There are all sorts of different fears that people have. Some people are afraid of small spaces. Some people are afraid of clowns. Even others are afraid of patterns of holes in objects. Phobias are abundant in our world today. Among these phobias there’s one known as arachnophobia. Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. Many people suffer from this irrational fear. The spider is a small insect many times smaller than we are. They have everything to fear from us and we have very little to fear from them. Even still, this unreasonable fear continues to propagate. Let’s talk about spiders, where they live, how they live and how to deal with them in your home.
SPIDERS, ARACHNIDS AND WEBBING
Spiders are known as arachnids. They are technically not bugs. Arachnids differ from regular bugs in fact they have eight legs as opposed to six. They don’t have three distinct body parts like insects do. Spiders don’t drag their body on the ground. Their bodies are suspended up off the ground. Spiders also have a unique ability to create webs. They use a gland in their bodies to create a thin thread like substance that can be used to create their nests, hunt for other insects or many other useful things.
Some spiders use their thread to balloon through the air. This could strike serious fear in those with arachnophobia. Many orb spiders, will create a round circular patterned web that they used to catch insects. They’ll wait on that web and feel for the gentle tugging of a fly or other insect colliding into their web. Then, they will pounce on their prey, wrapping it up in webbing and piercing it with venomous fangs. This will paralyzed their prey until they can later eat it. Spiders are known for injecting their prey with both venom and digestive juices. This breaks down the innards of the insect they have caught. They can then suck out the pre-digested inside of an insect. It’s pretty gross.
POISENOUS SPIDERS
There are many spiders with venom, but few of them have the ability to bite or harm humans. In the state of Oklahoma, we have two particularly poisonous spiders. The first one that we have is known as the black widow. It is a very famous spider. It is black with a red hourglass shape on its underbelly. It hangs upside down in order to display this marking to the world. These spiders are very round and bulbous, but also hairless.
When the two spiders mate, the female will attempt to inject the male spider with venom and then consume it. In some cases, the male will escape and go on to mate with another female. But sometimes the male will sacrifice itself, allowing the female to eat it. The reason it does this is because, if it can further mate with a female, there is a higher chance that the female will become pregnant.
MORE ABOUT THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER
After this is done, the female will lay eggs and take care of her young. The young will link themselves to the mother until they are big enough to go out on their own. The black widow, when cornered, will bite a human being. The venom of a black widow is extremely poisonous to humans and can cause very severe side effects including death. If you think you’ve been bitten by a black widow, it’s important that you try to capture the black widow and bring it with you to the hospital. Seek medical attention as quickly as possible.
But if a black widow does bite you, it is not certain that you have been injected with venom. The black widow, like many other spiders, has the ability to meter the amount of venom that it injects into what it bites. It takes a lot of energy to build the venom up that black widow needs for hunting and defense. If a black widow feels it can be successful without using venom, and that bite will scare off its predator, it will refrain from using any venom. It can also inject a small amount of venom or, if need be, give a full dose of venom.
THE BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER
The second poisonous spider that we find in Oklahoma is the brown recluse. This spider is also known as the fiddle back. The fiddle back is a very thin spider, brown in color, with very little hair. This spider, as his name implies, hides often. It does not create a large web like the black widow or another orb spider. It makes a very irregular web that it uses as a nest. The brown recluse tends to hunt solitarily at night. It will stalk its prey, and jump out and attack it when it’s not looking. It will use its venom to paralyze its prey and then drag it back to its nest.
These spiders will seek to flee before they seek to bite. But if they do bite you, it can be very dangerous. In most cases, these spiders are caught in a shoe or some other hiding spot that we don’t know about. When someone gets up and put on their shoe, the spider find itself trapped and then bites. The brown recluse, just as the black widow, can choose to inject venom with its bite or not. It can meter the amount of venom getting injected and if it can get away with not using its venom it will. The venom of the brown recluse can cause the skin around the bite to die and rot. If you believe you’ve been bitten by a brown recluse spider, again tried to capture the spider and then seek medical attention immediately.
ELIMINATING SPIDERS FOR GOOD
If you’re having issues with spiders or any other insects, it’s time to call in a Broken Arrow pest control company that can get the job done. TermMax Pest Control is the pest control company that can get the job done. We service the greater Tulsa area including Claremore, Catoosa, Broken Arrow, Coweta, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Prattville, Bixby, Jenks, Turley, Owasso and much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!
