Is this a false widow?

southernstar

My shed has a fair few of these in there. I havent seen spiders like these - can anyone please tell me whether this is a False Widow?





If so, I presume I should get rid of these? I have 2 small kids.

Cork boy 55

Don't know about false widows

looks like amaurobius similius picture in my guide book

12cm body length

Common spider especially in South

body and legs chestnut brown

found on walls fences and bark

constructs a tangled web of silk leading to crevice.
into which it retreats most of time

abdomen puffish with paired dark markings and chevrons towards rear end, legs orange brown

Bonedigger

southernstar wrote: »

My shed has a fair few of these in there. I havent seen spiders like these - can anyone please tell me whether this is a False Widow?





If so, I presume I should get rid of these? I have 2 small kids.

It's not a False Widow.
It looks to me like it's a common house spider.
Desmo is the man to speak to on this forum about arachnids.
These are harmless in general and won't be any threat to the kids,so I'd leave them well alone.

Tiercel Dave

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

"12cm body length

Common spider especially in South"

Surely not that common I hope! Dave

southernstar

Thanks all.

Desmo

Thanks for the endorsement Bonedigger :-)
Cork Boy 55 is right I think.
Harmless and common spider that.
Des

swifts need our help!

I found a false widow the other night while out bat surveying

La realidad

Im pretty big into animals of all shapes and sizes myself (Fota Wildlife should hire me) but this may be any kind of spider. You cant clarify based on this image. I have found these false widows in my house recently (got these verified by experts), but what I can say to you is: dont worry about having two young children in your house. The false widow has been in Ireland for more than 50 years and has never bitten a single soul.

This is all really hysteria started by the UK daily mail which slowly spread over here. You can identify a false widow by a skull-shaped pattern on its back - but you are only identifying a male - Which doesnt bits, the female bites and may be jet-black or can be pale brown (In this nordic climate they tend to be different to the Canaries). Don't go off killing our native spiders in a haste. We have some lovely species here and they dont deserve to be harmed because of our own paranoia.

La realidad

Just to add to my last point, False widow spiders - When they bite (which is extremely rare) they are no worse than a mosquito bite and at worse a bee sting. Only someone with anaphylactic shock will be affected.