Oh, we were savage little beasts back then.. dropping red ants in the black ant pile, countless magnifying glass experiments on them, etc.. I never touched anything larger than a spider or animals, though... And I think I turned out alright.. *twitch*

Last night, I got up to use the bathroom and when I turned on the light, I saw something run very quickly across the floor. It stopped right in front of the bathtub, and I realized that it was a large spider. Brown in color, about 3" in diameter, including the legs. It wasn't a "Daddy Long Leg." It was thicker than that.
I had never seen a spider so large in my house before, and I had no idea that they could run so quickly. I grabbed something and tried to lay it on top of the spider but the thing moved away so fast that I wasn't able to find it again. Needless to say, I feel really freaked out any time I have to go back into my bathroom now.
Does anyone know what kind of spider it might have been and if it could be poisonous? Also, coincidentally, just a few days before I saw the spider, two large itchy bumps appeared on my leg, and I had been thinking that it may have been a spider bite.

Was it like any of these?

They tend not to bite as they're very shy and stay away from humans. Your itchy bumps could be mosquito bites? There seems to be a ton of them around at the moment.

Your new pet spider should eat them, though, so don't worry...

I don't think so. But lovely to have that beast bring you back!

Mosquitos are out to get us it feels, I don't ever get bitten but the last days they have been extra bloodthirsty

Common house spider, most likely. Not unusual to get them up to that size, particularly after a good summer. Theoretically they may be able to puncture your skin if they chose to bite, but it's very very unusual and not dangerous.

Nearly all spiders are venomous, but it's very weak and not harmful to humans. Bites are so rare as to be almost unheard of, so don't worry about it. In practice you can view Europe as being bereft of "poisonous"spiders.

Thanks. I'm trying to distance more from Facebook, so I might be more active here on the forum again. I've had some problems with some psychopath cyber stalker over there.

Hopefully the bites on my legs are just from a mosquito. I guess I didn't realize that they were bad right now.

Thanks also for the replies here and for easing my mind. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about Mr. Spider too much. I still feel so "on guard" every time I go into my bathroom now, though. Like I'm about to pull some karate moves on a spider.

I have an infestation of False Widows, that are venemous and can be nasty if you have a reaction. They are all over the place.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steatoda_grossa


https://araneae.nmbe.ch/data/542/Steatoda_grossa

Can of petrol and a box of matches. It's the only way.

Seriously?!?!
I didn't get a very good up-close look at him last night, as he moved soooo fast, so it's hard for me to tell if any of the photos match him. I really had no idea that a spider was even capable of moving that quickly. My bathroom is about 3 1/2 meters long and he went from one end of it to the other in about two seconds.

I remember now that I once read that spiders hate peppermint and so I guess that spraying some peppermint oil mixed with water can help keep them away.

Giant house spiders/house spiders have to run fast - that's how they catch mosquitos and other pests. The "daddy-long-leg" type spiders eat house spiders. They've more reach, so they can tangle them in web before going for the kill.

Unless you give "him" a way to go out (like out a window) all he'll do is move to the next (bed-)room.

Yep, that time of the year when they decide to come inside - a glass over, and piece of card slid underneath, and gently out.

They were the same and just as big in our old house in UK- doing a great job getting rid of mozzies and other beasties- I have never killed one and they do get bigger every year. They are called Fred - there or here. Can't understand how anyone would be scared of them.

Oh god... we are just about to move to (near) Geneva and I am terrified of spiders. We are looking at properties to rent soon. Do you find certain types of housing more or less likely to be invaded by these horrible creatures? Are they more common the nearer you are to the lake or countryside?

No, they are everywhere, midges are more attracted by water, spiders are anywhere.

Just do as Odile said to get them outside.

There are not more spiders here, then anywhere else in the world. Chill.

Just to soothe your nerve, I have been visited twice by these big spiders (I think Giant House Spider after Googling). After then, I sprayed around my window with insecticide, haven't had a visit since.
(I actually did that because I kept getting visits from German Cockroaches, not because of the spiders).

If you really can't overcome your phobia and you'll run screaming when you see a spider, you might have better luck with apartments from the first floor up.

Otherwise, this isn't Australia, you'll see 1-2 spiders throughout the Summer, you won't die.

Living on the fourth floor, I have plenty of spiders :-)

My wife told me to take a spider out instead of killing it.
We went and had lunch. Cool guy, wants to be a web designer"
(stolen from Facebook "Punny Pete")

Love it.

Cruelty to animals, even when “just a kid” is found to correlate strongly with psychopathic traits. It would never occur to me to intentionally torture another living being, not now, not when I was a kid. If I see or hear of kids doing stuff like that, I consider it a parenting fail and tell the little sh*tes off in a very memorable fashion.

I put my spiders to work at home. If they don't have money to pay rent, then they must catch the flying cr*p of which we have many. We live in a wooded area btw. I have designated corners for them and if they stray to other areas, I move them outside. If I see the sub-renters are not doing their work /no insect shells or captured flying menace/ I move them out as well. There is one that lives above our TV. The other night, instead of Strictly I was watching 'Thimothy' at work... for half an hour...