I was in the garden just now looking at my terracotta pots in which I planted the freeshia corms from my recent trip to Guernsey, they are sprouting nicely. A few days ago I happened to notice what looked like a ball of moss on one side of one of the pots but decided not to hook it off as it looked ok - it is an old pot. When I looked this morning was I glad that I hadn't pinged it off with my finger, it appears to have been a lot, and I mean lot, of little yellowish spiders! Aaagh! I just hope they have been killed by the Vapona I used on them, they were horrid. I am sorry but I loath spiders in any shape or form and am phobic about daddy longlegs (crane flies) ans some other insects like flying ants.

Any UK gardeners know what these might have been?

They were probably the most endangered species ever known in Europe , and you have murdered the last of them. Poor little things! How does it feel to be a multiple killer? I bet they would have done something wonderful to your garden too. What a disgrace!

It is either them or my sanity - if I didn't get rid of them I would be too terrified to use the garden. Also they were spinning a web all over the pot and looked as they would eventually smother the growing plants.

It may be that they were protecting them...

Nope. I think they might have been common garden spiderlings, they apparently hatch in May. Later in the year I am scared to go in parts of my garden as they take up residence - hopefully I will have saved myself some grief for later in the year.

*shudder* I wouldn't care if they were on the brink of extinction, I'd be putting a whole can of mortein on them.

A few years ago I was digging up the garden and found a little nest of long wiggly things about three inches long. They weren't worms but I thought they were baby snakes so put the shovel through them. Closer inspection revealed them to be 'legless lizards' ... totally harmless (but a bit too snakelooking for my liking) and getting towards being low in numbers. oops

Ooooh, you go girl. Kill those spiders!

**shudder** I absolutely cannot stand daddy longlegs. These are the kind that I grew up with and became deathly afraid of. (BTW: I had a VERY hard time looking at these pictures to post here) NOTE: Don't look if you have arachnophobia.

I also hate daddy long legs.. it is the way they fly around aimlessly and then aim for your head without warning. I am not a bundle on spiders but do not like to kill them i'm one of those 'they were here before we were' softies! I can just about move them with a cup and card if not too big! I'm not keen on moths either yuk!

ClaraSue, those are not what we call daddy-long-legs in the UK, ours are really crane flies, not spiders at all.

We get those skinny type spiders too, I bop them with my shoe.

Crane flies just zoom any and everywhere, aaaagh!

As they say on the lovely picture, around here we call them skeeter eaters. My cat is having a fine time attacking them. They are very annoying but, they don't harm anything as far as I can see.

Daddy long legs are spiders though, but the nicest kind. We used to let them walk on our hands.

Sue, you'd have fainted clean away yesterday as I caught a black widow on the floor. I just killed it with lavender cleaning spray though...no vapona for me with asthma. It was a tiny one.

Oh by the way, Clara Sue's is a Californian one, you can see the long tanned legs!

When I was a child, everybody used to tease me because they'd let the longlegs walk on them too, and I just couldn't do it. I know they're harmless, but I'd rather swim with sharks than go near one.

Sue, I think I could live with your crane flies, though.

Did you know that Daddy long legs are supposedly one of the most toxic spiders in the world? Their fangs are too brittle and break off easily, so they can't bite us humans. This is what I have heard, and it's scary! We have alot of these spiders here in America, and our yard was full of them when I was a child. I think they were drawn to my mom's flower beds! I absolutely hate spiders and am deeply afraid of them. YIKES!

Spiders are probably the most useful creatures on the planet, and help us humans in many ways by preying on the things which really would harm us!
Having said that I wouldn't want the deadly ones wandering about the house, but that's pretty unlikely in England anyway!
I never kill them, but sometimes catch them - barhanded - and throw them outside. It probably doesn't take them long to find their way back

Aramis, what kinds of spiders do you have in England? Any poisonous ones? We have many poisonous ones here in the States! Brown recluse and black widows are the most dangerous! The brown recluse is a nasty spider, and causes necrosis in their bites. I think if I ever saw one, I would faint!

The daddy longlegs venom story turns out to be an urban legend. Thank goodness! I picked up plenty of them when I was little.

Most spiders have venomous bites, which is how they kill their prey, but the spiders native to the UK are mostly harmless to humans. I've picked up 100's, and never been bitten, but wouldn't pick up something particularly large or 'exotic' looking.
For many years spiders have been imported to the UK in banana crops, etc, but usually don't survive for long. Recent mild winters have allowed foreign species to increase in numbers and spread, particularly in the south, the false widow spider being probably the best example, see spiders
Only the female false widow spider bites - now isn't that a surprise

I've been bitten by spiders - hurts but not too much. Sorta like an ant bite.

I catch bees and wasps in the house with a card and a cup, but seldom manage to do it with spiders; they are too quick, and have that habit of suddenly dropping on a thread.

Spiders in your garden will do as much good as those nasty sprays - they will kill the things that eat holes in your flowers. Since I try to run a pesticide free garden, I can't allow myself to be squeamish. If I won't spray the nasties, I need to pick them off by hand, and keep spiders and ladybugs to do the job for me.

I'm another one who let daddy longlegs run all over my hand. I can't abide caterpillars, though, and sometimes we get swarms of them.

As much as I hate daddy longlegs, I don't kill them. And I try to never kill any spider, unless my health is at stake. I usually try to capture them in a cup and release them outside. I'm not afraid of spiders really; I only have this phobia about those danged longlegs.

Most peope cannot stand cockroaches. Where I grew up, we didn't have roaches so I never developed a hatred of them. We just had lots of daddy longlegs, so they, in effect, became my cockroach.

Wow, Aramis! That is a nasty looking spider! It does look alot like a Black Widow. I know spiders are useful creatures, and I don't kill them too often. I am so deeply afraid of them, as soon as I see one, I freak out and run! My cats are the ones who usually end up killing the spiders that come into our home! They say if there were no spiders, the earth would be overrun with insects of all types. Now that is a scary thought! So, I guess spiders aren't all bad. But I'm still afraid of them!

Is a black widow the same(ish) as a red-back?

red-back

According to this page they are closey related, Copago. I wish the US Black Widow had her hourglass on her back, though, instead of her underside. It would be so much easier to spot and make a definite identification. I've lived in the desert southwest all my life and have seen only two. I'm either in the right area or I've just been really lucky that I haven't seen more.

Black widows love woodpiles and basement crawl spaces and shoes.
They don't like wet places much.
THeir webs are cotton like pouches rather than stereotypical webs.

California is home to many black widows.

Dad says he knew a plumber who had been bitten so many times he had formed antibodies.