Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tegenaria domestica

It's early Autumn and time for House Spiders to start roaming around for mates. I was sitting earlier typing away when from the corner of my vision l saw this huge spider climbing up my desk lamp, not even 30cm from the keyboard! The thing was enormous- bigger than the palm of my hand! I froze – it froze and I'm sure we made eye(s) contact. I backed away slowly slowly and then hurried downstairs to grab my camera and a glass big enough to catch it. Wow- that spider was fast and after a few moments of heightened heart rate and mad thrashing around (me) l managed to trap it under the glass and gloat while l got my breath back.

"To usher the spider into a cup for relocation, hold the cup in front of the spider and use something to gently nudge the spider from behind. A spider's first reflex after being touched from behind is to walk or run forward. The spider will walk right into the cup that is placed in front of it." Wikipedia.
--- Easier said than done!!!!

I knew it was just a house spider but l haven't seen any quite that big! I looked it up to double check and found out that it is also one of the world's fastest spiders - made it to the Guinness Book of World Records, having clocked speeds of up to 1.73ft/sec – arghh!

Do you recall (above) when l said - 'time for spiders to start roaming around for mates' ? Well, l've just read up on these spiders and *queue scary music* this one could already have a mate which could be anywhere!! I keep shivering now and jerking my head uncontrollably as if it's crawling nearby looking for it's lost love that l have tossed outside – eek!


"The spider species Tegenaria domestica, commonly known as the barn funnel weaver in North America and the domestic house spider in Europe, is a member of the funnel-web family Agelenidae and a close relative of the hobo spider." Wikipedia.


3 comments:

clairesgarden said...

I've had a lot of big spiders in the house recently, my cats won't even go near them...

Merle said...

Dear Sarah ~~ That is some large spider and you were brave. I see it is related to the funnel-web and the ones here are very poisonous, so be careful. I don;t like spiders at all.

Glad you liked the photos of John,
Rebecca and me and also the jokes.
The 'he said to me' ones were funny.
Take great care my friend and watch
out for the spiders. Believe it the radio just played a song 'The redback on the toilet seat' a spider. Love and hugs, Merle.

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