Giant Spiders (Ukraine, Peru, Cumbria & Elsewhere)

Thank you... I've lurked for a long while now, but must have missed that :)

Much appreciated
 
Woo! Those books, particularly the black one, are amazing and very well researched, and thought provoking too. The author should have been made more clear (I don't even know if their name is on it?)
 
They were written by Jamie Stokes... So it says lol... Great stuff. I remember the stuff about the automata and the Welsh or Yorkshire Iron-Plane. Needing a re-read I think :)

Oh well, thanks to Fallen Angel pointing me in the right direction, I shalln't sleep tonight :eek!!!!:
 
-Oracle- said:
Anything with more than six legs is abnormal and should be killed on on sight. Further more, anything that needs more than six legs is also abnormal and should be killed on sight. Even further more, anything that scuttles, runs, bites and is hairy AND has more than six legs should be killed from as far away as possible on sight!

...I'm arachnophobic and will kill any spider that I see, regardless of size and whether or not it is deadly. They simply don't deserve to live!

:eek:
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I'm with you on that one
 
giants among us!...

This from today's Scotsman newspaper;

A primary school somewhere in the UK was yesterday closed and the pupils and teachers sent home after a spider the size of a man's open palm, was seen exiting an African drum that had been sent to the school's music department from Senegal.

In the chaos that ensued after the sighting - the spider escaped and has so far not been found.....
 
Big opilionid

I know that these arachnids technically aren't spiders, but only a few weeks ago there was this really big opilionid sitting on our kitchen wall. Well, not freakishly big, but still bigger than any I've ever seen around the house before, and certainly big enough to make me get my camera.

The ruler that can be seen in the pic measures 22cm (8,66 inches) from one end to the other, just to give you an idea of the opilionid's size.
 
Oh those! I didn't know what they were called, but we have those and yes, that IS big, I never saw one that size. They don't scare me, but my sister goes into a frenzy at them.
 
Is that otherwise known as a harvestman?

Meanwhile, in darkest south London, there's a common old orb web spider right outside the window next to me at the moment - the roundy bit on it's web measures a whacking 26inches in diameter! (yes, I have just had the tape measure out)

They drive me mad at this time of the year - got 9 webs attached to our 2 washing lines at the moment. Luckily for the spiders tho, it's wet outside so I won't be needing to destroy their homes in order to get my smalls dried :)
 
SilburyMoon said:
Is that otherwise known as a harvestman?

Meanwhile, in darkest south London, there's a common old orb web spider right outside the window next to me at the moment - the roundy bit on it's web measures a whacking 26inches in diameter! (yes, I have just had the tape measure out)

They drive me mad at this time of the year - got 9 webs attached to our 2 washing lines at the moment. Luckily for the spiders tho, it's wet outside so I won't be needing to destroy their homes in order to get my smalls dried :)
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Do you get fewer house spiders the higher up you are? This kind of makes sense from a layman's point of view. Just occurred to me last night that I haven't seen any this season, now that I live in a roof.

It's all about context with spiders isn't it?

When I saw a big hairy fella in a tree in Costa Rica, I wasn't scared of it, cos the outdoors seemed to put it in perspective.

But have a little hoos spider pop up next to me on the sofa, and I run a mile.
 
Conners said:
Do you get fewer house spiders the higher up you are? This kind of makes sense from a layman's point of view. Just occurred to me last night that I haven't seen any this season, now that I live in a roof.
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I'd never thought about that before, but it could be so - I lived at the top of a tower block for 7 years and can't remember having seen a single one in there.

It's all about context with spiders isn't it?

When I saw a big hairy fella in a tree in Costa Rica, I wasn't scared of it, cos the outdoors seemed to put it in perspective.

But have a little hoos spider pop up next to me on the sofa, and I run a mile.
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Too true. I was sat in a field on sunday and there were quite a few spiders on/near me and it didn't bother me. I think "well, this is their home that I'm in now". I just don't like it when they're in mine.
 
Giant spiders in Congo

On the terrifyingly large spiders front, I seem to recall reading something on a cryptozoology bulletin board about sightings of an enormous arachnid variously described as being as big as a "small dog" or even as big as a "pygmy".

Does anyone have any more information on these reports? I've been unable to find much else on the web regarding it and am starting to wonder if I imagined the whole thing.
 
I vaguely remember hearing somewhere about a report from The Congo mentioning that enormous spiders were sighted there, but I'm not sure it was on this site, and it was a passing comment, maybe lodged within another report ( possibly about large snakes ) Sorry for the vagueness, if I remember I'll post more.
 
One country to miss on an around the world tour!
 
Also any South American country, because we KNOW there are large spiders there, maybe not dog sized. Is the Goliath Tarantula the largest? And is that the so'called ' Chicken spider ? ' or is that another one?
 
Any country where you can see that they need a haircut... :p Man, I may as well have a fear of living, the little nippers are everywhere. Had a close call with one in the bath today, almost ran up my bloody arm... :cross eye :cross eye :eek!!!!: :cross eye :cross eye
 
Is it true, that older houses have worse spider problems?! I have this dream ( and that's all it could ever be, ) of living in some gorgeous old cottage like a Thomas Kinkaid painting :D somewhere rural, and every time I mention it, people tell me ' Oooh, you'll have gurt , enormous hairy spiders everywhere '. How dare they spoil my ' twee ' daydreams!
 
Lethe said:
Also any South American country, because we KNOW there are large spiders there, maybe not dog sized. Is the Goliath Tarantula the largest? And is that the so'called ' Chicken spider ? ' or is that another one?
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The biggest spider I know is one of my in-laws, but as far as seeing monster spiders here in Mexico, I don't think there are none. Now, hairy ones, that's a different matter.
 
spiders.....

My sister is seriously arachnaphobic and this has caused her not a few problems over the years.....

She once ACTUALLY PULLED THE EMERGENCY CORD ON A TRAIN!!! because she saw a spider in the carriage - which turned out to be outside the window!!! She wasn't fined but she got a very severe telling off from the Rail Police - she was 37 at the time .....

Another time, when we were visiting her house, she saw a spider on the sitting room carpet - right in front of the door out to the hallway - in other words, the door to 'escape' from it. It was a very small, ordinary looking beast - quite inoffensive-to us non-arachnaphobes at least, but she couldn't bring herself to pass it and just HAD to get out of the room. We watched this domestic drama unfolding before us in complete disbelief - and I can stress that I have known her do some crazy things where spiders are concerned!

Almost hysterical with fear, she hurled herself at the living room window (which had a top opening section - quite high up) , scaled the window and CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW into her front garden. I have to add here that Stephen her husband was sitting in an armchair in front of the window reading a newspaper - but she never let that deter her from escape. She bodily (and very speedily) climbed him as well!! - She was 44 at the time.....

These are only a few examples - she refuses point blank to visit us here in rural Cumbria as we recently moved into a (converted) agricultural building replete with 'character' beams etc. Unfortunately, we do have very large spiders that seem to like living on the beams and make unexpected appearances on a regular basis. She can't even bear to hear me talk about how bad the infestation was when we first moved in - it seemed like we had to claim the building from them for us to live in and now there seems to be a truce....

Because of all the above, we had thought of buying her a christmas present of one of those electronic thingys that you plug into the mains. We had never heard of them until recently and a friend claims that they work....does anyone have any info about them? Do they work, or are they an expensive con trick??
Your comments would be welcomed in order to keep my sister sane -ish!!!
 
I would laugh, except that I know how she feels, I've never actually quite got that bad, but if we do have a large spider around, I freak for days on end, thinking I see them everywhere, and utterly paranoid ( especially if b/f, downstairs on his XBOX mentions: ' I saw one, but it's okay, it's gone now ' WHERE? WHERE HAS IT GONE?
As for that gadget, I've seen those advertised myself, and I wish I knew whether they worked or not, I'm sure there are people on this site who know why ( or why not ) such a device might work.
And bang goes my dream of living in a li'l old cottage then.....
 
Quote
from hecate

'Because of all the above, we had thought of buying her a christmas present of one of those electronic thingys that you plug into the mains.'

They do work but i'm afraid they only seem to work very well on mice and less well on flys. They have no effect from what i have seen of ours on spiders but i have found that if you have a few spiders in the house they keep the flys down to bare minimum. I know thats not of much comfort to all you arachnophobics but given the choice between a couple of spiders or hordes of flys (bastards, all flies are bastards), its hello incy wincey goodbye bluebottle.
 
spider deterrents...

Thanks for that Feen - it did seem a little too good to be true I suppose!

However, I think we'll still buy one for her - it's got to be worth a try and you never know - it might act as a sort of 'placebo' making her THINK that it's keeping the beasties at bay!!

Anything to give poor Stephen a break - you can only take being used as a step ladder so many times !

PS I don't mind spiders - providing that they're not dinner plate size or anything like that - what I hate are what we in the UK call daddy-long-legs - a horrid flying insect with unnaturally long legs and a propensity for one's bedside lamp at this time of year - I think in the States that name is given to a different type of insect.

My mother hated cockroaches because she spent some time when young in a series of homes that were infested with them. She said they used to run out of her shoes in the morning - I'd sleep with them on then!

She lived in the US as a young girl and used to tell about the june bugs that would crash into the screen door on a summer evening - she said they were the most stupid creature she'd ever encountered but she didn't miind them - even though to me they LOOK like flying cockroaches - now THAT'S unpleasant!!
 
We have a very ill-thought out ' present ' on our wall. A Peruvian Bird Eating Spider, flipping monster. The b/f's mother bought it when ( she said) she felt very depressed and was going through a bad time. I wasn't feeling too good that Christmas Day, so I didn't go for lunch to their house, ( where they gave b/f his luverly ' gift ' ) I stayed at home and had some wine in the evening, then dozed on the sofa, waiting for b/f to come back.
I woke up to find him holding this ' thing ' right in front of my face, and pretty woozy, as I was, I did not, for a moment, register it was displayed in a glass case. That was possibly one of the most horrible awakenings in my life. I still watch the humungous thing, expecting it to move. I also threaten ' normal ' spiders with her ( Sybil) and tell them to keep away. the fangs on her, the legs.....the UGGGGH!

( Although I do find this wrong, much as cringe at her, it should be running around in Peru, not stuck on our wall, I think you can get scorpions and huge bugs displayed like that too )
 
Lethe said:
I woke up to find him holding this ' thing ' right in front of my face, and pretty woozy, as I was, I did not, for a moment, register it was displayed in a glass case.
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I had a similar incident when one of the guys at work came into my office and thrust an open glass tank containing two tarantulas into my face, saying 'Look what I found'. I'm not the biggest fan of spiders, and particularly large furry poisonous ones with nothing between me and them...

Turns out they were in fact deceased, pining for the fjords or whatever spiders do, it seems that a student had been keeping them in his room and at the end of the year rather than take them home had starved or suffocated them or something and left them behind.

As to what happened to them - the guy who had them emptied the tank into a bin and took it home... I bet the dustmen would have had a bit of a surprise if a tarantula fell out of the bin :D

Steve.
 
Apparently the megarachne is not a fossil spider, it is a fossil eurypterid.

Link
 
What's that ugly thing on the front of the thorax, then? The one with the eyes and the mandibles, and the ewww...
 
That's weird, arachnophobia. I don't get it. My father, an otherwise completely rational fellow, was frightened of spiders. I even used to call him 'Mr. Spock,' he was so rational, but he simply couldn't deal with spiders.

I have not inherited this fear.

I 'keep' wolf spiders because they're mostly harmless and eat pests. I had a favorite that used to come into my house, on the hunt, until my arachnophobic downstairs neighbor (and best friend at the time!) torched him with hair spray and a lighter!

We're still friends- after all it's only a spider. I still don't get it though.
 
giant spiders

is there something in UL about conkers spread about the house keeping spiders out :confused:
 
Re: the bigger the better the smaller the lesser

DONKAMELEON~ said:
"Surely if the spider was that big then its legs would be relative in size and thus able to support it."

Yes, but in that case its legs would be so large, thick and "un-spidery" that it would be difficult to recognize them AS spider legs.

And:

"But if that's the case then how on earth did dinosaurs walk around?"

On their feet. It's those 100- and 200-foot tall Hollywood dinosaur- LOOKING dinosaurs that walk about eating skyskrapers that are the problem. THEY would fall apart under their own weight.

It's also why those photographs of putative 75-foot tall ancient human skeletons are always fake. A human being that size would REQUIRE legs as big around as mighty oak trees or even farm silos! And shoulders to match, to support the tremendous weight of those tree-thick arms.

Perhaps a better example - you can build a dandy model bridge out of wooden match sticks. But if you use the exact number of boards cut to the exacxt ratios of the match sticks and then use this lumber to build a full-size bridge that bridge is going to fall apart under is own weight, and in very short order.
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