# Can someone identify a spider **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487 "2004-11-13T00:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/1 "2004-11-13T00:25:39Z")
I have spiders in my apartment and they are huge. They are roughly 1.5" in diameter, they are black with long full legs. I doubt that is any help but that is all I can think of to describe them. I live in Indiana, USA, if that helps narrow it down. And the spiders are gigantic. They also seem timid and will hide in the corner. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/2 "2004-11-13T00:57:35Z")
I can’t identify your spiders, but I can identify [this one](http://www.spiderstacy.com/). 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/3 "2004-11-13T01:09:24Z")
Probably elephant sex spiders. Big Fu\*\*in’ Spider ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/4 "2004-11-13T04:29:44Z")
Based on the “large” adjective, I’d guess [wolf](http://www.esb.utexas.edu/philjs/stengl/images/Rabida.jpg) [spiders](http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/gallery/H-carolinensis.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/5 "2004-11-13T06:11:19Z")
Wolf spiders tend to be brown more than black. It really doesn’t matter what kind of spider you’ve got in your apartment, so long as it isn’t a [brown recluse](http://www.critterridders.com/brown_recluse1.jpg) (which occur all along the Mississippi Basin especially including my apartment) or [black widow](http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/color/wspid1.jpg). If it’s one of these two it’s time to call the bug man. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/6 "2004-11-13T12:32:59Z")
> [@Bob55](#): > > If it’s one of these two it’s time to call the bug man. Both the brown recluse and black widow are “small”, their legs would stretch out to be the size of a quarter, at most. A big spider that crawls around on the floor and hides in the corner, in Indiana, is probably a wolf spider. [![](https://entomology.unl.edu/images/spiders/lycosa_helluo.jpg) ](https://entomology.unl.edu/images/spiders/lycosa_helluo.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/7 "2004-11-13T12:51:38Z")
Sounds like wolf spiders to me, brown recluse spiders don’t come out much, hence the name, and black widows like dark, damp, musky hiding places, too. Wolf spiders are good to have, they don’t spin webs and they really like to chow down on cockroaches. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-a-spider/274487/8 "2004-11-13T13:28:05Z")
I have seen black widows in my hometown and this isn’t a black widow, its way too big. I haven’t seen a brown recluse but we had them in my hometown (both my brother and dad were bitten by one), and I think they are way too small. I always thought wolf spiders were those miniature tarantulas I sometimes see around here. If those aren’t wolf spiders, than what are those miniature tarantulas?