Last year I found a black shiny? spider in bedroom and put it in garden, later I read it was a False widow spider, but not to worry about it. This year I found a larger dull black spider in my father's conservatory, under lip of plant tray. I avoided it. Then I read about FW spiders on internet but it had disappeared. A few weeks ago we were turning out fathers kitchen and found 10 FW Spiders under counter, and 5 empty egg sacs. I cleared out smallest bedroom and found little 9 little ones.
I found about 30 in the conservatory but had to give up cleaning it out, because next door in my bungalow, I found lots of small ones of various ages running around and hiding absolutely everywhere. One dashed out of a folded newspaper and grabbed a large green beetle (which had got in under the door) 10 times bigger than itself. On looking around I found to my horror several large dark females. (They become darker as they get older.)
The experts (unbitten) say the bite is like a wasp sting, but non-experts who have been bitten say the bite is much more painful. - and I will try not to find out personally!
I had noticed that the house spiders had vanished, and a whole colony of Daddy Long leg spiders behind the door vanished but I found 3 young FW's hiding. When I pulled out the washing machine and fridge etc I found alot of corpses of large spiders.
I put one very small spider in a container with 2 ever tinier babies and then put a larger spider which I thought might be a male in and within 2 seconds the small spider attacked the larger 6 times its size over and over again.
I don't care whether other people like them, I am not having these things all over the house/conservatory/garden. I have to check everything before I put my fingers under the lip of a plant tray or trough or put gloves, boots on.
I have started spraying the house with insecticide. So far I have found 10 large females, under the chairs, under my computer table, up under my armchair, as well as behind and under fridge, Washing machine, tumble dryer, plus 50 or so other sizes with the distinctive steatoda markings.
Normally spiders don't bother me unless I find them in bed, lacy web spider or on top of my head (house spider - having hidden in my hat) but these things really give me the creeps, and there are so many of them. I've only found less than 10 of the other spiders and well over a hundred of FW and I've only cleaned 20% of the 2 properties so far.
