Anyone know what this is?

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   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   It was in an open bag of compost that I was filling pots with.
   
   Yuk my hand may have touched it!
   
   It's quite big, but not as big as shown - maybe half an inch across.
   
   Looks like a tick of some sort with that big swollen belly, but more likely it is a spider as it was found in compost in the greenhouse, where there are no animals, not even birds.
   
   This is the UK, anyone recognise it?
   
   
   

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      Hugh Williamsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It looks a lot like a woodllouse spider. If so, they have a painful but harmless bite. As the name implies, they eat woodlice so maybe your compost has some critters in it other than the spider.
      
      Nice looking spider though.

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      moonlakeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I will never put my hands in compost again.

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      ptosisposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      go to Bug ID request online  - here's the link http://bugguide.net/bgimage/user/37935
      
      It for US and Canada - but maybe the folks there can steer you clear for UK Bug ID

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you so much for the link, but these clever hubbers  - Hugh Williamson and crazyhorsesghost already told me exactly what it was.
         
         woodlouse spider

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      clairemyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Looks like a tic, but it has 8 legs, so must be a spider.
      Where do you live in UK?

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Claire, I'm in Scotland - it is a woodlouse spider, thanks to hubbers who responded earlier in this thread

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            clairemyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Well, It can stay in Scotland, apparently they bite. Nothing nasty though.

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               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Distribution of the woodlouse spider, according to wikipedia -
               
               
               
               
               Those spiders live in the green areas, which must take in an awful lot of hubbers

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      jennzieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad none of those live around here! I appreciate and have an interest in most wildlife, excluding spiders and most insects.

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   What on Earth is a googlebot doing in your greenhouse!?!

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      ROFL!!!
      
      Maybe it was checking me out to return my traffic lol

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3. 86

   crazyhorsesghostposted 12 years ago

   It is indeed a woodlouse spider and while it has a painful bite it is not poisonous. They do get in compost from time to time especially if their are a lot of little critters in their. If your adding meat to your compost I would not. Especially in summer.
   
   The woodlouse spider will feed on other available small insects if the wood lice is not available.

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   theherbivorehippiposted 12 years ago

   I know looks can be deceiving, but it certainly doesn't look very friendly!

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5. 84

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Well hey thanks guys!! I've never heard of the woodlouse spider, but yes there are loads, tons, millions of woodlice around.
   
   Ahh, so they do bite?
   
   I've got a severe but as yet unidentified allergy to the bite of some insects. Need to watch that in case it has brothers and sisters.
   
   Thanks a million, you've been a Godsend! I need to know these things and it would have taken me hours to find out what it was by Googling it alone.

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      Melissa A Smithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I see these often. They are sooooo cute!

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         CUTE!!!!
         
         Emm..no, they are ugly little critters that look kinda scarey too!
         
         Each to their own and all that

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            Beth100posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            mmm... and you can keep them across on your side of the pond. 

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      Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      We are awaiting your hub about the Woodlouse Spider and how to tell the difference between it and a Googlebot.

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hey that might be fun

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6. 81

   donotfearposted 12 years ago

   Ugh...it looks repulsive.  Some spiders actually make me gag.
   Looks like a tick, too.

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      Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You wont want one of these as a pet then?
      
      

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         paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         He wants to be your friend...

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Now that is seriously cute!

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   gramaryeposted 12 years ago

   I don't like spiders - except sandyspider hehe

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   Daughter Of Maatposted 12 years ago

   oh ick... now I have the heebee geebees! Spiders are so creepy to me. Makes me glad I don't live in the UK.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hate to tell you, but this spider also lives along the eastern seaboard of the USA as an introduced species.
      
      Makes you wonder who introduced it?? lol

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         CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Went across on the Mayflower with the Pilgrim Fathers?  I have never encountered one of these before and am in no hurry to meet one!

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            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I'm the opposite, I want to find it again so I can take a video recording.
            
            HP hasn't got a woodlouse spider video, although there are quite a few on Youtube.
            
            Would make a good experiment to find out whether or not HP's videos really are competitive.

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            1. 81

               CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Good luck with that Izzy.  Do you think that it came in on the compost or found its way in there?  If it was an import, you could always try buying another bag of compost at the same place and see if there are any more stowaways?
               
               The BBC says they can be found under logs, do you have a log pile?
               
               I generally like spiders, but this is a very strange looking one.

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               1. 84

                  IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  The compost it was found in has a checkered history. It was a bag of good quality rose compost, can't remember the name at the moment, but it might have been John Innes.
                  
                  It belonged to a small local commercial growing company who sadly went bust, and told me to help myself to the remains of plants, compost and pots from their industrial greenhouse site, 3 years ago, or it might have been 4 years.
                  
                  These bags of compost had been stored for a long time, and were already bursting when I got them.
                  
                  They then lay in Dad's garden for a year or so, before this one got moved into the greenhouse and opened.
                  
                  It has lain there ever since, unused but open, allowing the soil at the very top to dry out, but not further down, strangely enough.Maybe there is a rainwater drip overhead.
                  
                  As this seems to be the first woodlouse spider found in this neck of the woods (I'm in Kintyre which is almost an island, so when wildlife finds its way here, it has almost certainly been imported), the question is did it come with the compost (as a baby perhaps), or did the last growers import it with plants they were growing (even from England).
                  
                  This spider was big and fat, so probably a female. Has she had babies? Was she pregnant?
                  
                  There are bound to be more around anyway.
                  
                  Need to watch out for them, and not handle compost with my bare hands.
                  
                  And no, no logs (but plenty trees), but I just found a toad in the garden too, sheltering under a black plastic sheet covering yet more bags of compost, and I'm told they like logs too.
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  

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                     CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Well that's you next hub sorted - 'wildlife I found in my garden'

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                        IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Got it sorted already
                        
                        By the way, Mr Toad is actually Mrs Toad, according to what I have managed to find out about them

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                           CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Cool, lots of little baby toads!

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   brakel2posted 12 years ago

   This thread is so funny. Lol. But I am scared of critters or googlebots, whatever. Stay out of compost is a lesson for day.

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    Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

    Ooo! I and my buddy Phil -- the jumping spider with the dashing green mandibles that keeps appearing in my house -- must compliment you on an excellent spider photo.
    
    You know you've been writing for the web too long when your first reaction to an unusual spider is, "stay put, cutie, I need to grab my camera so I can make a webpage about you!"

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       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       LOLl ain't that the truth!
       
       Jumping spiders with green mandibles sound ominous. Got a photo?

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