(Scared) Newbie- Can you help me ID this guy?

ScaredyCat

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
4
Let me preface by saying I am not a spider fan. I know that makes me the odd man out on these boards, but I was hoping you folks could help me ID this type of spider I keep finding all over my house. Found one in the laundry, one in the washing machine, crawling on the floor... At least once a day! I have babies crawling on my floors and am concerned that they will be bitten and hurt. Not to mention I found one in my BED the other day! Luckily it was while changing the sheets and not while laying in it....

Can someone help me ID this so I know whether I should be worried or not?

(PS- sorry for the picture quality, camera is out of commission so this was taken on the iPad. Spider was about quarter-sized body, with longer legs).

image.jpg
 

milehigh

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
48
Looks like some type of wolf spider- note the two stripes down the carapace. They're a very large family of spiders, and with the poor quality of the image, it would be very difficult to pin down the exact species. Wolf spiders will rather run away than to bite, but will bite if they feel threatened- this isn't very often. I wouldn't be too concerned, just if you see one release it outside. Good luck!
 

Stefan2209

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
729
Can someone help me ID this so I know whether I should be worried or not?
Hi,

first of, i'm sorry as i have no idea what exactly (like: what species) you have there in your house.

To answer at least the to you most important part of your question, though: there's no need to be worried, at least if we talk about medical concern.

Whatever you actually have there, it is neither a Latrodectus spec. (commonly known as Black Widows) nor a Loxosceles spec. (commonly in the US often recognized as Brown Recluse Spider). As the mentioned two are the only ones in the US to have a concern about at all, no immediate action needed by now to my perception.

Furthermore to your information and to hopefully comfort you a bit, next to all spiders are rather extremely hesitant to deliver a bite at all, this is even true for species which are sometimes called to be rather "aggressive".

I've no doubt someone more knowledgeable about your native US species will pipe in here very soon and will most likely be able to give you a much more educated opinion about the first part of your question, so just hang in here, but do not worry too much about there possibly being some kind of danger about that very spiders in your home.

Good luck,

Stefan
 

MarkmD

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
1,835
Nice spider, i can't ID it cause the quality of the pic, i do agree it's nothing to worry over, spiders in general, dont care for humans unless they are provoked to bite, if they do then no deaths are properly recorded in (house/wolf spider types), maybe it's your time to start up the hobby?.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,044
Welcome to the forums! Hanging around here for a while usually converts a spiderphobe to reality pretty quickly as the phobia is born from a lack of knowledge. Just to add a little something. Getting to know, understand and identify spiders in and around your home can help protect you from that rare hazardous spider. That is, most of the common spiders found in homes are hunters of other spiders as well as insects.
 

ScaredyCat

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
4
I really appreciate all the responses! Wolf spider, eh? I heard wolf spiders were really aggressive- or is at just different breeds? I used to work in the mountains of Southern California and stayed in an outdoor, screened in cabin while there... The wolf spiders there got HUGE and they would climb your leg... *shudder* I really hope this isn't the same breed. And, how do I get rid of them?

And snark, I don't know what it is... The legs, the eyes... They creep me out lol! I do understand they have their place, eating insects and other spiders and I know they're not all dangerous (though lord knows I've run into enough widows in my time to be leery of those too!) but they just creep me out.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,044
The generalized scenario in a nutshell. During the formative stages of childhood a person or someone close and trusted has a fright reaction to a spider. This stimulates the amygdala. It in turn stimulates hormone secretions. Once the fright is over the amgdala sends the information to the prefrontal cortex of the brain. At that stage the cortex rationalizes the fear, records it, and lets the imagination in on things. To be precise, around half of our fear responses are imagined. Haven't happened yet. This recording is permanent. Only re-enforced retraining of the brain will over ride the fear recordings, replacing the imagination swollen data with real facts.

Don't confuse this with the flight or fight natural instinct which also is triggered by the amygdala. In that condition the hypothalamus regulates the response which is found in most animals; the survival instinct. The survival instinct is not a product of rational thinking obviously. The phobias are. And yes, i've dumbed down and generalized the H out of this.
 
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