3449 Spiders

Bwimey, I seem to be a weal David Bewammy today!

I don't believe that Italy has any venomous spiders, although they do have some big b uggers! It's possible for any spider to bite you, even British ones, but nothing to much to worry about ( I think).

The European Wolf Spider
(Lycosa Tarantula)
(Click on picture to enlarge) The name tarantula comes from a real spider that is found in southern Italy, it lives mainly in an area around the town of Taranto. In fact the real tarantula (The European Wolf Spider, Lycosa Tarantula) is distantly related to the other spiders that share its name.
The real tarantula is a small slightly hairy spider (about 2 inches (5cm's) across). It is not dangerous to humans!

The people of the southern Italian town of Taranto, believed that if they were bitten by they spider that they called tarantula, if the bite was not treated quickly, that they would die.

The only way to survive it's bite, they believed, was to do a dance called the Tarantella. This involved very fast spinning and jumping until they could dance no more and fell to the ground exhausted. This the locals believed was the only cure.

Interestingly, it appears that the spider that was probably responsible for illnesses and the occasional deaths was in fact a member of the Latrodectus (Black Widow) family of spiders. This is a small spider in comparison with the wolf spider that was getting the blame.

The real Tarantula of course is, like the other spiders wrongly named after it, are not really dangerous to most humans. You may feel a little sick if you have been bitten by a tarantula, but normally that is all.

Nowadays, all large hairy spiders have been given the name tarantula, even though many are only very distantly related to the real tarantula. Tarantulas are often called bird eating spiders, very few actually eat birds, those that do usually raid nests and take the young chicks, most however, like our native spiders only eat insects.

:eek: Now thats what really freaks me out, those horrible bats, I can handle snakes,spiders, any creepy crawlies, but bats scare the living daylights out of me. When we went to see a particular house, I ventured off on my own to have a look in the stables and they had quite high roofs, I opened the door walked in and this bat flew form one end of the stable to the other right in front of me:eek: well I screamed and run out of that place, I dont think my feet even touched the ground, dont know how im going to cope with them,:(

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]One summer our cat brought in a bat that had a tear in its wing...we kept it and fed it on scrambled eggs and it started to get better...BUT in the UK you cannot even handle a bat unless you have a licence so we had to hand it over to a woman who left it overnight in a cold window and it died.Iwas so upset!

Sometimes on a summer's evening I stand outside while the bats fly around.I love to hear their wings and little squeaks.

Why are you so afraid of them?try actually handling one then your fear will gradually go.Incidentally although I love bats and had one sharing my office for months I would urgre you to take care over the droppings.If they get onto food they can be very bad indeed!

You would be prosecuted if you killed a bat in the UK and I think the same rules should apply throughout Europe as some species are almost extinct.[/SIZE][/FONT]
Becky

I don't mind bats either... fascinating to watch and highly intelligent.

But one reason why I moved north rather than south is that there don't seem to be any large black spiders in Scotland!! They give me the creeps but at least I haven't seen any in the last 8 years! Not in the garden, fields or sheds. Lots of smaller ones, though, which I can catch with a Guinness glass & take outside, so not too worried about them!

My other half is more worried about mice - he can't handle them. So it's usually up to me to put the cats' 'leftovers' in the bin ... or even save the odd one! As he's apparently happy to handle all sizes of spiders, it'll be his task to catch them, once we eventually got our holiday home ... ;)

Hi Becky, I love all animals and birds,and would never dream of hurting them in any way, my fear i guess started as a young child...... like hearing an old wives tale, that bats get into your hair!!!! yes it is rather funny and pathetic, but ive never forgot,and I did not expect to see that bat in the house and I was shocked,and of coarse I panicked and run, but I will have to learn to live with them as I do know they fly around outside, so hopefully one day I can make my peace with them and actually become fond of them, you never know:) Francesca

When we fitted our windows in October, we had to remove the old wooden surround to the window opening including the old mozzie netting and one particular window had two pipistrello in between the wood and the wall. We were all squeemish including Neal :eek: . We went back half an hour later and they had gone...:rolleyes:

Paula, I think your approach to the situation was the best possible.

I also like bats and think they are fascinating, but I'd only handle one if it was absolutely necessary, and then only if wearing gloves.

And that's in a country where rabies (officially, anyway) doesn't even exist.

I suppose that now makes me sound like a real doom-merchant after my comments on botulism, but it just seems to me reasonable. I very much wish it was one, I can't see the world as a big petting zoo.

Somewhere between the people who are completely freaked out by the presence of a single case of bird flu 300 miles away and the idiot I once observed squeezing her hand though the wire fence of the cougar cage at Edinburgh zoo to stroke the cat that was dozing against the fence, there's a rational approach the non-human residents of the planet.

Al

[QUOTE=AllanMason].....
Somewhere between the people who are completely freaked out by the presence of a single case of bird flu 300 miles away and the idiot I once observed squeezing her hand though the wire fence of the cougar cage at Edinburgh zoo to stroke the cat that was dozing against the fence, there's a rational approach the non-human residents of the planet.

Al[/QUOTE]

OMG how did she manage to keep her hand?? :eek: How daft!!!

Yup had a good chuckle when the bird flu panic hit the news... all channels had reporters on site and the ensuing draconian measures taken by a certain department (a week later!) spoke volumes... along with their usual attitude, now proven again after the outbreak in England, of "Kill 'em all!!" :(

I felt sorry for the local organic farmers who were caught up in all this! :(

[QUOTE=Frankie & Poppy]Yesterday I was avidly reading on the forum about scorpions and today I've been fascinated about the snakes. I think I can live with both of those, BUT does anyone have any insider information on spiders. Are they pretty similar to the lot we get in England or are there some lethal creatures just waiting for my arrival in Abruzzo? As they say fore warned is fore armed. I could take my humane spider catcher with me.:eek:

Frankie & Poppy[/QUOTE]
Hi Frankie and Poppy.
Unfortunately We have been here two years and seen Funnel webs and tarantulas,we are however further south than you. There are also black widows.Oh and jumping spiders similar to Africa. When 1st researching the area there is no advice on insects spiders or serpents , this needs to be addressed. But please dont let this put you off. The culture and pace of life makes up for most things, and you do get used to the creepy crawlies.
Enjoy your new life.
Jo & Steve

[QUOTE=manopello][FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]One summer our cat brought in a bat that had a tear in its wing...we kept it and fed it on scrambled eggs and it started to get better...BUT in the UK you cannot even handle a bat unless you have a licence so we had to hand it over to a woman who left it overnight in a cold window and it died.Iwas so upset!

Sometimes on a summer's evening I stand outside while the bats fly around.I love to hear their wings and little squeaks.

Why are you so afraid of them?try actually handling one then your fear will gradually go.Incidentally although I love bats and had one sharing my office for months I would urgre you to take care over the droppings.If they get onto food they can be very bad indeed!

You would be prosecuted if you killed a bat in the UK and I think the same rules should apply throughout Europe as some species are almost extinct.[/SIZE][/FONT]
Becky[/QUOTE]

Found a little bat asleep one morning under my outside sink when I went to clear it out as it was full of old tiles which I wanted to chuck out. Picked him up......he didn't mind......kids gave him a little stroke.......he didn't mind that either. Put him back and went to start something else to give him some space, 2 hours later went back for a look and he had disappeared.

Spiders that jump at me sound so grim I need to lie down in a darkened room to get over the shock. But even so, I can't wait to get out to Italy and learn how to chill again. As long as I know what to look for in the way of spiders I should be alright. Oh and also taking my trusty spider catcher and remover with me. As he will be doing a lot of the renovations as well I shouldn't have a problem.

Aaaahhhh!!! Shuddering just at the thought of it... not that they're not running too fast for my taste anyway!

Are similar ones to be found in the north of Italy, Piemonte or northern Tuscany??

BTW, tried to save a smaller example of that species from my bath last week. Got my other half to bring a glass & catch it before throwing it out of the window!

Tough luck would have it that he managed to throw it right onto our big cat - who was happily licking his nose a few seconds later!!! Argh! :rolleyes: