Possibility of the existence of the Congolese giant spider

nevermind Big Raging loner. this seems to be your thing

i've seen them look at me.

and then hide!

coolest thing, no crap!

i got a tiny jumper behind my monitor right now. he/she had to be scared away a couple times from intruding on my keyboard.

anyone know what a "banana spider" is? black and yellow? lol, big enough for a horse and rider to ride through their web, lol. ask my bro.


i hope we find the congolese spider!

I love to fantasize about giat monsters living naturally undiscovered in the wild.

reply to post by dubs2000uk


Hi dubs thanks for the replies! I do remember watching that doc a while ago, I think they used a lot of motion sensor cameras that activated and filmed when movement set them off. Best way to catch the very shy Jaguar in action. I have seen several of these beautiful creatures in the flesh, unfortunately only in a zoo but still a great experience. The enclosure was massive too and with lots of great hiding places. I f anyone has been to Chester Zoo they will know what I mean!

In regards to the laughable nature of the 5ft spider, this is perhaps the case. I think that it is most likely an exaggeration! Unless of course it is some sort of semi-land dwelling crab. As we all know our memories are subject to change over time, and it is possible that the initial encounter in the 30s was maybe 2foot across! Due to chinese whispers the story became elaborated on and distorted... But who knows?

The Pygmy tribes I'm fairly certain would have different methods of reference in relation to size than feet too.

I always imagine huge giant spiders like that when I walk in the woods. I came up with the spider-repelling umbrella. It's just an umbrella you walk around with in the woods with a giant spike on top so if the spider tries to land on you it gets impaled.

TMI?

I bet they do exist. Or have at one point.

If I ran across one of those,

there would definitely have to be a cleanup in my pants.

I can handle spiders but 5 feet! Wow

reply to post by Totalstranger

roasted try is very good, just roast on open fire, i should mention that this is only good for the Colombian try, and not too worry about the hairs the burn off, do not over roast then it is like eating burnt paper.

Now for the finds of the west desert of Utah 8in try, 7 in yellow belly scorpion, 10in black belly scorpion, 2 1/2 in black widow 1 in red mark, you know the hour glass, 1 in desert ant, no i did not have them as pets although i would have liked to, and the best for last 5 in vigneron scorpion.

It is possible to have gigantic insects, even despite the fact that they have exoskeletons.

en.wikipedia.org...

Two and a half foot wide dragon flies.

Five foot spiders.

"The way oxygen is diffused through the insect's body via its tracheal breathing system puts an upper limit on body size, which prehistoric insects seem to have well exceeded. It was originally proposed (Harlé & Harlé, 1911) that Meganeura was only able to fly because the atmosphere at that time contained more oxygen than the present 20%. This theory was dismissed by fellow scientists, but has found approval more recently through further study into the relationship between gigantism and oxygen availability.[2] If this theory is correct, these insect giants would have been perilously susceptible to falling oxygen levels and certainly could not survive in our modern atmosphere."

That said, it would seem unlikely that insects of giant proportions could live today due to the oxygen limitation, but I don't know how spider's breath.

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


everybody get yer flame throwers!

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


in regards to the 5'er, they saw it and the natives swore to it. 200mil yo sea scorpion? big spider better for the brain.

was it a spider? no one knows. nessie? champ? myriad of other crypto's

until someone survives a vicious attack by a monster spider and still can talk about it, we just hope we don't meet up, live and let live.

but 6in fangs and the strength of 100men dragging you into a dark crevice.. sounds like my x!

reply to post by snowspirit

Never going to Africa. No way. Not after that story.

LMAO! I'm with you...

The whole time I was reading this story I was getting the chills . . . just the thought of legs that size and a web that size... I'd have a heart attack before a thing like that could ever inject me with venom....

I don't know, there seems to be quite a few accounts of these giant spiders according the the article. I think anything's possible in this world. Nothing is what is seems already...why not a giant spider! I would love to see a picture of one...but that's it...no videos because I'd pass out.

I live in rural Colorado lots of creepy crawlies out here. We typically have grasshoppers, although not so many since the drought. A few years ago I was off in the woods and came upon a gigantic grasshopper. Actually it was the largest bug I'd ever seen.

I'm a country woman and have done battle with a whole slew of critters, bats, rattle snakes, huge red centipedes, tarantulas, black widows to name a few. I'm no sissy. This grasshopper was so unnaturally huge it sent me running. Now I've seen very large grasshoppers since and squished them no problem but I needed a weapon to deal with this one. I looked online for other grasshoppers of that size with no luck.

I know after they've eaten through most of the grasses/plants they will cannibalize each other. Maybe all that extra protein makes them grow faster/larger Idk. That grasshopper came to mind as soon as I saw this thread. I don't discount anything in nature. My favorite bug is the sphinx moth or hummingbird moth. Beautiful creatures you would think it was a hummingbird until you spotted the antenna.

BTW I don't kill everything I come across, except maybe grasshoppers. Although if it comes in the house it's fair game. My husband has always been a catch/release kind of guy. That came to an abrupt end one day when he came in and noticed the giant flying beetle riding on his shoulder. He flung that thing off and squished it flat. I still laugh at him for that one.

Maybe I'm too elementary and logical or illogical heh in my thinking, but I keep seeing "oxygen levels" blah blah. Seeing that it's in a forest, with trees, plants and an assortment of other kinds of foliage and probably pretty dense, wouldn't oxygen levels be a bit higher in the immediate area anyways. Since, well 'science' has told me plants, trees, grasses etc etc produce oxygen. I'm no Mr Wizard so pardon me if it seems a stupid question.

Originally posted by Morningglory
I live in rural Colorado lots of creepy crawlies out here. We typically have grasshoppers, although not so many since the drought. A few years ago I was off in the woods and came upon a gigantic grasshopper. Actually it was the largest bug I'd ever seen.

I'm a country woman and have done battle with a whole slew of critters, bats, rattle snakes, huge red centipedes, tarantulas, black widows to name a few. I'm no sissy. This grasshopper was so unnaturally huge it sent me running. Now I've seen very large grasshoppers since and squished them no problem but I needed a weapon to deal with this one. I looked online for other grasshoppers of that size with no luck.

I know after they've eaten through most of the grasses/plants they will cannibalize each other. Maybe all that extra protein makes them grow faster/larger Idk. That grasshopper came to mind as soon as I saw this thread. I don't discount anything in nature. My favorite bug is the sphinx moth or hummingbird moth. Beautiful creatures you would think it was a hummingbird until you spotted the antenna.

BTW I don't kill everything I come across, except maybe grasshoppers. Although if it comes in the house it's fair game. My husband has always been a catch/release kind of guy. That came to an abrupt end one day when he came in and noticed the giant flying beetle riding on his shoulder. He flung that thing off and squished it flat. I still laugh at him for that one.

When I was younger we'd go into the run-off caves from the wash in my childhood neighborhood and we saw a bunch of very strange grasshoppers/crickets inside the caves. Once we saw a grasshopper that was bigger than an entire human hand and we all ran away.

Might not be as big as the one you're describing, but that is still really big, scared the # out of us. It was two fingers wide and as long as an entire hand. Ours could have realistically still been crushed, but maybe he was on the way to growing into the kind of monster grasshopper that you saw?

Either way, after seeing that grasshopper I believe they can get bigger than normal in some circumstances.

When i was a kid we had a "lake cabin". I quotation it because it was barely a lake cabin. It was an old school bus that was gutted and made into a sleeping area, with a slab poured in front of it that had 4 walls. This was the living area. It was for us to go to the lake, have a place to eat (sink, fridge, some outlets), poop (a toilet), and sleep. That was all we did there. The whole extended family used this cabin, and there were usually about 10 of us there on a weekend.

one day dad went to the bathroom. after about 1 minute we hear him scream and a lot of shuffling and moving is going on. Mom is asking him "What's wrong? What's wrong?" over and over again, as if she was even giving him a chance to respond.

All of a sudden, the door to the bathroom flies open and there stands my dad, with his drawers barely even halfway pulled up. In his hand in a toilet plunger. On the end of the plunger was skewered the biggest vinagaroon i have ever seen. It was just over 12", and the whole cabin smelled like a broken bottle of vinegar.

No wonder he screamed and we heard a scuffle. He was fighting for his life against a paleolithic beast. But it is a common story at family gatherings.

Originally posted by Arkady
Personally I think nature can probably find a way.

I have little doubt of that...As I recall, it took Aeronautic Engineers about 25 years to figure out how a Bumblebee could fly...

I mean, YIKES! I was already aware of the Bird Hunter, that could walk over a dinner plate without touching the edges...But a legspan of 5 feet? YIKES!

"Emergency beam up, Scotty! It just ate my phaser!"

reply to post by sremmos

I'm so glad you've seen something similar. This thing was the size of my foot maybe longer. I'm a small person size 5 1/2 shoe but still. I didn't stick around long enough to take measurements. Not only was it long, it's body was so fat. It was a normal sandy brownish color. Some grasshoppers have wings. I was so afraid this thing was going to fly at me so I took off.

Runoff caves? That's right up my alley. Sounds like Colorado.
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reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

On the end of the plunger was skewered the biggest vinagaroon i have ever seen. It was just over 12", and the whole cabin smelled like a broken bottle of vinegar.

What the heck is a vinagaroon? Never heard of those? If you're in Texas maybe it's something I should watch for here in southern CO. Must say I got a chuckle out of that one.

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Pleasure Dude,

10 mins from Longleat here!

So, Scouse?

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Don't see why it'd be impossible.. the article suggest it'd be roughly 14inches in diameter.

The largest known spider (which is also a Bird Eating Spider) is the Goliath bird-eating spider which spans 11inches.

So the new biggest spider would only be 3 inches larger.

reply to post by Morningglory


PIc of Vinagaroon!

I had never heard of such a thing either, and I have spent plenty of time in TX, NM. AZ, and CO.

That thing is UGLY!!