HELP! Anyone know what type of spider this is?-PICS

[pscaulkins]

It definitely isn't a hobo spider either. They are native only to the Northwest US and Canada mainly

Hobo's are not native to the northwest. They came here on ships and took over. They don't die with normal spraying. You have to pay an exterminator and then it is iffy. We have tons of them and some are more venomous then the brown recluse. It depends on where they bite you from the flyer I picked up at our county extension office.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

It definitely isn't a hobo spider either. They are native only to the Northwest US and Canada mainly

Hobo's are not native to the northwest. They came here on ships and took over. They don't die with normal spraying. You have to pay an exterminator and then it is iffy. We have tons of them and some are more venomous then the brown recluse. It depends on where they bite you from the flyer I picked up at our county extension office.

Yup, they are found all over now...I checked & debated between the wolf spider & hobo spider before posting my last two responses.
Here: http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/flower/spiders.shtml?abflowers1538.jpg
That's the one it looks the most like to us, except darker coloring, but same markings.
And, hobo spiders, like wolf spiders, don't really spin webs (which this one didn't, we fed it a cricket lol, just to see..it just "catches" it's prey, no web). So, I agree with Sandy (pscaulkins)...it could be either. But it's not a brown recluse & that was our main concern at first. Plus, just a fair warning to others, premium, in my experiences (and we've had many) sends "other insects" with their orders....how do you miss a spider as large as this one, though? It's over a quarter in size & didn't get that way being in a box overnight. The thing was just too large to be able to get into a "winter packaged" box...there's no way it could have fit. No matter what, this spider did not come from around here (Kansas)...premium sent us this lovely thing . They've also sent us carpet beetles, as I posted earlier. We've switched suppliers & are going to resort to breeding our own crickets now, to avoid anymore of these types of situations. Wolf/hobo/brown recluse spiders are all known to hunt the same way, like dark places, etc. so I don't want anyone to get a more dangerous spider than the one we did bottom line. Premium should have seen this spider, it was too large to miss...who knows what else they may miss...a brown recluse, maybe? And, they have carpet beetles/wooly worms/fuzzy worms/whatever...they say they don't but I still have the darn thing to prove it. We haven't gotten any crickets from anywhere else in a month or more...and I found the little beetles, couldn't identify them, then one had obviously gotten out of the "cans", grew to the size I could identify it, and now they are in our home. That's what I'm trying to get across at this point. Yes, most suppliers have them. Yes, most suppliers have an accidental bug shipped with crickets. BUT premium shipped a spider larger than the crickets we ordered, sent us the beetles, s****** us out of a lot of money, packaged Phoenix worms like crickets. I could go on and on. They just don't provide the customer service, care, or accurate info to their customers. The spider was the last straw for us. That's all. No matter what type of spider it was. That was our main concern in the beginning, obviously, lol...I freaked out...it was scary. Now, the concern is what else maybe shipped to people buying from them & how much money they are going to lose due to these things. We lost several hundreds by their mistakes for food for our babies because of simple things like not shutting the lids all the way on PWs! With this economy, we, and a lot of others can't afford this...that's all I'm trying to get across now.
Sorry if I just ranted a lot, but it's pure common sense...you'll lose business treating your customers this way...and we spend a lot of money on food for Kaira & Taz, so they, too, lost quite a bit from this error...hundreds.
We're (personally, from our experiences) switching until we can get our own colony going and then we're done with purchasing crickets online.
K, I'm done now, sorry again. I've just been holding that in. WHEW!
Abi

 

[haleygirl272]

lol, dont b embarassed!! :lol: We all have to do it sometimes! :roll:

Hey, u guys notice anything different with this message?

tell me if u do!

 

[KairaandTaz08]

lol, dont b embarassed!! :lol: We all have to do it sometimes! :roll:

Hey, u guys notice anything different with this message?

tell me if u do!

LOL, THANK YOU. I feel kind of bad, but I think people deserve to know & it t***** me off.
Your avatar???
Abi

 

[haleygirl272]

DING DING DING~u got it!

well, dont feel bad, think of us as listeners! (and talkers! lol :wink: )

 

[KairaandTaz08]

LOL, I thought that it was different. Very cute pic! I need to get my signature pics updated, those are months old lol. I never did figure out the avatar thing. Oh well...they have their "own thread" lol that I try to keep updated.
Thanks for listening...it's been frustrating to say the least.
Abi

 

[patrickb]

It definitely isn't a hobo spider either. They are native only to the Northwest US and Canada mainly

Hobo's are not native to the northwest. They came here on ships and took over. They don't die with normal spraying. You have to pay an exterminator and then it is iffy. We have tons of them and some are more venomous then the brown recluse. It depends on where they bite you from the flyer I picked up at our county extension office.

Yes, that is correct, I was wrong by using the word native. They are an introduced species that does have a breeding population, with the distribution of that population limited mainly to the Northwest US and into Canada, even Alaska. I have yet to see any documentation of them being in the south. With all due respect to your county government and their attempts to alert the residents I suspect much of the information in the flyer is incorrect, such as them being more venomous than the brown recluse, but that is offtopic and a totally different debate.

Yup, they are found all over now...I checked & debated between the wolf spider & hobo spider before posting my last two responses.
Here: http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/flower/spiders.shtml?abflowers1538.jpg
That's the one it looks the most like to us, except darker coloring, but same markings.
And, hobo spiders, like wolf spiders, don't really spin webs (which this one didn't, we fed it a cricket lol, just to see..it just "catches" it's prey, no web). So, I agree with Sandy (pscaulkins)...it could be either. But it's not a brown recluse & that was our main concern at first.

Actually, hobo spiders do spin webs, funnel shaped webs to be specific. Just like the grass spiders I mentioned earlier which are in the same family as hobo spiders. The behavior you described definitely suggests it is a wolf spider. They are usually stockier than their slender bodied counterparts the grass spiders. However, that is the problem with that point, visual identification with a spider is often difficult if not impossible with a lot of species. There are a few that you can identify visually, but many species look similar to others (hobos look identical to a lot of other species) A species often has extreme variations in coloration and patterning within the same regional area as well which adds to the confusion. Genital dissection is the only way to pinpoint the species. Documented geographical data helps too, and hobos have not been discovered in GA where Premium is based.

Plus, just a fair warning to others, premium, in my experiences (and we've had many) sends "other insects" with their orders....how do you miss a spider as large as this one, though? It's over a quarter in size & didn't get that way being in a box overnight. The thing was just too large to be able to get into a "winter packaged" box...there's no way it could have fit.

No doubt it happens as you said, and to be fair with the vendor, they are dealing with probably a few hundred thousand crickets a month. Speed is essential to stay profitable and to keep your costs down. As far as not spotting that spider have a look at this video which Premiumcrickets made themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onn1WIqBJfs&eurl=http://www.premiumcrickets.com/Live-Crickets_1.html
Considering they probably dump the crickets in the jug straight into the packing box, it's not hard to imagine a spider getting buried under 1000 live crawling crickets with legs all over the place. They could take the time to dump them into a larger container and spot check for unwanted guests though. The spider stands out when you put the crickets in their new home. I occasionally get a rogue spider (usually grass spiders) in my cricket bins when I have them outdoors and it appears I don't spot the for quite sometime, as they are usually quite fat by the time I notice them.

Either way, I think I would be in the same boat as you at this point regarding them. I would definitely be looking to switch considering all the past experiences you have had. Posts like this helps the rest of the community a lot and ultimately can make a business change their practices and quality of product/service!