AnnaMaria

Hi. This is probably going to seem like a strange/pathetic thread, but my family have been wanting to move to Canada for a while now, it's just a matter of making sure we have the right qualifications that will make getting VISAs easier. But, from the time I spent visiting family in the US this summer, I am a little concerned about the spiders in Canada.

Now, I do not just dislike spiders - I am completely petrified of them. A huge one crawled over my hand while I was working at a dairy farm and I had a complete panic attack and they had to send me to lie down I was shaking so badly. I don't know why spiders do this to me! I love snakes, other insects don't bother me and all of my friends say I'm the most confident, brave person they know. But I cannot cope with spiders no matter what the situation.

So, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what areas of Canada they would recommend for its lack of spiders. I know everywhere has them, but I'm hoping there are places where they're very uncommon or really tiny and harmless. Thank you

P.S. you don't need to tell me how pathetic my fear of them is - I am well aware! I have tried everything to get over it.

Siouxie

Weirdly, I haven't seen many spiders at all in my area - nothing like the UK. I get small greenish/white "blackfoot" spiders that like to hang around the house and spindly 'daddy longlegs' types in the basement, but I haven't seen anything bigger. Outside I have seen a couple of garden spiders, but again nothing huge. I've never seen a wolf spider here nor a cat faced spider (which are the larger ones) but they may be more prevalent in other areas of Canada.

I was going to post a link but it had pictures, thought it might freak you out!

AnnaMaria

The daddy longlegs ones can get quite big though can't they. I saw one in the US that could easily outspan my palm. Needless to say I made the horse step on it. And, although they're small, I thought the blackfoot spiders were one of the most dangerous ones in Canada! I hoped they were rare...maybe I should forget Canada and move to Antarctica to play with the penguins...

Haha, thanks for the consideration! Surprisingly I'm not too bad with pictures - although they do make me shiver - because a) they can't get me and b) they're not moving. The leg movement creeps me out completely!

MillieF

It's a good question AnnaMaria, and I'm with Siouxie, I haven't really noticed any to speak of. I have just looked in The Nature Guide to Atlantic Canada, under 'Spider' and all it lists is 'Eastern Daddy Long Legs'...we surely must have more than that? The mob over in the west might have more as they have better weather, but it doesn't seem we are overrun here. Best of luck.

MillieF

The Eastern Daddy Longlegs have tiny bodies, and are not actually spiders, they are harvestmen from the species Opiliones and do not make webs - same book

Hawk13

They are all over BC. Not like as in a horror movie kind of thing but you'll find them in every city.

Novocastrian

I'd think Nunavit would be fairly free of spiders. Nice climate too.

MillieF

Novo! I like the you in holiday mode! You look the bees knees in a jaunty beret

Novocastrian

Merci. But don't fail to notice the carefully chosen angle between les baguettes.

JonboyE

It really depends on where you will be moving to. Canada is a vast country with many different climates and, consequently, habitats.

In this part of the world there are teo potential nasties. Down on the coast I think it is just a bit too cool for black widows. I think I saw one once but I can't be sure. It is hard to identify a squished one. There are other club foot spiders that look similar but are compeletely harmless. They are more common in the interior.

There are also hobo spiders. These were imported from Europe where they lived in fields and didn't interct much with humans. Here they have been known to wander into houses. They have a nasty bite.

That is it for things to be wary of.. I see fewer spiders in the house than I did in the UK. I have never seen a big house spider here.

AnnaMaria

OK So I'm guessing they're more similar to the flying English Daddy Longlegs than spiders? I guess I could cope with that.

Ha, yeah I should imagine not many survive up there! Having said that I also doubt I would survive up there!

I though BC would be one of the worst for them as it has one of the nicest climates. Which is a shame because as an actress, I've been told BC would be the best choice because of the amount of work there. I think I'd rather commute though than live with the eight-legged freaks!

I like the sound of less being in the house. I can kind of deal with them a little better when they're outside. It's when it gets wetter here and they all migrate inside that I just sit in the middle of the room with a can of bug spray!



From the sound of what I read online and on here Eastcoast sounds better for me unless I was willing to live up in the mountains - which would ceertainly make my work more difficult. What's the other wildlife like though, I read that dogs often get badly quilled by porcipines and attacked by coyotes...I don't think my pup would be very happy at moving somewhere like that! He's quite used to being the biggest baddest thing on the block

in the woods

I'm not to keen on them either but here in Cape Breton there seems to be less than there were in Surrey

mandymoochops

I hardly see any here (AB). Would now be the wrong time to post the video thats doing the rounds about the spiders 'falling from the sky' in Brazil????

puggirl

I havent had one spider in my house in the three years ive lived here and im happy about that because the ones i had in france were enormous !!

Siouxie

The black foot spider is apparently mildly venomous (I didn't know that) but not harmful to humans. The ones in my house are really small, less than 1/2" with legs and look really fragile, like pale green glass.

Daddy longlegs spiders are very much like harvesters, so spindly and they run away as soon as they see you, I only ever see them in the basement around the window.

There is a common house spider in Ontario, but it isn't like those nasty big ugly brutes we get in the UK, these grow to a maximum of 1" long (with legs).

If you don't mind spider pictures, here are the 3 above, for reference.
http://www.yorkpestcontrol.ca/black_..._spider_e.html

As I said, I have seen far less spiders here than I had in my house in the UK.