House Spider

**Bilbo_baggin** · 12th June 2011

Careful Arachnophobes...

The house spider (Tegenaria duellica) is a particular easy one to find due their size (this is a female) as their bodies are often around 15mm long, though their legs can exceed 50mm. Easy to find especially because when they run across a room or the floor of your shed, you can't fail to see them scurry, and boy can they scurry!

This one is another of the occupants that lives around the front door area of the house, and I think it probably comes inside through a small space somewhere (cos if not, we have 2 of them...) but you see it here on a piece of ornamental path edging immediately outside of the house. Not easy to get down to, as they day is a wet one, so I had to go and get a bin bag to kneel on, hoping the spider hadn't scooted by the time I got back from the kitchen.

A wet day as I say, plenty of rain and not much light, which was flat anyway, hence the higher ISO.

Exif:

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 105mm
Image Date: 2011-06-12 13:45:39 +0000
Focal Length: 105mm
Aperture: f/11.0
Exposure Time: 0.300 s (1/3)
ISO equiv: 400
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Photographer: Paul Iddon
Copyright: www.pauliddon.co.uk

Paul.

**cybollox** · 12th June 2011

Great shot mate , fished one out if the shower this morning, feisty little buggers

**Bilbo_baggin** · 12th June 2011

If you use your hands, be careful. Their near relative the "Tegenaria agrestis" (known as the Hobo, or aggressive house spider) will try and bite you and have enough in their jaws to nip the skin!

Paul.

**lagigolo** · 12th June 2011

Nice shot, the green sets it off. Also you can just see a strand of silk.

**Bilbo_baggin** · 12th June 2011

Originally Posted by lagigolo

Nice shot, the green sets it off. Also you can just see a strand of silk.

You can indeed see silk. These spiders do not spin webs as such, more create a sheet of web with a funnel at the "hidey-hole" end where they wait for prey.

Paul.