What kind of spider is this?.

[k0ua]

While I'm not thrilled with spiders in general, and will in fact kill Black Widow spiders with fire (my handy propane torch being the weapon of choice - a quick trigger pull & release results in a sufficient fireball to knock it down off of wherever it's at without igniting anything, and then I can step on it or just carbonize it as needed), these "wolf spiders" (I think it's more accurate than the absurd "tarantula" that my wife calls them) don't seem to cause any problems here.

Occasionally I find them in the house and try to toss them outside, but they usually find their way back out on their own (or the cat gets them) because we don't kill them, and I'm certain nobody's been bit.

I've seen them in the house up to a leg-span of about an inch, though I've found a couple outside with about a 2" leg-span (startled the livin' %$#@ out of me trust me). I'm pretty sure they mostly live in the ground, I see holes with a bit of gauzy lining.

They seem to be beneficial, eating insects and other spiders including the brown recluse, who is not beneficial to anyone. I leave the wolf spiders alone, mostly encountering them in the garage occasionally and outside. We have kitties inside, so I don't think they would last too long inside the house.

 

[jack707]

View attachment 5

It's on a 2" furing strip!

 

[k0ua]

View attachment 5

It's on a 2" furing strip!

I have one about that size that lives under the cover of my 20lb propane tank on the back deck.

 

[scdeerslayer]

What do you guys have against spiders? I've always said that spiders are your friend because they eat bugs. I try not to kill any an typically just leave them alone, even the black widows.

 

[N80]

I kill them if they get on me or come in my house.

 

[CountryB]

If you think a 2" leg span is big, look up Banana Spider. 2 inches is the body width - not including the legs. Yes, we have those in Florida.
Imagine riding the mower down the back fence line and driving into one of these webs and getting a 4 to 5 inch spider in your face - I nearly did a back flip off the tractor.

 

[N80]

I have always hated spiders, almost to the point of phobia when I was younger. But when I was stationed at Eglin AFB on the panhandle of Florida I used to hunt of the reservation there and I have never seen so many spiders. Most of these where black and white orb weaver type spiders and they spun their huge webs across the dirt roads. Driving through there was just one constant spider web after another. I got home one day and there were 20 spiders on my truck...and then in my garage. Well, the same was true for walking around. You constantly had these spiders on you. They were harmless (even though they don't look harmless) and I eventually got used to them. A kind of emersion therapy.

I still find them revolting.

 

[Wagtail]

Here's a Huntsman who visited my bedroom the other year. I've come to accept them as they'll come & go.

 

[ning]

I tend to think that snakes & spiders hit some instinctual terror point in our minds - I don't think this is a learned behavior.

I can approach and handle snakes (non-venomous; and spiders, though "handle" in this case means a piece of carboard or a jar), but I'll break records leaping into the air if I notice either and startle.