Spiders - why do they have such long legs..?

Emmy_H wrote (see)

 

I looked at PhilPubs picture and wonder if i'll be able to sleep tonight :/

I do hope this doesn't get quoted out of context.  

Perfect TOTP

Guy I used to work with wasn't keen on spiders. He didn't mind photos of them, except when I showed him a jumping spider.

He said the eyes freaked him out:

The incidents quoted below are all considered to have been genuine cases of spider bite. They are cases where the specimen was submitted for identification to the Natural History Museum, and accompanied by an account of the bite and its symptoms.

• Report 1: Tube web spider, Segestria florentina
• Report 2: False widow spider, Steatoda nobilis
• Report 3: Woodlouse spider, Dysdera crocata
• Report 4: Walnut orb-weaver spider, Nuctenea umbratica
• Report 5: False widow spider or cellar spider, Steatoda grossa
• Report 6: Lace weaver spider, Amaurobius similis
• Report 7: Black lace weaver spider, Amaurobius ferox
• Report 8: Mouse spider, Herpyllus blackwalli
• Report 9: Rustic wolf spider, Trochosa ruricola
• Report 10: Bark sac spider, Clubiona corticalis
• Report 11: Stone spider, Drassodes lapidosus
• Report 12: Cross or garden spider, Araneus diadematus
• Report 13: Bruennichi's Argiope, Argiope bruennichi
• Report 14: Money spider, Leptohoptrum robustum

If you know anybody from or who has worked in the Middle East, ask them about Camel spiders.  There are all sorts of rumours about them being able to run 30mph and screaming as they attack, unfounded apparently, but they are really aggressive and if you try to sweep them away with a broom they will run up the broom at you.  I know guys who have worked on military aircraft out in Saudi Arabia and they say everybody enters hangars at night with real caution

I am also surprised now that nobody has mentioned that this is truly a hot "thread"

I love spiders, could spend hours watching them.  I used to feed them in the graden as a child, and it's where my love of entomology grew from.  Anyone share my love of inchneumon wasps? Didn't think so

RicF, My friend actually got bitten by a woodlouse spider (report 3), I saw it happen and he had a massive reaction to the bite and had a golf ball sized lump on his arm.

Not exactly Giant centipedes and Male Funnel Web spiders but until I read that report i was under the impression only two UK spider species could bite.

As for the venom in UK spiders I once lobbed a maggot on to a web in my shed and a tiny pale green (body 2mm dia) spider appeared and gave it a nip. The maggot stopped moving instantly. 

I did wonder what the result would been if the spider was big enough to nip me.

Wonder what species it was.

Sounds like a green orb weaver, small, green and a powerful venom

Here is my pet chillian common tarantula, She is around 17 years old and wouldn't harm anything that's not food.

Although she spends most of her time perfectly still it still amazes me to watch her wash ,first dampening the end of one of her feet and curling her leg round to scrub her back.

watching her web the floor when she is about to shed, Shedding her skin is itself amazing rolling on to her back before spending several hours pulling herself out of her skin .

My wife and work colleges many men at that often call me to catch spiders to remove them from where they are working. One work mate said that he and his wife were on their kitchen table for an hour one weekend because both are terrified of spiders and one decided to march across their floor (lol).

before anyone asks why I have a pet spider its a very long story, I never intended to get one as a pet but I am glad that I have  or I would of missed some incredible moments

 Thats so cool I want one. Thanks for sharing.

Shiva wrote (see)

Sounds like a green orb weaver, small, green and a powerful venom

Thanks for that. Its only taken me 35 years to find that out.