Roger's Spider Stronghold is now open!

The trouble is they are only colored on one side, and what's gravity to a spider? So far as I can tell, they are exactly as happy right side up or upside down. I guess you can always reach out and gently turn them over - if you want to.

AS long as they want to hide from me, I want to let them stay that way.

They're very similar. Our red backs don't have a distinct hourglass shape, though. If they bite, it's bloody bad....but they are not at all aggressive.

Neither are ours, but they're not afraid of much except fire. They will run to the extremes of their webs, but that's as far as they go.

We have several others with similarly shaped, shiny body, and the same leg design. I treat all of them about the same. If you remember Princess, she was only similar in the number of legs. Kind of wish we had had FBM around to get a couple of good pictures. She was one first class spider.

This is one spider you want to avoid at all cost. Their bite is extremely virulent; will literally eat away your flesh. There are many images on the web which show the damage they cause, if your stomach will withstand grosseries.

Brown Recluse

I have some under my house and at my job. I knew a woman who got bitten once about 15 years ago. She was after that terrified of any and all spiders.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/people-who-deserve-all-the-awards

we used to get these whip spiders in our clothes in NIgeria. They were harmless nd almost "biteless" but they could be huge all spread out. One guy kept one as a pet . He was a weird driller.

Good sentiment in that second picture. I have also had occasions to help out spiders trapped in the tub. It's difficult. They don't know you're trying to help, and you can't just grab them unless you are willing to sacrifice a few legs.

Widows never seem to make it into the tub, as they strongly prefer to never leave the web. If they did, they would end up being washed down the drain.

NOPE NOPE NOPE 9 Huge Spiders To Destroy Your Dreams

http://regretfulmorning.com/2013/03/huge-spiders/?pid=10844
"Are you my mommy?? HUG ME!!"

Now, that takes a fairly large spider, but Gunner probably doesn't have much trouble with mice. Gotta look on the bright side.

Is this spider large enough for you Roger??

NASA has bugs in its programs before, but yes, this is more conspicuous than usual.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/virginmobilelive/moments-its-ok-to-nope

We don't get many exotic spiders - just 'bog standard' garden and house spiders - here's one I photographed recently.

in his Tues science Times a "bug guy" related his tale of being bitten by a black widow and having gone through a new antivenom trial as a result. He was from New Jersey and recounted the explosion of the most common of the widow species, Latrodectus nactans on the East Coast of US. They make really messy webs (unlike the works of art of the yellow garden spider). The reporter told of having gone around smashing widows so his kids wouldn't get but (A kid could die from the bite), So his story of his bite was putting on a pair of work boots from a closet(boots he didn't wear for a while) and, after walking a few feet, feeling this stabbing pain on his big toe.
He said that, after the venom settled in, the overall pain was excrutiating.

When I get home Im gonna sweep for widows as they overwinter.

I didn't think we had any biting spiders in the UK - until I checked this evening, and found this! I still like spiders, but shall be a little more careful when I see one of a species that's new to me.