So, my daughter (almost two) pointed out a spider on the ceiling this morning. At first I thought the large brown spider might be a brown recluse. They aren't common here in Arizona, but we do have them. Either way, I knew that I should be careful just in case, but I was intrigued enough that I decided to capture instead of kill. That is when I found the spider to be rather aggressive. Usually a spider would run when confronted by a person with a container, but this one charged which ironically made it easier to catch.

After capture, I decided to Google it to find out what kind of spider it is. Once I got a semi-good look at it, I noticed the lack of a fiddle-like coloration and I knew it was not a brown recluse, but instead either a Hobo Spider (very dangerous) or a Huntsman Spider (not so dangerous, and actually beneficial to have around). I took a picture to show off the size, but I couldn't get a much better one due to the aggressive nature of the spider combined with the plastic of the container.

On a side note, my daughter keeps insisting that I "open it, open this" so that she can "touch the spider." While humorous, this has definitely made me decide to make sure and keep the spider up out of reach for now.

I've heard that hobo spiders can be very aggressive. Those things are DANGEROUS, too! Glad you caught it.

When I read the title to your post I actually chuckled. We have a finished basement on our house, and I spend a great deal of time down here. With the back quarter semi unfinished I do find a fair amount of spiders back there on occasion. But I must say, WOW! That is some spider! I do have several plastic ones that rival or are even bigger that I use to scare the crap out of my players, but WOW! That one is HUGE!

You have given me an awesome idea! I am going to find my spider minis to compare to it, lol.

Think I found all of mine during October and Party City or other Halloween outlets Like Kmart or WalMart. If you wait until Halloween or the day after they are cheap. By the 2nd they are all back in storage or off to Goodwill.

How big is that in cm/in?

I once had the joy of sharing a car trip with a huntsman that was at least the size of my hand (20cm/9in - we grow creepy crawlies big in Oz). Admittedly, it was in a plastic container, but that was only because I caught it and put it there.

The thing was so damn big that I felt it had earned the right to survive our encounter, but damned if I was going to release it near my house

I would assume that it was about 3 1/2 to 4 inches across for the legspan and about 1 inch for the body. Not the biggest spider I have seen (we had a Goliath bird-eating spider as kids), but definitely the biggest and most aggressive found in my bedroom...

Remind me to, never, ever, leave the UK again! <shudder>

I once worked with a guy in St. Louis who ended up having a brown recluse crawling on a towel that be grabbed to dry himself off after a shower. It bit him in the upper arm. He didn't realize what it was until his flesh started "dissolving" and he went to the emergency room. They had him keep ice on the wound for days. He has a big "hole" in his upper arm from where the flesh melted.

I am not one for using a lot of smileys, and I certainly haven't used this one before... but...

Hobo spiders are both bad tempered and poisonous, best to avoid.

No Avondales.... (Yeah, I want an Avondale.) Big, scary, and about as dangerous as a daddy longlegs....

The Auld Grump

Don't know if this is true, But I was told that Daddy Long Legged spiders are quite toxic. Their one saving grace is that they can't open their mouths to actually bite you. And the baby Long Legs are even more toxic, cept they are even smaller.

However, in regards to another spider urban legend - a daddy longlegs is the closest that I have come to swallowing a spider in my sleep.

Never been bitten by a daddy longlegs, even when I woke up with one in my mouth.

The Auld Grump

One thing is that they don't have two body sections like a spider (head/thorax combined and abdomen), they just have one. I also think that there is something about eyes (not sure if it is number, placement or something else).