I'll start off by saying this is probably the grossest thing to occur in my garage shop yet (and hopefully ever). I was taking out the trash and saw what looked like a HUGE spider. I actually was thinking it might be a shaving from one of my planes so I edged up for a close look and it was definitely a spider. Now, most of the time I say live and let live, but I've gotten a couple spider bites over the past couple of years and they have been somewhat painful. I don't think they were the most dangerous spider types though (brown recluse/black widow) but I'd say that the pain was in line with a bad bee sting but lasted for much longer. Probably about 2 weeks.
Also, this spider was HUGE (about 2 inches long, no exaggeration) so I thought I might be mistaking it for a cave cricket, a less harmful but somewhat scary creature as well. Because those bad boys can jump 6ft easily, I got a nice long 3 ft piece of scrap wood to kill it. Thsi way, if it was a spider, it wouldn't get into my lumber and bite me in the future if it turned out to be a poisonous type. I took a couple pictures first.
Well, i got closer and gave him a good whack when I got quite a surprise. right after I hit it, it looked like 30-40 little black BB's (like from a bb gun, only black) were poured out on the ground and scattering everywhere. OMG, babies!!!! Think of the Scarab Beetles in the movie "The Mummy".
Anyway, I got my ortho home defense spray and I hope I got most of them so they don't grow into more bugs that will bite me in the future, but afterwards, I did some research to find out what happened. Turns out it was a wolf spider. The females hatch their babies that then cling to their abdomen for a while. Apparently LOTS of them can cling. Here is a better picture.
IF you look closely at the pictures I originally took, you can see a few reflective lights on her back. Those are some of the eyes. Looking back, I feel a little guilty. I probably could have shoo'd it away and it would have just left, but I really can't afford these spider bites. they make my hand ache for weeks. I mostly wanted to post this so you guys know that you should be careful before just squishing a big spider in the shop. You may release more problems.
Also, this spider was HUGE (about 2 inches long, no exaggeration) so I thought I might be mistaking it for a cave cricket, a less harmful but somewhat scary creature as well. Because those bad boys can jump 6ft easily, I got a nice long 3 ft piece of scrap wood to kill it. Thsi way, if it was a spider, it wouldn't get into my lumber and bite me in the future if it turned out to be a poisonous type. I took a couple pictures first.
Well, i got closer and gave him a good whack when I got quite a surprise. right after I hit it, it looked like 30-40 little black BB's (like from a bb gun, only black) were poured out on the ground and scattering everywhere. OMG, babies!!!! Think of the Scarab Beetles in the movie "The Mummy".
Anyway, I got my ortho home defense spray and I hope I got most of them so they don't grow into more bugs that will bite me in the future, but afterwards, I did some research to find out what happened. Turns out it was a wolf spider. The females hatch their babies that then cling to their abdomen for a while. Apparently LOTS of them can cling. Here is a better picture.
IF you look closely at the pictures I originally took, you can see a few reflective lights on her back. Those are some of the eyes. Looking back, I feel a little guilty. I probably could have shoo'd it away and it would have just left, but I really can't afford these spider bites. they make my hand ache for weeks. I mostly wanted to post this so you guys know that you should be careful before just squishing a big spider in the shop. You may release more problems.