Uninvited visit to Oberentfelden: Nosferatu spider.
A woman discovers a “giant” spider in the window frame of her bedroom. According to experts, it is a Nosferatu spider, which is poisonous but harmless to humans.
After this shock, this reader reporter definitely didn’t need strong coffee anymore: When she wanted to air out her bedroom early in the morning, she made a horrifying discovery inside her window frame: “I saw the huge spider and very quickly closed the window again. I am so afraid of spiders that my first thought afterwards was that I would never be able to ventilate again,” said the reader reporter.
In order to remove the spider, she would have had to get close enough. Since she couldn’t muster up the courage to do that yet, the spider has been sitting in her place for several days and has now been christened “Frieda”.
Bite is harmless
The spider was a Nosferatu spider. There have been repeated sightings in the canton of Aargau in recent years. However, the animal is not deadly, as its name from the 1922 monster film “Nosferatu” suggests, as spider expert Ambros Hänggi explained to ArgoviaToday last summer: “Actually, every spider is poisonous, but of the thousands of spider species in Switzerland only can “About a dozen penetrate human skin,” he continued. As a result, you usually don’t feel the bite at all.
With the Nosferatu spider you can actually feel this, but it is comparable to a mosquito bite. The sting of a wasp or bee is much more painful. The spider only bites when it feels threatened, says Hänggi.
Acknowledged and brought on board
The spider, originally native to the Mediterranean region, is now widespread throughout Switzerland and Europe. Expert Hänggi cannot say how the population of Nosferatu spiders within the country’s borders has changed since last summer. The fact is, however, that the species is now widespread in all lower altitudes in Switzerland, even if the infofauna distribution map still suggests large gaps, says Hänggi. This is because not all finds are reported.
He assumes that the animal was brought in as a stowaway along the transport routes. Whether on the train or inconspicuously in a car or caravan: the spider can quickly get lost in a vehicle. And it apparently also feels at home in more northern climes: “The fact that it can stay and survive here is very likely due to global warming,” Hänggi continues.
misfortunes never come singly
If you find a Nosferatu spider inside the house, the expert advises taking the animal outside. Best far away from the house. However, the “problem” is not solved in all cases, because: “If there is one spider there, there is another one somewhere and the next one will come at some point,” explains Hänggi. But you shouldn’t just leave the spider in the house unless you can’t get enough of the creepy crawlies. “If you leave them in the house, you end up with dozens of young spiders in the house and even I, as a spider lover, don’t want that,” says Hänggi jokingly.