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Giant Black Spider..


rcade21

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I was reminiscing today about all the strange happenings I've encountered throughout the years.. but a recent one came to mind.

It was almost dark when my parents and I pulled the truck with some of our belongings into the driveway in front of our new house we were moving into. My dad opened the garage door and he gasped. We were asking him "what! what's wrong?" and then we looked in the garage. The garage was empty except for a HUGE black spider that was sitting dead center on the center wall in the garage. It had to have been about 2.5-3 feet from tip of legs to the center of it's body, the whole circumference of the spider. I remember the body being really thick and the legs thick towards the center of the body then really spindly and pointy at the ends and the whole spider was pitch black and shiny and smooth. My dad was frightened and grabbed a shoe and hurled it at the spider because we had to pull the truck in, and I have never seen a spider move so quickly as this one did. It was gone within seconds into the woods that are right next to the garage. I have not gone out into the woods since.

I've looked up every keyword and picture imaginable but no spider, local or international, was the same look or size of the one we saw. Even my dad, native to Florida, had no idea what it was.

Does anyone know what kind of spider this is or seen something similar? :huh:

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I was reminiscing today about all the strange happenings I've encountered throughout the years.. but a recent one came to mind.

It was almost dark when my parents and I pulled the truck with some of our belongings into the driveway in front of our new house we were moving into. My dad opened the garage door and he gasped. We were asking him "what! what's wrong?" and then we looked in the garage. The garage was empty except for a HUGE black spider that was sitting dead center on the center wall in the garage. It had to have been about 2.5-3 feet from tip of legs to the center of it's body, the whole circumference of the spider. I remember the body being really thick and the legs thick towards the center of the body then really spindly and pointy at the ends and the whole spider was pitch black and shiny and smooth. My dad was frightened and grabbed a shoe and hurled it at the spider because we had to pull the truck in, and I have never seen a spider move so quickly as this one did. It was gone within seconds into the woods that are right next to the garage. I have not gone out into the woods since.

I've looked up every keyword and picture imaginable but no spider, local or international, was the same look or size of the one we saw. Even my dad, native to Florida, had no idea what it was.

Does anyone know what kind of spider this is or seen something similar? :huh:

You said black and shinny,About two and a half to three feet,Yikes,I'll look into it further and see what I can come up with.Oh just to let you know I have been a bug collector and pest controller for more than 10 years now but I have been collecting bugs all my life,I'll see what I can find.Also I need : LOCATION,and which part of the country you had your incounter,I think I know which one it was but untill the info gets to me I cant say for sure.

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You said black and shinny,About two and a half to three feet,Yikes,I'll look into it further and see what I can come up with.Oh just to let you know I have been a bug collector and pest controller for more than 10 years now but I have been collecting bugs all my life,I'll see what I can find.Also I need : LOCATION,and which part of the country you had your incounter,I think I know which one it was but untill the info gets to me I cant say for sure.

It was found in North Port, Florida (southwest FL). Yeah I couldn't believe the size either, I wish I had had a camera. It moved at a lightning speed back into the woods when it got scare off by the shoe my dad threw, pretty neat but we were creeped out.

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goliath Bird Eating Spider?

Chicken-eating-spider.jpg

HUGE spider but falls short of 2.5 to 3.0 feet.

Nibs

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Rcade21 , That was some spider , but I suppose anomalies do happen , that could be why perfectly normal people can give birth to a dwarf baby .

Years ago I had to see a friend who worked on the docks , and as much as I hated to interrupt him at work it was urgent , any how I found him in a big warehouse chasing a giant cockroach with a piece of 3x2 .... That roach was as big as full grown mouse , without the tail , and moving just as quickly .

It had come off the cargo ship they were unloading at the time .

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Rcade21 , That was some spider , but I suppose anomalies do happen , that could be why perfectly normal people can give birth to a dwarf baby .

Years ago I had to see a friend who worked on the docks , and as much as I hated to interrupt him at work it was urgent , any how I found him in a big warehouse chasing a giant cockroach with a piece of 3x2 .... That roach was as big as full grown mouse , without the tail , and moving just as quickly .

It had come off the cargo ship they were unloading at the time .

Wow, that's some disgusting stuff.. :blink: I think I'd have run away.

No, definitely not a bird eating spider. I've seen those at zoos and such, this looked nothing like any spider I've seen before which is why it surprised all of my family. Plus, it was smooth looking and not "furry".

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I have to say that whatever Spider you saw was not even close to the measurements you think it was....There is no Spider on Earth known that is even close to that size.....

The biggest known , as mentioned above :

The Goliath Birdeater, Theraphosa leblondi, is a tarantula, and it is the largest spider in the world. Despite its name, the Goliath Birdeater does not eat birds; it eats invertebrates such as crickets and mealworms, and also small vertebrates such as mice and lizards. Native to South America, these spiders can be as large as 30 centimetres (12 inches) in leg span, when their legs are stretched out.

http://www.worsleysc...est/spider.html

And that is leg tip to leg tip.....I would have to say you either have grossly over-estimated that Spider , or we have another nice story....How long ago was this , how old were you?

And how does a spider that is almost " 2.5-3 feet from tip of legs to the center of it's body " get into a garage?......Not like it slipped through a crack in the wall.....Your description would mean a 5 foot to 6 foot Spider.....Those do not exist.

Please tell me you meant to say 2.5 to 3 Inch's and not feet?

( I recall a picture you had posted of a Crow , with the description of a wingspan of " the road's width "....Was not your picture , but just sayin' )

I believe this is the Largest Spider known to Florida " The Banana Spider" , or " Orb Weaving Spider ".... Nephila clavipes

tumblr_lbl43xHJ2k1qarrtso1_400.jpg

Here is another large spider in Sarasota , Florida ( same as you )....It is..

This appears to be one of the giant crab spiders, likely Heteropoda venatoria. It is called the banana spider, which often comes in on shipments of bananas. They are huge, and terrify those susceptible to arachnophobia, but should be welcome as they will eat cockroaches. This species has naturalized itself in the southern part of the US.

TZKR3ZSR0H3LOLSZ2LYLVLQZTLZZOZFL6LHZJZRZJZKR3Z3LDZRZWLHZFZ7RTZXRCZKRZHGRVLXZSH7RCZSRJZER.jpg

Edited by Sakari
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I have to say that whatever Spider you saw was not even close to the measurements you think it was....There is no Spider on Earth known that is even close to that size.....

Wow, my apologies.. I meant to say the spider as whole from leg tip to leg tip was 2.5-3 feet (diameter wise). Yeah, 3 feet from body to leg (radius) would run about 5-6 feet total and that's definitely not right, haha.

The closest estimate size-wise I could find was this picture, but didn't look anything like the spider I saw (no 'hair;):

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/4/l_3cba6817f5fbc89a7db5129d88e88a9e.jpg

The actual appearance of the spider looked almost exactly like this (I know this is a fake halloween decoration, but you get the picture):

http://www.luxuryhousingtrends.com/scary-halloween-spider.jpg

We measured the area of where it was after it had run back into the woods. We were not even standing 10 feet away from it when we walked just past the garage door which is why I know we saw it in actual size, not distorted.. big enough to surprise us and scare us back into the truck until my dad could muster up the gall to get out and throw a shoe at it. I'm not worried about skepticism, I'm just trying to figure out what it was type of spider I saw and how it got so big. Nothing like I've seen before.

Edited by rcade21
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On that note, it could be a rare species of spider that I just couldn't find a description on or an anomaly of gigantic proportions but I'm just really curious how it got so stinkin' BIG. :hmm:

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Wow, my apologies.. I meant to say the spider as whole from leg tip to leg tip was 2.5-3 feet (diameter wise). Yeah, 3 feet from body to leg (radius) would run about 5-6 feet total and that's definitely not right, haha.

The closest estimate size-wise I could find was this picture, but didn't look anything like the spider I saw (no 'hair;):

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/4/l_3cba6817f5fbc89a7db5129d88e88a9e.jpg

The actual appearance of the spider looked almost exactly like this (I know this is a fake halloween decoration, but you get the picture):

http://www.luxuryhousingtrends.com/scary-halloween-spider.jpg

We measured the area of where it was after it had run back into the woods. We were not even standing 10 feet away from it when we walked just past the garage door which is why I know we saw it in actual size, not distorted.. big enough to surprise us and scare us back into the truck until my dad could muster up the gall to get out and throw a shoe at it. I'm not worried about skepticism, I'm just trying to figure out what it was type of spider I saw and how it got so big. Nothing like I've seen before.

Hello Rcade21, can i clarify something.....the truck is stationed outside of the garage about to pull in? did you open the garage doors so that the vehicle could go into it, or where they open already? you then both see the thing jump back into truck, then father has enough courage to go to the door of the garage and hurls a shoe at it, at which point it runs off? correct?

how did it get out? I assume your father was at the door when he threw the shoe?

many thanks

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Might I suggest that it was just a larger than average spider and your imagination has made it grander over the years?

Or, perhaps, it was, in fact, a fake spider that someone had left on the wall and your Dad simply made a show of the whole thing?

There are all kinds of escaped, non-native critters in Florida - but as was said above, there's not a spider on the planet as large as what you're describing.

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Well I believe you. I have seen some insects that I would not have believed had I not seen them with my own eyes. It may be some mutated spider or it may just be an unidentified species. If it is that big I bet it has pretty good survival instincts, I'm sure it can easily avoid being seen. Maybe an under ground spider, who knows... Maybe it was just looking for a dark place to hide. I do have one question tho that someone had previously posted... If your dad was standing in the way of the door, how did the spider get out? did it just run at your dad??

When I lived out in the country there was these huge spiders that carried babies on their backs, it was the grossest thing ever... I was terrified of those, they would sit outside my window under a light post. There was also these things that people called children of the earth; they were these tailless scorpion kinda things that had a really round head, they looked like babies and when you pulled the out from under the ground they would screech like a baby, those were definitely the scariest insect I have ever seen.

If you really saw this I would suggest contacting a local Wild Life center, you can usually get a hold of them trough your local ASPCA. If it is out there it has to be identified, it's habitat could be endangered bringing them closer to people which could put people in danger. Another question... are you in a swampy area in Florida??

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Wow, my apologies.. I meant to say the spider as whole from leg tip to leg tip was 2.5-3 feet (diameter wise). Yeah, 3 feet from body to leg (radius) would run about 5-6 feet total and that's definitely not right, haha.

The actual appearance of the spider looked almost exactly like this (I know this is a fake halloween decoration, but you get the picture):

scary-halloween-spider.jpg

I still must say , a 2.5 to 3 foot Spider is not a realistic thing ,not to mention the biggest is about the size of a dinner plate......

I have to ask , how would a Spider that big get into the garage?....

My dad opened the garage door

I believe you saw a large Spider , but not as big as you think it was.....

Many years ago , I had to crawl under our home in Nevada ( Black Widow Heaven )...I put on all of my bow hunting apperal ( net over head , etc...)..I crawled on my back to where I needed to be , turned my head , and BAM!!!!....Black widow inch's from my eye's....I could swear that thing was the size of a silver dollar ( impossible ).....

I also had a similar experience with a Crayfish ( crawdad) while Snorkling in a river...Turned my head , and it was right in front of my mask...Scared the hell out of me , and looked HUGE!!!!

When you are scared and startled , and even confused , things are not what they seem...

Edited by Sakari
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Might I suggest that it was just a larger than average spider and your imagination has made it grander over the years?

Or, perhaps, it was, in fact, a fake spider that someone had left on the wall and your Dad simply made a show of the whole thing?

There are all kinds of escaped, non-native critters in Florida - but as was said above, there's not a spider on the planet as large as what you're describing.

Considering my dad and never plays jokes, our family are the only people that built the house from the ground up and moved in and had any kind of access to the building itself, and that it only happened 2 years ago, yeah there's no way I could have distorted anything in my mind, to be frank.

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Hello Rcade21, can i clarify something.....the truck is stationed outside of the garage about to pull in? did you open the garage doors so that the vehicle could go into it, or where they open already? you then both see the thing jump back into truck, then father has enough courage to go to the door of the garage and hurls a shoe at it, at which point it runs off? correct?

how did it get out? I assume your father was at the door when he threw the shoe?

many thanks

Truck was stationed about 5 feet away from the garage entrance. As he opens the garage door we're all talking, grabbing clothes to bring inside to start the move-in process, we all 3 walk into the seemingly empty garage until we get a couple steps into the garage, notice something huge and black moving. We stand in surprise and horror for a few moments and run back in the truck. Moments later my dad, being a Marine vet, decides to get his massive boot and hurl it at the thing so we can get our stuff moved in. He throws it from the entrance of the garage to the back wall where the spider is clinging. He misses by an inch, the spider freaks and runs SUPER fast out of the garage like a big black blur. I mean this thing was booking. We all assumed it went into the woods but had no effing idea how it got in the garage in the first place. My dad assumed he may have left the garage door open the last time he finished the last few touches on the place, went to Lowe's like he normally did, came back and closed the garage door. Sometimes he would forget to close it while he went to run his errands.

Hope that answers your question ^_^

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The actual appearance of the spider looked almost exactly like this (I know this is a fake halloween decoration, but you get the picture):

scary-halloween-spider.jpg

I still must say , a 2.5 to 3 foot Spider is not a realistic thing ,not to mention the biggest is about the size of a dinner plate......

I have to ask , how would a Spider that big get into the garage?....

I believe you saw a large Spider , but not as big as you think it was.....

Many years ago , I had to crawl under our home in Nevada ( Black Widow Heaven )...I put on all of my bow hunting apperal ( net over head , etc...)..I crawled on my back to where I needed to be , turned my head , and BAM!!!!....Black widow inch's from my eye's....I could swear that thing was the size of a silver dollar ( impossible ).....

I also had a similar experience with a Crayfish ( crawdad) while Snorkling in a river...Turned my head , and it was right in front of my mask...Scared the hell out of me , and looked HUGE!!!!

When you are scared and startled , and even confused , things are not what they seem...

Actually, I wish I hadn't seen the spider since I'm pretty afraid of the bigger ones, though I'm not one to fabricate size just to make a good story. I know what I saw. I've seen all kinds of spiders, being originally from Tennessee and living next to the woods with all sorts of critters and creepy crawlies. I had a kind of OCD as a kid to look under every rock I could find and taught myself the names of arachnids and insects so I have a decent education on the matter. I still look up animals and anything I don't recognize to this day.

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Considering my dad and never plays jokes, our family are the only people that built the house from the ground up and moved in and had any kind of access to the building itself, and that it only happened 2 years ago, yeah there's no way I could have distorted anything in my mind, to be frank.

Don't be too sure about that. In strange and unfamiliar situations, everyone misremembers or misjudges things.

To give an example from police training (not mine - from when my mum taught it :P):

Role play of two men robbing a bank with 2 cashiers and 4 witnesses (police officers in training).

Robber 1 - wearing green t-shirt, blue jeans and black balaclava, carries pistol wrapped in bag - hieght around 5'6"

Robber 2 - wearing white t-shirt, brown trousers and black balaclava, no weapon visible - height also around 5'6"

Cashier 1 - wearing uniform of blue shirt and black trousers

Cashier 2 - same as cahier 1

Witness 1 - white shirt, black trousers

Witness 2 - blue blouse, black skirt

Witness 3 - black shirt, dark blue trousers

Coloured text will come in next to show mix ups.

If witness 4 is asked to describe those present, he might well say something along the lines of:

Robber 1 - wearing blue t-shirt, blue jeans and black balaclava, carries pistol wrapped in bag - hieght around 6'

Robber 2 - wearing black t-shirt, black trousers and black balaclava, no weapon visible - height also around 6'

Cashier 1 - wearing uniform of blue shirt and blue trousers

Cashier 2 - same as cahier 1

Witness 1 - blue shirt, black trousers

Witness 2 - white blouse, black skirt

Witness 3 - black shirt, dark blue trousers

As you can see, people's memories often play tricks with them especially with regard to overestimating size. If something is threatening, we tend to remember it as larger than it really was.

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Well I believe you. I have seen some insects that I would not have believed had I not seen them with my own eyes. It may be some mutated spider or it may just be an unidentified species. If it is that big I bet it has pretty good survival instincts, I'm sure it can easily avoid being seen. Maybe an under ground spider, who knows... Maybe it was just looking for a dark place to hide. I do have one question tho that someone had previously posted... If your dad was standing in the way of the door, how did the spider get out? did it just run at your dad??

When I lived out in the country there was these huge spiders that carried babies on their backs, it was the grossest thing ever... I was terrified of those, they would sit outside my window under a light post. There was also these things that people called children of the earth; they were these tailless scorpion kinda things that had a really round head, they looked like babies and when you pulled the out from under the ground they would screech like a baby, those were definitely the scariest insect I have ever seen.

If you really saw this I would suggest contacting a local Wild Life center, you can usually get a hold of them trough your local ASPCA. If it is out there it has to be identified, it's habitat could be endangered bringing them closer to people which could put people in danger. Another question... are you in a swampy area in Florida??

Wow, those scorpions sound awful. I could only imagine something looking creepy already only to amplify the moment by using a horrific sound. That would give me chills! :blink:

Luckily NOT in a swampy area, that house is located in the more rural back woods of my town though. Not very many neighbors and mostly wooded areas, even a park close by. Whether it is a new species or mutation, it was effing scary looking. I used to play with some tarantulas my friend had and those never scared me because they were furry and fatter and they moved slowly for the most part. For some reason, this one scared me because it was more spindly and the legs were long, pointy, and sharp looking (but I'm sure they weren't actually sharp that's just the look) and when it moved it didn't scurry like most spiders do when they run, it BOLTED. Within the 2-3 seconds it was out of the garage, my dad jumped onto the truck. He thought throwing the shoe and backing up real fast would do the trick but it even surprised him to the point of him doing a double take and jumping on the front hood to escape it because he had no idea where it went either. We all looked around to see if it was anywhere closeby and took us a few minutes to get out of the truck to move in.

I talked with my dad after the incident happened and he was wondering if the spider had been hiding under all the brush in the woods. You'd be surprised how many palm fronds, thick dead monkey grass, and pine needles (yes, we have some pine trees in Florida too lol) there is on the ground in all the woods. You cannot walk through the woods unless you literally carve a path through like we had to have the tree cutters do for our backyard so we could see the creek. And forget mowing the grass, it used to take me 2 hours to do if I left it more than 5 days without cutting it. ;)

I may just call ASPCA to find out if there have been any reported spiders of this description and see what comes up.

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Don't be too sure about that. In strange and unfamiliar situations, everyone misremembers or misjudges things.

To give an example from police training (not mine - from when my mum taught it :P):

Role play of two men robbing a bank with 2 cashiers and 4 witnesses (police officers in training).

Robber 1 - wearing green t-shirt, blue jeans and black balaclava, carries pistol wrapped in bag - hieght around 5'6"

Robber 2 - wearing white t-shirt, brown trousers and black balaclava, no weapon visible - height also around 5'6"

Cashier 1 - wearing uniform of blue shirt and black trousers

Cashier 2 - same as cahier 1

Witness 1 - white shirt, black trousers

Witness 2 - blue blouse, black skirt

Witness 3 - black shirt, dark blue trousers

Coloured text will come in next to show mix ups.

If witness 4 is asked to describe those present, he might well say something along the lines of:

Robber 1 - wearing blue t-shirt, blue jeans and black balaclava, carries pistol wrapped in bag - hieght around 6'

Robber 2 - wearing black t-shirt, black trousers and black balaclava, no weapon visible - height also around 6'

Cashier 1 - wearing uniform of blue shirt and blue trousers

Cashier 2 - same as cahier 1

Witness 1 - blue shirt, black trousers

Witness 2 - white blouse, black skirt

Witness 3 - black shirt, dark blue trousers

As you can see, people's memories often play tricks with them especially with regard to overestimating size. If something is threatening, we tend to remember it as larger than it really was.

Good point and good examples! I know everyone's definitely not perfect with story telling :)

The only thing is I'm not trying to debate, I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone else had experienced or seen similar. But I am definitely sure of one thing: I've not really had much excitement in my life despite regular everyday human issues, but when something astronomical happens and I get really scared, I remember those most. Sure, I may forget certain details I'm still human, but for the most part I think I hit the nail on the head this go around. I have other stories that were a lot worse than this.. haha

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Well, regardless of if it was real or your imagination I would have been traumatized. Seriously.

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The actual appearance of the spider looked almost exactly like this (I know this is a fake halloween decoration, but you get the picture):

scary-halloween-spider.jpg

I still must say , a 2.5 to 3 foot Spider is not a realistic thing ,not to mention the biggest is about the size of a dinner plate......

I have to ask , how would a Spider that big get into the garage?....

I believe you saw a large Spider , but not as big as you think it was.....

Many years ago , I had to crawl under our home in Nevada ( Black Widow Heaven )...I put on all of my bow hunting apperal ( net over head , etc...)..I crawled on my back to where I needed to be , turned my head , and BAM!!!!....Black widow inch's from my eye's....I could swear that thing was the size of a silver dollar ( impossible ).....

I also had a similar experience with a Crayfish ( crawdad) while Snorkling in a river...Turned my head , and it was right in front of my mask...Scared the hell out of me , and looked HUGE!!!!

When you are scared and startled , and even confused , things are not what they seem...

Im going to have to agree with Sakari on this one , there are no spiders that size in the world , you may have seen a large spider but not as big as you may think ...

TiP.

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Well, regardless of if it was real or your imagination I would have been traumatized. Seriously.

Hahahaa, I was for about a week. I refused to open my window because it was 3 feet away from the woods.. and no mesh covering for the window sill :no:

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Within the 2-3 seconds it was out of the garage, my dad jumped onto the truck.

Sorry, how big is this garage?

Using house spiders as an example, their speed is apparently 1.17mph and their minimum body length is 4.1mm.

A little bit of maths gives you that they can run about 127 body lengths per second

This is one of the slower speciess of spider and using the same result gives the answer that in 2 seconds, your spider should have moved 317' (95m).

Going back to what I said before, either you misjudged the size of the spider, misjudged the time it took or you have a garage about 100m long. If so, I want your house - it must be huge!

EDIT: sorry, finding the measurements and doing the calculations took a while. Only just read your other post.

Edited by Setton
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