No matter where in this country you live, spiders can be a
serious problem. Most people don't realize that there are two distinct
types of spiders, the first type of spiders are the web building
spiders. These spiders like to spin webs in areas that are avoided by
people, but where they might happened upon a nice, juicy, fly. Common
places to find web building spiders are in the upper corner of neglected
rooms, inside closets, under the eaves of homes and in storage sheds.
In addition to web building spiders there are also hunting spiders. These are spiders that leave the protection of their home to find and kill their own prey. Examples of hunting spiders are wolf spiders, brown recluse spiders and jumping spiders. These spiders spend most of their time hunting others of their kind, crickets, moths, flies, and cockroaches.
Hunting spiders don't usually travel very far from the place that they live, whether it be in a burrow, under the couch, under the refrigerator or in the garage. It is not uncommon for these species to find ways in between the walls of your home and spend most of their time there.
Among these two groups you will find various types that are considered poisonous enough to be a danger to small children and pets. Occasionally you will run into a species that can actually harm full grown adults such as Black Widows and Brown Recluses.
The most poisonous species in the United States is the Black Widow. This species has venom that has been compared to a cobra snake in regards to potency. However, the Black Widow is rarely involved bites that result in death because of the relatively small size of the spider. While a cobra, when it bites you, injects a large amount of venom, a Black Widow only injects a very small amount.
Nevertheless, it is highly recommend that if you, or anyone you know, is bitten by one of these that you should go to the hospital immediately. Some people believe that prior to the invention of Black Widow antivenin, that almost 5% of all bites resulted in death.
The Brown Recluse is the most poisonous hunting spider in the United States. While their bites are seldom, if ever, deadly, they do tend to kill the skin around the bite area. In addition to killing the skin a Brown Recluse bite can also be very painful and become extremely itchy.
It is not uncommon to hear people state that the presence of spiders in your home is a good thing because they act to limit the numbers of other insects, bugs and pests. This is untrue however. When comparing the various types of bugs and insects that can be inside your home, spiders are the last kind that you want. They hide in dark areas and commonly bite when threatened.
