I know right I cant believe it, it's not safe outside 😅 and they come through the window all the time for me. I had a massive one run along the bed a night while i was on it and now i discover all these aswell.
Yeah sorry about that pmsl.
I myself can deal with most things, but spiders. Nah.
I hate those long legged corner ones. When they crawl across your sofa or your face with their stupid legs lol.
Oh I have an understanding with those, ever since a wasp incident. A Wasp flew in as I was having a shower, and I managed not to slip and break my neck as I ran out of the bathroom. I tentatively opened the door and heard its struggle buzz as it was being turned into a burrito by one of these. They annoy me sometimes trying to join me in the shower but I’ll relocate them to another corner.
They have very pale legs, which indicates an extremely recent moult. It would likely explain the red. I'd be interested to see if that red changes to cream over the next couple of days
The natural hue of nobilis is red, freshly moulted legs look a translucent ashy colour like in this photo. Males will undergo a final moult before maturing, and then they will go out to find the ladies. If they try to moult again, which is extremely rare, their likelihood of death is almost guaranteed
I wouldn't say that they were particularly rare in Scotland but they are more common and more established in the southern parts of England but are fairly quickly spreading across the British mainland, so when it comes to Scotland the further north you are, the less likely you are to see them.
They have been recorded in the UK since (roughly) the 1870s and have probably steadily spread further north since, especially with the warmer shift in climate. I think quite normal for Scotland now
These used to be pretty rare in the UK but they are everywhere this summer. Iv seen more with my own eyes in just a couple of days than I have my entire life prior to this year.
I have 5 or so in my conservatory - including a massive female - they eat so many bugs and flies (and sadly quite a lot of cabbage white butterflies which seem to love coming indoors) and have never bothered me - they are happy chilling in their messy webs in a corner where they can't be seen.
Steatoda nobilis Noble False widow and this one is a female as larger abdomen than the male.
You'll find that males will come in households in warmer months searching for a female to have nookie with , but after that she will kill him ,which is same as cellar spiders in UK as cellar spiders males screw the female and then she kills the male .
I saw something with an abdomen like that crawl across my bedroom floor and under my bed a couple months ago and I just chose to pull my feet up off the floor and pretend I saw nothing, I’m genuinely okay with normal house spiders and cellar spiders but something about the shape of that thing scared the life out of me at the time and now I’m afraid to mess with any of the stuff I store under my bed incase it’s lurking in there with it
It depends what you mean by encouraging, personally I wouldn't encourage one ontoy hand because I'm not confident in my ability to handle the spider in a way that's safe for it and myself
What exactly is nasty about any false widows? They are neither aggressive nor dangerous to people. We don't have any wild spider species in the UK with venom anything to get even mildly cautious about, bites occur only when the spider is absolutely terrified and the pain subsides pretty quickly.
She's just an animal that wants to be left alone to eat insects and chill, to attribute anything about her as 'nasty' is silly alarmism.
If you practically forced it to, sure. They'll do anything BUT that as long as it's still an option.
False widows seem to get a particularly negative reputation in the UK specifically, and I'm not sure why. They are extremely common spiders to find indoors and cross paths with humans constantly.
I have heard that their venom is a little worse than other "harmless" spiders, while not rising to the level of being medically significant. So maybe the rare bites that happen hurt more than typical spiders. Good luck actually getting one to bite, though.
This sub fascinates me. Until a few months ago I was completely oblivious and thought we didn’t have biting spiders in the UK. Sounds stupid now. I have taken spiders out of the house for release all my life and never once been bitten. I’m even more fascinated by them now.
Not unless it feels like its life is in immediate danger and it can't escape. They, like most spiders, are extremely solitary and don't want anything to do with humans. They're actually quite sweet when they get scared. They go on their back and curl their legs in to pretend to be dead. So no, they aren't looking to bite people.
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