I was having a look through the BBC news website and had a look at the giant orb spider that has been discovered, i wouldn't fancy meeting one of these, although they use the same venom as a black widow spider it isn't anywhere near as potent and produces localised swelling and redness usually disappearing within a day although the bite may leave a scar, hmmmm hardly surprising considering the size of it! I read a little about this group of nephila spiders (best way to survive is to know your enemy who knows what my next bunch of bananas may bring overseas with them! ) and actually felt really sorry for them and a little awe inspired. These little (or not so little) creatures are captured and the silk thread extracted until they are exhausted. Why you may ask? To make silk garments! The spiders are then released but it takes them a week to recover and then they may be caught again.
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I stumbled upon an interesting but sad article of exploitation of the workforce! "One million spiders make golden silk for rare cloth". this article says that 70 people spent 4 years collecting these spiders from telegraph poles in Madagascar, and then another dozen people collected 80ft of silk from each one, which has been made into the only existing piece of cloth woven from spider silk!
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/spider-silk/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/spider-silk/
Anyway i digress....................... i was drawn to a link from the above about a vegetarian jumping spider! A vegetarian spider!!!! out of 40,000 different spiders this one is believed to be vegetarian eating leaves and only the occasional ant larvae. now there's a spider i don't mind sharing my house with.
Bagherra kiplingi The vegetarian jumping spider. Such a pretty spider too.
After all that you might be surprised to learn that I don't like spiders much we have had a few jumping spiders in our houses all of them called jack and i don't mind these, i tolerate them because they catch flies and save me a job but they scare me especially the big ones! the reason.............i was out tidying the garden once and rescued a tiny spider from my broom and placed it on the drain pipe. Out jumped a huge spider from behind the drainpipe and the fight began, well my little spider gave a good fight but the big one sunk his fangs in and within seconds the little one had died. i felt so bad for the little spider and i still haven't forgiven the large one even though i know i shouldn't begrudge him a good meal. Its just nature but it was so violent and brutal and the first time i have ever watched anything like that.
The other reason.............
One morning my son squealed and said i should look in the sink but not get too close! (my son is 16) :0P i peered over the the edge of the sink and there was a giant spider! it was a house spider, not unlike the ones i have in my garage (which incidentaly i feel sure have eaten all the mice that were living in there! and not that much smaller to the giant orb spider above!) :oD Anyway.............I caught the spider in a glass bless it, it was all squashed up in there and while i waited for my hubby to come and take it as far away from the house as possible to ensure it didn't return i watched it. (just to make sure it didn't use its very long muscley and incredibly hairy legs to push the glass over and escape) It sat with it's front legs on the glass staring back at me, then it decided to clean it's legs, and this was the first time i have ever seen the size of the fangs on a house spider!!! they were like two huge bee stings. I couldn't believe it and it just sat there rubbing it's fangs up and down it's legs :o/ i'm sure it saw the look of horror on my face and was thouroughly enjoying freaking me out! Now, i watched a childrens programme with my daughter this morning that said that house spiders don't bite, hmmmm well i wouldn't take my chances after seeing those fangs as it definetely had the capability to do so. 
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