To not kill this spider

[Edenviolet]

For the past couple of weeks there has been a spider on the outside of our bathroom window. Iam 99% sure it is a false widow.

It now has a nest and dsis and dh think we should open the window and kill it and the eggs. The thing is if I keep the window shut it can't get in and I feel terrible about killing it as it has a nest full of babies

Are they really as dangerous as I'm led to believe? Obviously don't want to leave it there if it has the potential to cause great harm but if the risk is small I just can't bear to kill it and its eggs/baby spiders (and I don't even like spiders)

Post or send me photo showing markings on it's back and I'll tell you x

Just realised you already did! Silly app. Will look on PC at work

Thank you!

Hi, I can't see colour very well - is it brown or black?

Also what area are you? Don't have to say town, just rough area

Hi, it does look like false widow, BUT I wouldn't panic or try to kill it. There are a number of different species of FW spider. Important things to note are:

1. all spiders are venomous - this is how they catch their prey. It's just that some have more potent/reactive venom than others

2. there are a number of different species of false widow, some are native and some were introduced to this country many years ago and have become established. They are now pretty widespread and it's only the past year that people have really become aware of them, so all that time before no one worried about them :)

3. the only way you're going to have a reaction to a false widow spider bite is if you're predisposed to having a reaction (i.e. allergic), in same as way as some people will get an allergic reaction to a bee/wasp sting and others will not. So the majority of people would not even realise they'd been bitten

4. they only bite if they feel threatened - the bites tend to be from males that have been caught up in clothing, or where people have tried to handle them

5. only one of the false widow spider species in this country gives a reaction - steatoda nobilis (noble false widow) - even then it would only be if it felt threatened and even then you'd only get a reaction if you were sensitive to the venom.

The one in your picture does look like a false widow - but you've already said that it is outside and that it has eggs, in which case it's likely to be a female. So I would leave it be. These spiders are pretty common now and if you were to worry about every single one then it would take a lot of your time :)

In case it's helpful here's a bit of info from the Natural History Museum: www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/false-widow/false-widow-worried/index.html

Leela so what what kind of reaction would you get if you was allergic/sensitive to bites and stings?

We have what looks like these spiders on our conservatory windows. I can't see any eggs though.
I don't know if I am allergic, but if I ever get stung or bitten by anything the area really swells up. I spent two weeks with my elbow twice the size it should have been and a bite on my hip the size of half an orange this summer.

Don't you sometimes open your bathroom window? You can't really keep it shut constantly. I loathe spiders, but only if they're those massive black hairy jobs (house spiders) Amazingly, I'd leave it alone. Many things bite/sting, we can't live in a bubble. But if as said above, anyone in your house has an allergy/reaction to bites, then it' better to be safe.
We have a very erudite ecologist/biologist in our village, who told us that False Widows have been here all the time, but people are making a fuss about them all of a sudden. They're not the same as Black Widows. (and of course, they're not insects but arthropods) He did a stint in Papua New Guinea, and found bird-eating spiders...(can hardly bring myself to write this...shudder) 6 inches across...... Aaaaaaaargh!

Plenty of people have mistaken the Zygiella X notata spider for a false widow, just FYI. That spider spins an orb web with two empty sectors, rather than a funnel-type.
As to your question, I'd leave it alone.

hatespiders that's what I said (above) - they have been here for many years but people are only just becoming aware of them as they are more widespread and the media picked up on them. I'm a biologist :)

jelly it would depend on your sensitivity - some people are severely allergic to bee/wasp stings, other people are not. If you were allergic to the bite then you might get some swelling in the area and pain, but as I said only one of the species is known to give a bite that causes reaction and even then only when threatened, therefore likelihood of being bitten AND of having reaction is very slim. Even then a bite would only become serious if left untreated.

Best thing to do if you think you've been bitten is to seek medical advice.

Oh no, I know I've not been bitten by these. The bites and stings I described happened in the summer. I was just wondering what would happen if I was to get bitten by them so I can decide wether to let them stay on my windows or not.

Thank you for your very helpful information :)

I'm a bit jealous, leela5, as I always adored Biology at school but was pushed by my parents to do languages!
I was talking to my dh this morning about this thread, and he said aren't we lucky here in UK, as nothing very much is deadly poisonous or particularly dangerous. Even a bite from an adder (very few per annum) isn't all that dodgy. When we go to W Africa we have to watch out left right and centre for all sorts of deadly doodahs, shake out our sandals, watch where we tread, check our bed etc. You can't just take a stroll in the bush without due precautions. It makes you very paranoid!

jelly it does sound like you've had some kind of allergy to a bite perhaps. My husband gets bad reactions to fly and mozzie bites, he gets huge swellings and big red patches. :( perhaps go see doc if it happens again

hatespiders you probably earn more than me though! My jobs never pay well and are few and far between so I have to move a lot.

It is very interesting though, I can't complain about being bored!

I totally agree we get off very lightly in this country. Not many animals to be wary of. I lived in Africa for a bit working on wildlife projects and had to be very cautious as we were working in the forests. But you do just get used to it

Leela that's brill info thank you! Not worried about the hysteria, just curious. She was definitely more black in person, photo looks brown. I live near Sheffield, when I briefly looked ages ago I didn't seem to be in an area prone to them.

I must be in a spider zone as I saw another wee beasty by my front door I've never seen before! We've just moved house but only down the road and I feel like it's all new!! I've no ponds nearby that I know of and saw a newt in our garden the other day

Whilst I have your expert expertise have you any idea who this might be? He's very ugly, shallow, wide and looks like a crusty crab. Can't tell why he has a 'box' on his back, if it's a marking or what. As I said in previous post, never seen one before!!

When I was looking into the false widow I wasn't sure as she had spun the most beautiful 'typical' web but the info I read online said that wasn't their type of web?

I couldn't see the legs on the one you posted earlier - are they stripy? It's always hard from a photo, so as good a photo and description as possible helps. There are some spiders that are easily confused with a false widow which is why I'm asking about the legs. Here's a page of spiders that are commonly mistaken: www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/false-widow/false-widow-mistaken/index.html
Plus the one someone mentioned earlier up the thread is on that page - Zygiella X notata spider.

Either way though just leave them alone and they will leave you alone. We don't have any spiders in the country you need to worry about.

Not sure about your other one, can't see it very well unfortunately. Both the NHM and the British Arachnological Society do an ID service - the Arachnological Society have some great ID guides on their pages: wiki.britishspiders.org.uk/index.php5?title=Main_Page

I'm not a spider expert by any means but I've had to research quite a bit about false widows over the past few years because of the media attention.

I don't profess to being a spider expert, but for some reason I have an aversion to killing spiders.

That said, if they give you an allergy that is extenuating circumstances.

I personally can't kill spiders because I find their webs just awesome, so delicate yet so strong. And seeing the dew and frost on a web this time of year is lovely.

Also because the get rid of all the flies and bugs that I can't kill.

"If you wish to live and thrive, let the spider run alive" was an old saying my Granny taught me as a child so I think it may give bad luck to kill one.

I often catch them running along the skirting board or dangling from a light fitting, pick them up in a glass and put them out on the patio.

I'd love to be a member of the Arachnological Society, sounds very learned!

I know! Nightmare to put on a business card though I imagine if you work for them!

I love spiders and could never kill them, they are so useful. I always fish them out of the bath and put them outside

Neither of the spiders pictured is a false widow, and the first looks to me like a garden/field spider.

False widows are shy, retiring types, and not aggressive. Hell, I used to live in South Africa where I shared my garden with black widows -- the only one I destroyed was one that was skulking under my bed when I arrived home one night, and in retrospect, now I would simply have put it outside.

Spiders are incredibly useful, and they're really not particularly interested in us. If they scare us, imagine how terrifying we look to them.