Bugs Sure Do Grow Big Down Here in Florida

Originally being from the outer suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, I am used to natural surroundings and an occaisional insect. But, since moving down to Florida, my knowledge of bugs has increased dramatically. Up north, there may be a few species of insect that can be troublesome. Down here, it pays to make sure the critters in your neighborhood stay outdoors, and don't come inside of your home. It pays to live in a development that regularly...

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Stuff of Nightmares

Spiders have been around for 130 million years. We must all be thankful none of them evolved to the size of a dog. Of all the creepy crawlies that give people the willies, spiders, those eight-legged, twin-fanged arthropods with their six to eight pairs of eyes would have to be in the top league of nightmares had nature allowed them to grow to the size of a large dog. Fortunately for us nature limited their size to range from that of a...

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Prevention of Insect-Borne Diseases

Insect Pests All sorts of insects attack and prey upon human beings. Most common of those that attack the body directly are the lice and the itch mites. Less frequent are bedbugs and spiders. In the woods and in tropical areas chiggers and mosquitoes, ticks and the biting flies annoy mankind. Chiggers Chiggers are known scientifically as Trombicula irritans. They hook themselves on to the skin. The skin becomes irritated, and an intolerable...

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Preventions And Remedies For Insect Bites And Stings

Insect bites can happen anytime and at any place which can cause either minor or major illnesses. Usual bites that we encounter came from ants, mosquitoes, cockroaches, ticks, bees and spiders. Although most of them don't possess serious health threats, you must still be cautious about this little bugs and know different home remedies for immediate self treatment. Most of these insects are active at night because they are some what allergic...

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The Medical Significance of the Arachnida Class of the Arthropods

The class Arachnida is a group of more than 100,000 species, including spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites. Most arachnids are adapted to kill prey with poison galnds, stingers, or fangs. Like crustaceans, arachnids have a body that is divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen. Attached to the Cephalothorax are 4 pairs of legs, a pair of Chelicerae, and a pair of appendages called pedipalps. The pedipalps aid in chewing; in some...

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Pest Control (Spider Control)

 Pest Control (Spider Control) Many of these spiders are cytotoxic and so they will bite you with a cytotoxin. Many of the domestic spiders, though not all, are aggressive and that's why they bite. These bites can be nasty or fatal and will cause decay on areas that are bitten. Many of these bites can cause infection that is why they need to be taken care of immediately. It would be best to get rid of spiders at your house all together...

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Pest Control - Getting Rid of Spiders

For many people, spiders represent the worst kind of insects. However, while many may have an inherent fear of spiders, they actually serve a very beneficial role in the ecosystem, controlling the rest of the bug population by being so high up in the food chain. Seeing one or two harmless spiders around should actually make you feel good about the cleanliness of your home. If they live outside in the yard or the garden, all the better. Still,...

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The Spiders of South Africa

Black Button Spider Also known as 'Widow Spiders' in the USA, Button spiders are common throughout South Africa and Madagascar. Their long legs, bulbous black abdomens and bright red markings make them easily identified, along with the funnel-shaped webs they make their homes in, and their large white egg-sacs. As opposed to several wilderness-dwelling spiders in the region, the Button spider prefers a little company, living in human inhabited...

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The "New Baby" Sweep

Lots of things we overlook in our day-to-day lives can create a harmful environment for a newborn. If you have a new baby in your future, now's the time to perform a "new baby clean sweep!" Deep cleaning the whole house Usually the "white glove" test is reserved for mother-in-law visits. But it's essential when you're bringing home a newborn. Things like dust, mildew and mold can wreak havoc on a baby's respiratory system. This is a good...

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Subterranean: A Story About Working in Small Spaces With Poisonous Things & How to Deal With It

Tim was a slender man. He was also a relaxed individual. Possibly because of this laid back style his keen intellect could catch people off guard. Sometimes people just assume that mellow people are also slow thinking. Tim was quite good at analyzing situations. However, when given the chance he was a proponent of making people do stupid things until they figured out what was happening. Wherever he went he was followed by an air of self-aware,...

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Camping With Poisonous Snakes and Spiders

 Camping With Poisonous Snakes and Spiders Of course there are spiders, but I doubt any will crawl into our sleeping bags tonight. Living with someone with a newly developed passion for camping can teach you a lot about yourself. But since camping is a nice way to save money while still having a great vacation, I've learned to cope happily. Here's what I learned about camping with the neighborhood's snakes and spiders. Most are harmless...

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The Northwest's Nastiest Spiders

As Pacific Northwest residents know, spiders are fairly common in our region. Though spiders can be very beneficial in that they prey on pesky insects we don't want around the house, there are a few types of spiders you want to avoid. If you believe you have an infestation of any of the following spiders, you will want to contact a pest control company. Not all infestations will require chemical pest control, and a qualified pest control...

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Australian Spiders - Should I Worry?

Many people are worried about living in, or visiting, Australia all because of its poisonous spiders. Is there really a reason for you to be worried? Could you be killed after being bitten by a spider if you visit, or move to, Australia? Should the possibility stop you from going to Australia? In case you did not know it, Australia has only two spiders that should be of a major concern for anyone visiting, or living there. The...

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Cannibals on the Porch

No, ghosts of the Donner Party have not started haunting my porch, nor have others of the human type I may have reference to. I am speaking of cannibals in the insect world of which there are many, but two in particuIar that make me stop and wonder. The first is waxy black with a small red hourglass on her abdomen. She dangles on a thin thread late on warm summer nights in doorways or dark corners waiting for the what ever comes her...

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Top 10 Little Black Dresses of All Time

Barely a hundred years ago, the black dress was somber and depressing. It was no more than the traditional mourning garb for grieving widows to make sure their dead husbands won't come knocking late at night. Thankfully, the great Coco Chanel had a vision, and in 1926, she single-handedly rescued the black dress from its morbid reputation. It has since been reinvented into the LBD, the little black dress. The rest, you could say, is fashion...

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One More Day Proves That Joe Quesada Does Not Understand Spider-Man

It's official. Joe Quesada does not understand Spider-Man in the least. (I would say that if you haven't read Amazing Spider-Man 545 yet, you should stop here until you do read it, but I actually recommend that you just don't read it at all.) But unlike some people, I am not going to call for his head. At least not completely. Other than the horrible Black Panther and Storm wedding, most of what he's done outside of Spider-Man has been...

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Search Engine Spiders - How They Work

When we talk about search engine spiders, we are not referring to common, garden variety arachnids - and not even to exotic black widows or tarantulas. Instead, we are talking about the electronic signals that search engines send to crawl all over the internet, collecting data about websites. This data, in turn, drives the results of keyword searches. Spiders are also known as "bots". They penetrate a website and copy information that...

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About Spiders and Why They're a Danger to You in Your Home

Aside from Halloween decorations, it's never a good thing when you have spiders in your home. Yet some people don't realize what a real problem these creepy crawlies actually are. Some of them, such as the brown recluse, a very common spider in Florida and the Tampa area, can have fatal consequences. The reasons spiders and other pests are an issue during the fall months is because that's when the climate and temperature varies as the...

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All About the Wolf Spider

Coming across a Wolf Spider within the home during late night hours can often be a truly traumatic experience. Not only are they rather large and intimidating as far a spiders are concerned, but they also bear a slight resemblance to both the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse. Even though they are by far the least dangerous to humans of the three arachnids, this insect still contains powerful venom that can cause problems within children...

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Prevent The Scare Of House Spiders

 Prevent The Scare Of House Spiders Causing jumps, screams and scares to homes across the country is the dreaded sighting of a house spider. We have all had encounters with a creepy spider and whether you are the one who screams for help or the one that comes running to the rescue, we can likely all agree they are not good company to have in our home. Although very few spiders are capable of causing humans any harm, does not make these...

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Pest Profile: Spiders

A fear of spiders is one of our most primal instincts, one that evolved in humans as we were learning as a species to fear the things that could easily kill us. The vast majority of people either fear or dislike spiders, with only a very small minority claiming to like them. So when we come across a spider in our homes, the reaction many people have is to kill it as quickly as possible. However, where one spider has managed to get in, others...

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The Big Little Bite - Brown Recluse Spiders, Your Home, and You

Crickets, and snails and other creepy-crawlies...they don't scare me. Snakes? Nah, they don't scare me either unless they're making rattling noises or standing at attention to an accompaniment of music from a snake charmers' flute. Neither do I suffer from arachnophobia (a general fear of spiders). Perhaps that lack of general concern for critters and such is a product of having been reared in central Florida where bugs are seemingly everywhere.There...

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How to Kill Spiders

Spiders have eight legs and can range from small to medium in size. Usually, they eat other insects such as flies, and breed in moist conditions. They can be found outside near humid areas and inside homes in basements and damp places. Some spiders actually prefer to stay in dry areas and can be found in corners of houses, dark areas, and near air-vents. When inhabiting these areas, they create webs made of spider silk to aid in movement...

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Spiders, Spiders, and More Spiders

Most people do not like spiders let alone have one for a pet. I had to overcome my fear of spiders when my older son brought home a tarantula from college. Victor, the newest member of our family, taught me that you can always learn something new and that fear alone is not a good enough reason to object. I did some quick research when Victor arrived and this is what I learned. Spiders are arachnids, not insects. Other types of arachnids...

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A Natural Spider Repellent That Works

There are many kinds of spiders in the world some good and some very bad, such as the Black Widow and the Brown recluse spider, but on the whole spiders are very harmless. They are harmless but can become an awful nuisance especially if they end up in your home or around it. In a way spiders are insect repellents themselves as they control any insects they come across by having them for dinner or providing dinner for some birds or bigger...

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How to Get Rid of Spider Bites

Spiders are one of the most feared creatures not only because of their creepy appearance but their potentially lethal venomous bite. Though not all spiders are venomous, there are quite a number that have this trait. The effects of spider bites vary, depending on the species and the amount of venom that has been injected into you. Some symptoms may simply be swelling and itching for a few minutes to several days, or may be as bad as muscular...

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What to Do If You Suspect You Have a Spider Bite

If you suspect you have been bitten by a spider you probably have a lot of questions. It is important to realize that rarely are spider bites dangerous, but many conditions that are mistaken for spider bites can be dangerous themselves. What does a spider bite look like? It really depends on what type of spider you have been bitten by. Brown recluse bites, for instance, will typically become dark circles around a small bump that looks...

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Spiders Are Beautiful

Have you ever watched a spider spinning a web? It is one of the most fascinating sights you can see - it is a wonder, a marvel of nature. My wife had never really though about it until one morning when we woke, I was staring out of the window and she asked what I was staring at - I pointed at the tiny spider painstakingly making a beautiful silk pattern across the corner of our window frame. She laughed at me - I had been watching the creature...

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Most Common House Spiders

With a little under 4000 different species of spiders in the United States alone, spider identification can be quite difficult. You'll hear names like 'house spider' and 'cobweb spider' tossed around frequently and out of context. The truth is, house spiders and cobweb spiders are actual species, not generalizations. This page is geared towards identifying the most common spiders in the United States (in no particular order): Black...

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Warning! Spiders Invade Homes During Winter

During the cold winter months everyone needs a place to stay warm, including those nasty eight legged critters called spiders. They also need a place to find food as other critters move inside for winter and you can bet your house is the perfect place! Though spiders are unpleasant looking and frightening, most are harmless. Even if they do bite the result is usually a minor irritation to the skin. However, some spiders can be extremely...

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Facts About the Deadly Banana Spiders

'Banana Spiders' are deadly and highly poisonous. It is useful to keep informed about these harmful insects to keep yourself protected. The species are of two different nature whose scientific names are 'Phoneutria', found in Central and South America, and the other one is 'Nephila Clavipes', found in North America. Among both species, the former one is more deadly and poisonous than the latter. Bananenspinne, Wandering Spider and Kammspinne...

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