Ungoliant: Creature Of Darkness

Ah, the country. Fresh air, green grass, and a hella lot of spiders. Most of them, I'm not to concerned about - to the point where my indifference irritates one of my other two housemates (and its not Boo.) That was until I found this guy hanging out by one of our motion lights. Each morning I half-expect there to be something like 'redrum' or 'go home yankee' scrawled in web-script as a friendly reminder that we're not welcome.

I did some reading and found that the UK doesn't have much to worry about in the way of poisonous things. There is only one poisonous snake and not much as far as "really" dangerous spiders go. There are spiders that can bite and cause some pain, maybe some localized irritation -- but not too much beyond that (this should be good news for the spider-phobes and snake-fearing parents that read this...)

Then I started following a chilling series of articles and postings about the recent spread of what is known as the 'False Widow' spider or Steatoda nobilis. It has been in the UK for about 100 years but until global warming came around, it was only warm enough in the south of the island. It probably won't kill you -- but 'probably' means maybe it could kill me, right? There are real stories of nasty bites from these guys. Could this be the beast that lives on our light?

Well, after further review, I have decided it is not the infamous black widow wannabee. Sorry for the let down folks. I think its just a Steatoda bipunctata, also known as the Rabbit Hutch Spider. It too is also sometimes called a false widow (due to idiots like me). I found a forum where someone is asking exactly the same questions but even when experts got involved, there was still some uncertainty.

Either way, I might play Mayor Daley and pretend the spider is right where my new runway is going to be built. Sorry, Mr. Spider, you need to find a new home. For those of you who also may have a widow to deal with, be sure to watch the extra footage to ID that rascal.