Spider situation in Canada
 

OK, being a complete girl regarding spiders:o and having just found the biggest house spider in the world in my bathroom:ohmy:, it suddenly occured to me - what is the spider situation in Canada (NB in particular)? Do you get more of the hairy little critters... less or them... are they bigger...smaller... do they speak french .......???? Please help - as they say forewarned is forearmed and i'd like to be armed if at all possible!

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

But four-arms is going to be no defence against their eight.

This thread might put your mind at rest:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hlight=spiders

Well, kind of.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Thanks Bazzz (i think!). I'm off for a shower - can't stop itching!

Btw - liked the idea of Terro Spider Killer - can you get it in Canada - or should i stock up before i land........

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I tooam terrified of spiders and I live in NB.

It seems to me that it is no worse than the UK.
The house I lived in in England had far more spiders than my NB house.
Window screens may have a ot to do with that.
There are quite a few in my barn but they seem to keep themselves to themselves.

Shouldn't be any more of a problem here for you.

Anyhoo what about your "wings of steel"
Should be an impenetrable shield.:D:p

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

My wife and step daughter are petrified of them too. I hear a scream followed by a whimper and I come running, expecting to see a monster with 17 legs and fangs. Usually it's a titchy thing, no bigger than the tip of my little finger.

The vast majority in the house are barely bigger than a money spider. We've been in NB for over 3 years and I have yet to see anything approaching a fraction of the size of the typical UK house spider.

Garden spiders are smaller too.

TBH, ants are usually bigger than the house spiders.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

No problems here in Bragg Creek, largest spider I have seen looks a positively minute compared to the huge spiders we got in the UK.

On a couple of occasions I have gone into my daughters bedroom here and there is a piece of paper on the floor with a plastic top sitting on it and I look at her and she says please Mum can you get rid of the spider, and when I peek underneath I need to put my glasses on to see it!!!

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Leave 'em alone - they eat all the bloody mosquitoes.

MM - Member of the Spider Liberation Front of Ontario

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Well they are not doing a very good job here!!! ;)

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I suggest they are on a diet at your location?

Think how bad it would be without them?

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I dread to think seeing as how they attack me every time I go out into the garden even with a whole can of Deep Woods on, I think they love the stuff. :)

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

have got loads of really big one's here in NS at the moment, the strength of the webs are amazing, stretching all across the garden. Bigger than any we used to get in South Africa:eek:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

That's why I stopped using any form of DEET posion didn't seem to be worth spraying and still getting bites.


possible mossie posioning V actually DEET posioning -- go for the Mossie

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Just read this:-

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-4811390c.html


Must remember to tuck trousers into socks when in the wilds.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

If you want to get some accurate information on spiders in Canada, I suggest you email Dr. Robert Holmberg at Athabasca University. He has studied spiders extensively. His email is [email protected]

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Think I agree with you there, when my visitor sprayed me I was dripping in the stuff from head to toe, wonder I didnt keel over ;)

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Thanks for the replies everyone! Has put my mind at rest somewhat - was having visions of having to shake out my duvet every night just in case a Brown Recluse was reclining in it ( i blame the Pest Control Canada website - more or less told me that a Brown Recluse spider was gonna get me if the BLack Widow didn't beat him to it!!!!!!!

Just to clarify - no Brown Recluse's or Balck Widows in NB.....yes....???????:blink:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

You will not encounter Brown Recluse spiders in NB. In theory you might find a Black Widow, but it would be extremely unlikely IMHO.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

NOW THAT'S THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!:thumbsup:

Thank you Bill_S - i can sleep once more:wub:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Something bit me last year and by next day my arm was swollen from above the elbow to just above the wrist. Never saw what it was that bit me but I was put on antibiotics for the cellulitis, and it subsided.

Some people told me it looked like a spider bite, and I had been walking through bush the day before ..... :unsure:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

We get loads of spiders here in BC and they have just started to appear in force in the house looking for their winter hide away. I was biten by one last year in bed and it wasn't very pleasant. Saw the bugger but never managed to catch it so it is probably still roaming around waiting. Not an expert but pretty sure it was a brown recluse. It is not unusual to find them in the sink - in fact this time of year we are more likely to find one in the kitchen sink than not first thing in the morning and they can be rather big.

MIL says you can get things that you plug in the mains and they send out a high pitch sound that scares them off. Someone else once suggested chestnuts! Anyone found anything that helps to keep them away, please?

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

It is very unlikely. Brown recluse spiders are native to south eastern US.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Going off on a tangent a bit here, but does any one know the name of the spider that lerks under toilet seats and bites you on the ass, cant remember for the life of me:confused:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

What the funnel web one's :lol:

i cant wait for the buyers of my house to see our residents here, i havent a clue where they are coming from, but WOW are they big :unsure:
Even OH doent like them, as they come out when the kids are in bed :curse:

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I had a nest of 200 baby black widow in the yard, and a few adults in the garage. More than the previous two years, for sure.

It's no biggie. Vacuum the garage out regularly. Just be sure to garden with gloves on, and don't poke things you shouldn't :sneaky:

The latter being a general rule of life. :zzz:

R.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Cats.
A hammer.
Fire.
Flood.

Always happy to help.

R.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

My OH says hes size 11 feet :wink_smile:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

i thought it was called a wolf ..erm... or something like that:confused:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Is the funnel web the one that causes all the car crashes:eek:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

wolf spiders

Attachment 72275

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

THATS THE BUGGERS!!:eek::eek:Any of those in BC:confused:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Sorry JonboyE - I usually take what you say to be right and value your input but in this case you are wrong. We most definitely have brown recluse spiders on Vancouver Island and they are not uncommon. We also get hobo spiders and they are nasty litle devils too.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I saw a spider documentary with Johnny Rotten and he interviewed a man about Brown Recluse spiders. He said they like to hide in old books and paperwork and stuff.
The bite of the Brown Recluse is necrotising (sp) so it would leave part of the flesh rotting. Was it like that?:ohmy::eek:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I had what looked like a small volcano on my arm which erupted green/yellow stuff for a few weeks. I felt like I had the flu for a couple of weeks too. It wasn't very nice but nothing like as bad as it could have been. Still have the scar to prove it.

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Oh yes, certainly! In the Vancouver and coastal areas, you see wolf spiders. Rarely in the open - they like the dark, dry, safe areas.

I see you're heading to Kamloops. Kamloops is a completely different climate zone than Vancouver, so I don't know what the wolf spider situation is like in Kamloops, but if you're heading to Vancouver, you may see one eventually!

Edit: Hrmmm... just found this link: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=3162

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Are there any side effect from abite from a wolf spider? Only asking cause my 4 year old loves spiders and keeps picking them up to play with:eek:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

RIGHT thats it after doing a search they are also alot in alberta :curse:

OFF to find what kills the things, so i can stick them in my boxes to follow as well :curse:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Not to mention the BEARS:eek:But does Bear spray work on them:confused:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

Lots of things kill them as Rich_007 kindly pointed out - you need to find something that stop the dam critters wanting to share a home with you in the first place. It's alright killing the ones you see but what about all the others that you don't!

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I'll second that,what about the ones you can't see,:eek: especially the ones lurkin under the bed while you sleep the crawl over the quilt and up on the pillow........(to the sound of JAWS):eek::eek:

Re: Spider situation in Canada
 

I did say unlikely, not impossible. I freely admit to have been wrong about many things, many times.

I also don't claim any particular expertise on bugs but, because I am not at all keen on spiders either, I did do some research. This is one comment I read. If was on a bulletin board so I don't know the background of the author (my emphasis):

Take, for example, the Hobo Spider - Tegenaria agrestis - also known as the Aggressive House Spider, a funnel weaver which was introduced to Vancouver Island, Canada in the early 20th century from Europe, and has spread throughout the Northwestern United States. It too causes necrotic arachnidism, and even death, when the envenomation or individual reaction is severe.

For much of the 20th century, it's bite was misdiagnosed by the vast majority of medical professionals as the bite of the brown recluse, a spider that doesn't even exist within 500 miles of the range of the Hobo. Entomologists knew this, but since the prescribed medical treament for a brown recluse bite had always worked, no one in the medical profession bothered to question the matter further.

From wikipedia (yes, I know):

The brown recluse spider is native to the United States from the southern Midwest south to the Gulf of Mexico .[2] The native range lies roughly south of a line from southeastern Nebraska through southern Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana to southwestern Ohio. In the southern states, it is native from central Texas to western Georgia. They are generally not found west of the Rocky Mountains.[3] A related species, the brown violin spider (Loxosceles rufescens), is found in Hawaii.[4] Despite many rumors to the contrary, the brown recluse spider has not established itself in California,[5] nor Canada[6]. There are other species of Loxosceles native to the southwestern part of the United States, including California, that may resemble the brown recluse, but these species have never been documented as medically significant.

The reference given for [6] is Vetter, R.S. (2008) Spiders of the genus Loxosceles (Araneae, Sicariidae): a review of biological, medical and psychological aspects regarding envenomations. The Journal of Arachnology 36:150–163