanging from its web off the side of one of the engines.

Stuart Elliott, the managing director of the company, TC Power, said: "It is quite scary when you think we have had three or four people lying around underneath the engines, working within five or six inches of the frames where we found the first female black widow.

"We have had common or garden house spiders on engine frames when they have come in from abroad but nothing as deadly as this," he added. "We pulled the guys off the job, had a risk assessment and consulted north Lincolnshire environmental health."

Mr Holden added: "We are pretty confident there are no more about. They have inspected the frames and looked inside and can't see any more. All you can do is have a laugh about it and get on with it."

Craig Gledhill, the zoo manager of the Jungle Zoo in Cleethorpes, said of the female black widow: "It would be a very serious incident if a healthy human were to be bitten. But if they were to receive quite swift medical treatment they would probably survive... if the individual was elderly or a small child, or anyone with a heart or respiratory problem, then they would be in great danger from the neurotoxic of the venom."

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/one-bite-from-disaster-after-black-widows-invade-factory-2336097.html

Posted: 12-08-2011 11:13 Post subject:

stop! i don't want to be scared of spiders! Very Happy

Posted: 12-08-2011 12:14 Post subject:

You do have a sadistic streak Titch. Shocked

Posted: 12-08-2011 13:01 Post subject:

Me? i do not know what you mean! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og4p5w9Lu_A

Posted: 12-08-2011 13:08 Post subject:

A fly crawled on my bloody arm while I was watching that.

Posted: 16-08-2011 11:46 Post subject:

My damnable-ex was a severe arachnophobia and, while I am not, I could sympathise. As she said it (with many a shudder and stammer), it wasn't so much the size of said spiders, it was the way they moved. Small ones, such as "money" spiders still sent her into shudders but she could remain in the room (while they were taken away) - she couldn't see their actions.

It was made quite plain to me, though, how the TV was fairly crawling with spider imagery, despite arachnophobia being a very common fear. It might be the Yellow Mini Effect, but being with an arachnophobe certainly shows up how spiders get everywhere.

Posted: 01-09-2011 10:12 Post subject:

It's spider season!
Don't look too horrified, but we're about to have a great season for house spiders. So why not turn your home's arachnid invasion into a game?
John Moore guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 31 August 2011 21.00 BST

Flushed with the success of a washout summer and stuffed to the gills with tasty bluebottles, it's time to welcome your new housemates. Owing to dismal weather, the 2011 British Domestic Spider Season promises to be the best yet. These eight-legged apparitions of creepy crawling energy are returning from their outdoor adventures to find a warmer playground, and your place looks just perfect – look around now, did you see something move? It's time to bang those slippers, check the loo seat before sitting down, and hide the curds and whey in the fridge. Twisted Evil

Yet far from being terrified, wouldn't it be nice to share some of what you have with them? Imbue them with personality, give them a name. Mine is called Rolling Pin, he even has his own song to the tune of The Internationale: "Oh Rolling Pin, Oh Rolling Pin, please go away, you can't come in."

You might even find it in your heart to sympathise with them. The most common house spider – the Tegenaria duellica – is likely to be a lovelorn male sidling along the skirting-board looking for romance, or stranded forlornly in the bathtub of emptiness. We've all been there.

Rescue him and set him on his way; he might name his children after you. His closest relative, the aggressive house spider or Tegenaria agrestis, is a less than friendly sort – perhaps embittered by failed affairs and preferring the grimier haunts of garages and sheds; these spiders will give you a bite with little provocation.

According to Stuart Hine, spider expert at the Natural History Museum, the largest domestic spider is "the Tegenaria parietina, or cardinal spider, reputed to have bitten Cardinal Wolsey. These can measure up to 6in across, about the size of a beer glass."

Nearly all spiders are venomous to some degree, although in the UK there are only around 12 breeds with fangs capable of piercing human skin: the false widow (often mistaken for its deadly overseas cousin), the black lace weever, the tube web spider, the walnut orb spider, and even the money spider have been known to nip. These bites range from a stinging nettle sensation, to several hours of painful swelling. This is unlikely to reassure those who cower in cold terror as the eight-legged creatures go by. Perhaps arachnophobia, the deep and widely held fear of spiders, is an evolutionary memory from a time before history when enormous deadly spiders enslaved us and ruled the earth … perhaps they will again?

Hine thinks it is more a case of nurture than nature. "Children reach out to touch spiders, unaware of any fear, until they see the reaction of their parents." His suggestion to help bath-bound spiders climb to freedom and resume their amorous quest by leaving a towel over the side does not play well with everyone.

However, one great service these autumnal arachnids provide is to eat the rest of the creepy crawling squatters in your home – they are particularly fond of clothes moths. Surely the odd hour spent screaming atop a chair is better than your best jumper being nibbled to threads?

In these austere times, I recommend spider fancying as a wonderful activity for all the family; cheap, fun, educational, and scary enough to keep the kids interested. Why not hold spider of the week contests in your home throughout this season? This would require placing a clear container over the spider – being most careful not to injure it. Then gently slide a piece of card with a centimetre grid drawn on it beneath the container, allowing the spider to walk on to it – in its own time. Remember, you are now friends. Next, photograph your spider then carry it to the door and release it – it is not necessary to electronically tag it. It will soon be back, bringing its bigger friends who have heard about this superb game. Give it a name, then email your picture to the Guardian for a sporting chance to have your very own spider's portrait printed in the paper. Let the greatest show on legs commence. Very Happy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/31/spider-season-home-arachnid-invasion

Posted: 01-09-2011 10:56 Post subject:

Posted: 01-09-2011 12:15 Post subject:

Jesus Christ! here too.

If i ever get those in my house, i hope the cats destroy them before they get anywhere near 6 inches.

Posted: 01-09-2011 13:29 Post subject:

Must be veeery rare as I've never heard of anyone seeing such a mammoth and I'm one to hear about spider tales from my mates.

Though, it may explain a giant spider story I remember reading about on here maybe. think it was in Bradford...?

Posted: 01-09-2011 18:28 Post subject:

The biggest spider I ever saw here was about three inches long, including legs. I released it back into the wild. Six inches? You're 'aving a laff!

Posted: 01-09-2011 19:46 Post subject:

I think the biggest spider my parents ever had was approximately 4 inches across (mostly legs).
Both myself and my parents are being plagued by big spiders in the house at the moment. I always try to catch them and put them outside. If they're too big and too fast, I resort to using the vacuum cleaner. I dread to think what's going on inside the vacuum cleaner at the moment... Shocked