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Comments & ID Thoughts
I found this guy in my bathroom.
I've seen several like it in my apartment, but I have no idea what they are!
Help?!
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Dec 26, 2019
- Photographed: Dec 26, 2019
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Hilo, Hawaii, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Does anyone know what this thing is?
Steatoda sp. I tried a photo editing app on your photo to enhance the colors. It has a blackish body with transparent reddish green-brown legs. That is what spiders in genus Steatoda look like with light shining through them. The prosoma (front half of the body) has a dimple like Steatoda spp. do. I couldn’t see markings to indicate a particular species in the genus. The shrunken and downturned abdomen looks like that of a female who has made an egg sac. They are in family Theridiidae, the Cobweavers. They make true cobwebs. The venom isn’t medically significant. They will… Read more »
I hope that’s what it is, and I think you might be right. I don’t kill them, I catch them and move them out into my garden (which has many flies and ants). They don’t seem very aggressive, and they run and hide if their touched or if I turn a light on. This one seemed very tired, and didn’t try to run from me at all. It was chilln’ halfway up the wall by my bathtub. If it IS a female and did lay eggs, I’m sure I’ll be moving more out into my garden! It’s good to know… Read more »
Thank you for being kind to it. They are sluggish in bright light and will stop moving unless you chase them with something. I prop my phone against the wall near spiders to keep it close to them and steady. Different types of spiders react differently to a phone or camera lens. The last Steatoda spider I photographed climbed onto the phone because the phone is black (like a hidden place) against a white wall. Unfortunately it continued on to my black sweater. Nobody was hurt in the confusion. 🙂 The question about being territorial is interesting. They will kill… Read more »
I think you have a brilliant perspective, and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me! When I was a kid, I didn’t have any siblings, and we moved a lot so it was hard to make friends. I ended up making friends with the spiders, and other animals, more than I did with people. I was horrified when my mom came into my room one day and killed my “friends” …With a frying pan. They were very large spiders, and I was only about 4 years old. I know now she was just trying to protect me. But I… Read more »
You’re very welcome!! With a frying pan! My mom killed my pet caterpillars too. I had a huge jar of invasive Gypsy Moth Caterpillars. Mom screamed and smashed it. It was gory. I do as much as I can to teach about animals so people will see they are more complex and important than the way they have been treating them. Something I’ve seen success with is teaching kids and their their parents about wildlife in a local park. I make sure they know the snakes and spiders aren’t dangerous there. I teach them that our huge (possibly record-breaking) snapping… Read more »
Yes, with a frying pan! My mother takes no chances when it comes to her little girls safety. Even if it is a bit excessive at times. …I think she heard me talking to someone and ran into my room while she was cooking. We lived in a poor area, and once had a homeless man break into the basement ..and die. I was 3…and I didn’t understand he was dead. I’ve had an…interesting life. So…She had reason to be hyper-vigallent. She once had ants try to make and ant hill UNDER her bed. We ended up having to use… Read more »
Wow! The giant snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentia, lives in a the wild. I don’t want to say exactly where. I spend time in a lot of East Coast wilderness places. The World Record for largest of the species in the wild comes from New Hampshire, I don’t know which town. I hope you didn’t try to keep the ants or dead guy as pets! Vacuuming an ant hill sounds like a great idea. Try Borax or Baking Soda if you ever happen to encounter an indoor anthill again. We could always use more spider pics from Hawaii. Yay, I found… Read more »