Violin Spiders

Tux said:
The problem with that stuff is that it has an adverse affect on certain people. I can't breathe and get asthma like attacks when somebody sprayed it in the same room as me
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Are you talking about the Fogger or just any Doom/spray stuff in general? In any case, we use the Doom Fogger once a year and turn it on just as we leave for vacation. By the time we return one cannot smell anything anymore.

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Might as well congratulate you on the 30K posts so long ;)
 
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Lord Anubis said:
I have killed three in my house in the last 24hrs. One was as big as R5 coin. What should I do? Doom? First aid kit?
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I doubt very much they were violin spiders...

[edit]Violin spiders are nowhere near the size of a R5 coin. You're probably looking at wolf spiders or nursery web spiders, both of which are harmless.[/edit]

[edit2]Here's a wolf spider carrying her babies



Here's a nursery web spider:



And if you're really up to it here's a rain spider (the size of my palm)



More here: http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/gallery/1367415_ufKGz#33658614_9HwDr

[/edit2]
 
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BigAl-sa said:
I doubt very much they were violin spiders...

[edit]Violin spiders are nowhere near the size of a R5 coin. You're probably looking at wolf spiders or nursery web spiders, both of which are harmless.[/edit]

[edit2]Here's a wolf spider carrying her babies



Here's a nursery web spider:



And if you're really up to it here's a rain spider (the size of my palm)



More here: http://bigal-sa.smugmug.com/gallery/1367415_ufKGz#33658614_9HwDr

[/edit2]
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Have you got a picture of one Lord Anubis. I also think it's not a violin spider but something else. The size of a 5 rand coin is probably one of those mentioned by BigAl.

We regularly get rain spiders in the house. I purchased a butterfly net from Sportsman's Warehouse and we use that to scoop up the spider and release it outdoors. They're really good at keeping the insect (fly and mosquito) population in check.

The rule in our house is that spiders don't get killed. They're caught and released.
 
Ok the body and legs is the size of a R5. Definitely like the wiki link in Tux post. Next time I'll take a pic. The last few were frantically squished :)
 
Lord Anubis said:
Ok the body and legs is the size of a R5. Definitely like the wiki link in Tux post. Next time I'll take a pic. The last few were frantically squished :)
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You have to be very close and have *very* good light to make the ID. Tux's species also refers to the American recluse spider Loxosceles reclusa, whereas the one found most "often" in SA is L. parrami.

I suggest you read this note compiled by Dr Ansie Dippenaar of the ARC.

Distribution: They are rare but occur throughout the region, in a wide range within their habitat requirements. Specimens recorded and housed in the National Collection of Arachnida over the last 40 years showed that of the > 32 000 database entries only 131 were violin spiders (0.4 % of total). Of these 131 recordings only 11 were recorded from buildings mainly in the southern Gauteng (Johannesburg), parts of the Free State (Bloemfontein, Clocolan, Vrede) and the northern parts of Eastern Cape (Middelburg).
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Much of the hype about violin spiders is from an email which has been circulating on and off for the past five years (which is also referred to in the link above). The fact that you had many spiders makes me more certain that it was some other species. Here is one I misidentified as a violin spider:



A crop of the same image. (I doubt very much that you were as close to the ones you squashed as I was to this one :p)
 
Hey thx BigAL. The more I look at the nursery web spider the more it seems it could rather be it. My wife says she squished a transparent spider in the bathroom this morning it was also that big. She says its body was almost see through but had two big black eyes with a yellowish back...help I'm stuck in some horror movie! What I can't understand is where they live. There are no webs visible. My wife says she spotted the first ones on/in folds of curtains but now she has seen both types everywhere. Together we estimate about 10 in the last week. I'll have to catch and photograph them. I've looked at so many pictures and now I'm too unsure.
 
Good lord those things are hideousssss, good luck with the infestation L_A:(

err, where do you stay? Part and parcel so i can check that you aint anywhere near me (:D ) and also i hear that the spiders are generally from a specific location in the country right?
 
my sister stays in nortcliff on some koppie - they have found scorpions in their house :eek:
 
And maybe put in an available job count...It always draws a lot of attention.
 
Lord Anubis said:
Hey thx BigAL. The more I look at the nursery web spider the more it seems it could rather be it. My wife says she squished a transparent spider in the bathroom this morning it was also that big. She says its body was almost see through but had two big black eyes with a yellowish back...help I'm stuck in some horror movie! What I can't understand is where they live. There are no webs visible. My wife says she spotted the first ones on/in folds of curtains but now she has seen both types everywhere. Together we estimate about 10 in the last week. I'll have to catch and photograph them. I've looked at so many pictures and now I'm too unsure.
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I have a feeling the yellowish back spider maybe a sac spider - the only spider I kill on sight in my house. They normally make nests in the folds in curtains which looks like a silken bag. I got bitten by one once and it took more than three months to heal.

Sorry about more pics, but these may help you ID it. From the top the yellow back and huge black fangs make the ID quite easy. The fangs maybe what your wife thought were eyes. Here, a spider wasp had gotten hold of one and chopped off the legs to carry it around:



After the wasp had gone walkabout:

 
Those are some lovely pics BigAl.... Checked out the ones on your link as well and think I might have one of the Lace Orb-web spider outside my front door. I'll try get a photo of it tonight.

Though I am now going to be getting goose bumps all over for the next few hours.. I hate spiders, well not hate, but I am most definitely arachnophobic
 
I doubt that you have a violin spider in your house. These spiders (AKA brown recluse spider) are native to the US and Mexico.
 
Kalvaer said:
Those are some lovely pics BigAl.... Checked out the ones on your link as well and think I might have one of the Lace Orb-web spider outside my front door. I'll try get a photo of it tonight.
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Thanks for your kind words! The Lace Orb-web spiders are really tiny, and the only totally non-toxic spider in SA (they don't have poison glands). I really want a pic of their back, as it has a very interesting mask like appearance - I just can never get into the right position to do it. Good luck with your attempts!

Kalvaer said:
Though I am now going to be getting goose bumps all over for the next few hours.. I hate spiders, well not hate, but I am most definitely arachnophobic
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I don't like them either, but have a long handled feather duster which I use to shoo them out.

[OT]Don't get a chance to follow all the threads, but how's Claire's research going? Any chance of her being able to do anything before she has to come back?[/OT]
 
BigAl-sa said:
I don't like them either, but have a long handled feather duster which I use to shoo them out.

[OT]Don't get a chance to follow all the threads, but how's Claire's research going? Any chance of her being able to do anything before she has to come back?[/OT]
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I usually call Claire to get rid of them :D

[OT] She is back already, we spent some time over December with her supervisors from CERN and they are looking to send her back for 6 months though, It now depends on the DST for funding. The LHC is still broken since its "accident", but should be running again around July/August [/OT]
 
its unussual for anyone to have so many spiders around, even in common spider teritory.

My guess is that you either had a nest in or near your house. ask the neighbors if they have problems with spiders too. Getting rid of them might prove to be difficult as the exterminator will clean the house, but if they coming in from outside you will sit with the same problem in a few weeks time again.
 
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