Anyone noticing more False Widows this year?
Discussion
My garden is absolutely plagued with the feckers this year, way more then last.
Got some really big ones in the corners and I have a wooden arch over the back gate which is basically a big False Widow brothel.
Are they proliferating due to the warmer weather possibly?
My mate got bitten by one on his leg and it wasn’t pretty.
Also are they like other spiders likely to take refuge in my socks once the colder weather comes?
Got some really big ones in the corners and I have a wooden arch over the back gate which is basically a big False Widow brothel.
Are they proliferating due to the warmer weather possibly?
My mate got bitten by one on his leg and it wasn’t pretty.
Also are they like other spiders likely to take refuge in my socks once the colder weather comes?
Yeah there is a real increase in them across large parts of the UK
We’ve had them move in to the house wholesale which is annoying as they’re able to kill bees. Interestingly the heat over ‘that’ weekend killed a load of the bigger ones in our conservatory which was nice
They have some cool advancements for spiders - they have the ability to prejudge the amount of venom needed depending on the prey which makes them significantly more energy efficient. Turns out to be quite a big advantage and they’re displacing other spider species (several of which they also kill)
And as your mate found out, a lot of people really don’t react well to being bitten. You aren’t likely to find them hiding in your socks tho as they’re not that sort of thing - so some good news!
We’ve had them move in to the house wholesale which is annoying as they’re able to kill bees. Interestingly the heat over ‘that’ weekend killed a load of the bigger ones in our conservatory which was nice
They have some cool advancements for spiders - they have the ability to prejudge the amount of venom needed depending on the prey which makes them significantly more energy efficient. Turns out to be quite a big advantage and they’re displacing other spider species (several of which they also kill)
And as your mate found out, a lot of people really don’t react well to being bitten. You aren’t likely to find them hiding in your socks tho as they’re not that sort of thing - so some good news!
Blimey that is interesting about them varying the amount of venom.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to exterminate them but with a 2 and 7 year old I also don’t particularly want them in the house so if one is and can’t be relocated it will be getting trodden on.
Is it possible for them to evolve (in the near’ish future) to become deadly to humans do you think?
I mean wide scale through the species rather than the odd bad reaction in someone susceptible.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to exterminate them but with a 2 and 7 year old I also don’t particularly want them in the house so if one is and can’t be relocated it will be getting trodden on.
Is it possible for them to evolve (in the near’ish future) to become deadly to humans do you think?
I mean wide scale through the species rather than the odd bad reaction in someone susceptible.
essexplumber said:
Blimey that is interesting about them varying the amount of venom.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to exterminate them but with a 2 and 7 year old I also don’t particularly want them in the house so if one is and can’t be relocated it will be getting trodden on.
Is it possible for them to evolve (in the near’ish future) to become deadly to humans do you think?
I mean wide scale through the species rather than the odd bad reaction in someone susceptible.
Re: last question. No I think you’ve pretty much covered the risk - there will undoubtedly already be some people who would have an anaphylactic or similar (potentially fatal) reaction but unless they get a damn site bigger I think we’re pretty safe generally Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to exterminate them but with a 2 and 7 year old I also don’t particularly want them in the house so if one is and can’t be relocated it will be getting trodden on.
Is it possible for them to evolve (in the near’ish future) to become deadly to humans do you think?
I mean wide scale through the species rather than the odd bad reaction in someone susceptible.
The venom is similar to that found in a black widow but luckily it’s practically a designer chemical - to the point where different widow species have toxins which target either vertebrates, insects or crustaceans (and the other venoms are totally ineffective against the non targets! Very cool really) One of the false widows we get in the UK does have some alpha-lactrodase in its bite but it’s a small component and only has local effect.
Guess it’s always possible we could get a nastier version. I don’t really understand why all spiders haven’t ended up with the most hardcore version of whatever their venom is to be honest!
We unfairly accused a spider of biting my OH the other night. She was sitting on the sofa when she felt something in her hair, reached up to investigate it and got zapped in the finger. A wasp seemed unlikely indoors and would usually be spotted at the scene of the crime, so suspicion fell on one of our eight legged friends who had perhaps done the deed and scuttled away.
Some hours later I spotted the stripy culprit lurking on the wall, and terminated it with maximum prejudice.
Some hours later I spotted the stripy culprit lurking on the wall, and terminated it with maximum prejudice.
essexplumber said:
Newarch said:
A false widow was recorded as having killed a baby bat in mid Shropshire this year. I found some in an old workhouse in Brecon, nasty looking things.
Jesus what caught in its web and took to it like it was a fly???I have an irrational fear of spiders. I've no idea why as to be quite honest no other creepy crawlies bother me. Having moved house recently to somewhere with external lights on overnight and foliage growing up the external walls I'm told that both attract the 8 legged b
ds.
I've been here 5 weeks now and for the first week or so we sat with the doors open and a couple of windows. For the next week I was seeing them everywhere, not just false widows but things so big they wouldn't fit under a pint glass. They'd spin their webs in the alcoves overnight and I was genuinely struggling to sleep and walking round the house with my eyes glued to the floor. I know, I'm weird. This was before I was told just how more prevalent the FW had become.
I then took a punt on this... https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9353858...
Weekly I spray it round any obvious entry points, external doors/windows/cellar door etc and I don't think I've seen a single one (alive) since. I have seen a few that were shrivelled up and crusty but I can live with that. Clearly the ones that were ignoring the first signs of meeting their deaths and coming into the house were pretty much dead within 2/3 metres of entry.
Urgh, I think I'll have nightmares tonight.
ds. I've been here 5 weeks now and for the first week or so we sat with the doors open and a couple of windows. For the next week I was seeing them everywhere, not just false widows but things so big they wouldn't fit under a pint glass. They'd spin their webs in the alcoves overnight and I was genuinely struggling to sleep and walking round the house with my eyes glued to the floor. I know, I'm weird. This was before I was told just how more prevalent the FW had become.
I then took a punt on this... https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9353858...
Weekly I spray it round any obvious entry points, external doors/windows/cellar door etc and I don't think I've seen a single one (alive) since. I have seen a few that were shrivelled up and crusty but I can live with that. Clearly the ones that were ignoring the first signs of meeting their deaths and coming into the house were pretty much dead within 2/3 metres of entry.
Urgh, I think I'll have nightmares tonight.
AB said:
I have an irrational fear of spiders. I've no idea why as to be quite honest no other creepy crawlies bother me. Having moved house recently to somewhere with external lights on overnight and foliage growing up the external walls I'm told that both attract the 8 legged bds.
I've been here 5 weeks now and for the first week or so we sat with the doors open and a couple of windows. For the next week I was seeing them everywhere, not just false widows but things so big they wouldn't fit under a pint glass. They'd spin their webs in the alcoves overnight and I was genuinely struggling to sleep and walking round the house with my eyes glued to the floor. I know, I'm weird. This was before I was told just how more prevalent the FW had become.
I then took a punt on this... https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9353858...
Weekly I spray it round any obvious entry points, external doors/windows/cellar door etc and I don't think I've seen a single one (alive) since. I have seen a few that were shrivelled up and crusty but I can live with that. Clearly the ones that were ignoring the first signs of meeting their deaths and coming into the house were pretty much dead within 2/3 metres of entry.
Urgh, I think I'll have nightmares tonight.
My Mrs is worse than that, I honestly think she’d pass out if one crawled onto her.ds. I've been here 5 weeks now and for the first week or so we sat with the doors open and a couple of windows. For the next week I was seeing them everywhere, not just false widows but things so big they wouldn't fit under a pint glass. They'd spin their webs in the alcoves overnight and I was genuinely struggling to sleep and walking round the house with my eyes glued to the floor. I know, I'm weird. This was before I was told just how more prevalent the FW had become.
I then took a punt on this... https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9353858...
Weekly I spray it round any obvious entry points, external doors/windows/cellar door etc and I don't think I've seen a single one (alive) since. I have seen a few that were shrivelled up and crusty but I can live with that. Clearly the ones that were ignoring the first signs of meeting their deaths and coming into the house were pretty much dead within 2/3 metres of entry.
Urgh, I think I'll have nightmares tonight.
We’re very rural and we do get some big buggers round here but they don’t scare me as such (as long as it isn’t on me) so I usually pint glass and relocate them.
Had a hue house spider on the sofa next to my 2 year old daughter the other morning. She froze bless her while I got rid.
Just thought as I’m writing this, aren’t insect numbers supposed to be in a huge decline? If so won’t spider numbers too as their prey disappears?
essexplumber said:
My Mrs is worse than that, I honestly think she’d pass out if one crawled onto her.
We’re very rural and we do get some big buggers round here but they don’t scare me as such (as long as it isn’t on me) so I usually pint glass and relocate them.
Had a hue house spider on the sofa next to my 2 year old daughter the other morning. She froze bless her while I got rid.
Just thought as I’m writing this, aren’t insect numbers supposed to be in a huge decline? If so won’t spider numbers too as their prey disappears?
Yep, almost definitely….that said……they are quite numerous. I took part in a spider count in Surrey many moons ago (yes I am that sort of dull We’re very rural and we do get some big buggers round here but they don’t scare me as such (as long as it isn’t on me) so I usually pint glass and relocate them.
Had a hue house spider on the sofa next to my 2 year old daughter the other morning. She froze bless her while I got rid.
Just thought as I’m writing this, aren’t insect numbers supposed to be in a huge decline? If so won’t spider numbers too as their prey disappears?
). There were about 250 spiders/square metre. This is a LOT! fun spider fact - (admittedly using a load of assumptions and just multiplying out) - they eat between 400 and 800 million TONS of prey each year. So at the lower estimate could eat all the humans on earth and still have room for pudding!
Interesting read - https://www.falsewidowspider.org.uk/bites
I've been in A&E more than once from a False Widow bite. I knew it was a false widow as the garage is full of them and I pretty much put my hand on it so saw the little so and so on my hand.
I was hospitalised not because the spider is particularly dangerous but because if I get stung by a bee or wasp I tend to ignore it for as long as possible until I look a bit deformed so has a similar affect on me.
I've been in A&E more than once from a False Widow bite. I knew it was a false widow as the garage is full of them and I pretty much put my hand on it so saw the little so and so on my hand.
I was hospitalised not because the spider is particularly dangerous but because if I get stung by a bee or wasp I tend to ignore it for as long as possible until I look a bit deformed so has a similar affect on me.
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