About Nonpoisonous Spiders

Many people are deathly afraid of spiders. Some say they are creepy and menacing, with eight spindly legs, multiple sets of eyes, and of course, fangs...

Spiders are actually quite beneficial to our homes and gardens, especially the harmless, nonpoisonous variety. There is no cause to fear nonpoisonous spiders. With a bit of understanding and respect for these creatures, it is possible for humans and spiders to live in harmony.

History

Spiders are predatory animals. They are invertebrates, with bodies comprised of two segments, and eight leg. They have no ability to chew or chewing mouth parts, nor do they have wings. Spiders belong to the order Araneae, part of the larger class of arachnids. Other arachnids that are not spiders includescorpions, mites, ticks, and opiliones (harvestmen/daddy long legs).

Spiders are a widely varied species, and thrive in most climates. Spiders live everywhere from the tropics to the Arctic. Arctic spiders lice in silken domes underwater for which they supply air. There are spiders that live on the tops of mountains. Spiders have even flown into space on Skylab 3.

The spider has a varied but interesting life cycle. In most species, after mating the female creates an egg sac that can contain up to one thousand tiny eggs. The sac is spun from silk. Some female spiders carry the egg sac on their spinnerets or in their jaws until they hatch.Others hide their sacs, attach them to plants, or keep them encased within their webs. Some spiders are immediately on their own, receiving little to no care from the mother. Others are carried on their mother's backs after hatching, and also fed by the mother. In many species, the mother dies as the young grow big enough to care for themselves, and they babies eat the mother's carcass. Some female spiders eat males after mating. Most spiders live to be about a year old, but tarantulas commonly fifteen to twenty years.

Misconceptions

Death by spider bite is not Common. Most Spiders are not actually poisonous.

Contrary to popular belief and some people's worst fears, death by spider bite is simply not a common occurrence. Out of over 20,000 different species of spiders in the Americas, only sixty are even capable of biting a human. Of those sixty, four are considered to be truly dangerous to humans: the brown recluse, black widow, hobo/aggressive house spider, and the yellow sac spider. Only the brown recluse and black widow have been proven to cause serious disease, health issue, or more rarely, death. Of these poisonous spiders, deaths from brown recluse bites have only been reported in children younger than seven years old. Not all spiders that are venomous inject a venom that is dangerous to humans. Many spider venoms are dangerous only to the species' natural prey.

Spiders do not lie in wait, ready to bite people.

Spiders don't lurk in drawers and shoes waiting to bite unwitting human fingers and toes. Spiders generally don't identify humans as prey. Spiders climb into dark, quiet places to avoid humans and other spider predators. Spiders bite in self defense in most cases. Most spider bites occur when humans encroach on a spider's home or hiding place. Humans that put their feet into shoes without checking may receive a bite on the toe or foot. This is the spider's way of protecting itself when they feel threatened. There are precautions you can take to avoid spider bites, though the nonpoisonous variety are generally not harmful.

Many spiders are often labeled as poisonous, when they are not.

There are lots of lookalike spiders that resemble black widows, brown recluses, and other poisonous spiders. Further, horror movies, stories of spider terror, and folklore tales of the big, mean poisonous spider tend to make many squeamish and a little paranoid of all spiders. To avoid killing harmless, beneficial spiders, people should familiarize themselves with ways to identify local common varieties of poisonous spiders, and familiarize themselves with the benefits of harmless spiders in a home or garden.

There are many websites to help identify poisonous spiders. People should familiarize themselves with what spiders are harmful in their local area, and these websites are a good place to start. For example, Googling "poisonous spiders in Texas" will bring up several websites with pictures and text helping to identify common dangerous spiders in Texas. Most sites also warn how to tell the difference in common lookalike harmless spiders and their poisonous similar-appearing spider.

There are also sites dedicated to documenting harmless spiders for each region, and listing the benefits of these spiders. It doesn't hurt to be familiar with these spiders as well.

Benefits

Spiders are actually beneficial in several ways.Spiders destroy many pests like the fly, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, locusts, cockroaches, as well as aphids. Scientists are currently studying ways to use spider venom medically, and one study suggests that spider venom may help treat arthritis.

Medical applications involving spider venom and spider silk are growing in number. Spider silk is said to be stronger than steel, is more elastic than rubber, and unsurpassed in expandability, resistance to tearing, and toughness. This makes researchers interested to learn spiders' secrets and imitate their techniques, and some researchers are studying spider silk as a tool for treating arthritis. It is also reported that spider venom may eventually be used to treat some heart conditions.

In some parts of the world, larger spiders are eaten and also considered a delicacy. In Cambodia, fried spiders are a common treat. In Thailand, the Solomon Islands, and South America, live, wrapped tarantulas are also sometimes taken on trips for good luck by some tribes.

Spiders can keep your garden healthy by eating aphids and other plant-damaging insects. Further, some species of garden spider are colorful, large, and create beautiful webs. Most of these spiders create their webs large enough and located where humans are unlikely to walk through them without warning. Further, these spiders are not generally aggressive to humans or pets, and will simply sit on their webs and wait for dinner to fly by. Mosquito populations can be reduced in your yard by allowing spiders to remain. This is beneficial to both humans and pets, as mosquito bites are irritating and can spread disease.

Further, spiders in your home can keep cockroaches and housefly populations at bay. Harmless spiders can be relocated outdoors if the sight or webs bother children or fearful adults by catching them carefully and gently with a jar and a stiff piece of paper, and releasing them outside. It is estimated that spiders eat more insects than the weight of the entire population of the world combined.

Though spiders are objects of fear and terrible fantasy, the reality is that they are beneficial to our world. By understanding their habits, habitats, and what to look for to identify potentially dangerous species, one can live n harmony simply by using caution when putting hands in drawers, shoes in feet, and when working in outdoor areas around firewood, or other potential hiding places. Humans and spiders can benefit each other.

Types

There are thousands of nonpoisonous spiders in North America. Many common varieties are often mistaken for poisonous. Some nonspiders are even mistaken for spiders.

Common household harmless spiders include the wolf spider, the spitting spider, the funnel web spider, jumping spiders, cobweb spiders, barn spiders, cellar spiders, yellow garden spiders, banded garden spiders, spiny-backed orbweavers, and sometimes even tarantulas - though they are usually found outdoors.

it is nearly impossible to get rid of all the spiders in a home, however, for infestations of the poisonous variety, it is recommended to contact a professional exterminator.

Features

All spiders are able to produce silk in the form of a strong strand of protein from spinnerets found at the end of the spider's abdomen. Most spiders use the silk to trap insects in webs. There are also many species that actually hunt aggressively, as well. Silk serves other purposes as well, and can be used to help a spider climb, descend, wrap prey, hold sperm, and build egg sacs. Further, baby spiders use silk filaments as a means of disbursing, but creating tiny balloons of silk, and letting the wind carry them long distances.

Most spiders spin webs as a home, or a means of catching food. Webs vary in size and shape, as well as function. Many spiders spin a neat, patterned, geometric web, while others have more irregular webs. Still others make funnel shaped web homes, and some use their silk in combination with twigs and other natural matter to make trap doors over burrows.

Most all spiders have the ability to inject prey with venom. Of these thousands of species, only about 200 have venom powerful enough to pose a health risk to humans, outside of the occasional painful injection site. Spider venom is intended to paralyze or kill natural spider prey, such as insects and other arthropods. As noted previously, spiders don't bite humans out of malice, nor do they hunt humans for prey.

Other spiders are scary just to look at! The tarantula is large in size, and covered in hair. Its appearance makes it appear aggressive and dangerous, which is a good defense in the natural world. Other spiders have appearances similar to poisonous spiders as a defense against predators, and still others are able to avoid becoming prey through gymnastic feats of cartwheeling away from predators. It is important for humans to remember that much of the scary attributes of a spider can be explained as either a natural defense or simply a trick of appearance to ward off predators. Many of the myths and folkloric tales surrounding these creatures are simply untrue. The benefits of harmless spiders far outweigh the inconvenience of being occasionally startled by walking through a web, or seeing the strange little creature scurry by. Armed with knowledge, humankind can rest easy and in harmony with the spider kingdom.

Resources

• More about spiders
• Common Texas spiders and pests