JudasIscariot: It's probably a harmless to humans wolf spider if you are in FL or the southern states. It's the small spiders with red hourglasses or brown violins on their backs you have to watch out for :P.
hedwards: We've got a couple of types of spider around here that inhabit homes. We've got house spiders and we've got giant house spiders. The things get freaking huge. I've seen more than a few over the years that could touch all edges of my hand with their legs.
The thing about them being swallowed that freaks a lot of people out isn't likely. An average person isn't likely to swallow them as spiders tend to stay away from warm moist breathe because they don't want to be eaten.
Don't click the links if you're arachnophobic. Personally, I don't mind spiders outside, but house spiders freak me out big time. I'm not sure why. Probably because they're a lot larger than any of the species of spider that we've got in this region. But, they're largely harmless even if they do on rare occasions grow large enough to fill out a dinner plate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_long-legs_spider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_house_spider Daddy long legs are quite poisonous but their fangs usually cannot penetrate skin, so be careful if you're literally thin-skinned.
When I lived in Florida, I used to always find a wolf spider, at least that's what I think it was, or two in the house. I let them live because they kept the palmetto bugs away from my damn shoes. I did get bitten by some damn thing once because one day I woke up with two little pinholes underneath my armpit with some minor swelling.
I even had the rare pleasure of transporting a live scorpion all day unknowingly in my front shirt pocket. I must have picked him up while at work, the job was an outside job having to deal with geological sampling, I only found him because I needed to get my cigs out and there he was, just chilling.
