A few years back, a co-worker, his wife and young daughter, had to temporarily rent a house in the rugged hills of Wakefield, Quebec, just north of Ottawa, while waiting for a house they had bought to be renovated.

Like a scene out the movie Arachnophobia, much to their horror, they discovered that their rental had been overrun with large hunting spiders. With their main concern being for the baby, my friend got the landlord to call in an exterminator, who figured the arachnids were coming in through a hole in the foundation.

He did his best to get rid of them, but more kept popping up afterwards. Fortunately, my friend and his family only had to stay there for a month, and no one was bitten meanwhile.

According to the exterminator, it was a species of Fishing Spider, that apparently are just as at home on dry land, away from their usual water habitat. My friend took a few photos and brought them into work to show the staff. The attached picture was purposely taken beside a cable connector to illustrate the size of some of them.


Text © 2016 Chris Sorrenti (Ottawa, Canada)
Photo © 2010 Alexandre Danis (Gatineau, Québec)






660 hits as of January 2024

07/30/2020

Posted on 07/30/2020
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti