UK Spiders vs USA Spiders?

Hi,

This is a weird post, but my fiance and I are having a convo about spiders (weird I know) and he says there are GIANT ones in England in the homes etc.  Now I HATE spiders, and we get some here in the US that I think are giant, but he swears UK spiders are bigger?

What do you think?
 

Hi,

This is a weird post, but my fiance and I are having a convo about spiders (weird I know) and he says there are GIANT ones in England in the homes etc.  Now I HATE spiders, and we get some here in the US that I think are giant, but he swears UK spiders are bigger?

What do you think?
 

I will say I have seen, in general, bigger house spiders in the UK, but fewer than in America. I do see less bugs in general, phew. Just my experiences though.

Ummm. I think he's right. Especially if you live in the country. I'll never forget the size of that spider I saw when we lived in rural Somerset.

http://www.uksafari.com/housespiders.htm

Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

I agree with Balmerhon, UK house spiders can be friggin massive!  However there are far fewer poisonous spiders in the UK compared to the US.   

I saw a spider here in the Uk, crawling on my floor that looked just like a land crab. I don't know what it was but it was horrifying.

They must have quite a few spiders because I see these "spider catchers" everywhere

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/spider-catcher/F/product/20455?src=gpsol&sq=spider%20catcher

The first time I saw a spider I thought it was a mouse! 

But in general I don't see them too often, and compared to So Cal there are no bugs at all here!

Hi,

This is a weird post, but my fiance and I are having a convo about spiders (weird I know) and he says there are GIANT ones in England in the homes etc.  Now I HATE spiders, and we get some here in the US that I think are giant, but he swears UK spiders are bigger?

What do you think?
 

DW saysour house spiders are much bigger. I think it's to do with older houses where the spiders have been for quite a number of years.

I have seen the biggest spiders I've ever seen since living in the UK!!  When cleaning in the boys room one time I moved their dresser out to clean legos off the floor and saw something scurry under the dresser - thought it was a mouse!  Moved the dresser to see what it was (after getting one of my hubby's BIG shoes!) and it was a really big spider that when it went running over the legos actually made a tappity-tappity noise!  I screamed so loud! 

But, on the bright side, I figure that they must eat a lot of little bugs!

I have yet to see a spider here, though I suspect in a day or two one will pop up just because I wrote this.  The biggest spider I have ever seen was a wolf spider out in Canada.  I grabbed my camping sack and *BAM* there was a huge, hairy spider, I jumped probably 10 feet in the air out of freight.  Despite being the canoe trip leader of the 11 girls I had with me, I got someone from another trip who was staying at the same site to get it off my bag...I have heard that wolf spiders have a very mean bite.  Guess this has nothing to do with your post sorry hijack over.

The spiders here in the UK generally seem to be bigger but they are more polite lol
I have taken a few pictures of the first few I have seen here and they are huge

Ummm. I think he's right. Especially if you live in the country. I'll never forget the size of that spider I saw when we lived in rural Somerset.

http://www.uksafari.com/housespiders.htm

Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

Holy freaking crap, why did I look at that link?!? It's totally freaked me out.

The spiders here do get very big. I don't think I saw as many in AZ (and, thank god, I never ran into a tarantula, I would have fainted).

I see more spiders in the UK than I did in the US. It could be because our garden is a spider haven. I find them mostly in the bathroom. Jon assures me they're harmless but they're so big that harmless or not, I squeal like a little girl and run from the room.

Oh you get some massive ones here.

I had one in the bath at my old flat when I was at uni which absolutely wouldn't die no matter what I did to it (hit it with a shoe, stabbed it with a mop, filled the bath with boiling water).

Seriously, I was desperate to kill it quickly (I used to not deal with them well as they freak me out, I can now handle this glass + paper stuff, I always used to go for death) but no matter what I did it kept moving.

In the end I shot it with a BB gun and it exploded and the bath was absolutely splattered full of spider guts, it was half the size of a dinner plate.

(I wouldn't do this now btw I just put them outside, but I was like 18 and stupid then )

a BB gun, how god how big are the spiders?

a BB gun, how god how big are the spiders?

This one was massive, by far the biggest I've ever seen. I thought it was a mouse or a rat, as I could hear it walking around in the bath it was that heavy.

It's true the house spiders in England can be huge but they are completely benign.  They are our friends.  If you treat them well, they will be good housemates to you.  It is true that they like to live in the bathroom.