Crawling on a cushion on the floor.
Maybe 20 mm long body…long legs that are really floppy and thin. Brown, hairy, with spots legs which are little, cream-colored circles with a black rim.
Black and brown, thin stripes on the lower underbelly.
Looks like it has fangs, like a tarantula.
Ahhh!!! I have it in a tupperware right now.
Anyone know what it is?
So why did you not zap it with your tongue?
They are tarantulas. I’ve seen them as big as 20 cm in diameter (including the legs, of course). They have very hairy legs and fangs. But there are two myths about them: (1) They bite unprovoked, and (2) If you get bitten, you will die unless you get a shot of anti-venom.
These are both untrue. They bite only if you try to kill them, and their bite is only as bad as a bee sting and goes away by itself in two or three days.
I’ve seen these tarantulas all over Taiwan, but I still haven’t been able to identify the species. However, I found a website that has pictures of about 100 different species of tarantulas, but I don’t have the patience to click on each link to see the pictures and compare them with the Taiwan species. Here’s the website:
http://giantspiders.com/gallery.html
If you can identify the Latin name for the “Taiwan tarantula”, I would really appreciate it.
Tarantula schparantula! They’re just wolf spiders and its really hard to get them to bite, despite their big mandibles. Same as those big yellow and black buggers you find in the woods.
They’re harmless unless you have an allergic reaction, although they look freaky, especially if, like me, you’re phobic about them, particularly the ones that run really fast. Just a picture of one makes my balls draw right up into my body! Eeeewwww.
And on a similar note, and before Wolf beats me to it – “HEY, I DIDN’T KNOW COCKROACHES COULD FLY!!!”
You mean those spiders about as big as your hand when you include
legspan? I recall perhaps they are 高腳蜘蛛
they seem afraid of people, eat roaches, and thus are a friend of man
it would seem, just like geckos, 壁虎 which by the way I
saw that spider eating too one day.
well…I don’t know about tarantula, because it seemed kind of skinny next to the ones I’ve seen before…but maybe…
Wolf spider? It was really different from the wolf spiders back home. It was wider and bigger. Nastier fangs. Also, the legs were particularly floppy and flexible. When we were trying to catch it they were bending in all directions, like a rag doll.
Still don’t know what it was, but it has now been safely returned to the outdoors.
Phew!
Where did you find it, in your bedroom?
And why wasn’t I notified?
*C
And why wasn’t I notified?
Who are you - Spiderwoman?
There was one in my apartment, too. They’re huge but sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner works like be-damned and you don’t have to skittle skattle all over the floor after it. I don’t think it lived to crawl out of the vacuum-cleaner because it hasn’t been seen since!
It always irritates me to see people killing spiders. Spiders don’t bother me. Spiders eat mosquitos, cockroaches, houseflies … just about everything that DOES bother me.
Do the me and the world a favor and let the spiders (especially the big ones) go and do their thing. If you see one scurrying across your floor or up the wall, it looks kinda scary … but it’s on a mission to eat the invertebrates with 2 less legs … if you hate them that much, capture them and throw them outside your apartment.
Leave the spiders alone or face the consequences of an insect population explosion. Ask yourself: what do you hate most … those gross 2-inch long cockroaches or the hairy 8-legged friemd?
Does anyone know where I can get some info on all the creepy-crawlies / posionous creatures in Taiwan … or aren’t there that many? I’m arriving in Taipei in a few weeks.
You’ll find plenty of them lining the bar and in the corners of places like Roxy99, Vibe, Seans, Carneiges etc…
They might be beneficial and a friend to man but they are not living in my house. They are real messy when they squish.
Spiders, roaches, flies, ants, and other arthropods lose their right-to-life when they enter my space. I can’t bring myself to kill a lizard though. It must be a vertebrate thing.
Found it at a friend’s Christie…don’t worry.
For the record, though I’m afraid of spiders like you wouldn’t belive, I can’t kill them either. I know they’re a friend to mankind and all.
This one stayed in the tupperware box for inspection and was then safely released to the wilds of the balcony a few hours later.
Any good websites on Taiwan fauna? Couldn’t find what I needed the other night…
My son was watching TV and I caught part of it . . . there was some report about spiders as big as human beings. Some people were wrapped up in their webs too.
Better be careful. I am not sure if they have come to Taiwan yet.
quote:
Originally posted by TUpei: Spiders, loose their right-to-life when they enter my space .
Oh, no! Poor Charlotte!
btw, it’s “lose” not “loose”. You can have a loose fly, but not a loose spider.
I think Richard’s son was watching the Sciene Fiction channel instead of Discovery or National Geographic. Tst tst tst
Anyhow, check out the movie ‘Arachnophobia’, you will LOVE spiders after that …
So, who is Christie and Charlotte then?
Eight Legged Freaks!
Charlotte used to write messages about her friend the pig. I would never smash her.
Eight Legged Freaks!
Nah, another one for the Kids or the Comdey channel using CGIs.
Aradingsda used REAL spiders if I remember correctly!
deal…i will not smash any spider that talks and/or writes messages in its web…
all the slackers then best get out of dodge!