Close Encounters - of the Spider Kind

[remotelywild]

I have a good half dozen spiders living in my (outside) toilet; I just say gday to them and figure they cut down on the flies and mozzies.

Are wolf spiders in america like wolf spiders here in Oz? Big and hairy, look like dinner plates when you see them walking up your thigh, have four eyes on their headparts etc?

Spiders are fascinating, and its curious how people are either scared by snakes, which don't have enough legs, or by spiders, which have too many.

[baconeater]

I'm not crazy about spiders, but a couple of months ago, I saw a huge spider in my house. It was in the middle of winter, so instead of throwing it outside of killing it outright (I don't kill spiders), I put him in a jar. His name is Wolfie (a wolf spider). He eats raw hamburger meat. Not sure if I'm going to let him go in the spring.

[remotelywild]

Guess you wouldn't have been too impressed with the wolf spider on the thigh either...

We've got funnelwebs, trapdoors, and redbacks - they're the ones that can kill you. There's another sort supposed to cause flesh necrosis in some people, and beleive me you don't want to see pictures of this. (Not me luckily, as I've been bitten by that sort dozens of times with no ill-effects.)

[Methadone4Life]

I have a crazy fear of spiders. We only have black widows and I think,brown recluse...as far as I know that is the only poisonous spiders in my area. I would have probably had a heart attack if I would have seen that big spider in the shower!