Can you ID this BIG black spider in the house -- now outside

applestar · Sun Dec 07, 2014 5:44 am

We found this spider in the house. Body about size of a nickel and generally bigger than size of a quarter when moving around. It was near the entry so it could have come in from the outside when the door was open -- too close to the shoes for comfort and arachnophobic DD's nightmare.

...So we thanked it for its service {eating all the bugs bugs and growing so big} and put it outside....

-- does anyone know what kind of spider it is? (I know it's kind of hard to see in the photo....)

pepperhead212 · Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:29 am

That's funny - I have one(?) Of those large spiders that I just saw in my basement, and I also thought that there must be something down there it is eating (probably not visible to me!), so I didn't try to search for it, and get it out of there. I think it is one of those hunter spiders, as I have had no webs anywhere.

rainbowgardener · Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:10 pm

I looked up spiders: https://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

the one from this list that seems most likely is the appropriately named black house spider.

But for pepperhead, this one is a webmaker : this spider spins a lacy, messy web and is prefers dry habitats in secluded locations. It is commonly found in window framing, under eaves, gutters, in brickwork, sheds, toilets and among rocks and bark.

LovetoGarden22 · Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:27 pm

Whoa!!!! That thing is huge! And ugly! (shivers) I'm surprised you had the composure to take a picture! I would have been running around the house looking for the biggest disposable weapon I could find! lol

pepperhead212 · Mon Dec 08, 2014 12:11 am

rainbowgardener wrote:I looked up spiders: https://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

the one from this list that seems most likely is the appropriately named black house spider.

But for pepperhead, this one is a webmaker : this spider spins a lacy, messy web and is prefers dry habitats in secluded locations. It is commonly found in window framing, under eaves, gutters, in brickwork, sheds, toilets and among rocks and bark.

That must not be the one I have, a there have been no signs of webs anywhere down there (I hate walking thought those things!

). I think mine is some sort of wolf spider, since they are the ones I'm thinking of that don't spin webs, if I recall.

I just saw it (or another?) on the other side of my basement today, but, again, it took off in an instant, so I couldn't look closely to examine it.

valley · Mon Dec 08, 2014 1:00 am

Hi, Kind of an odd angle but I'd say it's a Wolf Spider.

Richard

rainbowgardener · Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:35 am

I thought about Wolf spider, but they are nocturnal ground dwellers in burrows, seemed less likely to be in a house. And it said " an adult is 1/2 inch to more than 1 inch in body length - mottled gray to brown in color, with a distinct Union Jack impression on its back. " Applestar's spider does have that light streak and maybe it is just the "odd angle" you mentioned, but it didn't seem like a "distinct Union Jack impression." But I don't really know, just going by descriptions....

applestar · Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:11 am

I can't tell -- the spiders called Wolf Spider around here is usually dusty tan colored and have more teardrop shaped, narrow pointed abdomen and this one seemed to have rounded abdomen... but I tried looking up "black wolf spider" -- there seems to be one called Carolina Wolf Spider that do come in black with rounded abdomen. I didn't get the sideways view needed for the leg and abdomen colors for proper ID.

This could also very well be a black housespider and it could be one of the spiders that live in the webbed crevices in the brick porch facade that have snuck inside.

The other black spiders we have that can get pretty big (though not as big as this) is the brilliantly green-eyed jumping spider. That one has sort of squared off abdomen with sprinkled white star map markings, huge mean looking fangs and shorter legs and moves in scurrying short dashes. I see them around window and door frames and also very often hanging around under the plant lights. Very important part of my indoor garden patrol.

GEOSAN · Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:14 pm

Charlotte

applestar · Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:08 pm

LOL -- are you naming my spider?

applestar · Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:39 am

DD slowly sat on the couch and said there was a big black spider in the kitchen. I told her if there is a spider that is too big and scares her, then she should tell me so I can get rid of it. This one turned out to be a Daring/Bold Jumper -- the green "eyed" one ...actually iridescent green FANGS

The inside diameter of the bottom of the glass is 2 inches, so yeah, pretty big.

I re-assigned her (?) to the behind-the-backwall-shelf-unit patrol duty in the garage where no one is likely to encounter her and she can continue to be useful.

Ref: https://bugguide.net/node/view/2006/bgimage

ButterflyLady29 · Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:56 pm

IMO, it's a wolf spider, Hogna lenta. I find them in my basement all the time. For some reason basements are wandering spider havens.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/112142

Now that I am all creeped out I am leery of going into my basement. There was a HUGE one of those hanging out by the wood stove a couple months ago. It was so big I thought it was a mouse at first glance.

applestar · Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:34 pm

Another spider sighting! (No photo today)

Well, today, I was called downstairs by my DDs to “DO SOMETHING!” About a “GIANT Spider the size of my palm" ... well, as I questioned my DD as to if it was REALLY as big as her hand, the size slowly diminished in her telling to SIZE OF A QUARTER..... Yeah it was.

As we stared at it over the front doorway lintel, comparing to a NJ Spiders identification chart — we decided it was either a Yellow Sac Spider or maybe possibly a Brown Recluse, but we weren’t sure — It seemed to be affected by our combined GAZE and crawled up to the ceiling (creating the apparent threat of jumping down on someone any minute as it were). Yeah time to ask it to leave....

DDs did bring me a chair to stand on, but stood well back until I captured it in a tall beverage cup and then tossed the spider out the front door into the bushes. haha.

TomatoNut95 · Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:42 pm

Spiders scare the daylights out of me. Not all spiders, but most of them. The spider in the photo you posted first is definitely a Wolf spider. I spot them in the backyard from time to time and they are rather large. Enough to make me call them little tarantulas. Lately I've been seeing those itty bitty crab like jumping spiders here and there in the house. Scary but interesting little boogers.

If the spider you saw was a brown recluse I would've stomped it, they're poisonous. I used to see big brown spiders in the house and they scared me to death. Thankfully I haven't seen them in a couple of years. I do NOT do big spiders except for Zipper spiders.

applestar · Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:43 pm

Well since there are more venomous spiders where you are, I’m sure there are more reasons to be cautious. Here, it would be extremely rare to actually even come across a brown recluse. We think the abdomen shape was wrong for it, but couldn’t tell for sure if the tips of the legs were darker as they should have been for the yellow sac.

My vision has been affected lately, so can’t see close up unless my naked eyeballs are about 2 inches from the target object — no way I was getting that close, you understand — too lazy to get magnifiers and DDs were not about to get any closer LOL.

Yellow sac can be painful though not venomous. So neither are wanted in the house especially once they have achieved that kind of size. I just thank them for their service and usher them out to the great outdoors.

We’re experiencing severe temperatures already, so evicting the spider may not have allowed it to survive. But I feel better for giving it that slim chance.