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More spiders
Moving some bricks around the shed yesterday revealed one of my favourite spiders. There is no mistaking the 'woodlouse' spider, Dysdera crocata.
12 messages
Gardeners' World Web User
04/10/2007 at 08:16
I've never seen one of these spiders. Do you have any pictures of one?
Gardeners' World Web User
04/10/2007 at 08:16
katskorner and dawn - click on the link in the first paragraph for a photo of Dysdera crocata. It's very pretty.
Gardeners' World Web User
04/10/2007 at 11:31
I have a large spider in my greenhouse which has a black and white striped body. Do you recognise it and is it dangerous?
Gardeners' World Web User
09/10/2007 at 14:59
I was very pleased to read this article asIi have always had a healthy respect for spiders in my garden. It was good to be reminded of the benfits of these amazing creatures. It is easy to watch the web building ones doing their work in the garden but the ground dwelling hunting types also earn their place. What a pity there isn't a slug eating spider!
Gardeners' World Web User
12/10/2007 at 14:11
whilst watching my spider on his web this morning, i noticed he had a very large ladybird struggling in it. i hastened to rescue it, and then realised it had many, many spots and did not look like a normal ladybird. could this be a harlequin, mentioned on the programme in the summer? unfortunately, he has now been joined by several friends, a kind of mini swarm is now covering my french doors!
Gardeners' World Web User
17/10/2007 at 09:42
Reply to Tracy, Kings Lynn:

It was almost certainly a harlequin ladybird, this species has spread widely through southern England since its arrival in Essex in 2004. In the USA and other countries where it is proving a bit of a problem, it congregates in large winter clusters and is attracted into houses. Try to move them to a shed where they will settle down. They will give off a 'safe-house' pheromone, recruiting more specimens to settle and this scent will linger to bring them back to the same spots year after year. Better in an outhouse than in the corner of the living room.

Gardeners' World Web User
18/10/2007 at 19:30
I am very attached to the spiders that live around and inside my greenhouse, I never destroy there webs if I can help it and I am a little weird as the spiders that live there permanently all have names! :) Grace Lloyd, Age 12
Gardeners' World Web User
21/10/2007 at 19:59
I have never seen it but type in 'camel spider' in images and it is HUGE. The picture comes up about 20 times you can't miss it! But if you type in 'sunset spider' you get some beautiful images. Grace
Gardeners' World Web User
23/10/2007 at 09:10
Reply to Grace Lloyd:

Grace, I'm so glad you don't mind spiders. Many of my daughters' schoolfriends all squeal when one of our large house spiders marches across the carpet in front of the television. Both my girls have learnt that to get rid of a spider from indoors all you have to do is put a glass over the top and slide a card underneath. Then just bung it by the compost bin to join its outdoor brothers and sisters.

Gardeners' World Web User
20/06/2008 at 23:59
Thanks for the info. I found a spider in my house last night which I now know to be a Woodlice Spider. At first I thought it was a large nasty ant of some kind, then I realised it had 8 legs - I scooped him up and threw him out. I'm horrified to learn that they bite, but will remember for future reference!
Gardeners' World Web User
05/10/2008 at 19:39
As a child I lived in a semi-rural location (with plenty of logs and stones to go hunting for invertebrates), and I never saw a woodlouse spider. The first time I ever saw one was as a student in Middlesbrough. Somehow it had found it's way into my bathtub. When I poked it with a pencil it reared backwards (like a Sydney Funnel Web) to expose it's fangs. I felt a chill of fear in my stomach and thought it looked so strange that it must be a foreign spider! Alas, it's life was cut short by a sharp blow from my flatmate's rolled-up newspaper and I've never seen one since. I live in a rural location now and the only spiders I seem to see are large tegenarias that my girlfriend wants me to dispose of!
Gardeners' World Web User
28/11/2011 at 18:30
Right. This is one that really needs a picture posting to save all those 'Googling' moments and potential painful fingers! I would like to see this arachnid so I can doubly respect it too!
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