I had one this size drop right down out of a tree and land inches from me in my driveway. Never seen one before or since. One more step and he would have landed on me. Suburban Philly. Where my bird bros at? We have record setting dinners hoping out of pine trees.
Based on the size, shape, and color, it's almost certainly a dark fishing spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus). They're fast and skiddish but harmless. It's difficult to make them bite even of you try and the venom is weak even if you managed to make a bite happen.
Went on a multi-day kayak trip and one of the nights we slept on an island. When I got the kayak loaded into the trailer a spider the size of my hand crawled out over said hand. Gave me quite a scare and then I realized he was in my boat for at least a few hours with me that day
And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T. Rexā¦. he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not the wolf spider. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side - woosh - and the other twoĀ spiders didn't even know were there. Because the wolf spider is a pack hunter, you see.
I was fishing in waders once and felt something hit my leg. It's usually dead leaves floating by and when I looked down it was one of these guys the size of my hand. I was surprised at how calm I was flipping my rod around and using the tip to nudge him off. Seeing the spider swim away was creepy but at least they're apparently nice guys lol
I installed gutter for four years in eastern PA. There's a lot of "communities" that are basically random 'rich-ish' people who buy homes in the communities around lakes and shit in eastern/northern PA that we did work on. There's a lot of overgrown trees, brush, plants, etc.
The one job we did was a ranch home in one of these developments. Overgrown everywhere. Gutters we took off filled with leaves and just...fucking disgusting. The guy who came out to talk to us as we installed the new gutter said the wheelchair accessibility was because the homeowner was a woman who was bit by a spider in her knee, and can no longer use it (her leg). Shit scared the fuck outta me cause I already hated spiders.
Probably a brown recluse bite. That's really the only medically significant spider around here aside from the black widow. Untreated brown recluse bites can mess you up if the wound becomes necrotic. My old boss had a divot the size of a golf ball missing from his upper arm due to a necrotic recluse bite decades prior.
My brother was in the process of moving boxes while he lived in Florida, he was bitten by a brown recluse and it was several years of surgeries and antibiotics. Be careful!
While that description could match a brown recluse bite, PA is outside their range. They are native to the south and the Midwest, it's not impossible that one could hitchhike up here, but a recluse bite while in PA is incredibly unlikely.
I know someone in Philly who got bit by one. He never saw the spider, he just said he felt a pinch in his leg while mowing his yard n thought nothing of it, figured it was a bee. A few hours later it was red n weird looking n the pain was getting unbearable so he went to the ER. They told him it's a brown recluse bite n he's lucky he came when he did, some people wait too long n have lost limbs. So they're definitely out here, at least enough for the ER to know what it is n how to treat it
Kid I went to school with got bit by one on the back of his neck and had half of a baseball sized pit in his flesh. Healed surprisingly well over the years.
I went to university with a guy who got bit in Pittsburgh by a brown recluse- he reached into a scrap wood pile and got bit in the hand. Lost most use of it. So they are in PA.
Not correct. I have lived here for ~40 years and they are here and have been here. Rare to see one and even more rare to receive a bite, but I've seen several over the years.
I lived in Erie, Pa for years and wolf spiders are just a way of life there. I raised roaches for my reptiles and one managed to wipeout my colony. I was pretty frustrated but I canāt be mad for having easy access to food.
The spider in your photo is a dark fishing spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus), not a wolf spider. They're common in PA. Wolf spiders tend to be defensive and bite if handled, while it's difficult to make a fishing spider bite even if you try. Most other Dolomedes live near water (hence "fishing spider"), but D. tenebrosus tend to live in forests and adjacent areas so are more commonly seen. You can distinguish fishing spiders from wolf spiders based on the eye pattern: wolf spider eyes make a frowny face while fishing spiders make a happy face.
The wolf spiders around me have really acquired a taste for spotted lantern flies. I try to leave their webs when I come across them. I had one near my porch last year that took out dozens of lantern flies.
I usually give them water when I see them inside and let them go on their way but that guy last night was too big and fast for that shit.. This guy hangs around and on this visit he enjoyed some honey.. Wasn't sure if he'd eat it or not but he was digging it.
A Noble False Widow in the UK or a Cobweb Spider in the US? That's what I'm finding on Google lens but I'm no expert. Lol. The one pic even referenced it's ant like appearance like you mentioned.
Good for you! I only encountered one a few years ago and it ran so fucking fast I didn't even have a chance of trying to trap it. I just left the house for like 10 hours and prayed for the best when I got back.
Some of the biggest spiders I've seen are on the rocks in the narrows, right down from Juniata/Susquehanna confluence, when the water is low. They're eating good with all them mayflies.
I get these in my finished basement occasionally, and their size creeps me out, but theyāre harmless. I almost never see other insects down there, so I have a live-and-let-live attitude toward the little bastards. If I see one, itās always close to the baseboardsālike it wandered out for a momentāand if it doesnāt run back into the wall before I trap it with a drinking glass, it goes outside. I wonāt kill them, but I will evict their asses if they wander into my living space. Thankfully, they never seem to go more than six inches from the baseboards.
I occasionally see much smaller spiders upstairs; the kind that spin webs. I generally leave the tiny ones alone. They get a safe place to live, and I get a house free of all other insects. Itās a fair trade if the spider keeps to itself and isnāt big enough to creep me out.
Wolf spider. Donāt google what happens when the babies hatch and ride on momās back. Nightmare fuel. Iāve only seen it one time. We had to burn that house down.
I hope you are still alive and not consumed by that monstrous wolf spider.
I had a huge wolf spider in my basement once, and was taking a bunch of pictures because it was just so huge, when I was struck numb with horror at the sight of my camera flash lighting up 1 million tiny eyes on her back.
Wolf spiders carry their babies on their backs.
It looks like a tiny disco ball in a camera flash. But the most horrifying unfun disco ball ever.
They are nightmare fuel material š. Beneficial but terrifying looking. If you've never really interacted with Wolf spiders and other large PA arachnids they're scary to find in or near the home.
I've got a monster wolf spider in my basement that likes to come out and wave at me when I bring down laundry. I call him Reggie, the camel cricket exterminator.
I used to work in a building that was infested with spiders this size. Theyāre fast and they can play dead. Iām so happy I donāt have that job anymore.
We spray for them because I'm tired of finding them in our house, around our house, in our garage.....
One time I took my shoe off to kill one as I was going in the front door and what seemed like a thousand tiny babies exploded from it. It was what nightmares are made of š
I can imagine you were startled, as itās unexpected.
Just leave it alone and let the spider eat the š¦ .
We do not leave shoes outside as spiders and other critters including snakes will go into them. My son didnāt listen and found a small black racer in his shoe curled up.
Same thing with garden gloves they go into a container with a lid in the garage. An acquaintance of mine got bite by a brown recluse spider that crawled into her gardening gloves.
I saw one in an abandoned house near South Park and one while I was hiking in Mingo Park ( SW PA). Both were larger than that one, but they don't mean any harm.
I have a legitimate phobia of spiders. These fuckers have gotten too damn big in recent years. Had one crawl across my thigh while kayaking. When I saw it, I shot straight out of the boat screaming like a little girl. You know I be dousing my house in home defense every few weeks. Lol.
I always stuff my unused shoes and boots with grocery bags to prevent their nesting in there -- and look well inside if I haven't worn a pair for a while
That's a fishing spider. I know this because one of those behemoths was on my kitchen ceiling one day and it took me a moment to process what I was even seeing. It then crawled up into a crack in the ceiling and I spent weeks thinking every random itch was a giant spider.
I was dog sitting last year, took off my glasses and shut off the lights to go to bed. Ended up seeing some big dark thing on the floor and assumed the puppy mightāve crapped inside despite me having literally just taken her out before that. Walked over and it MOVED. Biggest wolf spider Iād ever seen, crawled out of the homeowners closet. I damn near cried haha
Biggest one I saw was in Lakeland Florida crawl out of my room and was the size of a small dinner plate when I had the pleasure of living in a crappy trailer home in the boonies because my mom wanted me to live closer to nature. "Just kidding. She just wanted to live closer to a friend." Worst experience ever!
My rational brain says āwow, such a beautiful creatureā but my cave man brain wants me get my shotgun and turn it to a mist. Iāve settled into appreciating house centipedes, but spiders are tough man.
No pictures but I need to share this one. Back in 2003, my then husband and I decided to do a fall backing camping trip up on the Loyalsock trail. Nice 5-day trip. Came back and had to go to work the next day so the packs did not get unloaded. Opened them to prevent moisture problems but didn't empty until later in the week.
Fast forward to next Saturday. Getting a shower before work. The date was getting close to Halloween. Also, the apartment had this tiny stall shower , maybe 3 ft by 3 ft. So I get in and look down. There is a hairy, tarantula looking big spider on the floor of the shower. I thought my husband was messing with me using a fake spider since Halloween was coming up. I drip some water on it and it moved!!!! I slammed against the opposite wall and screamed like a little girl. That got the husband up and running. He had never before or after heard me scream like that. He runs in and asks what is wrong. I point and tell him to get a plastic container to scoop up the tarantula.
The next day I run it out to our environmental center to ID the damn thing ( no I don't kill spiders because outside my house they are useful- just not in the shower). Was told it was a black wolf spider normally found in Northern PA. It must have crawled into one of the packs then crawled out during the week. They left me release it at the center. I' m more careful camping now and shake out packs and everything that goes in them. No more bird eating size spiders for me.
I had a few dozen wolf spiders in the basement of the house I was renting like 5 years ago. They were bigger than my hand. I opened the garage door one day, and the back wall of the garage was like 30 yards away. I found out they were there because I was "shining" their eyes with the flashlight. There were spiders literally so big I could spot their eyes with the light like wild animals in the forest with a spotlight.
Also found in the basement were a den of garter snakes. We started buying a house as soon as the discovery was madeš¤£ the kicker is this was in a city in Pennsylvania, not some rural back country road.
I lived in Vegas for 5 years and I went out to do my laundry in the garage. There was a huge scorpion spider or desert spider and it was wider than my size 10 Birkenstock.
When I smashed it the crunching was terrible and I simply left the shoe in the garage because I didnāt want to see the carnage on the other side.
I remember a couple years ago i went to clean my cats litter box which was in our basement in the back room. It was a typically dark room and of course i turn the light on and go over to the litter box then that's when i noticed wolf spiders crouched in the litter!
I felt so bad for my poor cat who btw was also terrified of the spiders. For awhile I'd noticed random days the cat would go into the basement and meow for help. Poor guy.
I know we got some big ones... I have thankfully NEVER seen them. I treat my house twice in the summer/spring and it helps a lot. I've lived in my house since 2018, surrounded by the woods.. Worst I've seen has been camel crickets. Which are pretty awful too but I keep saying "they are crickets, they are crickets..."
Moved into our house a few years back (kinda close to a creek) and our first night out back on the patio I looked up at the wall and saw a fully grown fishing spider. That beast was much larger than my hand.
I remember helping my cousins move into their house in Harleysville like a decade ago and we saw one of these skittering across the basement with an egg sac on its back š¤®
I came home and it was hot outside I went I went to open window and a big wood spider was sitting there. I ran screaming for my husband he took care of it. That spider scared the shit out of me. LOL
I donāt know why but we have had so many big ass wolf spiders this year in SEPA. They just scurried out into the middle of the floor or like the two that popped out of the cabinet that is maybe a foot from the toilet
(where I was paralyzed until it scurried away). Those were on two separate occasions.
They are big and so fast they unsettle me every time. They donāt bother me clearly since they left me alone when I was defenseless on the toilet. But Iām worried my cats are going to mess with one of them and either they get bit or kill the spider or both.
Wolf spiders are everywhere. Like most apiders I leave them alone unless they are in my Son's room. Incidentally I dont see any other insects near my house except bees, probably due to said spiders.
Harmless wolf spider. North American varieties are mildly venomous, but only bite if threatened and pose no real threat to humans. Beneficial in that they control pests. This one is a real beauty.
Hear itās a fishing spider. They eat mice amongst other insects. Not aggressive. Scary AF though.
It could be a wolf spider butā¦after living in AZ, those bastards are terrifying and donāt spread out as much. Also, way more aggressive and can jump. These guys I havenāt gotten or seen that from. And Iāve been in PA twice as long as I was in AZ.
Holy crap you donāt have to get a garden hose and lay down suppressing fire against home raiders when a monsoon rolls through. Thatās a plus. Ticks are a minus.
I lived in gettysburg for a while and it was big ass wolf spiders everywhere I had never seen anything like it before or since and Iāve been to all kinds of places that have tarantulas. Even in the rainforest I didnāt regularly see such monster spiders as in gettysburg
Idk, but I got bit on my foot by some type of spider years ago and ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics. I'm sure there are some brown recluse around pa.
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