If it is brown and it scares you, it must be a BROWN RECLUSE!
Startled and Feeling Foolish
- Thread starter MoreSaltThanPepper
- Start date
That spider looks like a nerd.How could anyone possibly be afraid of it?
Hmmm.. I can help explain it. The spider itself is not scary by any means I always think of what they do when I am sleeping. Are they crawling in my mouth? They say we eat hundreds of spiders in our lifetime. UGH. I also can not stand anything that crunches when stepped on, makes loud noises as they bounce off you (June bugs), anything that jumps, crickets, frogs etc. My kids get upset I will not catch frogs for them.
Just as long as it isn't a Brown Recluse... those things scare me. I don’t have arachnophobia (I've handled lots when I worked in a pet store), but the bit on those BRs is the stuff horror-movies are made of.
If it IS a BR I'd contact somebody in the area to find/deal with any possible nests of them; especially if you have kids.
Do NOT look up Brown Reculse Bites (especially on YouTube) unless you have a strong stomach.
EDIT: Excellent link Dewaine! I agree that a lot of things about spiders (many animals, really) can be blown out of proportion, but generally I believe in better-safe-than-sorry when dealing with unknown; especially in nature. In Newfoundland a young actor was hiking with some friends and ate what he believed to be wild celery. It turned out to be Monkshood (one of the most poisonous plants of European flora). You won't see him in any upcoming movies... ever.
If it IS a BR I'd contact somebody in the area to find/deal with any possible nests of them; especially if you have kids.
Do NOT look up Brown Reculse Bites (especially on YouTube) unless you have a strong stomach.
EDIT: Excellent link Dewaine! I agree that a lot of things about spiders (many animals, really) can be blown out of proportion, but generally I believe in better-safe-than-sorry when dealing with unknown; especially in nature. In Newfoundland a young actor was hiking with some friends and ate what he believed to be wild celery. It turned out to be Monkshood (one of the most poisonous plants of European flora). You won't see him in any upcoming movies... ever.
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I just looked up a Golden Orb Weaver and....
I don't know...the spider in your picture looks a bit smaller.
We call those banana spiders. I'd as soon have someone throw a rattlesnake on me rather than one of those. They get really big. They're big enough that I was able to shoot one out of the top of a pine tree with a .22 rifle a couple of years ago. Nasty things.
I kinda like the little fuzzy jumping spiders.
They are cute.
I love those little jumping guys! About ten years ago, I had the The Simpsons theme on my Win98 PC. The pointer was a little 3-D Homer's Head. Anyway, I had this little jumping spider who would get on my computer screen from time to time and chase little Homer's head around. It gave me hours of enjoyment. No Lie.
Spiders bring good luck in the home, I don't let my wife kill them. I have a bit of phobia regarding insects so I prefer to keep my distance.
Tarantulas can grow to huge proportions if exposed to radioactive materials. Did you see the movie?
Tarantulas can grow to huge proportions if exposed to radioactive materials. Did you see the movie?
Unfortunately I did. And it was trash(8-Legged Freaks). I thought it would be stupid-funny, but it was just stupid. I should have known. Arquette was in it.
In the last two years I've been bit twice by a black widow, once by a brown recluse, and three times by a wolf spider. The brown recluse got me on my foot, and it left a nice permanent scar the size of a quarter. The day after it got me my skin had turned black. I went to the doctor that day and got an antibiotic ointment which kept it from spreading. Still, the entire area that was infected is still highly visible. Though irritated, it wasn't painful.
A Wolf spider swells the surface up like a pimple. Those suckers burn until the swelling is gone. Usually no medical treatment is required. They're kind of like a big ant bite.
I was bit twice by a Black Widow. These are the most painful and most potentially dangerous of all the spider bites. The first time was considered a "dry" bite, as the fangs didn't penetrate my skin deep enough to adequately release any venom. I had a slight burn and redness but nothing else. The second time nearly resulted in me losing a finger. My index finger swelled up to twice its normal size and tissue began dying at an alarming rate within hours.
So basically my point is if you get bit by a brown recluse or a black widow, do not hesitate to see a doctor that day. If you wait until the next day you'll probably end up with at the least, permanent scarring. I'm lucky my bad bites were on my foot and finger, respectively, because if they had been on my face or something my vanity would be shattered.
I'm gonna go ahead and say that if I have been bitten by two black widows, a brown recluse, and three wolf spiders within the last two years, I would be moving immediately. 
One of the joys of living in the woods. I also have a nice array of venomous snakes, ranging from the Copperhead, Water Moccasin, and the Rattlesnake. I've killed one of each this summer. Last year a Copperhead killed one of my cats. 
I also have a nice array of venomous snakes, ranging from the Copperhead, Water Moccasin, and the Rattlesnake. I've killed one of each this summer. Last year a Copperhead killed one of my cats. 
Time for a gross story.
I was born and raised in Northern California(shasta county) and we have wolf spiders there. Big ones. I'm talking 3-4 inches across.
So there I was, getting ready to take a shower. A little 3x3 shower, with a curtain.
I get in, lather up yadda yadda.
As I am washing my hair, soap running down my face, I take a small step back, and feel a squishy crunch under my right heel. I jump, open my eyes, letting lots of shampoo in, and before my eyes catch completely on fire, I see, where my heel had just been, a Wolf spider, in it's death throes, curling up into a ball.
No joke, it was one of the 4 inchers, and a body as thick as you would find on a Tarantula.
Still gives me the freaking willies when I think about that crunch under my bare foot.
I was born and raised in Northern California(shasta county) and we have wolf spiders there. Big ones. I'm talking 3-4 inches across.
So there I was, getting ready to take a shower. A little 3x3 shower, with a curtain.
I get in, lather up yadda yadda.
As I am washing my hair, soap running down my face, I take a small step back, and feel a squishy crunch under my right heel. I jump, open my eyes, letting lots of shampoo in, and before my eyes catch completely on fire, I see, where my heel had just been, a Wolf spider, in it's death throes, curling up into a ball.
No joke, it was one of the 4 inchers, and a body as thick as you would find on a Tarantula.
Still gives me the freaking willies when I think about that crunch under my bare foot.
Some of you have some pretty nasty things in your areas and they are big! I have nothing that huge or nasty. The reason must be our winters. Not alot of things can grow that huge in the 6 or fewer months of no snow! That's a nice things about -30 weather (22belowF). The worst thing we have here are ticks
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