Tegenaria Gigantea

[Fenris]

Most of my family doesn't think that there was foul play involved. They think that since he was walking so close to the snake river in winter he could have slipped on ice of fallen somehow into the river. I almost drown in that river when I was younger, so I know how strong the currents are in it. I just don't understand why anyone would want to cause him harm, so I have a littleh ard of a time believing the foul play theory.

 

[NRF]

Do you know if theres a article about this bite?

/Lelle

I have tried my best to figure out where the information originally came from. My lecturer who told me about it in 1998 said that he probably got it from Giftinformationscentralen (Information center for poison/venom) in Finland. He has him self published som notes from Finland (see below). I called the center but they did not find anything on Tegenaria, but they promised to try to find some info about it. The one I talked to remembered a case in Finland with a cellar living spider which gave a woman a quite painful bite in her shoulder. This case is published and it concerned Steatoda bipunctata. In the article there are also bite reports of Argyroneta aquatica, Araneus sp., Dolomedes fimbriatus and Sosticus loricatus:
Terhivuo, J. 1983: [Observations on spiders having bitten man i Finland] (In Finnish with English abstract). - Memoranda. Soc. pro Fauna Flora Fennica 59: 151-152.

And another one on some more cases (Cheiracanthium oncognathum & Trochosa spinipalpis)

Terhivuo, J. 1993: Novelties to the Finnish spider fauna (Araneae) and notes on spiders having bitten man - Memoranda. Soc. pro Fauna Flora Fennica 69: 53-56.

Since the case with Tegenaria atrica was from Sweden they might have notes on it at your Giftinformationscentral.

 

[Lorgakor]

I have never heard of anyone being bitten by the tegenaria species.. I asked my wife today who is american, and she has never heard of anyone being bitten over in the US by them either.

They are so common here I half expect to find one every time I go in my bathroom! I know a lot of people who have been bitten by them. Usually it is because they come out at night and get tangled with people in their bedsheets. I myself have been bitten several times. All you find of the poor spider is a squished body! It depends on the person how they will react to the bite. I found it to be very itchy for several days. The bite mark turns into a scab from so much scratching. But I've also seen people with more severe reactions to it, swelling and scarring. I've held T. gigantea many times and never been bitten, so I agree with whoever said that they only bite when they have no other choice.(ie: tangled in bed sheets) They are fabulous spiders, and they get super big! I caught one the other day and put it in a container, but it just ran around in circles until I let it go!

 

[NRF]

Do you know if theres a article about this bite?

/Lelle

Jess, I finally found it!
The bite which I referred to is documeted at the Giftinformationscentral in Sweden. A Swedish woman was bit in her hand by T. atrica (id. by Riksmuséet, Stockholm, T. Kronstedt) in 1966. The woman was taken into hospital for a day because of lowered blood pressure caused by an allergic reaction.

 

[Crotalus]

Jess, I finally found it!
The bite which I referred to is documeted at the Giftinformationscentral in Sweden. A Swedish woman was bit in her hand by T. atrica (id. by Riksmuséet, Stockholm, T. Kronstedt) in 1966. The woman was taken into hospital for a day because of lowered blood pressure caused by an allergic reaction.

Thanks! I´ll give them a call on monday.

/Lelle

 

[NRF]

Thanks! I´ll give them a call on monday.

Since no bite reports seem to be published from Sweden it would be worth to ask for info on other bites as well and write a short article about it in for example Fauna och Flora, and ecourage people to report bites and save the (mashed) spider for identification.

 

[Lorgakor]

Found this guy in my basement living room so I thought I'd post a couple pics. Man are these guys fast little buggers!!

 

[Laurie]

Hi,

Thought I'd post a pic of the biggest wild spider we have in the UK.
I believe that it is the fastest spider in the world at something between 8 and 12mph!
I love 'em!
Is it true that they bite over there in America? Anyone been bitten?

Actually, we do have them in America. I don't live in America, but they live around Idaho. We also have them in a little area around southern B.C. Canada. Live in Vancouver, and actually have one as a pet. So far she hasn't bitten me, she's endured alot of handling calmly.

 

[8 legged freak]

Tegenaria gigantea???

here is my tegenaria sp. i think it is gigantea but i have no idea maybe someone good help me out thanks well here he/she is freshly moulted today (i'll get better pics later)

 

[Laurie]

here is my tegenaria sp. i think it is gigantea but i have no idea maybe someone good help me out thanks well here he/she is freshly moulted today (i'll get better pics later)

What a cutie. Male or female?

 

[supersonic525]

These spiders seem to be getting more common in the UK, I have never seen as many as this year. Getting bigger too, I caught an extremely large gigantea not so long ago with a total leg span of 14cm!

And on to the biting, my Grandma was once bitten on the foot by one as she put a shoe on (dunno what it was doing in there!), apparently it gave a bit of a nip but there was no other effects.

 

[8 legged freak]

no idea it's only small, approximatley 1" legspan maybe i'll measure him/her tomorrow

 

[lejaders]

we have those in Vancouver.
i saw one this morning..

 

[Gigas]

this thread been dead nearly a year

But here's a freshly moulted ultimate male

 

[JPD]

I received a mature male yesterday from a local guy who had taken it to my paranoid veternarian.
When he presented it to her, she said to kill it immediately because it was an "Aggressive House Spider" / "Hobo" She went on to tell him that he needed to call an exterminator because these spiders are very dangerous and can jump on you.
He called back later to get more information about the "Hobo" at which point a friend of mine who works with the vet gave him my number.
I brought it home, had a look at the sternum and the palpal bulbs and wow, big surprise, T.gigantea.
It's sad that there are people out there like my vet. People in positions in which others take their word as gold.
When I talked with my vet many months back about spiders, she showed me a collection of "Hobos" that she had and refused to believe they were anything else.
I told her that, even if they were Hobos that she was more in danger from the formalin that she has them in then from the actual spider.
Well, who am I to tell a "veternarian" whats what.
Anyhow....she was wrong then and she was wrong again yesterday.

 

[pitbulllady]

Speaking of Tegenaria gigantea/duelica, does anyone have experience keeping these in captivity? I'd really like to get a big female, although I have not found any recently(we DO have them, though), so I'd probably wind up having to buy one and having her shipped. I'd really appreciate some care/housing info before I get one, though. I've started keeping Kukulcania hibernalis, another true spider, and they have proved quite rewarding, comparable to a small tarantula, and I'd like to branch out to other true spiders.

pitbulllady

 

[Gigas]

Well i have/do keep tegenaria sp. just for fun and they seem to do fine.
i keep mine quite humid, 60-70% i would guess but ive never measured, make sure whatever your keeping them indoesn't have smooth sides, because the Won't be able to climb or web.
I keep mine in a smooth sided tub but with cardboard running around a corner for her. Feed not too often once a week apart from after a moult fastthen they get a few(with T's you ormally look to a darkening rump to signs of an upcomming moult with tegenaria the legs darken)
there is a water bowl just for humidity sake, the spid will drink from water droplets on her web from misting(only really needed to be once every week/2weeks if your keeping them humid) and make sure they've got something to squeeze behind, i'll stick up a pic of hertub in a sec.
i know someone who tried to keep these from a small size and met some difficulty, i recomend a 1 inch legspan starter spider.

PIC EDIT
overview

size (roughly 12 inches)

Her corner

her

Somethin i would like to point out, even though its hard to make ou there is webbing nearly everywhere in that container and i need to put larger pieces of carboard in there so it reaches the corners.

Like i said i do this for fun, not the most dazzling set of care instructions but ive raised up a male till maturity(let him go forth and multiply) and this female is doing excellent

 

[The wolf]

Hi,

Thought I'd post a pic of the biggest wild spider we have in the UK.
I believe that it is the fastest spider in the world at something between 8 and 12mph!
I love 'em!
Is it true that they bite over there in America? Anyone been bitten?

I'm sorry to be a pain but the uks biggest spider is the fen raft spider but the giant house spider comes pretty close with some sources saying it's bigger than the fen raft spider.