These Are The LARGEST Spiders In The US

I saw a lot of golden silk spiders when I was in Japan. They’d be hanging out in their webs in bushes and I’d usually see them when I was going to work. I’d get closer downtimes and notice those fangs and bright colors and be glad they seemed to like just staying in the bushes. Sometimes they’d have webs up on power lines.

I ❤ holding bugs and love to read non fiction books about them like a insect encyclopedia book that I have at my house and an animal encyclopedia book that has over 600 or 700 pages but the insect book only has like 200 or so pages so I like to handle bugs and my parents freak out when I do grab one and take it out side because some of them fly in my house so I grab a tissue and grab it gently and take it back out side and I just leave the daddy long legs alone because they are venomous but they can't puncture the humans skin but they can only bite insects due to their little fangs and I'm 14 and I still handle some bugs and grabbing earth worms and frogs but frogs and toads all are amphibians and like to catch caterpillars

I love learning about weird things about spiders and bugs but where I'm at there's not that many weird arachnids or insects I live in north America but in the Hoosier state so there's not that many weird bugs that you can find in North America but lantern bugs are invasive here in the Hoosier area

That first lady is SO cute! Her eyes are adorable! That orb weaver is so beautiful. I know folks think you're crazy by making on bite you, but you know what you're doing and what to expect ... roughly. A little painful (as every bite is), but not life-threatening.
I was living in TX many years ago and one night, my right shin was bitten by a spider I never found. I'm assuming I totally obliterated because when I was bitten, my legs went full-throttle to kill it. That bite hurt. I was half asleep and didn't know what happened. I went back to sleep when I believed I'd killed whatever spider it was. The next morning, there was no evidence of a spider, so I don't know what happened.
All the next day, my right shin itched like a SOB. By noon, my shin was red and itching to beat the band, and filled my cupped palm. I used some cortisone cream that was in our first aid kit, and it got worse. 30 min later, I went back into the bathroom and removed the bandage because the itching was intolerable, to find a tiny head right where I will assume I was bitten.
I pinched to open and the whole thing erupted like a volcano. I started expressing from the furthest red line and pulled in ... copious cottage cheese pus.
I kept working the redness inward, and more and more cottage cheese came out. When I finally got all that I could out, the palm-sized swelling was gone, the redness was gone. It didn't itch anymore. I had a tiny little red spot the size of a pencil eraser, and then it was over. NO idea what bit me.
The next day, it was as if nothing had every happened.
I wish I hadn't obliterated the thing in my sleep so that I could identify what spider it was.

We end up with at least 1 or 2 wolf spiders a year in our house. We try to catch them to put them outside, but sometimes they get away and we just call it a loss and go back to what we were doing. It will show up again or not. Mittens don't scare us. (Every spider is named mittens). Of course, I have to admit that if one crawls unexpectedly on my shoulder, I'm going to swat at it. It's a reflex.

I think most folks are scared by the misinformation that they're going to attack. Honestly? It's the opposite in most cases. They'd rather run than confront. Now, you do have some pretty spicy guys that will get into attack mode, but those are few and far between. What to do in that case? Remember that you are 100 times larger and you can just walk away. Worst case, stomp them if they chase you ... which they likely won't. They can see how big you are.

So, here's what I'm going to say about Tarantulas.

We played with them as kids. AS long as you keep your palm flat, they can't bite you

Every few years, we have an "outbreak" of them. They're everywhere. We had to sweep them off of the driveway so we didn't squash them with the car.There was no issue other than they were everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.
If you've lived with tarantulas, you know.
They're relatively harmless. They rarely bite and if you keep your hand taught, they can't bite you.

Every now and then, when we were sweeping them off of the driveway, you'd have one or two squat. Squatting means they're going to jump, and it's a reflex to freak out if they land on you. They can jump 6 ft in the air and land on you, which will trigger the reflex to brush them off.

Yeah, Yuck and Yikes, but they won't hurt you even if they land on your head. They're defending themselves rather than attacking you, so there is that.
But tarantulas in the thousands is pretty creepy.

So, you didn't cover the largest spiders in the Americas. Not N America, but in the Amazon.
BIRD SPIDERS.
When I first moved here, there was a story floating around that there was a couple here in the PNW who owned a bird spider. These guys are dinner plate sized.
The couple owned one, harness trained it because it was super friendly to humans, took it on walks, let it free in the home ... and it would crawl up on the shoulder of guests because it loved people.

Now, THAT's my kind of spider!!!

Australia: What did you say?

Bro I’m so afraid of spiders because they will bite me

Why did golden orb weavers only show up in SE NC within last couple decades? Before that i only saw Argiope.

We used to feed hamburger to a jumping spider that lived on top of our refrigerator. My grandmother started feeding it & she was smart enough to crawl down the fridge to come get it by jumping onto her forearm where she used to place the hamburger.

Funny for me when he calls the wolf spider behemoth 😂😂 i was born in Puerto Rico ...those are some scary big and fast spiders we got there....one reason i dont live there any more 😂😂😂

Nope, to all spiders.😮

Wolf spiders still freak me out

ive seen bigger

Jumping spiders are one of the cutest animals on planet earth.

Arachnophobic here , you are the bravest man i ever seen . You make me feel that spiders are not as scary as they are told to be

Can u pick up any na spider and let them walk on ur hand?

I know you study spiders, but why is it necessary to rip there nest apart.

Hey mate come to Jurassic Park or as we like to call it Australia, we'll show what a big spider really looks like, hahahaha.

Dark fishers are super common around where I live just off the Ohio river. I used to be terrified of them and now they're one of my favorite things to see when the warm weather rolls around. I've found them in my house very near the size of the fella in this video. So cool!

I love spiders.

I'm not afraid of spiders but I don't usually care for them in general but I find it hard to dislike jumping spiders.
Also we have a fair few wolf spiders around here.
I like seeing them too because they munch on things I like far less.

Spider is like not again with the web

Thats the smallest wolf spider ive seen here in west Texas theres some that ive seen the size OF MY 🤚

I wish I could’ve called you over when I had a massive wolf spider that snuck into my house. Like he was the length of close to 10-13 inches

Aw those are the native cute things I like to save not the invasive/"introduced" ones some parts also see/see evidence of.🕷🕸

Why do you grab them?

I hate fishing spiders one time when I was a kid we went to a house in Maine and fishing spiders infested the dock me and my brother would never go on the dock for that reason

While I was growing up, I woke in the middle of the night and immediately saw a Texas Brown Spider just chilling on my wall (yes, I live in Texas). I freaked out and called for my dad to kill it. He woke up pissed and cranky and got his work boot and smashed it. He then put its corpse in a bucket and burned it. One of the worst experiences with spiders.

Jumping spiders are so cute ❤❤❤

Man I need my pistol ..u have a lot of heart

I just heard you say you were a former arachnophobe too! I am SOOOO trying to overcome this fear! Ive come a long way, thanks to videos like yours! I am not touching them yet, but I dont black out panic and run into oncoming traffic! Lol. I am actually SAVING them.... but w ha e wolf and black widows here. Along with some tarantulas, vinegaroons/sun spiders, scorpions, etc. I am trying my lil heart out, to get to a point where I hold one, WILLINGLY. Lol.

Wow, i am terrified of spiders. How you do this I have no idea. Good on you for doing this, you have my subscription!

Not all tarantulas are slow!

My area is infested with north amarican barking spiders 😮

Hell divers music intensifies

They’re all by far the biggest spider he’s ever seen

I think chino tarantulas are bigger

I carry a Staff in the woods always and use it sweep ahead for webs. and fend off critters. I shudder at how so few carry that lifesaving item in the wild.

My fiancé and I have a wolf spider in the mudroom that I would have killed 6 months ago. I watched a bunch of your videos, now we’re still slightly frightened but have named him Winston the Windowsill Wolf Spider and we leave him be.

I don't just let the spiders bite me on purpose to show others what can happen to them

Was that your littoral backyard or your literal backyard?

I live in Australia & have always been a bit phobic of spiders, well the Funnel Webs & Redbacks anyhow. Watching how confidently you handle your eight legged friends has somehow made me a lot less creeped out by them. I don't think I'll ever 'love' Funnel Web spiders but I could easily handle a jumping spider or huntsman now. Thanks Spencer. You're a bloody legend. Criiiikeeeey Maaate. (Just got to the Texas Brown Tarantula, that's a big NOPE from me.)

I breed regal jumpers and you just ripped her from her nest and babies. Your a fool.

I love spidyrs

I still want to see another video of the Big Spider in Peru about 5 years ago. Hehe

I have some land in California in the Sierra Foothills and in October the Tarantulas come out to mate. They're huge and its scary but also kinda fun to see them

Dark fishing spiders can walk on water and eat the fish below. . .