CLOSED: Can someone ID this spider?

Guerneville, CA

Hi. My wife and I live in Guerneville, CA about and hour north of San Francisco. Our house is in the forest and we get many visitors during the spring and summer. Usually in the form of scorpions and spiders.
The spiders we generally get in our home are what we refer to as "redwood spiders". They are pretty big, ranging in size from of a quarter on up to a silver dollar.
But we get others that look similar but the "butts" are about half the size and they are generally darker in color and a little more hairy. This is one we caught a couple days ago under a pile of clothes in the laundry room. It was about the size of a half dollar and played dead when we captured it. I took a couple pics of it then let it go outside.
Can anyone please tell us what kind of spider it is, or may be? We'd just like to know it's not a brown recluse because they are quite frequent in our home--even in our bed!!

Thumbnail by maceek
Sinks Grove, WV

This could be a so-called false tarantula (Calisoga spp.; family Nemesiidae); they commonly are found indoors. See http://nature.berkeley.edu/~stevelew/cbcstuff/common_spiders/big_spi_quilt.html and scroll down below the tarantula.

Guerneville, CA

I'll be doggone if that isn't it! Even the reference pic look 99.9% like the example I gave. Not being able to climb smooth surfaces would explain why we find them in the bathtub a lot, too. Usually they are found on the walls and ceilings. About a week ago I had one scramble up my back when we were sleeping--yish! So I am to assume they will not bite unless provoked and the bite isn't venomous? Just painful?

Sinks Grove, WV

As far as I know, their venom is not considered particularly dangerous to humans, and a bite, while painful, would not likely be medically serious.

Guerneville, CA

Awesome. Thanks so much for your information!

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