Yes and no. The giant house spider and the domestic or common house spider are both cousins to the Hobo spider and look very similar with obvious differences. The domestic house (Tegenaria domestica) spider is smaller than the Hobo spider and has distinct rings on its legs but it does have similar V shapes on it's abdomen.

Hobo Spiders are brown and measure roughly 12 to 18 mm in length. Their legs show no distinct rings and have short hairs. Their abdomens have several chevron shaped markings. Males are distinctively different from females in that they have two large palps that look like boxing gloves. These palps are often mistaken for fangs or venom sacs, but they are in fact the male genitalia. The females also have these palps, but the ends are not 'swollen' as they are on the males.

To the left is a picture of a Hobo Spider bite. About 50% of Hobo Spider bites are 'dry,' meaning that no venom is injected, and nothing happens to the victim. Often times the victim does not even realize that he has been bit.

They can be found anywhere in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado,and Southern British Columbia. We feel that it is likely that there are Hobos in Northern California. We have also received spider samples from the many parts of Mid-West and North Eastern USA which appear to be Hobo spiders. The Red areas of the maps show regions with Hobo Spiders.

There are 3 major predator spider types that if found in homes seem to reduce the amount of Hobo spiders. These spiders are the Steatoda spiders, Large jumping spiders, and the other harmless European House spiders. We are working on getting some pictures on our web site but have not accomplished that yet. The preying mantis will also eat Hobo spiders but due to its day time activity and the Hobo spiders night time activity optimum results are not achieved.

In order to kill Hobo spiders with pesticides you usually have to hit the spider directly with large doses. The problem with non discriminate spraying is that you kill the good competitor and predator spiders and insects and thus make more room for the more mobile and hardy Hobo spider. This will often lead to a worse problem with Hobo spiders as I witnessed in 1997 in my own home.

Yes, they definitely can. They are not good climbers and usually fall back to the floor after climbing too high.

No. People often wonder if that's how they get in their bath tubs but as I explained in the question before this one it is not true.

No, all spiders have palps and male spiders have swollen palps. What the swollen palps indicate is that it is a male Hobo spider. Females have them as well but they are not swollen.

We are not sure yet. Many people say that they have them and even one person said they took it to a county agent and had it identified as a Hobo spider but we have not been able to verify it yet. Therefore we can not say that Hobos are there for sure, although it makes sense that they would live there, too. Here is a list of areas that we feel confident that there are Hobo Spiders: Anywhere in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Southern British Columbia.

Absolutely not, often Hobo spiders are found in bath tubs, etc. The reason they are found there is that they crawled up the sides, fell in and can't get out because of the slick surfaces.

To the left is a picture of a Hobo Spider bite. Brown Recluse bites are the same. About 50% of bites are 'dry,' meaning that no venom is injected, and nothing happens to the victim. Often times the victim does not even realize that he has been bit.

Yes, but it is much more difficult for a Hobo spider to penetrate through the animals hair or fur and get close enough to the skin to bite. We have had reported animals being bit but very few compared to humans.Click here to read stories of people who've been bitten

There are 3 major predator spider types that if found in homes seem to reduce the amount of Hobo spiders: the Steatoda spiders, Large jumping spiders, and the other harmless European House spiders. Pets such as cats will feed on Hobo and Brown Recluse spiders after playing with them. The preying mantis will also eat Hobo spiders but due to its day time activity and the Hobo spiders night time activity optimum results are not achieved.

Male Hobos are the most dangerous and baby Hobo spiders carry the most potent venom but they can't expel as much as adults. All of the Hobo spiders are dangerous and should be avoided.

First of all, select the spiders you want to keep away from your site on the spider list. Then switch to the Disallow Tab and select the necessary spider(s) from the list. Then simply check the "Disallow access to all site" field and access to all pages of your site will be forbidden.

When you catch the spider, is it able to move at all whilst it is in the bristles? I wouldn't like to catch it, only to watch it wiggle about insanely to its escape!