Damnit this sucks...here I was about to get a good nights sleep and suddenly I feel something tickle my leg. I scratch it off. Then a minute later I feel something crawl on my stomach. I swipe it off.. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT!". I get up and turn the light on and I see this big old spider running away and before I can kill it, he scurries away into my air vent..

What sucks is, now its hard to sleep because I know when I turn the lights off, hes coming back to get revenge. This after hearing the news of the guy who died by being bitten 19 times by a poisonous spider.

What should I do? Tape the air vent shut? lol

Tape won't do you good. Those spiders are a clever bunch. The only solution is fire - and lots of it! I think it's time to consider burning the house down (don't remove anything from the house - the spider could be hiding in them!) and moving elsewhere... sorry dude.

It depends of the size of a spider.

If it was like this: http://www.diptera.info/forum/attachments/minispi2.jpg

i wouldn't be even bothered.

But if I saw something like THIS in my house:
http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/spider-hell.jpg

You would see me jumping the hell out of a window :D

Tear down the wall and break open that air vent until you find that bastard. Like a boss.

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.

I thought that photo works only for chicks :D :P

Btw. I couldn't live in Australia, for example. That's a place where spiders have health bars.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xmMpCRIEqA4/TJDsaqaMeLI/AAAAAAAAAHY/e5ArcAM5w0w/s1600/australia-huge-spiders-health-bar.jpg

HAHA, i had this situation at my front door about a month ago. The spider had all the baby's on it's back, and when i sprayed it with fly spray, a thousand little baby spiders came spewing out! I think i killed them all, i think..........

Yeah, talking about Australia... :D

My God, how can you live there?! You have freakin' spiders eating BIRDS....

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01080/earth-graphics-200_1080291a.jpg

Well, I have been in your shoes before...in fact, one night I awoke with about 20 or so spider bites on me, and they looked like big welts or some such...I felt somewhat weak for a few days, but, i was okay after that (this is true)...For quite awhile spiders were the one creatures I truly feared, but, now adays, I just shrug...but, I learned my lesson long ago when I had the same experience you just had, every night I do a quick scan of the walls, and ceilings and check under the blankets, I swear to you, during this time of year I get at least one spider a week at night...but, it really doesn't bother me much any more, they are much more scared of us, and they are not evil things, maybe just a little hungry. :P I wouldn't worry too much, we have been living with bugs since before we made our first grunts after all ;-)

HaHa, it's not so bad where i live in Melbourne, it's up North in QLD and NT that you gotta watch out, and it's not just spiders, Crocs and snakes too, and Box Jellyfish!

Crises averted and I didn't have to burn down the house or tear open the air duct. He took a peek and I stabbed him. I'll feed him to my chickens tomorrow. Poor guy, I feel bad for him now. KOCollins you are right. I guess it's a primal fear though because I'm sure many an ancestor has died from critters in the night. Poor guy just wanted a nice cozy place to sleep or hunt, lol. Oh well at least he won't be nibbling on me now.

By the way, those aussie spiders. Man I don't know whats scarier, africa, south america or australia..I'd never sleep again if those bird eating spiders were in my house.

Well, it's Australia. Even the trees are out to kill you.
What kind of spider was it? How large?

BTW. I love spiders and snakes. Sure, there's a hint of primal fear, especially with the larger ones, but usually my fascination with the buggers overcome it. Had a spider as "pet" once too, big-ass female tarantula.

Yeah, I was single.

You should have tossed a grenade into the vent. That would get rid of your spider problem and made any others think twice.

You mean those little golden orb weavers?? Please, those were my favorite spiders to feed while I lived in Florida. They had the coolest golden webs that truly shone in the sunlight. Golden orb weavers were also badass in that whatever prey you handed them they would wrap up, paralyze, and store for later very quickly and efficiently. The size of the average weaver was also beneficial for those wishing to learn a little about arachnid anatomy through simple observation. Everything on those spiders is quite visible, thus, no need for magnifying equipment.