bart2804

I am a terrible arachnaphobe, even small spiders in the UK freak me out :scared:

Anyway, I now have my ROPR and intend heading off to Vancouver within the next 4 - 6 weeks, will be based in downtown - anything much to worry about on the spidie front?

Bit of a city boy, so camping outside etc is not really a big thing, I know there's a desert in BC but can't imagine ever going there.

Seen lost of posts on here about bears recently, so don't want to sound overly pathetic, but heart failure as a consequence of seeing a big spider is more worysome to me than being pawed by a nice cuddly bear

oceanMDX

I spend about half the year in BC and I don't see all that many spiders.... but then again check this out:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/22/spiders021121

http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/spiderweb/#

Spiders in Canada tend to be small.

bart2804

Thanks.

I see you also spend time in Mexico, imagine it's a different story down there.....

oceanMDX

Yes, here in Los Cabos we have scorpions and tarantulas - lots of them. BC may have these too (in hot desert areas), but they are very rare. In fact, I've never seen a scorpion or tarantula in Canada.

bart2804

In that case I'll make sure I don't travel farther south than Seattle.....

stepnek

Actually although we live in Ontario so it's not relevant to the question I've just got to say that we don't seem to get anywhere near the same amount of house spiders that we used to see back in England. When we do see them they aren't nearly as big either. When my wife moved to the UK for a few years she was horrified at the size they seemed to grow to.

I had no idea there was a desert in BC!

oceanMDX

Then look this over:


http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0Je5rn14Q...vineyards.html


http://www.osoyoos.ca/

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LaSVRg4g...lfosoyoos.com/

Tantallon7

This will hardly act as a reassurance I know, but when I lived in the States not too long ago I got bit by an arachnid two years in a row [ don't think it was the same arachnid on both occasions, mind you; but you never know].

Same story both times: woke up in the morning, with an itch on my leg, thinking it was a mosquito bite, swelling got larger and larger by the hour until it was the size of a baseball and a lovely range of colours from turquoise to canary yellow, to magenta to ochre, got so I couldn't walk, whole lower leg swelled up, wrote out my will, offered up a few quick prayers then went to the Emergency Room, was raped financially the first year as I hadn't set up any medical insurance, was given five tablets the size of an atom each, one larger tablet the size of a large atom, handed over my credit card, tried not to faint when told the cost, now hate with an unqualified vengeance all spiders worldwide.
Beware!

Island_Girl

Actually BC does have its share of spiders mostly small ones but here in Victoria we have wolf spiders I have seen some the size of a quarter. we have a problem with spiders coming indoors in the fall and spring. Not sure if they have them in Vancouver or not.

dingbat

There seems to be an infestation of funny looking fat bodied black and white spiders in the scabbier "occupied by horticulture you won't find in a garden centre" houses I have to go into. Not sure what they are and don't usually hang around to capture and examine either. They are really slow though.....

hot wasabi peas

I wouldn't say there is anything to worry about re spiders but if what you have is a true phobia then what I just said or what anyone else on this thread says will probably make no difference to you what so ever, you'll still wonder 'what if?'. TBH, if you're really that freaked out get professional help. I had a phobia at one time (not of spiders, I love them actually) that started affecting my life and I went to a psychologist who specialised in treating phobias. It's money well spent, imo.

I'm not sure why the other BC people haven't seen them but yes there are large spiders called "giant house spiders" and yes, they're big. I've seen them bigger than my hand. The giant house spiders are harmless and beneficial to have around as they hunt the other spiders, mites and other creepy crawlies that could actually give you a bite. I always made sure I had a few of them in my house. They're good and amused the cat.

There are reports of Hobo spiders in BC giving nasty bites but much of it is media histrionics and not based on actual evidence - ie there are Hobo spiders and people do get bitten by something that leaves a nasty bite but the link between the two isn't proven.

There are Black Widow spiders in the Okanagan.

Mike Gas

We live in the Okanagan BC and we had all the usual stories from the neighbours about rattle snakes, black widow spiders and scorpions not to mention bears which we took with a little pinch of salt bit like fisherman’s stories. Then one day my wife took some cardboard boxes down to the recycling depot when the attendant there asked her if she new that there was a black widow spider :scared: in the back of the car up against the rear window which thankfully he removed it for her but I think now we wont be so blasé about it in future.

bart2804

This has been interesting - thx for the replies.

Appreciate I do have a phobia in relation to these beasties, the fact that some are poisonous and can hurt you is [strangely?] irrelevant to me, sufficient to say that the bigger the spider the more I'll freak, even though I know the bigger ones may actually be harmless.

Fingers crossed I don't meet the 'giant house spider' too often....

Rich_007

Tarantulas reported in BC now

Ya gotta love global warming

ps don't forget coyotes, a pack of which will easily tear a full grown human being to pieces and scatter them to the four winds. :scared:

Rich.

Patrick Hasler

I wouldn't worry ! ... In the 6 years spent living in the nothern states I have never seen any spide as big as a full grown British house spider.