The giant house spider as its name suggests is a great big spider often found in houses. Tegenaria gigantea, to give it its proper name, can have a leg span of up to a whopping 10cm (4 in). This size, combined with the spiders habit of dashing across a room and stopping in the middle, has made it an arachnophobes worst nightmare. Oh and it’s hairy!
Despite being called the house spider T. gigantea commonly resides outdoors. It lives in cracks and crevices where it spins a flat messy web leading to a funnel in the crack. Here the spider lurks until an unwary insect wanders into the web at which point the spider darts out and attacks.
The spiders are most often spotted indoors during the autumn, this is also when they have reached their maximum size. It is generally the male spider you will see and it is likely he is on the prowl for a lady spider with the aim of making some baby spiders. You can spot the male by the large pedipalps at the front – yes, you may be relieved to know they aren’t 2 huge fangs!
The spiders do set up home indoors too and can often be found in undisturbed corners or behind long forgotten boxes, i.e. as far away from humans as they can get.
The spiders habit of dashing across a room and pausing to scare the bejaysus out of everyone actually has a reason. They aren’t in fact doing it on purpose they are actually stopping for a rest. Holding the Guinness World Record for being the fastest spider on earth they rapidly tire themselves out!
Does it bite?
The giant house spider is big, hairy and very fast; but does it bite? Well yes, it can. Give its size it is one of the few British spiders with fangs big enough to reliably penetrate human skin. That said their venom is not particularly toxic to humans and from what I’ve seen they are very reluctant to bite even when mishandled.
The giant house spider is a close relative of the hobo spider (Tegenaria agrestis) which is found throughout western Europe and more recently in the USA. In Europe it is rare to see a hobo spider indoors as the indigenous house spiders keep them out. However, this is not the case in America where they are found in homes and considered both aggressive and capable of inflicting a serious bite. There seems to be some dispute at present as to whether the hobo spider’s bite can cause necrosis, i.e. a sort of brown recluse light.
ew
Dude, you just wrote the story of me and this damn black, long legged son gun. Showed up bout a week ago livin in my weed smokin 4′ x 10′ she’d. Damn it moves quick on its own web? Forget about it. I guess I’ve been seeing em in more remote areas. Like farms. Old barns, etc. Not bit by one of those but I did get a pair of hobo bites on the back of my calf, my leg. It’s a bitch. Get antibiotics immediately. They work
Antibiotics work against bactrerial infections… and do NOTHING to counteract any envenomation.
https://academic.oup.com/jme/article/48/2/382/893951
Antibiotics do stop necrosis from infected bite sites though
hey max. the antibiotics are not for the hobo spiders venom, but for the risk of infection by colonial bacteria found naturally on the skin. specifically, staphylococcus aureus is notorious for causing necrosis after spider bites, even when the venom is harmless.
The hobo spider is NOT agressive nor is its bite serious. This myth seems to stem from the spiders scientific name – Tegenaria agrestis. agrestis means “Of the field” and has nothing to do with agression. For a full examination… https://academic.oup.com/jme/article/48/2/382/893951
10 minutes ago I just dispatched one of these that ran up the wall of the WC leaving my daughter screaming knickers akimbo. Went straight to internet to search, because it was the biggest I have ever seen in over 40 years. Usually, they get put under a glass and thrown outside. Typically a 3 – 3.5 inch legspan. Tonight, i went straight to the freeze spray. This monster was big and fast. It wouldn’t fit under any glass. You’d need a salad bowl to catch it. At least 5 inch legspan if not more. Now, reading about it, I should have taken a photo with tape measure. This was far bigger than the 4inch legspan noted as typical mature male.
The females are bigger than the males.
Freeze spray! You absolute moron!
Treat creatures as you’d like to be treat yourself! They’re just doing their thing, living their life in this world.
In all my 60+ years I have never been bittten by spiders. Bearing in mind we would play with them as kids, mainly to scare the pants off other people. There’s something mystical and magical in the way they suddenly appear at the end of the summer, ushering in autumn and halloween. if we learn to appreciate that every organisms plays a vital role in life, we can earn to respect and live alongside them, marvelling in the wonder
What a cute little guy!
Last Autumn I was bitten by one of these.
( I was never normally in the past afraid of spiders and would pick them up and throw out into the open if I found one inside. )
But, when one penetrated my skin and left two small blood pricks, (although I didn’t have any reaction.) it’s made me a little nervous of Spiders ️ of any kind!
The whole episode changed my view of Spiders and especially whenever I’ve seen these Giant House Spiders, I never pick them up unassisted any longer!!.. This huge, hairy , long legged and very fast creature has freaked me out !…