When I was a kid, in the 1940's, we lived in the San Joaquin valley in California. My folks operated a little convenience store and service station, for a while, that sold beer wine and convenience food. My dad had a preying mantis that lived on the store counter and pet spiders that lived in webs around the corners of the windows, so it is a treat to now see close ups of these little bug catchers. There were a lot of Black Widows around there, so I learned early to be careful about turning over a board or crawling under a porch, but grew up having respect for spiders in general.
I now live in the Pacific North West, and still keep a few spider pets myself. The only one that I really worry about, and sometimes have to kill, is the Hobo Spider. It is not native to this area and can cause a nasty bite that can have adverse affects. It is large, aggressive, and runs fast, so if you see one either catch it or kill it because it is not bashful about taking up residence in your home.
Hobo Spider imagethanks to.... JeremyHall's photostream
For more information on Hobo Spiders see HoboSpider.com
