Last weekend my new neighbors, who are building a house, called me to come over to see a very large spider they found in their lumber pile. It was an Orb Weaver, which are very active in the Fall. They are harmless. This one may have been hanging in a tree and dropped into your car because it was warm. They tend to hang upside down in trees and shrubs...they're listed as "beneficial", but I don't think that includes in cars!

Oh, I'm going to have to work on a graphic for you, Donna! I wish I had time
to do it today! Got it in my head already!!! (Huge Grin){{gwi:891532}}

janice

Oh Janice, what a yucky subject, LOL! It was this hairy black thing, about the size of a 50 cent piece. Harmless I'm sure, but...SHIVER...it really startled me.

I was looking at spiders, can't seem to ID this one. Its definitely not a orb web spider. Much stockier than that. More like a wolf spider~Lycosa (Hogna) Female Helluo...whatever that is. Can't tell what size it is though from the web photos.

Those wolf spiders get tremendous! Although the ones I have seen have been brownish/gray with darker stripes. The bigger they are, they hairier they are! Those guys can really jump too. Everyone always tells me that spiders are more scared of me than I am of them. IMPOSSIBLE!

I guess spideys have a place in this world,but your car is not the place! One you have to watch out for is the brown recluse spider,because their bite can be dangerous! They are smaller than the one you are describing,however. Phil

Phil, this definitely wasn't a brown recluse, I was worried about it being a black widow...it was that black, but stocky and I think it was pretty hairy, so I doubt it was that (it all happened so fast). Hard to tell, all the pics on the web are interested in showing the abdomen where the red hourglass is located.

ngraham...Never thought of the thing jumping!! AGH!!! I've got to drive home from work later, that's all I need is this guy jumping out on me during rush hour! Well, forewarned is forearmed.

Anyway, I never thought something like this would be hiding in a hosta. I wish he were back there eating all the bugs. Probably why there were few holes in the thing.

I would have had to pull over the car and had someone pick me up. I hate spiders. I have seen wolf spiders by the lake get to be almost the size of my palm.

One year my friend and I were canoeing down the river, and this huge spider falls into our canoe from the willows over head. We both started screaming, paddles were flying, needless to say we ended up flipping over into the river. That would have been very funny to get on tape.

I'm going to start on the graphic--I've got to get it out of my head and onto the computer!!LOL

ngraham--I haven't seen you post before, (that I realized), and I want to welcome you to our
"little corner" of hosta world!!! Hope to see more of you posting!!!

janice

{{gwi:895215}}

Very cute Janice! You've really outdone yourself this time, LOL!! I love it! And, yes, that is definitely the spider.

Donna

PS: I just realized that you have no clue about what I look like (probably a good thing)...I have long dark brown hair and a rounder face...LOL!! We'll meet face to face someday, looking forward to that!! ;o)

This whole thing reminds me of one of my long drawn out stories, so it might be best if you make some popcorn, grab a drink and find a way to put your feet up, might as well be comfortable while you read, lol.

A couple years ago I was spending a pleasant morning putzing around the garden, must have been working in the deck area, when I hear a van tearing up my drive. I don't mean just driving up my drive, this thing was being driven like the driver saw a werewolf in the rear veiw mirror. After I ducked for cover, it comes screeching to a halt and I realize it's my best friend.

She practically climbs out the window in her attempt to escape the van but does eventually manage to get the door open and leaps out of the van in a state of pure terror, I mean every last bit of hair she had on her body was standing straight up.

I go running over, scared to death, I'm sure at this point that one of my beloved God Daughters is dying in the back of the van or something.

I finally get Jo calmed down enough to make sense of what she was saying. Well I should say, cornered enough, she was running around my driveway, I next to tackled her.

Seems as she was driving close by she glanced down to see a spider had crawled into the van and had built a web in the corner where the windshield meets the dash. She had grabbed some papers to swat it out the window, but instead, it fell down into the dash and she was possitive it was going to crawl out and attack her and all she could think was that she had to get to Barbies to save her.

So she rushes over to my place and refused to get back into the van until I found it.

I set her down on the deck, made her a drink, gathered a jar and flashlight and went to looking for this killer spider. I didn't think it would be too hard to find because according to Jo, it was the size of a small lap dog, lol.

And I did find the monster, it was curled up in a ball down in the dash, I just took a wire, brushed up against it until it woke up and started climbing up the wire, poor thing, wanted out of there as bad as Jo wanted out of there, extracted it, put it in the jar, showed it to Jo to prove that I had in fact got the spider out of her van, another screaming fit and another drink insuded, and then released the poor dear into my gardens.

All I can say is that I am glad that my God daughters have spent so much time with me. They did pick up so many of their mothers phobias about the natural world, but through me, they have also learned acceptance of natures creatures, they no longer kill snakes or spiders, just keep them away from their mother, lol.

Btw, every year I get some of those big old black and yellow orb web spiders. I leave them be, name them all Charolet, and talk to them when ever I'm in the area of garden they are.

And I do not want to make light of a phobia or fear. Personally I have a thing about being electricuted, can't even stand static shock, makes me nuts to the point I can't stand to shop in the winter when the cans shock me, do it, but try to ground myself, really does get to me. Granted I do the electrical work in the house, I am the man of the house and am actually very good with electrical work, but you better believe every fuse is tripped before I do so, even then I'm nervous, lol.

LOL! Choco I can imagine your friend crawling out of the window! Glad you saved the spider and calmed down your friend.

I'm not normally that freaky around spiders, it just really took me by surprise. I usually leave them, snakes, toads and frogs alone, they're there for a purpose, as well as the chipmunks and squirrels (hey the hawks and owls have to eat too).

I can't find the little fellow. How long does a spider live, do you know??

{{gwi:895217}}

A better representation? I'm glad I don't know what you look like, cause this
"representation" would be really insulting, I am sure!! LOL--I work with what I've got!!!

Hmmm, seems like I've heard, if they find adequate housing in an automobile, they can live
for up to 50 years, or more! ;o)

Janic, That is great, you've got it!!! Now everyone has a clear image in their minds of what I look like! LOL!!!

Oh, and thanks for the "encouragement" on the lifespan of a spider. AGH!!

Did it look like this?

If so its a harmless old wolf spider. Based on your zone they are really active this time of year.

-Lykaon

OMG PIM, I acn only imagine! LOLOL! I am truly not laughing at you, but the way you told the story is rather entertaining.

I am not afraid of spiders, actually it is sort of the reverse. I find them fascinating! My ex-BF was attempting to write horror stories and decided to get a Tarantula to keep in a vivarium to "inspire" him. After he got the thing, he somehow decided he was going to make some extra money by breeding them and selling the babies to the local pet store. Next thing I knew, there were 3 vivariums and one of the spiders did make an egg ball (or whatever you call them). Now bear in mind, he was terrified of them which meant whenever they had to be fed or the vivariums cleaned then I was elected. I really didn't mind at all since I thought they were neat.

Well, the babies started to hatch and were just beginning to crawl all over. Unfortunately, he had failed to replace the regular screen top (about 1/2 inch "holes") with a finer mesh. He went in a few mornings later to check the brood and not a single baby was there. He asked me if I new what happened to them and when I went to look, I found a couple of the babies on the wall and floor behind the vivarium. Sure enough, all 300+ had climbed out of the tank, through the screen and were all over the room that we used as an office. Needless to say, he came completely unglued at the thought of all those baby spiders crawling around the house....

I caught the ones I could find, but unfortunately most of them ended up dying. I was vacuuming up dead baby spiders for weeks it seemed.

He ended up taking the adults back to the pet store and that was the end of the Tarantulas.

And as far as phobias.... mine is snakes. I don't want them anywhere near me or my house. YUCK!

Alexa

That's a great story, Alexa!! Talk about an "investment" going sour! I have a mild aversion
to spiders, but Tarantulas, are definitely not ones I would react "mildly" to!! Brrrr-rr!

janice

Here is my creepy crawly story.

I used to be a flight attendant. On one trip to Acapulco we arrived very late at night because of ice storms in Dallas. The airport was shut down for the night except for the few personal needed for the last arrival. They rolled up the stairs to the outside of the plane. I was the last off and it was really dark when I stepped outside. I grabbed the railing with my right hand. Unbeknownst to me resting on the railing and under my hand was a large beetle - like a June bug only about 5 inches long. It had prickly - sticky legs. I let out a shreak which of course sent the passengers running in all directions! YUCK!

Teresa

Hey Lyakon, thanks for the pic...it was actually jet black and looked like the spider in Janice's illustration. I keep thinking a big black widow female. I doubt that's what it is though, because the hosta it was in was in full sunlight, and a very dry place.

Wow Alexa, talk about a big spider! What ever possessed him to want to go that route?? That would be like you breeding snakes. UGH! I'm not really afraid of anything, it just startled me and I reacted. And I haven't found it yet, poor thing. Thank goodness it didn't have an egg sac...that would be grounds for trading in the Jetta for something else. I have learned my lesson, no more hostas in the car, they all go into the trunk from now on.

Oh Teresa, that is so gross. I don't like big beetles at all, I would have screamed too (actually I did when the spider crawled by my hand). You never know if they're going to get you or not. My BF gets those huge cave crickets in his basement and they jump all over the place. I don't mind insects, but I hate them on me. s~h~i~v~e~r

Awww, taranculas are actually nice pets, I had one longer than I care to remember, had to be at least 15 years if not longer, she followed me through many stages of my young life, even places that do not allow pets never know you have a tarancula, she was, at times, the only pet I had. Don't know why I ever got her in the first place except for the fact, I like creepy crawlies. Sophie was quite, odorless, perfectly handlable, use to hold her all the time, and did not require a pet sitter, leave her a week, no problem. I still go through spells where I want another.

Again, big old beetles, no problem with me. Well let me restate that, no problem with them or any creepy crawlie if I know they are there. I'm sure I would have been just as startled as Teresa if I suddenly found one under my hand when not expecting it.

Donna, despite our teasing, it really is a funny story, I had a mental movie going through my head as I read your story and I was about rotflmao, to be serious, I would tell you to leave your windows open to give it a chance to escape, but that's how Jo in my story got a spider in her van in the first place.

Maybe the link I included can help you find out what kind of spider you have, but not knowing your state, it was hard to narrow the field, there are so many spiders out there, but if nothing else, I did id some of the little beauties that share my gardens.

As far as life span, well most spiders only live a season, but some, as taranculas, can live over 20 years.

Are you sure it wasn't one that looks like the one on the page of the link below?

PIM I'm glad that was your weekend excitement and not mine!
I hope you lose your "passenger" soon. :)

I hate creepy crawlies in my house, outside they're in their world and I mostly leave them be (slugs aren't included in that)but inside is my world and if they aren't paying rent then they're outta there, mostly via the toilet (I gently usher ladybugs out into the garden).

June

June, I don't care for them inside either. The thought of them crawling across my face while I sleep just isn't my idea of a good night's rest.

I haven't seen my little hitch hiker, I'm thinking he exited via some crack somewhere.