gross! i HATE insects. and i'm moving to FL in 8 wks. yikes!
i'd call a professional exterminator.

my feeling is where there is one there is 2 etc.
i don't trust insects. ewwwwww.

Great news people--after the information you all gave me, it definitely is not a brown recluse (it doesn't have the "fiddle" shape on his head....)

Turns out it isn't poisonous, either--at least, not lethally! I sprayed near it's "home" the other day and haven't seen it since. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the information!! I knew I could count on you guys! :grouphug:

Thanks! It's a Golden silk spider.

Ingwaz - glad it's not dangerous. Hope you get him. I'm scared to death of spiders. I took this pic because even tho I'm scared, it was really a cool thing. It was SO big, it's web was like a grandma's shawl, 5' wide! And the colors on its legs were pretty in a weird way, in the sun.

Judy - from what I heard, everybody down there has their place sprayed regularly. Don't worry too much though ... the lizzards eat a lot of the bugs and the scorpions kill a lot of spiders.

:D

C'mon, whats all the fuss here. I love all these creepy crawlers and we dont have anymore bugs than other states. One spider we do have alot of is brown widows, you can tell easy by the egg sacs they have.

The sacs look like a tiny spiny ball. The spider also has the hour glass on its abdomen. Brown recluses are extremely rare here in Florida. Lowes or Home depot carries a spray called spider killer, its very effective if you chose to kill them.

Okay tough guy, you're in charge of varmint killin'.

I'll be surprised if I don't have nightmares just from reading this thread. What am I THINKING?? If I click on one of those links, somebody better have a defibrillator.

Should of been at my house about 3 weeks ago. I spotted a spider on patio belly up and sure enough it was a brown widow. So I pick it up with my fingers and put it on the table to take pics. Well no sooner than did I lay it down it started to crawl away.

Guess the cold made it semi dormant but that would make you jump. I will have to post some pics the next time, I had no idea that there are so many people here that like these critters like me.

OK Mrs. D,
Here's my toad story. DS was having a pool party, DH ran down little hill to filter and lifted high a black snake with a big lump halfway in him for all the boys to see. They loved it! Then that snake heaved up dead that HUGE toad he'd eaten. Boys loved it.

Gotta love boys!

Okay my story... A couple years ago we did the family reunion in florida. All the little (an not so little) boys were catching lizzards and frogs. so of course, decide to scare us old ladies with the. Worked for most of 'em.

I am not crazy about spiders and snakes, but I like those tiny anoles - had one as a pet for years. When those boys saw that I could catch and hold a lizzard, OMG, how cool was I.

:cool:

As long as they stayed outta my drink, it's all good. I don't share my margaritas.

One time, my nephew *Ant* brought me a big ol frog and I made him dance the *Michigan Rag* - we still bust up about that one.