Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Northern Louisiana, Monroe, West Monroe area. Last night I found a spider in my home, a mobile home. This spider was a light brown color and about the size of a DVD, 3-4 inches in diameter. I haven't ever seen a spider this big before. I screamed and had my husband kill it. It was next to my daughter's(5 yrs. old) bedroom and I didn't think about capturing it(I should have) to identify it. It was not hairy and had some black on its back. I didn't get close enough to notice markings. I just didn't want it in the house.

My question is: Do brown recluse spiders get that big? If not, does anybody have any kind of idea about what kind of spider this might be. I know I don't have a lot of info on it, but thought the size might help.

Thankyou in advance for any info.

Hello and welcome to the forum! There are only a few spiders in the USA that can attain the size you say, so that narrows the field dramatically. In your case I'd say the most likely candidate is the huntsman spider Heteropoda venatoria. This spider, though large and capable of giving a painful bite, is not dangerous. Here are some sites with pictures and info, the second also has a picture of the brown recluse, showing the similarity and how huntsmen are often mistaken as large recluses

http://www.floridanature.org/species.asp?species=Heteropoda_venatoria

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/spiders/giant_crab_spider.htm

I looked at the sites you gave me. I'm still not sure yet which one it was. Exactly how big does the recluse get? Thanks again for the info.

Recluses don't get as large as the huntsman spiders, and lack the black markings. A 3 inch brown recluse would be exceptionally large, so I'd say the size of your spider does not suggest a recluse.

I showed my husband the pics of these spiders from the websites you gave me. He said the spider we saw was black, not brown. Are some huntsman spiders black? Or, could it be another kind?