# UK cave spiders - the scariest wee beasties in my home!



## Simon Cole (28 Jun 2022)

A few years ago I was moving logs around in my outbuilding when I got bitten by a European Cave Spider _Meta menardi._
I started getting dizzy and hallucinating, and the bite took the next two years to fully heal. Not nice.
I now treat my arachnid landlords/overlords with a little bit more respect.
They live underneath all of my downstairs floorboards and I have a few inspection hatches to view them, and despite the floor falling apart, I have chosen to leave them be, preserving their habitat beneath me.

The problem seems to be that they are in some sort of social colony. The females each have a small territory of about 2 ft where they hang, and each protect an egg case above them.
When they detect a human passing underneath them, they will drop down and attack, thereby sacrificing themselves in order to protect the colony. But it is generally okay if you leave them alone.
So far as I am aware, they are the only spider to live in social colonies, but I could be wrong.
They get huge. I have seen all of the largest species of spiders in the UK (except the Fen raft spider), and I fear these ones the most.
My current colony must be well over a hundred individuals, and they rarely come out. But tonight was an exception...
One of the larger females had ventured up out of cracks in the floorboards earlier on, and she was setting up shop just below my bathroom sink. She has abdomen about as large as a 1 pence coin, and huge creepy legs with hairs all down them.
They rarely come up into my own habitat zone, so I presume she was either interested in man-habitat, or possibly chasing a small slug that was in my sink.

Anyway, here is a photograph of the cave spider currently in my bathroom, below.
There are hundreds more. I am tempted sometimes to open my house as a tourist attraction or register as some sort of protected wildlife site. Yikes!


----------



## sparkyweasel (28 Jun 2022)

Simon Cole said:


> A few years ago I was moving logs around in my outbuilding when I got bitten by a European Cave Spider _Meta menardi._
> I started getting dizzy and hallucinating, and the bite took the next two years to fully heal. Not nice.


Not nice indeed.  
Is that a typical reaction, or are you allergic or hypersensitive to them?


----------



## jaypeecee (28 Jun 2022)

Simon Cole said:


> Anyway, here is a photograph of the cave spider currently in my bathroom, below.
> There are hundreds more.


Hi @Simon Cole 

A job for Rentokil, perhaps?

JPC


----------



## Wookii (28 Jun 2022)

@Simon Cole have you ran any tests to see if you now have super powers? (Perhaps don't try leaping off tall buildings just yet though!)


----------



## shangman (28 Jun 2022)

Sounds like the beginning of a Lovecraftian adventure 😱


----------



## LondonDragon (28 Jun 2022)

Dman, you are brave! I would have got rid of them all by now! LOL


----------



## Aleman (28 Jun 2022)

The scariest thing in my house is my son! ... Well more so his collection of "interesting" invertebrates . The spiders and tarantula's are not to bad, nothing worse than a bee sting for a healthy person from the venom, but the punctures from the "jaws" would leave a mess . The scorpionidae again is a little bee sting, but the "claws" are incredibly strong. The giant Asian cave centipede, is the one that worries me  The venom from that can put a healthy person on thier back ... and the thing is bloody aggressive!


----------



## Andy Taylor (28 Jun 2022)

Rename them to man cave spiders.
She looks similar to the false  widow spider,
Steatoda nobilis - Wikipedia


----------



## Simon Cole (28 Jun 2022)

sparkyweasel said:


> Is that a typical reaction, or are you allergic or hypersensitive to them?


There have been very few bites recorded. The female that got me would have been very large and it was a deliberate attack. I don't think it became infected, but I still have a scar, and that was from ten years ago. I think it was the venom that did the damage because it stopped the tissue from healing, but luckily it did not become infected.


jaypeecee said:


> A job for Rentokil, perhaps?


I can never find it in myself to harm any living creature. They seem to stop a lot of other bugs from getting in and eating the timber, so I see them as a benefit. The only problem is that this individual has claimed my toilet as it's new territory.
To make things even more bizarre, I just went for a cup of tea, and a drowned slug was in my kettle, so I'm bleaching it. I even have a robin bird who comes inside the house to hunt for spiders sometimes, so I have always been a bit close to nature. There is even this house spider who lives behind my kitchen worktop and will charge out when a fly lands there, even when I am busy cooking. I used to put it outside, but it always returned to it's home territory, and to be honest, it is nice having them all helping out.


Wookii said:


> have you ran any tests to see if you now have super powers? (Perhaps don't try leaping off tall buildings just yet though!)





shangman said:


> Sounds like the beginning of a Lovecraftian adventure





Aleman said:


> The giant Asian cave centipede... The venom from that can put a healthy person on thier back ... and the thing is bloody aggressive


That is so cool. You only need to worry if he gets a license for dangerous pets - but I would find that centipede a bit scary. I am one of those people that would possibly suck out any venom, but at least that centipede hates the light.


Andy Taylor said:


> She looks similar to the false widow spider,


I'm glad it's not one of them. I do get the odd Nobel false widow passing through. They tend to live in cracks as opposed to hanging suspended.


----------



## Yugang (28 Jun 2022)

Simon Cole said:


> I can never find it in myself to harm any living creature


Rumour has it, amongst spiders, than Simon Cole's is the place to be.


----------



## Hufsa (28 Jun 2022)

Simon Cole said:


> The only problem is that this individual has claimed my toilet as it's new territory.



Have you considered trying to negotiate a toll agreement, where you offer x amount of flies for periodic usage of the spiders new toilet?


----------



## Wookii (28 Jun 2022)

Hufsa said:


> Have you considered trying to negotiate a toll agreement, where you offer x amount of flies for periodic usage of the spiders new toilet?



Now I'm a bit worried about where he's going to get bitten next!


----------



## Hufsa (28 Jun 2022)

Wookii said:


> Now I'm a bit worried about where he's going to get bitten next!


Only if he delivers subpar quality flies! 🤨


----------



## Yugang (28 Jun 2022)

Hufsa said:


> Have you considered trying to negotiate a toll agreement, where you offer x amount of flies for periodic usage of the spiders new toilet?


Tried but failed. This particular spider had no shortage of delicious flies


----------



## Aleman (28 Jun 2022)

Wookii said:


> Now I'm a bit worried about where he's going to get bitten next!


That's when he finds out who is friends are!!


----------



## KirstyF (28 Jun 2022)

Visiting Simon’s house for a quick cuppa:


----------



## PARAGUAY (28 Jun 2022)

That knock on the door will be Chris Packham  l believe he had a wasps nest in his living room !


----------



## Simon Cole (28 Jun 2022)

Houston we have a problem...



...she is presently building her nest on my toilet (second night now).


----------



## Yugang (28 Jun 2022)

This The Giant golden orb-weaver spider. can measure up to 15-20 cm leg span, and is very common in Hong Kong. You see them everywhere.

I used to go mountain biking over trails in HK, early morning when webs are still fresh and undisturbed by hikers. OK, you get the idea


----------



## KirstyF (29 Jun 2022)

You have to be kidding me!! 😱

Upgrade for Hong Kong:


----------



## Nont (29 Jun 2022)

Yugang said:


> This The Giant golden orb-weaver spider. can measure up to 15-20 cm leg span, and is very common in Hong Kong. You see them everywhere.
> 
> I used to go mountain biking over trails in HK, early morning when webs are still fresh and undisturbed by hikers. OK, you get the idea
> 
> ...


Nice one! Seems to be the same species I found in my house many months ago.


----------



## The Miniaturist (29 Jun 2022)

That's a bit too close for comfort @Simon Cole! 😳 Though absolutely fascinating from a good number of miles away!
And as for @Yugang's beastie....it's more scary than the Terminator! (Though rather beautiful when you're not flailing around stuck in it's web!) 😲


----------



## Wookii (29 Jun 2022)

Yugang said:


> This The Giant golden orb-weaver spider. can measure up to 15-20 cm leg span, and is very common in Hong Kong. You see them everywhere.
> 
> I used to go mountain biking over trails in HK, early morning when webs are still fresh and undisturbed by hikers. OK, you get the idea
> 
> ...



Whilst I'm pleased to say I've significantly curbed my fear of spiders over the last couple of decades, I'm more than willing to admit that I would crap my pants if I saw that! 😅


----------



## Aleman (29 Jun 2022)

One of my lads


----------



## Yugang (29 Jun 2022)

Aleman said:


> One of my lads
> 
> View attachment 190501


Can only afford this if your wife really loves you

My wife would run away...


----------



## Aleman (29 Jun 2022)

Yugang said:


> Can only afford this if your wife really loves you


Tell me about it ... His cost him £150 as a sub-adult female, and it was a 1/3rd that size at the time. I should come clean and say that's not actually his spider, but is the largest ever wild caught specimen of the species! Oh, it's a Goliath bird eater, and for those of you that would like to collect fish in the Amazon region, that's where they live


----------



## Yugang (29 Jun 2022)

The Miniaturist said:


> And as for @Yugang's beastie....it's more scary than the Terminator!


Hong Kong has lots of scary stuff, but it usually has no more than two legs


----------



## Hufsa (29 Jun 2022)

This thread makes me want to buy a flamethrower


----------



## Garuf (7 Oct 2022)

Aleman said:


> One of my lads
> 
> View attachment 190501


Christ you have small hands.


----------



## Talkingteacups (7 Oct 2022)

oh my god dousing myself in peppermint oil forever haha

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


----------



## Libba (8 Oct 2022)

I really regret opening this thread. I don't think I'll ever sleep again.


----------



## KirstyF (8 Oct 2022)

Ahh but they aren’t all scary. Who wouldn’t want to take this little guy home. 🥰


----------



## Ghettofarmulous (9 Oct 2022)

I have a fear of spiders but I would never kill them. They are fascinating like all creatures.  I scoop them up in a glass and throw them outside. Last year I was shaking my bed out and a false widow fell to the ground. It sounded like a piece of hard candy. That terrified me.


----------



## dw1305 (9 Oct 2022)

Hi all, 


KirstyF said:


> Who wouldn’t want to take this little guy home.


<"Jumping Spiders"> are just the cutest animals.  

cheers Darrel


----------

