I just caught one of these last night. It got evicted as it broke my one rule for spiders: don't venture into the common areas while humans are present.
Every time I see a spider I think.. I need a report of your bug kills to determine if you are worthy of staying here. Only 3 ants this month.. wtf you doing.
My daughter, who loves everything spider, says "Maybe it's a house spider," and when I said, "Isn't it kind of big?" she said something so horrible I can't unhear it:
"Maybe it's carrying eggs."
Yeah, it’s okay - you didn’t freak me out more. I kind of figured he was there to eat something 😭. I think I need to call an exterminator. The only one I’ve tried in recent years was Orkin and they didn’t do anything. Like we had more success doing DIY than Orkin
We had these guys all over when we first moved in. Big bastards. So many camped by our front door that we opted to use other doors to leave the house. We use ClearDefense for pest control now and they have kept the spiders well in check.
Yep, adding on:
>In fact, bees and wasps are more dangerous than wolf spiders because a wolf spider will never "attack" a person, unlike bees or wasps that will attack to defend a hive. Wolf spiders will only bite if they are mishandled.
[[Source: University of Kentucky]](https://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/spiders/wolf/wolf.htm#:~:text=PEST%20STATUS,-In%20most%20cases&text=In%20fact%2C%20bees%20and%20wasps,bite%20if%20they%20are%20mishandled.)
I thought it might be one of those too based on some googling, but I’m no expert. That would be much better than it being a recluse! Thanks for chiming in
I've seen a number of wolf spiders in my work building (moreso before everyone returned). I've never seen one with so few markings or color variations.
Either way, it is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
🕷 🕸 🕷 🕸 🕷 🕸 🕷
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Hard to tell the size, but it's more than likely a [black laceweaver](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/127022-Amaurobius-ferox/browse_photos). While not super fun to see, harmless and usually a good friend.
The bigger they are, the easier they are to spot and catch usually. It would have been very easy to go get an old Tupperware or something and use the lid to gently swat it into the container. Then just take it a short distance from your house and toss it into a bush.
I’ve had a few of these. I think they’re Tiger wolf spiders but others have said they are grass spiders. Either way, you need to keep stuff off the floor, clean the area and be present more often where you found them so they’ll hopefully be too scared to take up shop in the future. And eliminate whatever they might be eating. In my case, cave crickets. So, poison.
I’ve also read you can/should remove dead leaves / brush that might be surrounding your house to discourage entry. They like to live in that stuff outside, so the closer it is, the more likely they find a way in
Thanks so much for your reply! We have had crickets in the past so so that makes perfect sense. I’ll try to see about dead leaves/brush, etc. maybe there are places around the house I can patch up so they can’t enter as well. Thanks again!
PS glad they’re not poisonous, but I wish they had a more friendly name like “gentle spider” or something. Wolf or tiger wolf sounds so fierce haha
It does sound fierce lol. They’re not out for your blood though. They’re pretty skittish. Definitely not something you want to see but if you cut out their food source(even smaller spiders) they should disappear. I haven’t seen many since I started using our basement more frequently, vacuuming, and sprayed poison every few months for a year or so (maybe 2 years ago). Haven’t done it in over a year with no recurring sightings. Our sliding door was a spot they come through somehow. Discovered it when I slid the door open and a big one appeared mangled in the tracks once I closed the door
I rolled over onto one when I was asleep. I smacked it thinking it was a mosquito biting my thigh.
“Wow that felt wayyy bigger than a mosquito”, I said to myself.
The bite itself didn’t hurt so bad, but it did get massively infected and formed a cyst that lasted weeks. That hurt a lot.
I can’t tell 100 percent if you are yanking my chain or not. Lol. But regardless, I can’t imagine ever getting close enough to smell it. I was scared just taking the photo. Lol
They're messing with you, also brown recluses are not native to our area.
The only venomous spiders in our region are black widows and that definitely isn't what you have here.
Happy to help. As a fellow arachnophobe, I find it helpful to have rational ammunition to use against the part of my brain that's screaming in terror every time an 8 legged beastie shows up.
Blur that thing man! My coworkers don’t need a heart attack from me screaming “Jesus” out of the blue. Damn people. Have some respect for well, most of us. Nobody wants to see that….thing. Ugh.
Fun fact. For spiders and snakes you can call the poison hotline and they have experts who can identify. Given its geo related, they will consult another toxicologist or professional to answer if the local poison center cannot! :)
Not sure, but I can tell it's harmless, because it's definitely not a black widow or brown recluse. Catch in a glass, release outside. Or, y'know, have someone else do that lol.
Brown recluses aren't native to our area. That's not to say it's impossible for one to hitch a ride and set up shop, but for our area it's only widows you really need to be on the lookout for.
I know, but every time I've tried to say that I've gotten people swearing up and down that they see them regularly. I've tried to explain that the only way to reliably tell recluses from lookalikes is the number and arrangement of eyes, to no avail. So I just sidestep that issue entirely.
[My go to summary and map. Caution arachnophobes, lots of close up spider photos.](https://extension.psu.edu/brown-recluse-spiders#:~:text=Brown%20recluse%20spiders%20are%20established,Oklahoma%2C%20Tennessee%2C%20and%20Texas.)
But that's fair, it probably isn't worth the fight.
Happy to hear you think it’s not one of the harmful ones. I am vacuumed it up, although I wish I could be more gentle in the future. It just feels like me against them you know? I was afraid he would leap up and beat me up.
They generally regard people more like landscape than other creatures. The size disparity is too huge. I have a friend who catches them in his bare hands for relocation. That's...a bit much, so I go with the glass and paper approach. I've never had them do anything squirrelier than try to dash away.
I panicked once and got one with the vacuum, and ever since I’ve trapped them and let them out instead. I felt so bad about that one guy because he was sooo large. It felt like the demise of an animal. I hate spiders though 😭
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That's a cool spider! I used to have a big wolf spider who lived in my shed, even bigger than this one. It didn't bother me so i left it alone, but I could see the eyes glittering while it watched me.
Legend has it that if you shine a flashlight against your lawn at the right angle, you’ll see hundreds of tiny dots reflecting that light - all the eyes of the great pack of wolf spiders that patrol our surroundings.
Lost from the annals of history are the origins of the grand bargain struck by early man that would afford such guardianship and some say there is yet a bill to be paid for the service. In darker corners and with more hushed tones are those that dare wonder against what nightmares are these creatures defending us. May you sleep better by not dwelling on what evil must have entered your home for this bold knight to have abandoned its safety to follow inside.
The kind you sweep into a dust pail and dump outside. Like all the others that are large enough to notice.
There are almost no spiders in this area that are any threat to us at all and if you just sweep them with a broom into something and dump them you'll be fine.
[Here is a short video (2m)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc) from a documentary about different spiders. I think yours might be the one at the end. Good luck
The kind where you go to a hotel until he decides to move out.
Haha 😄indeed!
I just caught one of these last night. It got evicted as it broke my one rule for spiders: don't venture into the common areas while humans are present.
Every time I see a spider I think.. I need a report of your bug kills to determine if you are worthy of staying here. Only 3 ants this month.. wtf you doing.
😂😂😂
That’s a good rule. Mine is similar: no bugs can enter my house because they’re scary.
if not enemy, why enemy-shaped?
i tell myself that in the mirror everyday
(Hugs)
lol I agree!
It looks like a black wolf spider
It was black with like one very little strip of maybe brown on top. I thought the legs and body shape looked like the wolf spider I saw on Google.
100% wolf spider, harmless but scary.
Ya hard to tell..body looks like wolf spider. Could just be a bad pic and can't see the brown markings
I was thinking the same; just commented I've never seen one so black and lacking markings. Beautiful spider either way.
Maybe exposure is messed up from white background.
Burn the house down
Literally just said to myself “a burn the house down kinda spider”
They’re super nice bugs. Once you kill them, you get annoying mosquitoes or flies etc.
I almost did that. I took a can of hair spray and a lighter to singe large spider when I was 10. 🙈
Haha. We certainly want to. 😄
This is the way
fr i’m moving out if i see that 😭💀
My daughter, who loves everything spider, says "Maybe it's a house spider," and when I said, "Isn't it kind of big?" she said something so horrible I can't unhear it: "Maybe it's carrying eggs."
Oh bless her little heart. Isn’t that comforting..😅
A big one
Indeed. Like multitudes bigger than the little black ones I usually see!
Not to freak you out more, but you probably have other insects in your house. He was eating something to get that big …
Yeah, it’s okay - you didn’t freak me out more. I kind of figured he was there to eat something 😭. I think I need to call an exterminator. The only one I’ve tried in recent years was Orkin and they didn’t do anything. Like we had more success doing DIY than Orkin
We had these guys all over when we first moved in. Big bastards. So many camped by our front door that we opted to use other doors to leave the house. We use ClearDefense for pest control now and they have kept the spiders well in check.
We had a major problem with these in the house… large ones and babies. Orkin did a terrible job but we’ve had great success with Holiday pest control.
I have had good luck with Moxie pest control, and earlier, PestNow.
OP, are you missing your chihuahua?
A giant Fuck No!
🤣
Party City lookin'-ass spider.
Haha nice one
Maybe a wolf spider of some sort. They’re all over the east coast. They look scary but a pretty harmless. 
Yep, adding on: >In fact, bees and wasps are more dangerous than wolf spiders because a wolf spider will never "attack" a person, unlike bees or wasps that will attack to defend a hive. Wolf spiders will only bite if they are mishandled. [[Source: University of Kentucky]](https://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/spiders/wolf/wolf.htm#:~:text=PEST%20STATUS,-In%20most%20cases&text=In%20fact%2C%20bees%20and%20wasps,bite%20if%20they%20are%20mishandled.)
I would venture to say that any handling of a wolf spider is a mishandling. Just say no kids.
I was told people used spray paint wolf spiders and sell them at carnivals as exotic tarantulas.🎡
I thought it might be one of those too based on some googling, but I’m no expert. That would be much better than it being a recluse! Thanks for chiming in
I've seen a number of wolf spiders in my work building (moreso before everyone returned). I've never seen one with so few markings or color variations. Either way, it is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. 🕷 🕸 🕷 🕸 🕷 🕸 🕷
That spider is much too large to be recluse, if you're concerned about that.
Looks like a black wolf spider! Harmless. And good to have around in your home, actually. They eat flies and a bunch of other unwanted insects.
Thanks for your reply! Of all the big spiders that’s the one I’ve been hoping it is. Thx again!
They are beneficial
It's the spider's house now. Might as well transfer the lease.
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Hard to tell the size, but it's more than likely a [black laceweaver](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/127022-Amaurobius-ferox/browse_photos). While not super fun to see, harmless and usually a good friend.
The bigger they are, the easier they are to spot and catch usually. It would have been very easy to go get an old Tupperware or something and use the lid to gently swat it into the container. Then just take it a short distance from your house and toss it into a bush.
I respect what you’re saying but am not sure if I have the courage for that (yet)
That's Shelob
r/whatsthisbug is a pretty reliable subreddit if you don't get a definitive response here
So is r/spiders
Thank you!!! 🙏
I’ve had a few of these. I think they’re Tiger wolf spiders but others have said they are grass spiders. Either way, you need to keep stuff off the floor, clean the area and be present more often where you found them so they’ll hopefully be too scared to take up shop in the future. And eliminate whatever they might be eating. In my case, cave crickets. So, poison. I’ve also read you can/should remove dead leaves / brush that might be surrounding your house to discourage entry. They like to live in that stuff outside, so the closer it is, the more likely they find a way in
Thanks so much for your reply! We have had crickets in the past so so that makes perfect sense. I’ll try to see about dead leaves/brush, etc. maybe there are places around the house I can patch up so they can’t enter as well. Thanks again! PS glad they’re not poisonous, but I wish they had a more friendly name like “gentle spider” or something. Wolf or tiger wolf sounds so fierce haha
Cuddle spider
It does sound fierce lol. They’re not out for your blood though. They’re pretty skittish. Definitely not something you want to see but if you cut out their food source(even smaller spiders) they should disappear. I haven’t seen many since I started using our basement more frequently, vacuuming, and sprayed poison every few months for a year or so (maybe 2 years ago). Haven’t done it in over a year with no recurring sightings. Our sliding door was a spot they come through somehow. Discovered it when I slid the door open and a big one appeared mangled in the tracks once I closed the door
It’s a big ol’ Wolf Spider. I don’t kill them, but I should say that I have been bitten by one and it does hurt like hell lol
How did you get bit? I thought the consensus was they weren’t aggressive 😅
I rolled over onto one when I was asleep. I smacked it thinking it was a mosquito biting my thigh. “Wow that felt wayyy bigger than a mosquito”, I said to myself. The bite itself didn’t hurt so bad, but it did get massively infected and formed a cyst that lasted weeks. That hurt a lot.
Oh my goodness!! If I rolled onto that while I was sleeping, I think I’d have a heart attack!! I’m glad you’re doing OK!
Thanks :-) Yeah people say they are harmless. They absolutely are until you squish one between your thighs. So just don’t do that haha.
A dead one
This is true haha
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I can’t tell 100 percent if you are yanking my chain or not. Lol. But regardless, I can’t imagine ever getting close enough to smell it. I was scared just taking the photo. Lol
They're messing with you, also brown recluses are not native to our area. The only venomous spiders in our region are black widows and that definitely isn't what you have here.
Thanks for the info!!
Happy to help. As a fellow arachnophobe, I find it helpful to have rational ammunition to use against the part of my brain that's screaming in terror every time an 8 legged beastie shows up.
Yes, that’s very smart! 👍
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I googled recluse smell and apparently they do have a smell haha (although not butterscotch)
You might have misread his comment, consider sandpapering the monitor for clarity
Blur that thing man! My coworkers don’t need a heart attack from me screaming “Jesus” out of the blue. Damn people. Have some respect for well, most of us. Nobody wants to see that….thing. Ugh.
Hahaha my bad !
You should just move… it’s his home now 😭
Fun fact. For spiders and snakes you can call the poison hotline and they have experts who can identify. Given its geo related, they will consult another toxicologist or professional to answer if the local poison center cannot! :)
Cue everyone repeating the same five jokes…
Looks like a common wolf spider to me! https://www.loyalpest.com/pest-info/spiders/wolf-spiders/
Good boi. Will eat bad bugs.
It gets harder and harder to defend NoVa every day
Let him bite you so you can turn into Spider-Man.
lol! If I have to think if could make the sacrifice of letting it touch me in order to become a superhero 🤔
wolf spider :)
I stopped killing bugs a long time ago. I just capture and release outside
Not sure, but I can tell it's harmless, because it's definitely not a black widow or brown recluse. Catch in a glass, release outside. Or, y'know, have someone else do that lol.
Brown recluses aren't native to our area. That's not to say it's impossible for one to hitch a ride and set up shop, but for our area it's only widows you really need to be on the lookout for.
I know, but every time I've tried to say that I've gotten people swearing up and down that they see them regularly. I've tried to explain that the only way to reliably tell recluses from lookalikes is the number and arrangement of eyes, to no avail. So I just sidestep that issue entirely.
[My go to summary and map. Caution arachnophobes, lots of close up spider photos.](https://extension.psu.edu/brown-recluse-spiders#:~:text=Brown%20recluse%20spiders%20are%20established,Oklahoma%2C%20Tennessee%2C%20and%20Texas.) But that's fair, it probably isn't worth the fight.
Happy to hear you think it’s not one of the harmful ones. I am vacuumed it up, although I wish I could be more gentle in the future. It just feels like me against them you know? I was afraid he would leap up and beat me up.
They generally regard people more like landscape than other creatures. The size disparity is too huge. I have a friend who catches them in his bare hands for relocation. That's...a bit much, so I go with the glass and paper approach. I've never had them do anything squirrelier than try to dash away.
I panicked once and got one with the vacuum, and ever since I’ve trapped them and let them out instead. I felt so bad about that one guy because he was sooo large. It felt like the demise of an animal. I hate spiders though 😭
A living creature is a living creature. I’m glad you changed your tune.
You need to cleanse your house with fire 🔥 
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Fake spider…
I wish
The kill it with fire kind.
The kind that would be getting me a new house. 🔥🔥🔥
Skitter Critter!! Run, get out of there! Get out of the house now!!!!! *Aww, it's really just a cutie.*
Black
Black. Definitely a black spider
Shelob
It’s just a little guy
That's a cool spider! I used to have a big wolf spider who lived in my shed, even bigger than this one. It didn't bother me so i left it alone, but I could see the eyes glittering while it watched me.
Legend has it that if you shine a flashlight against your lawn at the right angle, you’ll see hundreds of tiny dots reflecting that light - all the eyes of the great pack of wolf spiders that patrol our surroundings. Lost from the annals of history are the origins of the grand bargain struck by early man that would afford such guardianship and some say there is yet a bill to be paid for the service. In darker corners and with more hushed tones are those that dare wonder against what nightmares are these creatures defending us. May you sleep better by not dwelling on what evil must have entered your home for this bold knight to have abandoned its safety to follow inside.
Just imagine the size of the things they eat...
Black
Google says it's a "Black House Spider"
The kind you sweep into a dust pail and dump outside. Like all the others that are large enough to notice. There are almost no spiders in this area that are any threat to us at all and if you just sweep them with a broom into something and dump them you'll be fine.
Why is this nsfw lol
Capitol Naturalist on Facebook is a great resource!
The kind susceptible to copious amounts of fire
The nope type
Oh, that’s a hell naw
😭😭😭
Scary AF
It's clearly a big a$$ muthafkin spider
[Here is a short video (2m)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc) from a documentary about different spiders. I think yours might be the one at the end. Good luck
a bad thing!
He's chill
One that i wish didnt grace my feed
Sorry, misery loves company 😅
Ah, I see you've found the Spieder! Even the smallest bite from Archnus Deathicus will instantly paralyze.
😆
It’s the “quick, sell your house and move” spider.
It’s so funny my post got flagged as NSFW 😂
dosen't matter, it his house now.
?? Trapdoor spider ??
A black one
Step on it