IT’S enough to send shivers down your spine and make your skin crawl.

A small army of tube-web spiders have invaded a Hampshire home – with some as big as a tablespoon, leaving Dan Jackson and his family nervous to go outside.

Almost 100 spiders have set up home in his garden in Bursledon, filling every hole and crack with their distinctive tube-shaped webs.

The 29-year-old was shocked when he stepped outside to see the creepy crawlies scurrying around his garden and climbing his walls.

He fears that the eight-legged invaders, who are known to bite, could get inside his house, and worries about the effect any bite will have on his three-year-old son Ruben.

He said: “I’m not afraid of spiders but even I’m freaked out by these ones.

“I first saw one when I went out into my garden and didn’t think much of it, but then when it got dark they all came out and there must have been more than 50 of them.

“My home backs on to the woods so I think that must be where they have all come from.

“I don’t really know what I am going to do about them, but I know they bite so I do worry about my three-year-old son Ruben.

“I think I will have to speak to the council or get an exterminator out in the end.”

Sightings of the striking spider have become more common in recent weeks, with the spider thought to have come to this country around a century ago from the Mediterranean.

Their bites cause pain that can last for hours but have no lasting side-effects.

Mr Jackson, an online trader, added: “I saw one that was the size of a tablespoon.

“And I also managed to catch one after I saw it rush across my fence and then jump off onto the ground.

“It was playing dead and my brother said it was only a bit of dirt, but I put a glass over it and moved it a bit and it shot up.

“I let it go and it moved off so quickly it was unbelievable.

“As I said, I’m not scared of spiders but these ones make me jump!”