Who else likes spiders? (Don’t click if you don’t!)

While I was setting up to try to get some moon shots on Wednesday, I saw this big guy by my truck:
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Without something else in the image, it’s hard to see how big it was. How big was it?

(Spiders do creep me out a little, but I like them because they catch the bugs that really annoy me.)

Maybe 5” leg span. Body around 2.5” long.

I love spiders, so much that church people have been consulting me about tarantula care advice.

When I was 13, we had mosquito netting over our beds. I decided to add a few more small spiders inside the netting to help capture mosquitoes that got through the holes. It didn’t work out like that, but they were companions; they’d sit on their webs in the corners a few feet above my head as I slept.

Impressive!

I think spiders are cool critters. Then again, I live in northern Illinois, and except for the brown recluse, I’m not aware of any dangerous local spiders. I’m in my mid 50s, and have yet to even encounter the aptly named reclusive bastard. The little spiders I occasionally encounter in my house get a piece of paper slid underneath them, and a magic carpet ride out the back door.
If I ever did see a black widow, or a super freaky looking spider, I might end up at the dollar store looking for a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter.
(Aside: Would that purchase land me on some kind of watchlist?)

[raises hand] I like spiders. I often say hello to ones in my house and I move them to safety when needed.

We let them live in the house.
Better than roaches and crickets.

I like spiders just fine, although walking into a web while outside can be gross. We have crab spiders here and they build huge webs.

A while ago I read an article that made the point that people complain to their doctors that a sore itchy spot that is bothering them must be a spider bite. The expert consensus was that wth rare well-known exceptions, spiders either don’t bite or their bites cause no reactions.

I don’t know that I agree, as all evidence points to several lasting irritated spots Ive gotten being spider-caused. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m more allergic than most.

I still think spiders are cool, though.

early one morning

She was not fond of other bugs, except for the fact that they give spiders something to eat.

There was the one time I saw a centipede on the wall. It was a creepy translucent grey thing, but fortunately it wanted no more to do with me than I it.

Spiders are great. When I find one in my house I just let it hang there. Never seen one that big, though.

I do like them, so long as they stay off my person – run across my face/arm while I’m sleeping and I will try to kill them. Otherwise, I try to avoid killing them or tearing down their webs because they’re useful and interesting. I must admit I was a little creeped out by the small spider that waited until I (from his point of view) turned my head away from him to run across an open space. It was odd to realize that these creatures I pay no attention to are that aware of my actions.

Last week I saved a giant house spider from the cats. Despite the name, this one only had a leg span of about two inches. A couple of days ago I rescued a GHS from the utility sink. This one was better. Its leg span was about four inches. It was deserving of a photo, but I didn’t take one. Get out the glass baking dish, put a dollar bill in it, put the spider in it, take the picture, let the spider go, put the note back into the wallet, wash the baking dish, upload the picture, grab the link… Just didn’t feel like it.

As a consolation, here’s a picture of one I caught last year.

We absolutely love jumping spiders. They’re so cute! but we don’t seem to have very many in this area.

I like spiders, especially giant house spiders. Unfortunately they have disappeared from our UK house over the last twenty years or so - probably hoovered up in the pursuit of tidiness.

Nowadays we only ever seem to get cellar spiders (Pholcidae) in the house - ragged little cobwebs with a nearly invisible spider hanging in the corner. Still get garden spiders in the garden, and occasionally woodlice spiders in the woodpile - (Dysdera), one of the few UK species that bite.

I am acquainted with an elderly woman who ingested an arachnoid. I am unclear on her reasons. Presumably she will perish.

mmm

If I may put forward a slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled this world as a stumbling demented child-king long enough. And as his empire crumbles, my precious Black Widow shall rise as his most fitting successor!

There’s a healthy-sized brown one who’s had a magnificent orb-web in my kitchen for the past month or so. The web is gradually getting larger and more elaborate, and every so often I see a new silk Tupperware embedded on the web, so apparently business is good. I just have to be careful to not disrupt it when I open the fridge.

I like them, but the rest of the family does not. I told everyone that if they find one do not squish it! Let me know and I will take care of it. Paper and cup, and escorted to the edge of town (outside). Our garage has a number of daddy-long-legs and I just leave them alone, occasionally sweeping out their haphazard webs.

We have black widows here and while I do not seek their company, I let them be as long as they are outside. Generally, they are pretty slow, easy to spot (heh-heh), and seem to avoid encounters - they hustle away when they are disturbed.

My daughter’s first after college gig is doing au pair in Sweden, suburban Stockholm.

One of the first reports she had was about the huge spiders there. She thought one on her bed was a prank spider placed by the kids. It wasn’t. :sweat_smile:

We have an orb weaver that spins a web across our back sliding door each night. It keeps getting bigger and lower so I think she’s trying to get us to limbo lower now…