False widow spider in hive

[louiseww]

Does anyone know anything about these apart from them being poisonous? This is the second time I have found one tucked away in the roof of one of my hives. I wonder if they kill bees, no dead bees there! Wish they would eat the varroa! I carefully removed it, showed the grandchildren with a dire warning and put it into the hedge. I suspect it had settled down to hibernate, but couldn't be sure, so feel a bit mean.

 

[pargyle]

Does anyone know anything about these apart from them being poisonous? This is the second time I have found one tucked away in the roof of one of my hives. I wonder if they kill bees, no dead bees there! Wish they would eat the varroa! I carefully removed it, showed the grandchildren with a dire warning and put it into the hedge. I suspect it had settled down to hibernate, but couldn't be sure, so feel a bit mean.

Not very common yet ...they started out in Devon and are gradually moving along the South Coast and into the Kent and South London areas. They have a venomous bite but eat insects and other spiders. A friend of mine found two in his greenhouse this week ... September's a real month for spiders generally.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2007/may/news_11767.html

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Gradual! looking at three on the office window this very moment (we're not allowed to look out of the windows before lunchtime as we'd have nothing to do in the afternoons)

 

[pargyle]

Gradual! looking at three on the office window this very moment (we're not allowed to look out of the windows before lunchtime as we'd have nothing to do in the afternoons)

I was led to believe they prefer the warmer drier areas of the UK ... global warming comes to Wales ?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Like the bees - they've learnt to dodge the drops!

 

[garlicpickle]

As a self confessed arachnophile I get really irritated by these scaremongering stories in the Daily Fail about deadly spiders.

"False" widows aren't closely related to black widows, they just look superficially similar. They are not aggressive (you would have to squeeze one in order to force it to bite you), their main defence mechanism is to play dead. Most people would have no reaction to a bite anyway other than local irritation round the area - far less than a bee sting! ALL spiders are venomous whatever size they are - that's how they kill their prey, by biting into it and injecting venom through their fangs. There are no spiders in the UK capable of killing a human or causing anything other than a minor reaction.

Steatoda (false widows) don't stalk prey. They make a web then sit in it and wait, so would only eat a bee if one blundered by chance into their web, same as any other spider.

 

[Swarm]

They first appeared on the south coast mid 19th Century and they are certainly not confined to that area, I see them regularly (almost daily) in underground structures.
While I agree their reputation has been exaggerated, I'd avoid being bitten by one of these. One of our engineers was bitten on his thumb and the result was quite horrific. There was a lot of swelling and this progressed into a large area becoming black and eventually bursting, it was bloody horrible.
Largest I've come across had a leg span of 2.5 inches. Another, about half that size had dead bumbles in its web so yes, they eat bees. Not that they'd be a threat to a hive full but I'd still evict if I came across them in my hives.

 

[Roola]

As a self confessed arachnophile I get really irritated by these scaremongering stories in the Daily Fail about deadly spiders.

"False" widows aren't closely related to black widows, they just look superficially similar. They are not aggressive (you would have to squeeze one in order to force it to bite you), their main defence mechanism is to play dead. Most people would have no reaction to a bite anyway other than local irritation round the area - far less than a bee sting! ALL spiders are venomous whatever size they are - that's how they kill their prey, by biting into it and injecting venom through their fangs. There are no spiders in the UK capable of killing a human or causing anything other than a minor reaction.

Steatoda (false widows) don't stalk prey. They make a web then sit in it and wait, so would only eat a bee if one blundered by chance into their web, same as any other spider.

Like this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...carer-feared-amputation-leg-turned-black.html

 

[garlicpickle]

Like this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...carer-feared-amputation-leg-turned-black.html

Exactly a) she didn't see a spider bite her so how does she know it wasn't a graze from the cement wall or a bite from some other insect? b) cellulitis is an infection that gets into the body through a wound and it can be any wound, my husband got it from a mosquito bite. Even if it actually was a spider that was the vector for her leg getting infected, it's nothing to do with its venom potency or lack thereof.

These kind of articles make my blood pressure soar.

 

[Roola]

Exactly a) she didn't see a spider bite her so how does she know it wasn't a graze from the cement wall or a bite from some other insect? b) cellulitis is an infection that gets into the body through a wound and it can be any wound, my husband got it from a mosquito bite. Even if it actually was a spider that was the vector for her leg getting infected, it's nothing to do with its venom potency or lack thereof.

These kind of articles make my blood pressure soar.

She's also rather portly which makes you more susceptible to skin infections due to poorer blood supply... She could have got an infection from a scratch just as much... I found one of these in the roof of a spare hive last week, just encouraged it out.

 

[mbc]

Exactly a) she didn't see a spider bite her so how does she know it wasn't a graze from the cement wall or a bite from some other insect? b) cellulitis is an infection that gets into the body through a wound and it can be any wound, my husband got it from a mosquito bite. Even if it actually was a spider that was the vector for her leg getting infected, it's nothing to do with its venom potency or lack thereof.

These kind of articles make my blood pressure soar.

 

[Roola]

 

[garlicpickle]

I don't read it; but my Facebook is usually plastered with stupid and enraging links posted by my so-called "friends"

 

[Roola]

I don't read it; but my Facebook is usually plastered with stupid and enraging links posted by my so-called "friends"

That and the Daily Express forecasting weather Armageddon with meters of snow and ice storms!

 

[garlicpickle]

now that's a real spider

 

[ichbinpaul]

whenever I open up an article of the daily mail I get a security alert on my computer. shysters

 

[ichbinpaul]

Garlicpicle!

I like your cat

 

[garlicpickle]

Garlicpicle!

I like your cat

It ate the cat

 

[pargyle]

now that's a real spider

Now that's a step too far ... if that came walking up the drive I would be hiding behind the car !!

You would need a bucket and a piece of 18mm ply not a beer glass and a piece of cardboard ... and if it lives within 3 miles of me - I'm moving !!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

In the good old bad old days whilst doing a night patrol of Barry docks (there was a good chippy on the way back to the 'castle' as the old Waterguard office on the Roath basin was called.) we noticed someone trying to 'gain entry' to the Geest banana terminal, on challenging it was a group of kids - one of whose father ran a pet shop, they were hunting for tarantulas which used to hitch a lift over in the banana cargo! (there were loads on the dock) not long after one of the workers in the Windward islands died from a spider bite whilst packing bananas, from then on all bananas were bathed in insecticide before being handled for shipping over - no more spider hunts!