There is a large giant spider in my apartment. I don't want to kill it because I need something to get rid of the flies, but if it's poisonous I might have to smash it.
It's rather scary
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
How large huge giant are we talkin'? Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
Wolf spider huge, or bigger still?
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Is it fuzzy?
Posted by The Flying Dracula Hair (Member # 10155) on :
Does it speak?
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
If you need something to get rid of flies get fly paper. And put the spider outside. Get it in a cup and toss it.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I have fly paper, but if I get a cup and toss it it might touch me which is very icky.
Plus it's huge. it's larger than an inch and has front legs that look more like arms. It looks like a mutant scorpion creature.
You just put a disposable cup over it, then slide a piece of paper under, then just toss the whole thing outside. It can't touch you.
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
Just last night when I was about to fall asleep, I felt the most terrifying thing land on my ear. Tiny legs. I spasmed immediately--and I'm pretty sure it was a house centipede because I've been seeing them lately. That was pretty terrifying. http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/files/images/website.preview.jpg Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
"Large huge" is a great redundantcy. i like how its redundant. Fact: that is true
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Ya know, it's amusing how easily "huge" can be redefined in a short period of time.
-Trevor
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
ugh... centipede's creep me out. We used to call them "hunter killers" in my house or "silverfish".
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
You called centipedes silverfish?
I've never heard of such a thing. Silverfish creep me out but in a totally different way from centipedes.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Launchywiggin: Just last night when I was about to fall asleep, I felt the most terrifying thing land on my ear. Tiny legs. I spasmed immediately--and I'm pretty sure it was a house centipede because I've been seeing them lately. That was pretty terrifying. http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/files/images/website.preview.jpg
Omigod! A wug! They're called house centipedes? We call them wugs (for wicked ugly bugs). They are fast! And disgusting. "We hates them!"
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Telperion the Silver: ugh... centipede's creep me out. We used to call them "hunter killers" in my house or "silverfish".
Oh. Heh. Wikipedia says "House centipedes are often mistaken for the unrelated silverfish." (link)
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Oh, turns out what I had living in my room was centipedes afterall. I would catch them and toss them out the window into the snow, instead of kill them quickly. Hypocrite .
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Centipedes are rather icky, but I do not like to kill them. They just have too many legs There's no reason to have that many legs. My grandmother used to freak when she saw them. She called them Thousand Legs.
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: Centipedes are rather icky, but I do not like to kill them. They just have too many legs There's no reason to have that many legs. My grandmother used to freak when she saw them. She called them Thousand Legs.
Technically, wouldn't that be a millipede? Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Gah, reading this thread and clicking these pictures was a LARGE HUGE mistake.
I've never seen a house centipede, but they will haunt my dreams forever.
Posted by mistaben (Member # 8721) on :
I came across a <a href="http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/images/gigantea.jpg">Giant House Spider</a> the other day. He was just sitting on the middle of the stairs. I visibly freaked out when I realized what it was.
By the way, notice the ruler in my linked picture? Yeah, mine was about that big too.
I put him in an empty salsa jar. I bet he was spicy when I threw him out.
It calls to mind something Homer would say:
"Mmmmmm, spicy spider....aaaalllllllggggghhhh"
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: Gah, reading this thread and clicking these pictures was a LARGE HUGE mistake.
I've never seen a house centipede, but they will haunt my dreams forever.
Now imagine, this being airlifted in by this and you've got the makings of a pretty good nightmare I would say.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
See, I don't really mind House Centipedes, because for the most part they stay out of sight. Plus, they eat the other thing that lives in my basement, the creature that looks like an unholy mutant hybrid of Cricket and Spider, the creature that's so fast you can't possibly kill it, the creature that knows it's so freaky its natural defense is to jump at you.
I'm talking, of course, about the Spider Cricket, also known as the Cave Cricket.
Bear in mind that these suckers are BIG, and once again JUMP AT YOU.
So, yeah, I don't mind the House Centipedes so much. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
His Savageness, how BIG are the centipedes that live in your house??? The house centipedes I used to have in a townhouse where I lived were pretty darned freaky but they didn't look big enough to eat a spider cricket. They were pretty much all legs, the bodies were small.
Luckily, the spider crickets seemed to stay outdoors. They liked to collect on our front porch when the porch light was on. One night my roommate (pre-cell phone days) called me from a pay phone across the street. She wanted me to turn off the front porch light so that she wouldn't be attacked by the spider crickets (which we just called "hoppy bugs") on her way in.
I must say, I like WUGS for the centipedes. One ran across my foot one time when we were trying to catch it, and it freaked me out pretty bad. Yes, fast and disgusting.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote:Originally posted by steven: "Find out if it's poisonous, and if it's not, live with it. It probably won't crawl on you much."
Yeah, I mean, it probably won't crawl out at night and dance on your forehead and sing "hello my baby". Probably.
I spit out my drink all over the keyboard.
Thanks, steven. Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by His Savageness: http://www.aflresumes.com/dl/spider%20cricket.jpg
AGH agh agh aghaghahglsdk
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
Originally posted by Uprooted:
quote:His Savageness, how BIG are the centipedes that live in your house??? The house centipedes I used to have in a townhouse where I lived were pretty darned freaky but they didn't look big enough to eat a spider cricket. They were pretty much all legs, the bodies were small.
I think they're about two inches long. I've never actually seen a centipede feasting on a spider cricket carcass (that image, I think, would be enough to drive one mad), but I've read on the internet that centipedes are the natural predator to the spider cricket, and since I've seen a couple of centipedes in our basement I've hardly seen any spider crickets. I've assumed the centipedes were doing the dirty deed. Maybe they're taking credit for something else's work?
Originally posted by ersomniac:
quote: AGH agh agh aghaghahglsdk
[Nods emphatically/] And yet they're so much worse in real life... Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Eros, you're not learning that "don't click" lesson, are you? Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
H.S., after I posted I thought, "well, duh, maybe the centipedes are why you never saw spider crickets in the house!"
ETA: oh, and speaking of images to drive one mad: I have never forgotten the image of a praying mantis hanging on to the leg of a tiny toad that was frantically leaping and hopping with the other legs, trying to escape. I didn't stick around to witness its fate.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
I was doing a bit of house-cleaning a few days ago. My daughter brought home a box of rubber animal toys- snakes, spiders, beetles, and the like- so when I saw a big spider on the bed, I grabbed it along with the things I was clearing.
GYAHHHH!
Five minutes later, when I'd somewhat recovered from the heebie-jeebies, I found a cup and put it outside.
I'm not normally a big arachnaphobe, but the sudden realization that I'd just picked up a big living spider was a bit much.
Posted by AutumnWind (Member # 9124) on :
HS, my boyfriend introduced my to the lovely Cave Cricket, or as he calls them "Sprickets" during a discussion of which was worse, NYC Waterbugs or NJ Sprickets. He was kind enough to bag one and catch it for me so I could see it up close. Funny thing is, I refused to catch one for him b/c I am, well let's just say, not fond of them. But as luck would have it one did happen to sneak its way into his Christmas present. Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
I get cave crickets in my bathroom sometimes; I think they're coming in through the dryer vent. Mostly I see them in the fall, but I saw a freaking humongous one in there last night, had to have been two inches across. *shudders* I don't usually mind them that much; if I have shoes on I stomp them and if I'm barefoot I point them out to the cats. The cats like to pull their legs off and watch them wiggle around till they die Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
AutumnWind, for the record, I hate cockroaches (is that the plural?) worse than perhaps any other creature on the face of the planet. I would take a basement full of Sprickets over a moderate amount of roaches in my upper levels any day. However, I've luckily only ever seen a few small roaches in our house. When I do see one, I replace the roach motels I have scattered all over, and then I don't see any for another six months.
So a roach snuck its way into his present? What was the present and what was the reaction. *Shudder*
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
quote: The cats like to pull their legs off and watch them wiggle around till they die
That's the most heartwarming thing I've ever heard. If I ever see a bunch of them in the basement again, I'm going to get a cat.
Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
For about a week I have had two nickle sized garden spiders that living in my bathtub, they live out itsy bitsy spider everytime I take a shower.
Posted by AutumnWind (Member # 9124) on :
HS, it's actually quite funny (and I'm happy to have a partner in crime in my loathing of these things). I can even tolerate roaches, but roaches on steroids..NO! When I was living at home in Queens whenever it would rain there was always a good chance of there being a waterbug in either my brother's room or the attic. I had stored my bf's gift in my brother's room for a good month or so. It was a beautiful blue robe from Macy's. It was our first Christmas together and we had been dating for around 4 months (so it was also that...what do I get them stage). Anywhoo, we're exchanging gifts and as soon as he opens it I see the carcass of a large waterbug in the box...I screamed and jumped up and went to the furthest part of the room away from the offending box. I couldn't stop apologizing b/c to me the robe was now dirty. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Then he comes towards me with the box trying to get to the stairs to get rid of it. I then yell at him not to come closer, run to the opposite side of the room and let him continue downstairs... Needless to say I think two things happened that night. 1 - NYC Waterbugs won the contest 2 - We have a story to pass on to our future children Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
quote:The cats like to pull their legs off and watch them wiggle around till they die
That's the most heartwarming thing I've ever heard. If I ever see a bunch of them in the basement again, I'm going to get a cat.
Cats are great for keeping the cricket population under control. We often find discarded cricket legs around the house since our cats like to eat the bodies and leave the legs behind. Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Large spiders are what vacuum cleaners were invented for. If it's too large to be sucked up by a vacuum cleaner... well, then you have a problem.
Posted by Asher (Member # 10422) on :
Suck it up in the vacuum - in one of those bagless ones. Then, you can watch it go round. Then, set the vacuum out along the street and let someone steal it and try to empty the container and let the killer spider jump on them with both its forearms flailing and scratching at the hapless victim's eyes and frothing at the mouth and screaming (both the victim and the spider) and be sure to get the next day's paper to read the headline "Man killed by Vacuum", which the AP will pick up and publish across the world making men across the world afraid to use vacuums.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Seriously though, if it's too big for a vacuum your only chance is to make some kind of alliance with it. Offer to provide it with sacrifices in exchange for it staying out of sight. Once you've gained its trust, try killing it by pumping one of the sacrifices full of poison.
Posted by Amilia (Member # 8912) on :
[sings] Don't try to take that centipede's life 'Cause you'll cut him in half and he'll still survive, And go home to his wife in pairs . . . And they'll have problems. [/sings]
Posted by The Reader (Member # 3636) on :
If you have a Shop-Vac, no spider is too big.
I think I have seen a spider cricket before. I keep in mind that it has six legs, not eight, and therefore is not evil.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
gibber
Is this thread some kind of pavlovian aversion therapy thing to cure wild clickyness???
I need more coffee.
At least in my house the worst we get are tegenaria domestica otherwise known as AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH.
I have a deal with them. They stay in the garage, and I don't jump up and down on in big heavy boots. It works for me.
That said - if it doesn't have eight legs I'm good.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
A friend of mine lived in Eastern Australia for a while. He told me the worst thing was a tarantula that was about 12 inches in diameter. He said he and his roomates found it in their room, and smashed it with a dartboard.
That gave me nightmares. :twitch:
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
That actually seems kind of sad, like killing a great predator or something.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I'll have you know I haven't clicked on one link in this thread.
Spiders and centipedes give me the heebie-jeebies big time.
Snakes, however, don't.
Posted by dantesparadigm (Member # 8756) on :
They would if they were on a plane.
Posted by AutumnWind (Member # 9124) on :
Or a train.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
quote: Anywhoo, we're exchanging gifts and as soon as he opens it I see the carcass of a large waterbug in the box...I screamed and jumped up and went to the furthest part of the room away from the offending box. I couldn't stop apologizing b/c to me the robe was now dirty. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Then he comes towards me with the box trying to get to the stairs to get rid of it. I then yell at him not to come closer, run to the opposite side of the room and let him continue downstairs...
Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
Did we ever figure out what spider was actually in the room? Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Oh, was it a wolf spider? If so, it really doesn't want to be in the house. Catch and release it outdoors. Both of you will be much happier. Be warned, however - wolf spiders run FAST.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
In Arizona, wolf spiders used to get into the house a lot. I never really minded them, except for the time that a large female (with all her hundreds of babies) decided to hang out in my shoe one night. In the morning, I tried to put the shoe on without looking in it, and felt a something large inside. I shook it out, and a huge spider fell out onto the floor and promptly scurried off. Then, when I glanced at the shoe which was still in my hand, baby spiders were boiling up out of it.
I felt really bad for that momma spider.
--Mel
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
EEEE I saw the spider outside on the screen, the same one.
So somehow in the middle of the renovations, it escaped.
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: In Arizona, wolf spiders used to get into the house a lot. I never really minded them, except for the time that a large female (with all her hundreds of babies) decided to hang out in my shoe one night. In the morning, I tried to put the shoe on without looking in it, and felt a something large inside. I shook it out, and a huge spider fell out onto the floor and promptly scurried off. Then, when I glanced at the shoe which was still in my hand, baby spiders were boiling up out of it.
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
.
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Evil Laugh]](graemlins/evillaugh.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)