Who is this spider and should I be afraid?

minirhyder

He's sitting on my bedroom wall right now.
Should I kill him, capture and relocate, or let him hang out in my room indefinitely?

NightDragon

Looks like a yellow sac spider. Pretty common, not as dangerous as a black widow or a brown recluse. They can bite, so I'd move him outside if you don't want to kill him.

Xaquin

I read a story once about a guy that got super powers from a spider but I can't remember what it was

Pick er up with a paper towel and toss in the yard

BouwsT

Trap it with a drinking glass, slide some paper between the glass and the wall (to trap the spider inside the glass) and bring him/her outside.

PAX_Skeletor

You call that a spider? THIS is a spider! (Greetings from Australia. I agree, catch and release.)

Baron Dirigible

Awesome'ing because you have your very own Spider Cup.

Vote for leaving the spider where it is, they keep other nasties away.

I needed anime to post.

that's dan

PAX_Skeletor

@Baron Dirigible‌ Oh yeah, you don't want to drink from a spider cup. Labelling your spider cup is VERY IMPORTANT.

MichaelLC

Cup? Figured an Australian would have a spider barrel, or bucket at least. The cup is just for offering the spider some water.

PAX_Skeletor

If they get any bigger than cup size the spider doesn't live in your house, you live in the spider's house.

CelestialBadger

Crush the spider. Who cares if it is dangerous? Crush it.

azith28

Burn it with fire.
then apply more fire.

This goes for every spider ever. In fact, anything with number-of-legs >= 5.

Hevach

Catch and release has always been amusing to me. It's not like there's a spider shortage in the world and killing a few here or there is going to cause pest insects to explode. If you don't want it in your house or aren't sure about its danger, squish the little fuck. There are more. They grow on trees.

bowen

Catch and release is silly.

They're creatures that seek comfort and food. Your house was chosen because it was warm and had food that it could eat. If you open your back door and let it go, it will just come right back into the house via the same means it got in in the first place.

Magic Pink

bowen wrote: »

Catch and release is silly.

They're creatures that seek comfort and food. Your house was chosen because it was warm and had food that it could eat. If you open your back door and let it go, it will just come right back into the house via the same means it got in in the first place.

This is 100% not true.

BouwsT

I think it's pretty psychological. I know if that spider got in, others will too. I just don't prefer killing things that I don't have to, and spiders freak me the hell out. Moving them is my (and many others') personal middle-ground option.

There may be more spiders in my house / coming for my house, but this one is no longer inside it. And that feels good.

bowen

Magic Pink wrote: »

bowen wrote: »

Catch and release is silly.

They're creatures that seek comfort and food. Your house was chosen because it was warm and had food that it could eat. If you open your back door and let it go, it will just come right back into the house via the same means it got in in the first place.

This is 100% not true.

Sorry I forgot to use modifiers to outsmart the pedants! Here let me fix it to appease you:

Catch and release is silly.

Most creatures seek comfort and/or food in their short existence on Earth. This thing is in your house. There exists multiple reasons it is there. Possibly just chance. More than likely there is/was food at some point. If it's a different creature (like a mouse) it may choose to re-enter your dwelling for shelter and food. The spider will likely use a series of simple mechanics and survival mechanisms to orient itself to a new situation. In most cases, it will re-enter since it has done so previously. Obviously we can't anticipate what a creature is going to do.

So squash it just to be safe if you dislike spiders. Why leave it up to random chance and survival of the fittest?

Mulletude

That reply was goosey as fuck

minirhyder

That's a good point, bowen et al. I guess my reluctance to kill spiders comes from the fact that they can be useful? They kill flies and mosquitoes and such.
But you're right, they reproduce fast and one spider death won't impact their numbers.

Anyway, the update on the issue is that by the time I found out that this spider is venomous it disappeared, so it's at large in my bedroom. I did not wake up with any welts or necrotic tissue, so that's good. If I see him again I'll kill him.

Thanks all!

bowen

I agree with @NightDragon‌ on the ID.

You should be okay so long as he doesn't hide out where you can "squish" him like clothes or bedding. Those types of spiders like garages especially because of gas/oil/petroleum.

Doesn't look like that spider is particularly dangerous and you mostly need to worry about secondary infections like MRSA. If you got something that looks like a spider bite, get it checked out ASAP because staph and spider bites look very similar.

And yeah, sorry that was a goosey reply, but that spider in particular is "attracted" to things and moves indoors in the fall/winter when it gets colder.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/sacspiders.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheiracanthium
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cheiracanthium_inclusum/

azith28

minirhyder wrote: »

That's a good point, bowen et al. I guess my reluctance to kill spiders comes from the fact that they can be useful? They kill flies and mosquitoes and such.
But you're right, they reproduce fast and one spider death won't impact their numbers.

Anyway, the update on the issue is that by the time I found out that this spider is venomous it disappeared, so it's at large in my bedroom. I did not wake up with any welts or necrotic tissue, so that's good. If I see him again I'll kill him.

Thanks all!

Too late. Your slow response has killed us all. The spider has already laid its poisonous eggs in your ear canal.

Inquisitor77

Seriously if you pick up a spider and put it outside it's not going to magically remember that your house was an abode of warmth and comfort and run straight back in, especially if you release it farther away than just outside your door.

Jesus.

Catch-and-release is just as valid as "KILL IT WITH FIRE NOW!" as a response. Picking one over the other is a matter of values, psychology, culture, and habit just as much as anything else. Any choice is just as silly as the other, including the choice to not do anything and leave it alone or the choice to fete the spider as your new Ur-God-King and hand-feed it tiny ants as sacrifices.

OP: It's not going to kill you, if that's your main concern. It might potentially bite you (very, very small chance), but most likely will just leave you alone.

bowen

Sac spiders will be aggressive if it's guarding eggs. But it's not late summer, so it's probably not. But keep that in mind.

azith28

Or...it might have already gone down your throat while sleeping. Remember, each humans on average swallows 50 thousand spiders during their lifetime while sleeping.

see317

azith28 wrote: »

Or...it might have already gone down your throat while sleeping. Remember, each humans on average swallows 50 thousand spiders during their lifetime while sleeping.

That's a myth.
The spiders aren't actually swallowed, they actually navigate through your nasal passages in order to access your brain, as mammal brains are actually the preferred breeding grounds of several common spider varieties.

dlinfiniti

PAX_Skeletor wrote: »

If they get any bigger than cup size the spider doesn't live in your house, you live in the spider's house.

pfft no one told you to buy a house in cirith ungol

TabooPhantasy

This is the most terrifying thread I could have possibly read right before bed.
I will never sleep again.

see317

dlinfiniti wrote: »

PAX_Skeletor wrote: »

If they get any bigger than cup size the spider doesn't live in your house, you live in the spider's house.

pfft no one told you to buy a house in cirith ungol

Look, you want to flip a place and turn a profit, you have to buy it cheap. Sometimes that means a place that needs a lot of work to get it sellable, sometimes that means talking spiders the size of small horses who are getting sick of eating orcs.
You pay your money, you take your chances.

azith28

TabooPhantasy wrote: »

This is the most terrifying thread I could have possibly read right before bed.
I will never sleep again.

If it helps, the spiders in your brain almost never crawl *out* of your nose while your awake, so think of sleeping as the only way to get them out. sure, some come back in. but what else are ya gonna do.

Aegeri

That is a harmless spider for the most part, unless severely antagonised and you should catch and release (or just leave it alone). Just the way I do it down under in Australia, like with this lovely little lady just the other week:

Moved her away to a nice tree where she could nest safely.

dlinfiniti

Aegeri wrote: »

That is a harmless spider for the most part, unless severely antagonised and you should catch and release (or just leave it alone). Just the way I do it down under in Australia, like with this lovely little lady just the other week:

Moved her away to a nice tree where she could nest safely.

AAUGGGGGHHHHH
whaaaattttt

did it eat your hand?
do you have a hook for a hand now?

Aegeri

Nope, despite the size it's completely non-aggressive and was more interested in running away/up my arm than biting. That's actually true for the vast majority of spiders and hence you really shouldn't ever kill them unless it's a dangerous one. Red backs for example are one of few spiders I will actively kill if I find them around my house, because my wife was bitten by one a while ago and it was not a fun experience at all.

Spiders, like the OPs sac spider, are far too useful to kill and help stem the tide of awful critters that would otherwise infest your house (such as disease spreading cockroaches).

dlinfiniti

sheeeloobbbbbb

azith28

.....I thought like everything in australia was poisonous and the general manlyness of Australia pushed you to smush any such creatures that neared the only inhabitable bit of land called Sidney. What are you like the entire membership of the Australian chapter of PETA or something?

bowen

Aegeri wrote: »

Nope, despite the size it's completely non-aggressive and was more interested in running away/up my arm than biting. That's actually true for the vast majority of spiders and hence you really shouldn't ever kill them unless it's a dangerous one. Red backs for example are one of few spiders I will actively kill if I find them around my house, because my wife was bitten by one a while ago and it was not a fun experience at all.

Spiders, like the OPs sac spider, are far too useful to kill and help stem the tide of awful critters that would otherwise infest your house (such as disease spreading cockroaches).

Widows and recluse are on my shit list.

I leave sac and house spiders alone 99% of the time. Unless it drops on me, then all bets are off as I flail around.

That looks like a huntsmen. They're creepy as fuck.

How do you guys handle funnel? I figured you'd kill those too.

minirhyder

Ok so it looks like the advice is changing here.

I'm cool with letting the spider hang out in my bedroom as long as it doesn't put me in danger. I'm not skittish about spiders, I just don't want them in my shit.

How much potential benefit is there from this spider hanging out in my bedroom?

DisruptedCapitalist

Well I don't know about spiders, but house centipedes eat bed bugs and cockroaches. That's why I stopped killing them a few years ago.

bowen

minirhyder wrote: »

Ok so it looks like the advice is changing here.

I'm cool with letting the spider hang out in my bedroom as long as it doesn't put me in danger. I'm not skittish about spiders, I just don't want them in my shit.

How much potential benefit is there from this spider hanging out in my bedroom?

Do you have a problem with fruit flies and other bugs? Spiders are really good with annoying insects. I still get freaked out and kill them, but if they're in my basement I leave them alone because fuuuuuuuuuck the creepy crawlers that live down there.

DarkPrimus

dlinfiniti wrote: »

sheeeloobbbbbb

Seriously, get some LOTR LEGO figs and take a picture with that spider.

Donovan Puppyfucker

azith28 wrote: »

.....I thought like everything in australia was poisonous and the general manlyness of Australia pushed you to smush any such creatures that neared the only inhabitable bit of land called Sidney. What are you like the entire membership of the Australian chapter of PETA or something?

U wot m8? I sware on me Mum I'll have ya!

The reality is that most spiders are pretty much harmless (yeah even here in Australia), and they do good work in keeping the population of irritating bugs down.

minirhyder

bowen wrote: »

minirhyder wrote: »

Ok so it looks like the advice is changing here.

I'm cool with letting the spider hang out in my bedroom as long as it doesn't put me in danger. I'm not skittish about spiders, I just don't want them in my shit.

How much potential benefit is there from this spider hanging out in my bedroom?

Do you have a problem with fruit flies and other bugs? Spiders are really good with annoying insects. I still get freaked out and kill them, but if they're in my basement I leave them alone because fuuuuuuuuuck the creepy crawlers that live down there.

Kinda...I get fruit flies once in a while because my roommate can be a slob. So I guess I'm better off letting him stay.

What should I name him?