Spiders

[natalie_1982]

Can house spiders in the UK bite you?

[New Forester]

No. All spiders have a poisonous bite, but very few have strong enough fangs to break the skin, nor strong enough poison to do any harm. There are one or two UK spiders which can break the skin (I've been bitten by one), but at worst the poison makes you feel ill for a day or two (it did not do that to me). The usual household species are all weak and feeble in this respect.

[Wisebird]

Hello Natalie. Like New Forester, my son says he was bitten once by a very large spider he was removing for me. It hurt enough for his to say 'ouch you little b*****', but didn't even leave a mark. As for me, I don't get that close to find out if they bite!

[verbiphobe]

I'll send you a couple of funnel webs, a red-back if you like

[natalie_1982]

I wouldnt mind a spider verbiphobe - I'm scared of things with no legs (worms, maggots, snakes, slugs, etc). It's actually my bf, his sister and dad that are scared of spiders and they told me it's because they bite (which I thought was rubbish), but they still make me catch them and put them in the garden!

[saffstar]

I was bitten by a garden spider once (which sparked off my now-traditional hysteria whenever a web touches me)

[spiderphobe]

I too am too disgusted by spiders to get too close to see if they can bite... Although, on inspection of my back door, I noticed that there are around 8 large funnels burrowed into the brick work and at night these rather large black spiders lie in wait for their snack... They are about the same circumference of a �2 coin if not larger and seem to be rather aggressive. Could someone please shed some light as to what they might be or where I can get more info on spider species in the UK?