WTAF?! Trigger warning: spider pic

[NCPuffin]

DH just found this in our bathtub It's seriously huge! Sudocrem tub for scale - small tub, but the spider is huge nonetheless!

Hate to inform you we are in the Midlands, not Australia...

Any idea what type of spider this is???

Aw it's only a house spider. I did get bit 6 times by a false widow though, I killed that one. It hurt, a lot...

I hope your diets are plant based (like mine) and you don’t have an irrational fear of spiders (like me) or you’re being massive hypocrites calling me out on hoovering a couple of spiders.
We don’t have them where I’m from originally and I’m terrified of them to the point of leaving the house if there’s a big one in there.

@gonnabreakmyrustycage in an attempt not to sound like a patronising arsehole, have you tried anything to improve your fear? As you have a plant based diet I assume you probably have as I don't imagine killing would be your first go to. If it absolutely can't be avoided then it's understandable, I think people maybe assumed you killed them for convenience.

I am terrified of them big buggers. I know they won't hurt me but the way scurry really fast petrified me. No way I could even catch one in a glass. Don't mind the smaller ones and those that just sit in their web waiting for a catch. However the big ones you get at this time of year are evil. They run at you and everything. Uurrgghh!

Giant house spider, Eratigena atrica or Tegenaria gigantea depending on who you ask (the latter is more commonly used in the UK). They’re fairly big, and it’s the time of year for the males to go hunting for prospective mates (look for the boxing gloves)!
Tegenaria domestica or the Domestic House spider don’t get half as big but move just as fast.

This is my new pet , Incy .
I like spiders but even I was a little startled when he popped up from behind my laptop

Angie169 completely irrelevant but I do love gooseberry fool! ‘‘Twas always a treat at my Grannie’s house

It is a house spider. A female house spider looking for a male. Totally harmless, just leave her alone. They can’t live outdoors so putting them outside is cruel.

What has a plant based diet got to do with hoovering up spiders

@MsOliphant, I think she's trying to make the point that meat eaters have no right to judge her for killing spiders.

Haha, I thought she might be but it's a stupid point. One has nothing to do with the other.

It's fine to put them outside as they just find their way back inside again.

As a child, we had one that regularly was put out of The bathroom window and it would then climb back up the outside wall and back up the overflow pipe into the bath.

I've also got them living in the shed quite happily so it's not automatic death to put them out. It's certainly better than squashing them or hoovering them up, poor things.

YeTalkShiteHen

Me too , I like Tescos own as it has bits of G'berry in it and is not to sweet .

Now if I can just persuade Mr Incy to stop trying to eat it . . .

This blighter lives on my girls' Wendy house in the garden ... I keep tying to catch it to move it as I am sure it's a false widow but it moves too fast! I don't want to spray any insecticide into its hole it lives in cos I don't like to kill things.
Coming to the spidery time of year 😳😬

Angie169 haha I don’t share food not even with a massive spider

I think that’s just a garden spider @3girlmama. Used to have loads where I used to live and they kept themselves to themselves.

Actually, my mistake, I think it’s a lacewebbed spider not a garden spider.

Yes @3girlmama it looks like a garden spider, not shiny enough for a false widow, and the abdomen on a false widow is rounder too. I have false widows, the cupboard type, so I am used to seeing them.

Yes maybe lace web, but not false widow.

At least it’s not a false widow! I must confess, I love spiders and they dont bother me but I do fear the false widow a bit.

@SirVixofVixHall - when you say you have them, do you mean lots of them?

Yes, I often find them. They live in cupboards, this species is known as the cupboard spider. They tend to stay put though, they don’t go wandering about.

At least I hope they don’t go wandering about......

Tegenaria domestica. That's not a gigantica, it's too small!

They don't die if you put them outside, at least that's what the spider expert at London zoo said. Evicting them is totally humane and harmless.
I fully recommend the friendly spider program. 100% amazing.

that’s good, at least you know where they are, then!

I thought they could only live in buildings ? I leave mine alone, although on occasion I have relocated one to an outhouse.