Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

I received this email from a friend...Beware:

This is the delightful wolf spider which made an appearance in our villa last night (no-this is not a photo off the internet, this is the actual one). At the time when it cruised into our living room, it didn't have its precious children in tow – that golf ball looking thing is actually its egg sack which it carries on its back. The children only appeared after it realised it was trapped – nice.



Obviously, we didn't know what it was except for a disgusting and enormous spider, but it turns out that these little beauties are extremely poisonous. They don't kill you but they will kill dogs, cats, birds etc – they just send us to hospital for anti-venom (which they don't have in the UAE – clever). Also as we discovered from some internet trawling they don't bother with stupid things like webs as they like to stalk their prey, and they "hunt in packs". Clearly I am now a nervous wreck….



Anyway apart from to show you Stephen and my new pets, you should also know that if you happen to discover one of these spiders in your house., you should trap it with a (large) glass and then you are actually supposed to report it to pest control because they are dangerous to children particularly.



Well, doesn't it make us all breathe easier to know that wolf spiders (the name given to them because they like to hunt in packs – eh, terrifying much?) are living amongst us. And, for extra peace of mind, if you get bitten by this or by a red back for that matter, they won't be able to help you in the hospitals here. Perfect.



Have a lovely day.



Leigh xx

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

I hate spiders. Even reading this is making my stomach turn.

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

cheers for that JD, that is me having guarenteed nightmares from now on. I Hate spiders of any size/description.

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

luckily for me I have MH on a retainer as my super spider squasher...

(someone tell me this is a wind up though, please...)
MM, xx

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

no..it is indeed fact

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

hmmm...you're not making me feel any better...

MM, xx

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider


http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjo...f%20Spider.jpg

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

thanks JD...I feel a whole lot better now :eek:

MM, xx

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

S-H-!-T

I feel sick ........

That was huge ....oh my Gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwd!!!
:eek: :eek: :eek: (looking round nervously)

I don't even mind em but THAT .....was sumthing else!!

Go near that with a glass ....Are you CRAZY????

Evacuate the house and run for the hills ...I say!!

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

thank goodness I scrolled thru quickly .. I am not looking at this again :ohmy:

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

Me neither .....Ive got my (ghostbusters style) flame thrower staped to my back.

Suggest you do the same!! ;)

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

http://www.ento.okstate.edu/ddd/insects/wolfspider.htm

According to this website, they are not poisonous and are "shy and seek to run away when disturbed."

They are also common in Britain as well, according to this website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfact...iles/355.shtml

They only grow to a maximum of 8 cm, which is really not that big (compared with the Camel spider), seen spiders in the UK that size...

I would still be very reluctant to have one crawling around my house though

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

Tell Leigh that just a few minutes of Googling reveals that although wolf spiders look nasty and have a nice scary-sounding name they are not particularly dangerous. Even in Australia, where pretty much every creature that moves is lethal, wolf spider bites aren't dangerous... painful yes, deadly no :)

Oh, and that hoary old myth about redbacks is just that - a myth. They *do* have the redback antivenom here in the UAE, but the boring truth is that the redback isn't anywhere near as dangerous as everyone likes to think (ask any Australian), and unless you're very young or very old you probably wouldn't be given the antivenom after being bitten anyway because you wouldn't need it.

Doh! There I go again, ruining another perfectly good scare story ;)

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

spoil-sport!!

Re: Wolf Spiders!!!!
 

;)

Don't worry, someone'll be along in a minute to tell us that camel spiders are a foot across, chase after you screaming and inject a deadly venom that kills you in five seconds... :thumbup: