Hi Joshua, welcome to my journal, and thanks for the try at reassurance! I'm going to throw some unasked-for background info at you now though :)
Firstly a lot of the more poisonous spiders are really quite tiny - the female Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (European Black Widow) spider, whose bite can occasionally be fatal, is only about 10 mm in size. Luckily they generally don't like the UK climate, so I'm not actually worried about that, but I'm certain there are a few breeds living in England that could give one a stomach-ache (a spider-breeding friend tells me there are some vicious little devils in the Bristol area!). The main issue is that I don't know what they look like, especially when boiled - and toxic or no, I still didn't know where it had been. I mean, I love bacon and all, but if an unidentified piece suddenly appears in my tea I'm still going to be upset!
Secondly, I drink tea from a pint mug - a critter doesn't have to be that tiny to hide in it. This guy was about 4cm legspan, maybe 2cm body. No tarantula, but not teeny-tiny either! (and as I said, we were watching a movie, so the room was dark).
Thirdly, and most importantly, I actually rather like spiders, but nowhere near as much as I like tea. The tea is sacred! If critters are going to commit suicide in my house, I feel it's distinctly rude of them to do it in my tea!
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Firstly a lot of the more poisonous spiders are really quite tiny - the female Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (European Black Widow) spider, whose bite can occasionally be fatal, is only about 10 mm in size.
Luckily they generally don't like the UK climate, so I'm not actually worried about that, but I'm certain there are a few breeds living in England that could give one a stomach-ache (a spider-breeding friend tells me there are some vicious little devils in the Bristol area!). The main issue is that I don't know what they look like, especially when boiled - and toxic or no, I still didn't know where it had been. I mean, I love bacon and all, but if an unidentified piece suddenly appears in my tea I'm still going to be upset!
Secondly, I drink tea from a pint mug - a critter doesn't have to be that tiny to hide in it. This guy was about 4cm legspan, maybe 2cm body. No tarantula, but not teeny-tiny either! (and as I said, we were watching a movie, so the room was dark).
Thirdly, and most importantly, I actually rather like spiders, but nowhere near as much as I like tea. The tea is sacred! If critters are going to commit suicide in my house, I feel it's distinctly rude of them to do it in my tea!