Oh noez! I like, t0tally haz brown recluse spiderz!!!!!

[diligentcircle]

http://spiders.ucr.edu/myth.html


I don't know about other places, but a good chunk of my fellow Michiganders falsely believe that there are brown recluse spiders in Michigan. Apparently this is also a common myth in California. Of course, these same people believe brown recluse spiders are the most dangerous things in the world. Never mind that people that actually live with these spiders rarely get bit.


I find this to be quite hilarious, but irritating at the same time, mostly because I love spiders! Spiders are our friends; they help keep the house free of annoying and sometimes disease-spreading insects! It's just crazy how bad of a reputation spiders have when the chance of being hurt, let alone dying, from a spider is less than from driving a car. Even the infamous Black Widow spider killed only 5% (or I've also read 6%) of the people they bit... before effective antivenom was available. Now deaths from them are pretty much non-existent.


And to top it all off, I'm supposed to just accept when someone kills a harmless spider because it creeps them out or they're afraid of it. Any time someone does that, my first thought is something like, "What the f***, man?! Now this house has one less pest controller!"


<_<

 

[Mr Rob]

Interestingly enough, I generally let spiders live in my apartment.

 

[Prometheus]

I don't have any problems with spiders.

 

[diligentcircle]

Interestingly enough, I generally let spiders live in my apartment.

There's gonna live there whether you let them or not. No one lives in a spider-free home. Some may think they do, but they just haven't seen them.

 

[ImmaculateChimp]

Everyone I'm related to will squish spiders(and all other creepy-crawlies and flying bugs) on site... During the summer I'll carefully collect them in a glass, perhaps look at them up close for a moment, then gently deposit them outside. During winter I'll either relocate them to the garage(it's fully enclosed so it at least stays a little bit warmer than outside) or just ignore them and hope my relatives don't notice them... I try to do all this with bees, wasps, moths, & ants as well. I'm also making an effort to resist the urge to murder centipedes and just deposit them outside instead.

 

[diligentcircle]

During the summer I'll carefully collect them in a glass, perhaps look at them up close for a moment, then gently deposit them outside.

PLEASE DON'T DO THAT.


Spiders that live in your home are adapted to that type of environment. If you throw them outside, the extreme conditions out there will kill them. It would be like tossing a human into the middle of a giant desert. Just killing a spider is a lot nicer than tossing it outside, because the only way it's ever going to survive outside is if it miraculously finds its way back into your house.


Better yet, just let them live in your house. They're pest controllers, after all!

 

[ImmaculateChimp]

I currently live in Indiana, the summers aren't that hot, also they are much more likely to find their food outside than inside, so inside they would just starve to death (seriously, when I see their webs inside the house there is never anything stuck in them).

 

[Pickle]

I think i had an encounter with a brown recluse and im in MI. I based it on the shape on the back. But that is interesting they are not native.


Indeed black widows are the more common and dangerous spider in MI, i dont recall seeing one though.


Most commonly i see wolf spiders, daddy long legs, common house spiders, some small black furry spider.

 

[diligentcircle]

I currently live in Indiana, the summers aren't that hot, also they are much more likely to find their food outside than inside, so inside they would just starve to death (seriously, when I see their webs inside the house there is never anything stuck in them).

Your thinking is flawed. Spiders that live in human houses are adapted to very low food supplies and very comfortable and predictable tempuratures. Like I said, it would be nicer of you to kill the spider than to put it in an environment that it simply cannot survive in.

I think i had an encounter with a brown recluse and im in MI. I based it on the shape on the back. But that is interesting they are not native.


Indeed black widows are the more common and dangerous spider in MI, i dont recall seeing one though.


Most commonly i see wolf spiders, daddy long legs, common house spiders, some small black furry spider.

Brown recluse spiders simply don't exist in Michigan. Plenty of spiders are brown, and the often-talked-about "violin" pattern is incredibly common among spiders. There is no way to properly identify what species a spider is by just looking at it; you need to take it to a professional arachnologist if you want it identified.


As an aside, what we call "daddy long legs" (opiliones) are arachnids, but not spiders. You also shouldn't use the term "daddy long legs" on the internet, because different people around the world use that same term for different things.

 

[Caine]

And to top it all off, I'm supposed to just accept when someone kills a harmless spider because it creeps them out or they're afraid of it.

The same argument could be made for the insects. I don't hate spiders at all, most corners of the house have one, but if they go where they don't belong, they die.

 

[Prometheus]

You also shouldn't use the term "daddy long legs" on the internet, because different people around the world use that same term for different things.

And different insects. In the UK, the name "Daddy Long-Legs" is used to refer to the cranefly.

 

[diligentcircle]

And to top it all off, I'm supposed to just accept when someone kills a harmless spider because it creeps them out or they're afraid of it.

The same argument could be made for the insects. I don't hate spiders at all, most corners of the house have one, but if they go where they don't belong, they die.

There's a big difference, though: spiders normally live in houses (it's the natural habitat for the ones that live there), they're free pest controllers, and they're never in the way or annoying. The main insects I kill in my house are houseflies and mosquitoes. Mosquitoes because they bite (if they're pregnant females) and houseflies because they're gross and annoying ("gross" referring not to regular insect xenophobia, but the fact that they have a great tendency to carry bacteria and can spread diseases, mostly because they poop a lot).


I'm curious, though, where don't they belong? I mean, I wouldn't want them in my food or something, but they tend to stay on the walls and in cracks, places that are out of the way (in my experience, at least).

You also shouldn't use the term "daddy long legs" on the internet, because different people around the world use that same term for different things.

And different insects. In the UK, the name "Daddy Long-Legs" is used to refer to the cranefly.

Insects are things.

 

[Asmo]

In the UK, the name "Daddy Long-Legs" is used to refer to the cranefly.

Which has led to the enduring and often stated-as-fact myth that 'Daddy Long Legs' (referring to Craneflies) have the most toxic venom known to man, but their bite can't penetrate Human skin.


Seriously, until the internet came along it was impossible to convince people Craneflies weren't thwarted killers.

 

[Prometheus]

Yep, exactly. :lol: Though I'm not sure that the internet has helped that any - I never even knew of the myth until I came across it online! (Of course, I just laughed. )

 

[FaeMinx]

("gross" referring not to regular insect xenophobia, but the fact that they have a great tendency to carry bacteria and can spread diseases, mostly because they poop a lot).

... and the fact that they regurgitate their stomach contents all over whatever it is they're snacking on... essentially digesting it outside of their bodies before sucking it up again.


Picture this: flies buzzing all over some doggy Doo in the yard, maybe even gorging on some long dead putrifying rodent... Said fly/s fly through the window and land on your juicy rump steak... Even if you shoo them off almost immediately, there will still be tiny bits of partially digested rotting rodent and dog crap on your steak...


Oh, and probably some fly crap too.


Yummy!

Insects are things.

Are they? I always thought that you had to be non-living or inanimate to be a thing...


... Oh but wait... there's that horror movie...


I'm confused now.


Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

 

[Caine]

There's a big difference, though: spiders normally live in houses (it's the natural habitat for the ones that live there), they're free pest controllers, and they're never in the way or annoying. The main insects I kill in my house are houseflies and mosquitoes. Mosquitoes because they bite (if they're pregnant females) and houseflies because they're gross and annoying ("gross" referring not to regular insect xenophobia, but the fact that they have a great tendency to carry bacteria and can spread diseases, mostly because they poop a lot).

No argument here, I fully agree with you.

I'm curious, though, where don't they belong? I mean, I wouldn't want them in my food or something, but they tend to stay on the walls and in cracks, places that are out of the way (in my experience, at least).

Most of the time they stay out of the way. Sometimes they decide to explore your desk or make webs in front of the attic window or stuff like that. That's when they go. I kill at most a couple per year, but I have no problem doing so.

 

[diligentcircle]

In the UK, the name "Daddy Long-Legs" is used to refer to the cranefly.

Which has led to the enduring and often stated-as-fact myth that 'Daddy Long Legs' (referring to Craneflies) have the most toxic venom known to man, but their bite can't penetrate Human skin.


Seriously, until the internet came along it was impossible to convince people Craneflies weren't thwarted killers.

That myth exists for harvestmen (what we call "Daddy Long Legs" over here) and cellar spiders ("Daddy Long Legs" in Australia). It's not just a name problem, it's just a stupid myth that doesn't apply to anything that is called "daddy long legs"; not crane flies, not harvestmen, and not cellar spiders. Harvestmen have no venom at all, and cellar spiders don't have particularly potent venom (they have weak venom, in fact).

 

[ZXDunny]

I'm curious, though, where don't they belong?

I don't like to see them in my underpants.


D.

 

[MarioPandio]

I'd never thought of ejected spiders before as Captain Oates, in the shuddering inappropriate climates they may well be finding themselves within, at a moments (from within a glass) notice but yes it's true, the poor sods probably know more about what we all endured as kids thanks to to Rick Moranis, than Macaulay Culkin. As It seems we are never truly home alone.


I personally adored spiders as a child and respect them as an adult but still don't trust any I don't recognise and as has been pointed out, it would require a specialist to even be sure of that.


They are free pest killers though and get rid of the nastier species, yet the fear of germs ranks even higher on the more pointless list of phobias.....live a little


strong language herein, was once (seldom) contained and god bless him for that!


George Carlin on the Fear of Germs


http://www.ebaumswor...watch/81388846/

 

[budweiser]

We have the Brown Recluse here in Arizona and I see them often , but we don't worry about them to much , but there is many people here that get seriosly injured from them .. but then again if I lived in africa I probally would be used to the lions ..Point is be aware of your surrondings , no matter where you live there is always something dangerous..