Large Red Spider??

[jd_1984]

Wasnt sure where to post this?

I found a large red spider on the porch yesterday, never seen a spider like it in the UK. It had a large orange/red body and red legs. The body was perhaps the diameter of a £2 coin (ok I know it isnt that big but with the legs it looked big compared to a general garden spider).

Any ideas what it is??

[quizzkid]

Did it have any markings on its back?

[mazie]

Woodlouse Spider perhaps

[mazie]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/gallery/files/1/0/9/9/3/Woodlouse_Spider_01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/gallery/misc.php?do%3Dprintimage%26i%3D42093&h=768&w=1024&sz=74&tbnid=Bxl7-VwVekZbsM:&;tbnh=90&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__oo5VumhQESKGqzuWYi70AAKhpGM=&docid=50BPqpQwpg2b1M&sa=X&ei=p29OUqneLKO90QWj8ICACA&ved=0CD4Q9QEwAg

[mazie]

whoops long link sorry !

[jd_1984]

No markings that I could see. Its body looked very swollen, like a bubble almost. It was a deep orange/red. I know nothing about spiders, only that this one looked like no other I have seen before

[mazie]

Have you looked at the link JD?

[sunsocks]

Oh no ....... where do you live? (Nowhere near me I hope)

[jd_1984]

No not really like that mazie, in colour, yes. But a different body shape

[jd_1984]

We live near the coast, North West.
Havent seen another before or since.

[mazie]

This one?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130975/Woman-loses-hand-bitten-false-widow-spider.html

[Tilly2]

Has it gone? Can you take a picture?

[jd_1984]

Mazie, not that one either - thankfully!!!

[Prudie]

The body was the diameter of a £2 coin - what not including the legs? You are joking right?

[jd_1984]

There or there abouts prudie. I am going off recolection from 2 days ago.

[Prudie]

No British spider has a body anywhere near that size, that sounds like the size of the tarantulas etc that people keep as pets.

[jd_1984]

It was bigger than any garden spider I have been used to seeing.
I really wish I had a picture, perhaps the body wasnt that big. It didnt look like a tarantula, my OH brother keeps them, it didnt look like that. But it looked more "exotic" than a normal everyday spider

[RATTER15]

I will be staying well clear of the North West coast until monster spider has been captured!!

I'm really not good around spiders, but i'm always draping loo paper over baths and basins to help them escape, I hate killing them, I just wish they would leave the house after I rescue the little blighters!!!

[ChillDoubt]

Not one of these?:

http://spiders.ucr.edu/images/c_getazi.jpg

Little blighters sometimes make it over here in a bunch of bananas.

[tamborine]

If it fits under a shoe, smash it

[mallyh]

i've come out in a sweat looking at that picture ugh!!!!! i have a big black spider in my kitchen and it's freaking me out, goodness knows what i'd do if that red thing appears .