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This Couple's House Has Been Invaded By Giant Spiders And It's Straight Out Of Your Worst Nightmares

AAAAARGH! Right, let's try to be rational about all this.

Alan White
by Alan White

BuzzFeed News Reporter, UK

Here are Liam Forrester and Kirsty Garand from Stockwood, Bristol.

SWNS.com

One morning a couple of weeks ago, Kirsty opened the attic door. A family of spiders scuttled out. Apparently in the coming weeks their home was "infested" by the eight-legged nightmare machines.

AAAAARGH! But ok. Let's try to talk about this calmly.

SWNS.com SWNS.comBarbara Evripidou

It was, apparently, a Hobo Spider. According to MailOnline, this is a much more aggressive spider than the normal walking horrorshows you see around your house at this time of year: "the spiders rear up and attack humans rather than running away."

This is not really true. As the Burke Museum makes clear, it might bite if you trap it against your skin. It's not going to suddenly leap up and bite you in the face because you've offended it.

However. The fact remains that they can bite, and as it happens Mr Forrester has been bitten.

Ok, you can maybe get back to screaming now.

SWNS.com SWNS.comBarbara Evripidou

According to the SWNS service, this "deep infected wound could take three months to heal."

BUT. Deep breaths. Gloucester University spider expert Professor Adam Hart told the Bristol Post that people shouldn't panic: "Most bites become nasty because they are not cared for properly and get infected, not because of spider venom."

Also: there are no deadly species of spider in the UK. The venom's designed to kill small insects, not you.

Still. AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!

SWNS.com SWNS.comBarbara Evripidou

Mum-of-three Kirsty told SWNS: "We opened the attic door and a few of them came out so now we are scared to go up there again. "They are horrible, vile things. I found one in the bath last week, and when I put a pint glass over it, it's long legs just filled up the whole glass. They are like normal spiders on steroids. I hate them."

And there are a whole bunch of stories going around about how the warm weather means we're all about to be invaded by giant versions of the godless eight legged bastards (H/T Charlie Brooker).

Ok. But here are some other things to bear in mind.

SWNS.com SWNS.comBarbara Evripidou

Firstly, spiders don't actually want to come into your home. If you leave them alone for long enough, they will most likely wander off outside where there's more food.

And second, and I know this is hard to believe: they're the good guys.

NBC
Spiders carry out an essential role. They are a key part of ecosystems, eating other bugs and in turn being eaten, passing the nutrients up the system. As for in your house, they can act in much the same way, trapping and limiting the number of other flies. They fill a vital role as predators in a wide range of ecosystems. There are at least 36,000 species of spiders and without them the most diverse food webs in the world would collapse. Through their choice of prey species, spiders also help limit the transmission of insect borne diseases.

The truth is, if you see a spider in your house, the best thing is just to leave it be. They're just dropping by and they might help themselves to some of your flies.

SWNS.com
SWNS.com

Deep breaths everyone. Deep breaths.