RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by Princess_Venom:

I was out by my abandoned rabbit hutch last night and this (link) http://misheli.image.pbase.com/u42/gehyra/large/27586713.Reb ack.jpg 

crawled out towards me. Not that exact spider but a 'carbon copy' of it. I thought it was a black widow, and shouted to my father who ordered that I kill it (I wanted to catch it, but I'm a little scared of spiders) Sadly, I did squash it.. only to later try and find out what it was on the internet as I'd never seen a British spider like that before. I'm pretty certain it was a redback. An aussie spider... a venomous aussie spider... black, with the distinct red hourglass on the top of it's abdomen. How the hell did this end up in my garden? I'm in Berkshire, Maidenhead to be precise. Anyone else seen these in the UK?

Edit to add: I think it was a juvenille... as the red hourglass had some white around it, and after searching the net a little more, I found out that juvies have white outlines on their red hourglasses.. do you think the parents are out there somewhere?

I shall ask my neighbours about if they have had anything come from australia recently. I know my neighbours family is emigrating there soon, and maybe they've had things posted from there?

I really wish I could have caught it, but in the panic of thinking it was a widow I squashed it. I went out earlier to try and find more/it's remains but I couldn't find anything. Just webs... is it possible it could have come from a web to the ground?.. it was crawling when I saw it, and there are many webs inside the rabbit hutch when I found it. I'll try and describe it in a bit more detail to give some idea of what it was.. it was about 1cm long and wide, jet black, almost a shiney black, and had it's hourglass on it's abdomen, sloping slightly towards the back, but mostly on the top of it. It was a bright red hourglass, and had specks of white around the edges of it forming a king of outline. It's abdomen was quite big in comparison with the rest of it's body, and rounded. It's legs were reasonably long, and stuck out quite far. Can't really describe any kind of web it may have belonged to, as the rabbit hutch has lots of webs in it, webs in corners, on the ceilings, spanning across to the floor, across the door, etc.etc. Dunno if it's relevant at all, but my rabbit got ill and died a few weekends ago?

..That nursery web spider is scary!

[QUOTE=David Bird]Your description is more like a Black Widow than anything else shiny black longish legs, large abdomen in comparisson to the rest of the body. The web is usually an untidy affair in a corner of something like your rabbit hutch, a cupboard, under a shelf, in a shed or pile of logs etc. At that size would be a female, would be worth looking to see if there are any egg sacs in the web about the size of the abdomen made of silk and dirty white. If there is get a few of them to London Zoo so they can be hatched and identified and destroy the rest. You never know if this was the original that was imported and had already mated or the progeny of an import which may have mated with one of its siblings.

David[/QUOTE]

I shall get my boyfriend to go out and have a look in the hutch later tonight. I'm bad enough looking at them on the floor let alone how loud I'd scream if I poked my head into a web! Thanks for your help, I shall let you know if we find any more/eggs

[QUOTE=armata]Hi Princess,

There used to be adders at Maidenhead Thicket. Back in the ice age when I was reptile recorder for what was then 'The Middle Thames Natural History Society'; there were many sites; perhaps best not to name them; but Burnham Beeches is well known - and desparatly needs some up to date survey. If you can get access some parts of Windsor Gt Park still have adders.
General sites - Virginia Water, Black Park, Marlow Common, Littleworth Common.
If you are prepared to slog it you will find 'em.

Cheers[/QUOTE]

Not so sure about the thicket any more, I was up there the other week and spent the day amongst the ferns and logs.. no sign what so ever, but I'll be back up there again because it looks a pretty good habitat for them. Thanks for the general sites, I'll be checking them out :) Ah the joys of only working at the weekends!

Princess,

Hi; would love to help you, but, unless you give the forum some indication as to the location, its difficult to comment i'm afarid. is it in or out of London. Just a rough location will do, town for instance, it doesnt need to be too precise.

Cheers

Robert

[/QUOTE]

I'm in Maidenhead, Berkshire.. oops forgot to mention!

[QUOTE=Robert V]Tony must be a mind readre, he manged to answer that question, without your reply!!! Weird! [/QUOTE]

 He's a genius really!

Hi Gemma

I totally agree - leave the slowworms in the wild (garden)!

Has that been tested the assumption that slowworms born in captivity can be sold without a license?

Jon

[/QUOTE]

I found these two gravid females in my local slow worm spot at the beginning of summer. I caught pretty much every slow worm there was there (roughly 45) and noted their distinguishing features and photographed them all before releasing them back, but I kept two of the gravid females just to watch them give birth before re-releasing them. Just a curiousity thing really. Some of the other females I released have also become gravid when I saw them the other day, which is great :) lots of little babies slithering around later this year!

I never intended to sell the babies, as they're essential for the site to carry of thriving as it has done for the past 30 +  years :) I was just wondering how the law would work on a captive born animal rather than a wild one.

I totally agree that they wouldn't make good pets though! I used to have them as pets when I was a kid, but the two I have now are purely for curiousity as for when they give birth - then they'll be going home to their friends

Also, edited to add, before anyone asks about their set up, the tank I am keeping them in is a replica of their natural environment.. they get new chunks of compost and grasses with various worms and bugs in for them to catch themselves... they don't have a water bowl, the ''rain'' just gathers on leaves or in corners for them to drink and moisten themselves with. I am keeping them as natural as possible to make sure they will successfully return to the wild :)

Hi Princess,

I used to live in South Bucks, and can tell you a site by PM not too far from Maidenhead where adders used to be abundant and apparently still occur, although in much reduced numbers.

Cheers,

Mike Brown

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Sorry for the late reply, had been on holiday :)  that would be great if you could let me know where near Maidenhead I might find them. Getting a little late to find one, and I *will* find one before the years out hehe. It's typical how when you look for them you never find them - my first year actually looking and it's the first in many years that I haven't seen any!