An Unwelcome Visitor

I may have found the very first thing about England that I absolutely don't like.  It all started September 7th.  My mom was going into the kitchen to get some chocolate bannanna bread when it happened.  A little, or maybe not so little, visitor came racing right up to my mom's feet! She thought it was a mouse because it was running so quickly.  She screamed and jumped towards the door.  However, the visitor wasn't the least bit afraid of her because it just sat there staring at us.   It was then we realized that our visitor was not a mouse after all but rather the creepy, crawly, monsterous GIGANTEA!!!!!!!!!

This spider's scientific name actually is Gigantea if that tells you anything about its size.  We have now seen two of them in our home!  The second one I saw when I was going up the stairs to bed one night!  I nearly fell down stairs upon seeing it!

This spider is a part of the Tegenaria family.  It's bite is not dangerous to humans but it does penetrate the human skin.  It's also the fastest spider in England!  The reason we're seeing so many of them right now is because the male Gigantea spiders only come out in August and September because they are looking for a mate.  The rest of the time they are hiding in basements, attics, behind cupboards, in floor boards or really any place rarely disturbed by large animals or humans.

After the second sighting of Gigantea, my dad spent an evening sealing all outside entry points into our home.  Hopefully, we've seen our last sighting of this fast, monsterous looking spider so we can get back to enjoying all the other aspects of England! :-)