Spiders!

I found this one in the shower this morning. It appears to be an example of the woodlouse spider (Dysdera crocata). They specialize in eating the woodlouse (known locally as pillbug or sowbug). They will bite, but their bites, while possibly a bit painful, are not dangerous. They are sometimes mistaken for the poisonous brown recluse spider, but they don't really look alike.

Arachnophobia?

I photographed these daddy long-legs spiders (Pholcus phalangioides) in the women's restroom of the horticulture building at Pierce College. They seemed cozy, moving around their web in the narrow space between the side of the toilet and the wall. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of spiders, but this might explain why this restroom, unlike all the others on campus, seemed so clean. (Well, except for the part with the spiders.) No one dares use it. Apparently the Plant Facilities department has not yet issued brooms to this remote outpost.

Usually found in or around houses, the daddy long-legs is sometimes also called the cellar spider. (It is occasionally confused with a couple of other species that are also sometimes called long-legs or daddy long-legs.) They like to hang upside down from their webs and wait for prey. They eat small insects and spiders. When food is short, they will eat their own kind.