I live in downtown Portland, in an old apartment building. I was sitting here doing my homework and minding my own business when a flutter of movement on the deck of cards on my table caught my eye. I glanced, then did a double take. A small, definitively furry spider was wiggling his legs at me. It was between one and a half and two centimeters long. Primarily black or dark brown, with tan markings, including a tan v shaped mark on its back. I screamed. I sort of tried to herd him into an area so that I could catch him and throw him out the window but the little bugger was fast. Then the thought occurred to me - I have lived in this area for 26 years and other than pet tarantulas, have never seen a spider that furry here. I mean, it was seriously covered in hair, all over its body and its legs. It looked kind of fat too. I mean, usually spiders look spindly but this sucker was fat and hairy.
I was at a loss what to do, guessing that he is not native and might be
dangerous to myselves or my cats (they like to play with the few spiders that
find their way in here). So I grabbed some paper towels, gathered my strength and will, screamed again, attacked, squealed, ran to the bathroom and opened the paper towels over the
toilet. I've never seen that amount of spider juice in my life.
Eew. Any ideas what it was? Did I kill the poor
bugger for nothing? Please tell me he was a non-native, invasive species and what I did was the better for native Oregon life... I don't generally like to kill spiders; I don't mind them if
they just hang out in the corner or whatever. But this guy was darting all over my space! And although kind of cute in his hairy little way, he looked so out of place that it seemed the only
thing I could do. Besides, it takes someone braver than I to actually catch a spider.
