It has not been a good couple of months for my relationship with spiders.
I grew up on Be Nice to Spiders, the delightful story of how cleaning up all the spiderwebs at the zoo made the animals miserable because the flies multiplied out of control. We read it to our children, too, which is why Heather hesitated to take action when the spiders multiplied out of control at her house. That was my job when I visited in September; heartless Grandma, oblivious to Jonathan's plea, "If there are any wolf spiders, don't kill them!" I'm afraid I didn't take the time to ask for identification as I tackled the basement infestation. We left plenty to take care of the flies, and I'm pretty sure none of them were wolf spiders.
Of this one I'm not so certain. (Click on the image for an up-close-and-personal view.)
I hope it's not a wolf spider, but I'm afraid neither Porter nor I managed to get a good look at its eyes. We like spiders, we respect spiders, we're grateful to spiders ... but at 5 a.m., in the shower, without one's glasses on ... when one sees something this size scuttling about at one's feet ... some more primitive instinct gets in the way of both scientific curiosity and the desire to be kind to animals.
I'm just glad it was Porter who was in the shower, not me. My own Close Encounter involved a palmetto bug (giant cockroach) and a bra, and I wasn't thinking about being nice to bugs, no I wasn't.
Jonathan's evaluation based on the picture is that it was not a wolf spider.
Whew.
It looks like a huntsman spider.
Thank you, Jx, I believe you are right. Wikipedia says they are found in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, Hawaii, and ... Florida. It also says cockroaches are a favorite food, which would make them welcome in Florida.
The bite, they say, can cause heart palpitations. Frankly, in the shower at 5 a.m., no bite was necessary.
this is why i could never live in florida. the bugs are huge and scary down there!
To each his own bugs. You have ticks!
