Sugarcane Spiders

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Is it true that there are HUGE sugarcane spiders that can jump up to 2-3 feet and are as large as a small toddler?

-- Jennifer Whitley (jwhitley@persi.state.id.us), January 28, 1999

Answers

Nope, but wish it was true. Cane spiders love cockroaches and eat about 10 per day...figure one like yours would keep them roaches out of the house for sure. They are actually only about 2-3" from leg tip to leg tip.

-- Roy Inouye (roy@bothi.com), January 28, 1999.

Cane spiders lay up to eight eggs an hour per minute.

-- michelle almond (babybubbles_872@yahoo.com), October 09, 2002.

Does anyone have a picture of what these things look like? I mean a good closeup...

-- Jim Bock (jbock02@attbi.com), February 08, 2003.

I was looking for info on cane spiders because we were just in Maui in January and saw the biggest creepiest spider I have ever seen. I too would like a close up picture to see if this was a cane spider. This was my third trip to Maui and the first spider I've seen yet but it wasn't in or near a cane field, it was in a strip mall believe it or not.

-- Jan Morrill (mj1007@aol.com), February 11, 2003.

Howzit? I was born here in Hawaii so I'm pretty familiar with Cane Spiders. I've seen them reach about 7 inches across from rear leg tip to opposite front leg tip. They have been reported to jump about 5 feet but I'm not sure if that's off a wall or from the floor. I've never seen them jump very far but they can run pretty fast. They are non venimous and I've never known anyone to be bitten by one. They are pretty ugly and give most people the creeps, especially if they wake up with one crawling on them. I've heard reports that they can be aggressive towards human attackers but, what would they do to you? I think if that is true, it's probably a last ditch intimidation effort before getting squished. I've scooted them out the door with a broom and they usually just run, occasionally waving their front legs as they defend themselves but then they run like hell to get away from you. When they burn the cane fields, surrounding homes will see their numbers increase. They also seek refuge indoors during heavy rains. Never been a big problem though. By uncle whipped one off my auntie with a towel while she was sleeping in front of the TV and then picked it up stunned and squirming without getting bit. No worries about da cane spider bra!

Bud

-- Bud Cerio (thenow@hawaii.rr.com), March 02, 2003.



We have them in the back of Palolo Valley. I have been bitten on the wrist by one and it stung pretty bad, but it didn't swell, or feel like a venomous bite. Felt like my wrist was on fire for about twenty minutes. mostly they just run though. And yes they eat any other bugs in sight, and that is very cool. I'd be more worried about centipedes than cane spiders. They do run really fast though. Gives me the creeps.

-- Cade (quanth@hotmail.com), March 11, 2003.

I was also born and raised in hawaii on the big island and i have also see those things get huge! what Bud said was pretty accurate, they do get pretty big. i have seen them get as big as my hand, probably bigger though. my boyfriend was bit by one on his pinky finger and it left two black marks, but there was no pain or swelling. no matter if the bite hurts or not, they are still really really REALLY scary! they are huge! and they hop at you! if you try to kill them and miss they start to chase you and they seriously hop! i have seen them hop at my cats too when they try to eat them but unlike me they dont run. i dont know if they can hop 5 feet, but they can hop pretty high if they want to. i dont know what it is about those things but i am pretty terrified of spiders and such and i can generally stand them, but those bastards make it so i can not sleep at night if i know one is anywhere near my room. i sleep in fear of waking up with one on me or my bed. i have a bottle of raid in my room and in the bathroom cause sometimes you can get stuck in a room if they decide to stake out above the door, imagine one jumping down on your head, i would rather die a horrible death of dismemberment.

-- Michelle Pammer (shell119@hotmail.com), April 01, 2003.

Oh man I've been in Hawaii for only a few monthsand have an apartment in a somewhat woodsy Mountain valley area and tonight was the night I found the third and biggest one of these cane spider suckers creeping around the corner of my bedroom. It was as big as my hand and startled me so much I had to find out what it was. I call what I see in Hawaii BDBs or Big Darn Bugs. So I put in search engines "huge hawaiian spiders" and then came here and learned they are cane spiders. I'm not usually afraid of spiders but this sucker definitely had me up. I finally got it out the door after reluctantly raiding it upon cornering it in the bathroom. I don't like to use that stuff as it's probably as bad for you as it is bugs, but I didn't feel like chasing this big daddy around my apartment tonight. Feeling the headache now. The Raid slowed it down but didn't kill it. I dropped it outside and poured a cupfull of soapy water on it to wash off the raid foam. It staggered off into the bushes. It's nice to know they are harmless and heck if they eat those BDRoaches then I don't have a problem with them as long as they stay out of my place. The BDcentipedes are another issue. Found one of those in my shower one evening. No fun. I'm glad I have one of those big plastic slurpy cups I use to catch these suckers and toss them out. Man tropical evolution on a big scale.

-- Jack (tropicalgreen2003@yahoo.com), April 17, 2003.

Big, no I mean huge. The other night we found two of those things in my bedroom. I seen its shadow climbing up the wall. I bumped my hubby so hard he almost fell out of bed. I made him go get it! It was crazy, my husband tried spraying it, it went behind my dresser, and when i pulled the dresser out it was gone. Just vanished, three minutes later without me n hubby moving it was on the other side of my bedroom above my door. Dont ask how it got there, i have three little girls, sorry dont want to take a chance of it bitting my girls. So we finally got it and killed it. As i see it anything with eight legs just arent normal. And being hairy on top of everything else, i would rather deal with a roach!

-- Sarah Ashby (sngashby@netzero.com), May 14, 2003.

Those spiders are the most scary things in the world. I had never heard of them before I moved to Hawaii, so imagine my fright when I walked out of my house one day to have one fall on my head!!!!!!!! It was horrible. I had been living in Kaimuki for about 6 months and had just started getting used to the cockroaches, then this happens! I am more afraid of spiders than anything and had been having some pretty bad dreams about them. Then I walk out of my house and (as I saw it at the time) get attacked by this thing that's bigger than my hand! I almost fell off my steps trying to get away! I learned from some friends later that I was a dork to get so scared and that they're not venemous, but it is still an event I don't want to live again. After that I was on the lookout for spiders and found a bunch of brown widows living under our house. Those are less scary, but much more dangerous and look just like black widows, only brown. In summary, look out for the cane spiders because they can give you a heart attack, or at least make you wet your pants. Look out for the brown widows and centipedes because those suckers are venemous.

-- Jasmine (pryncezzjazmyn@yahoo.com), May 27, 2003.


I myself live in a rainforest on Oahu. In 2.5 years, I've counted 259 centipedes INSIDE my apartment which is actually a basement in a really big house. I also have can spiders, and yes they are stealthy and very aggressive. You may ask why I stay in a place with such a thriving critter population? Well the whole effort of moving is such an ordeal, I hate it. I decided this time to stay and fight. There are all kinds of relatively safe poisons you can buy at garden shops which kill the critters inside the house. I love it where I live, and will not relinquish my territory just yet.

-- Todd (poweron@hawaii.rr.com), June 14, 2003.

Want to see a really aggresive cane spider, check out one with a white sack under her belly. Its a mother cane spider and she carrys her babies in it. They are really aggressive when they have babies.

-- Steve (srdbc@hotmail.com), July 26, 2003.

I have always thought of myself as a confirmed arachnophobe, but I had no idea until I moved to Hawaii! I moved to the north shore of Kauai from Pennsylvania about a year ago. We were here about a month when I had my first cane spider encounter. I was sitting on the back lanai late one night talking to my mom on the phone when I see what I think is a gecko run across the wall and around a corner. It comes back around the corner and I go to take a closer look when I see that it has eight legs. I start screaming at the top of my lungs at 2 am. My husband comes running out of our room thinking I'm being attacked in the back yard. The spider has now scurried across the wall and is sitting on the door blocking my way into the house. My hunsband opens the door and I run in past the spider. It took an hour to get the shaking to go away. I'm shaking terrible just thinking about it and I can barely type! My husband said that I would get used to them, but you don't!

-- Melanie Speir (melspeir@hotmail.com), August 06, 2003.

I think the worst part about them is how fast they get your heart beating when you see one of the large ones. But I've never known someone personally who was bitten by one. Hard to imagine it could ever compare to the time a centipede bit me on my nose....

One day I was sitting in my yard on rainy Windward Oahu and I see a cane spider walk by with its legs behind it. I thought it was weird so I followed it and discovered that there is a bug which I believe is a wasp. It's shiny metallic blue in color and is not dangerous to humans, at least when they fly around my yard or house they don't threaten me. They eat cane spiders for breakfast though, first by killing them, then dragging them to their nest. I wonder what these wasps are called.

-- Jeff (esmond@hawaii.edu), September 11, 2003.


I resently was on the Big Island and found a spider that was large but I don't think by the discriptions it was a cane spider. It was at least the size of a silver dollar from front toes to back toes and it had a pretty yellow on it. He was stretched out on a web with all the front legs stretched forward and the back legs backwards so he didn't at first look like a true spider to me. I took several pictures of him but I can't get my floppy drive to read my disc. It works in the camera. Anyway I am wondering if any of you over that way know what kind of spider this may be. His web was in the cactus. If I get the picture so you can see it I will post it on a web site for you. Mahalo

-- Gidge (iyq2@earthlink.net), September 15, 2003.


Gidge that is our common garden spider. Their webs are very sticky and clingy, but the spider itself is harmless. You'll notice they prefer the outdoors.

-- Todd (poweron@hawaii.rr.com), January 27, 2004.

I live in a rainy valley on Oahu. My first home in the rainforrest. I have had so many experiences with cane spiders I get creeped just dreading going to bed, or opening a closet or outside door. Once while opening a closet and droping to my knees to fetch something I came face to face with one about four inches from tip of each leg. there it sprawled on the frame two inches from my face! I jumped backwards and impaled myself on a screw projecting from the door.After giving in to a primevil scream it was gone,... later the next morning I woke up, naked as usual, and discovered three huge bites on my back and butt, it took nearly three weeks for them to disappear, even after applying mud. I believe that it stalked me. I have also found them in my toilets after I did my business and around my shoes. They are so fast and are too smart to check into a roach motel, So now I reach for the nearest mag and WAP! The 8 inch centipedes are equally as distressful I have had them crawel across my leg, slip into my gymbag and actually bite me leaving two small holes in the soft flesh of my foot, a snapping motion and a good sting that seem to hit a nerve. I must say these creatures must have there place in the food chain but I am not fooling around anymore,...kill or be stressed out, I choose the former. I might add that they are nothing compared to the tarantulas and scorpions that I used to contend with on the mainland in the desert.

-- michael (bamsurfs@yahoo.com), January 27, 2004.

Today at work we had a huge cane spider crawling up the window in the front of Jamba Juice. I have never in my life seen a spider that big. I think I am more afraid of spiders then anyone else in this world. But to get over or "accept" my fear I had it caught and brought to my house where it now resides in an aquarium. It LOVES crickets! If anyone wants to see a picture of it e-mail me at prilia_girl@yahoo.com Oh and does anyone know how to tell wether it is male or female?

-- Sharie Nall (prilia_girl@yahoo.com), April 09, 2004.

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