# Giant house spider! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826 "2011-09-01T04:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/41 "2011-09-05T04:18:31Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > That egg sac could result in about 100 more spiders. Yeah, my first instinct was to step on it, but I could imagine all those little spiders suddenly covering the kitchen floor. It was quickly removed from the house, eggs and all. ---
**Author:** ![VitrolicBump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a587f6/32.png) [@VitrolicBump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VitrolicBump)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/42 "2011-09-05T04:23:54Z")
You could have just sprayed it…while it’s horrible to see them dying at least you know an army of them wouldnt be out there, searching for you. lol ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/43 "2011-09-05T05:56:03Z")
I don’t kill them. I don’t care how big they are. I put a glass over them slip a piece of paper under it and carry it outside. It’s not that I have a bleeding heart for all living things. I’ll gladly swat a fly buzzing around my head or squish fleas on my pet, but I won’t kill a spider, they are just too cool. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/44 "2011-09-05T09:01:16Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > [http://www.flickr.com/photos/64670843@N05/6104938580/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/64670843@N05/6104938580/) > > My son saw this crawling across the kitchen floor last weekend. It was about the size of a tennis ball and appeared to be carrying some sort of egg sac. Jeez, it plays soccer! ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/45 "2011-09-06T21:07:41Z")
Spiders? Cool? Clearly, \*\*lacortadora \*\*and I are operating under two different definitions of “cool.” Kill them. Kill them with fire. Kill them all with fire. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/46 "2011-09-07T02:43:48Z")
Ugh. Fuckin’ spiders. I was never arachnophobic as a kid until I read a comic book about a black widow that gets squished and then comes back as a ghost to eat the guy. Ever since. Last night while taking out the trash I encountered a huge cricket (three inches long? I didn’t stop to check) right as I was coming back inside. And it provided me with the following nightmare. **Mrs. Cliffy** and I were associated with some DC Comics crime fighting organization and took down a shipment of Apokoliptian contraband going to an Intergang cell. Although I told her it was a bad idea, she insisted on taking some of it home with us. Whereupon we were surrounded by huge, nasty, impossible to squish insects of all description that had come in on a plant. Also a couple fairies, and a vicious dalmatian puppy. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/47 "2011-09-07T06:50:29Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Spiders? Cool? Clearly, \*\*lacortadora \*\*and I are operating under two different definitions of “cool.” > > Kill them. Kill them with fire. Kill them all with fire. Yes **Snickers** , clearly we are. That’s ok, want me to tell ya about the time that I worked for a pet shop and we had a Tarantula for sale? NO?! But I want to! Someone was interested in buying her (I btw would never want to own one) and so, they were trying to make up their mind and came in day after day for a week. I had to reach in the aquarium and get her out for this potential buyer each time. I would slide my hand underneath her very carefully, then it would crawl on my hand and then slowly and methodically climbed higher and higher up my arm and THEN…brace yourself **Snickers** …towards my neck…moving it’s hairy little legs… Oh it was so …so…COOL! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/48 "2011-09-07T10:27:49Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Yeah, my first instinct was to step on it, but I could imagine all those little spiders suddenly covering the kitchen floor. > > It was quickly removed from the house, eggs and all. Well that’s just silly. Now once all the little spiderlings hatch out, they’re going to come back under your fridge to spawn, like little eight-legged salmon. Bet you wish you’d stomped the whole lot flat now, huh? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/49 "2011-09-07T16:09:22Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Well that’s just silly. Now once all the little spiderlings hatch out, they’re going to come back under your fridge to spawn, like little eight-legged salmon. Don’t be such a sissy. There won’t be more than fourteen or fifteen thousand of them. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/50 "2011-09-08T05:44:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Isn’t she a _beaut?_](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27492458@N05/6102270164/in/photostream) > > [Hey! Get back in there, you nut!](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27492458@N05/6102270156/in/photostream/) > > Roomie thinks I’m having entirely too much fun. She’s covered the poor thing with a dish towel. I guess I’d better let it go outside. Just for the record, that’s a male spider. See the pedipalps (the small appendages up by the jaws) with the little bulbs on the ends? The females don’t have bulbs on their pedipalps. And they gots bigger butts. Big fat butts. Know what the males use those bulbs for? They put a special silk wrapping on them and put sperm in them and stick them in the female’s genital openings. God all this talk about spider sex is making me _ **hot!** _ ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/51 "2011-09-08T05:50:34Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Just for the record, that’s a male spider. See the pedipalps (the small appendages up by the jaws) with the little bulbs on the ends? The females don’t have bulbs on their pedipalps. And they gots bigger butts. Big fat butts. Know what the males use those bulbs for? They put a special silk wrapping on them and put sperm in them and stick them in the female’s genital openings. God all this talk about spider sex is making me _ **hot!** _ Gawd…me too!!! ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/52 "2011-09-08T05:53:37Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Just for the record, that’s a male spider. See the pedipalps (the small appendages up by the jaws) with the little bulbs on the ends? The females don’t have bulbs on their pedipalps. And they gots bigger butts. Big fat butts. Know what the males use those bulbs for? They put a special silk wrapping on them and put sperm in them and stick them in the female’s genital openings. God all this talk about spider sex is making me _ **hot!** _ It’s completely grossing me out! If I am unable to “perform my wifely duties”, where do I send my husband? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/53 "2011-09-08T06:00:18Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > It’s completely grossing me out! If I am unable to “perform my wifely duties”, where do I send my husband? > > 😃 Hellooooo! Here! Send him here! Sorry, it has been a while. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/54 "2011-09-08T06:05:18Z")
> [@lacortadora](#): > > Hellooooo! Here! Send him here! Sorry, it has been a while. :smack: Ya got money??? 🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/55 "2011-09-08T06:17:37Z")
[quote=“curlcoat, post:54, topic:594826”] Ya got money??? OMG! I am laughing so hard! Um…no, no money. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/56 "2011-09-08T06:19:31Z")
I give up! When I try to double quote it never works! WTH?! ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/57 "2011-09-08T06:22:10Z")
[QUOTE=lacortadora] OMG! I am laughing so hard! Um…no, no money. ☹ [/QUOTE] Bringing joy to the masses! 🆒 > [@lacortadora](#): > > I give up! When I try to double quote it never works! WTH?! Don’t include the ; or the numbers after the poster name. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/58 "2011-09-08T13:11:47Z")
Thanks for the correction, **Arrendajo**. Usually the palps are much bigger, so I didn’t see these. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/59 "2011-09-20T02:32:55Z")
Roomie’s reclining on the love seat. The cat pounced, putting his paws near her legs. Roomie jumped. I thought the cat startled her. No, it was a GHS. 😃 She hadn’t even seen it sitting there. I caught it in the penalty jar and took it outside. (It was very calm about it.) Not as big as the one that prompted this thread, so I didn’t take a picture. Probably should have, just because. The other day roomie walked into a web outside. We’d both seen the spider in it the day before, and it was a big one. She said she freaked out. After she related the story tonight she mimicked me from the other day by rubbing her hair and saying in a dopey voice, ‘Do I have a spider in my hair?’ She said, ‘You didn’t seem to be too worried about it.’ Maybe I should have let the cat play with the spider, but he was running away because roomie was a little freaked out. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826/60 "2011-09-20T03:46:53Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > As much anxiety and of all the phobias I suffer, I love spiders. They are graceful and generally rather intelligent. I’ve even been bitten by a recluse and I still find myself admiring them up close without the least bit of fear. I love those fat jumping spiders we get around here. I don’t mind spiders, as long as they’re not running across my bare skin, but I suffer the sort of horror usually reserved for spiders when I encounter centipedes and sowbugs. I found both in the basement last week :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-house-spider/594826.md?page=2)