Sunday, April 28, 2024

Seattle's giant house spiders: Big and fast, but they won't kill you

giant house spider

This preference for secluded areas is a survival strategy that allows them to remain hidden from potential threats while patiently waiting for their next meal to cross their path. To minimize their presence in your living spaces, it is advisable to practice proper clutter elimination and engage in regular cleaning routines. We make it transparent how we can offer you high-quality content, competitive prices and useful tools by explaining how each comparison came about. This gives you the best possible assessment of the criteria used to compile the comparisons and what to look out for when reading them.

Can Giant House Spiders Bite?

What to do when giant spiders invade your home as numbers on the rise across UK - The Mirror

What to do when giant spiders invade your home as numbers on the rise across UK.

Posted: Sun, 20 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Editorial content is vetted by our journalists and editors to ensure our independence. We draw a clear line between our advertisers and editorial staff. Therefore, our specialist editorial team does not receive any direct remuneration from advertisers on our pages. Wild Explained was founded in 2021 and has a long track record of helping people make smart decisions. We have built this reputation for many years by helping our readers with everyday questions and decisions. Yes, Giant House Spiders are venomous, but their venom is not harmful to humans.

Life Cycle of a Giant House Spider

Their venom is used for hunting their prey and is not harmful to humans. In terms of size, the giant house spider (UK) has been known to display a leg span of up to 120mm wide (which is about the diameter of a Compact Disc!). Female giant house spiders are larger than males, and will also live for several years, usually outliving males. If you live in the UK and find a big spider in your home, you might be seeing one of these scary-looking giant arachnids, known as the giant house spider. The giant house spider is not a medically significant spider.

giant house spider

Understanding Giant House Spiders

It is often found under rocks and in caves in a cool and dry environment. An average female spider lives for 2-3 years with some individuals living for up to six years. During the colder winter months, the spider often seeks refuge inside people’s homes.

Country diary: I’ve put this house spider outside before – several times - The Guardian

Country diary: I’ve put this house spider outside before – several times.

Posted: Thu, 01 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Black Widow Spider

Eratigena atrica spiders have been sighted 8 times by contributing members. Based on collected data, the geographic range for Eratigena atrica includes 5 countries and 3 states in the United States. Eratigena atrica is most often sighted indoors, and during the month of May. The spider species Eratigena duellica, commonly known as Giant House Spider, belongs to the genus Eratigena, in the family Agelenidae. Eratigena duellica spiders have been sighted 50 times by contributing members.

Eratigena atrica scientific classification

For example, what we commonly refer to as “daddy-longlegs” are, in most cases, not really spiders. There are actually indoor spiders and outdoor spiders, which are completely different species. The giant house spider was introduced to British Columbia, Canada, around 1900 and has since spread out along the U.S. Independent populations have also been recorded around the Great Lakes in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Giant House Spiders in Michigan

It’s important to note that while Giant House Spiders may appear intimidating due to their size, they are generally harmless to humans. Their venom is not potent enough to cause any serious harm, and they are not aggressive unless provoked. In fact, these spiders play a beneficial role in controlling the population of pests, making them valuable allies in the ecosystem. Giant House Spiders usually inhabit dark, damp environments such as basements, crawl spaces, and garages. These areas provide them with the ideal conditions for survival, as they prefer the cool and moist environment. The spiders often seek out hidden corners and crevices where they can build their webs and wait for unsuspecting prey to become entangled.

After mating, the female Giant House Spider assumes the responsibility of ensuring the survival of the species. She meticulously selects secluded locations to lay her precious egg sacs. These egg sacs can contain hundreds of eggs, each representing the potential for new life.

They play a significant role in controlling pests within the household. The spider is normally nocturnal and is very reluctant to bite humans. If you do get bitten by one, stay calm because it can bite quite hard. Wash the area with soap and water, which will help the wound heal quickly and stop infection from setting in. They may get inside lofts if their entry point is something like a wall cavity or underneath garage doors. Which leads to what Crawford believes is the most dangerous myth about spiders — the belief that every bump, sore, and lesion people wake up and discover is a spider bite.

They prefer to avoid contact with humans and hide during the day, meaning they are most often seen at night. Giant house spiders  are a very common spider species found in North Carolina. They have a leg span that can reach up to 4 inches, with a brown and hairy body. Their abdomen is patterned with a series of marks, usually lighter than their overall body color. What is true is that giant house spiders are big, reaching 4 inches with their leg span. Although the female has a larger body, the males have longer legs, according to Iowa State University’s BugGuide.

These spiders come inside houses and buildings to overwinter and hide from the colder temperatures and the scarcity of food outside. A giant house spider is not very difficult to identify, even though there are several very similar species of house spider. Maybe it’s just that after decades of answering the same knee-jerk questions about spiders, Crawford has grown cynical about the learning capacity of humans. Encounters with Giant House Spiders are most likely to occur in areas where there is a constant supply of insects for them to prey upon. These resourceful spiders have adapted to thrive in various habitats, including cellars, attics, closets, and even behind furniture. Furthermore, Giant House Spiders possess hairy bodies, adding to their intriguing appearance.

Therefore, you can assume that your interests are our top priority. We’re not likely to see them unless their webs get disturbed or it’s mating season, which happens to be now. From early August to mid-September, “mature males leave their webs to wander in search of mates and can run like the wind,” Crawford explained.

See our common spiders species to help you identify spiders. On a lighter note, only one of the 972 (and counting) types of spiders Crawford has helped to document in Washington state are dangerous to humans. One interesting feature of Giant House Spiders is their ability to produce silk. Silk is a versatile material that spiders use for various purposes, such as building webs, creating egg sacs, and even for shelter. These spiders have specialized silk glands located in their abdomen, which produce different types of silk depending on the spider’s needs. They are most active as the sun goes down, which is when they emerge from their sacs and hunt for food, including other spiders.

The average lifespan of a Giant House Spider is around one to two years. During this time, they continue to play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature. Their feeding habits and hunting prowess contribute to the control of insect populations, helping to keep the ecosystem in check. Once the eggs hatch, tiny spiderlings emerge, ready to embark on their own journey of growth and development. These young spiders go through several molting stages, shedding their exoskeletons as they grow larger. Each molt brings them closer to adulthood, and with each stage, they become more skilled hunters.

Seeing a spider in your home may give you the heebie-jeebies, but they are common in California homes. For the most part, these house spiders in California are harmless, but it helps to be able to identify these eight-legged creatures when you see one. This is a list of common house spiders found in the state of California.

The best bet is to put captured spiders in another manmade structure, like a garage, crawlspace, toolshed, or carport. When it comes to living and working pest-free, the best choice is Griffin Pest Solutions. Eratigena duellica has been primarily sighted during the month of April. All identification and information on USAspiders.com are free - of course. If you would like to support us, we appreciate donations through Paypal here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Woody Guthrie House of the Rising Sun Lyrics

Table Of Content Charts Who is the Writer Behind “House of the Rising Sun?” The Animals' version More From: Behind The Song The Time Bob...