I appreciate the message that most spiders are harmless, but it’s still too much to claim that 2 are dangerous. They’re not.
I haven’t had any opportunity to work with recluses, but widows are shy little sweethearts. They have a potent venom, but they’re seriously reluctant to use it. I let mine scurry all over my bare hands and arms, and have never been bitten, because I treat them gently and with respect.
I’d say of 3,000 species, there are 3,000 to be cautious about, and none to be afraid of. Save the fear for dogs and cats, which are much more dangerous.
How detectives caught a ‘black widow’ in her deadly web of lies
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
What if you inadvertently were to squash one a bit? Oopsies.
Surely the potential is the thing, not the general rule.
The exceptional cases where you are injected with venom, reluctant or not.
—
In an antipodean mode, I note Atrax robustus
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_funnel-web_spider#Bites_to_humans )
Seems also to be very US centric.
Cats are dangerous? I have neighborhood cats in my yard all the time and the worst that has happened is a mutual jump scare. Dogs at large can kill you and often terrorize neighborhoods, biting people and killing cats. Almost makes one want to carry a Glock.
I’m not getting hands on with widows and still fear recluses, sorry. But I adore flatties in my house and like the orb weavers around my yard. Wish I had cute and inquisitive jumping spiders in my house.
I guess pet cats represent a potential bite or severe scratch danger and carry parasites that can infect humans. Dogs can kill their owners or their kids.
Still too soon. Way too soon! New respect for the relative tranquility of neighborhood cats. So chill.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are approximately 400 deaths attributed to cats each year in the United States alone. While this number may seem surprisingly high, it is important to note that the majority of these deaths are caused by infections and diseases transmitted by cats, rather than direct attacks.”
larpar @5
Fair point. I was thinking more of the menace of direct attacks by neighborhood tabbies and those cute bunny hopping Manx on that one street in my neighborhood. Scary!
But yeah I can see disease is an issue with cats. For me allergies are enough of a deal breaker to never own one again. But I can enjoy cute cat videos on YT without fear of disease transmission or getting censused by a vicious kitten with rabies. Or wheezing.
Google search AI suggested one might accidentally trip over a cat and such a thing could be fatal. A cat on the stairs? Linked to a Quora I didn’t read.
I would say spiders couldn’t trip a human, but an overreaction to seeing a spider could cause a fall or car accident.
Cat scratches & dog bites can be infected and cause far greater health problems than a spider bite. See CSD.
Apparently being licked by an affectionate dog can result in limb loss.
https://people.com/woman-undergoes-quadruple-amputation-after-dog-lick-leads-to-sepsis-11910964
I would rather be licked on a cut by a happy dog than actually bitten by a black widow or less enthusiastically change a cat’s litter box than have a brown recluse in my shoe when I put it on.
Cats kill a lot of birds.
I like cats, but they’re vicious and cruel, in a natural way. It’s their thing.
I was sitting on the stoop on a hot evening and the cat that was staying with me at the time carried a rabbit kit right up to me and plopped it down in front. The cat was so proud.
I petted the cat and thought about cleaning it’s bloody face.
The kit was still alive, by the way.
Dog kisses too:
Last night two of the neighborhood cats started fighting directly under my bedroom window at three in the morning. I had to chase them off with a broom in order to get back to sleep.
fishy @10
Yeah I would prefer house cats stay in the house and kill rodent pests. Weird having me as their defenders, but here we are.
Cats killing native rodents and birds is not cool.
But people are willing to lean toward personal benefits over risks of pet dogs and cats but ignore benefits of most spiders. Do well fed cats do actual pest control anymore?
I have recently learned the hard way what at large dogs can do to a neighborhood and I’m still processing the indirect trauma of that. Give me a bunch of cats on my lawn any day. Fuck negligent dog owners. Special place in hell.
@7 Hemidactylus — Just last evening, the wife spotted a near-microscopic spider dangling from her overhead reading lamp. She startled herself into tipping the chair over and cutting her hand on the way down. The good news is I saved the spider from any further danger.
cellar spider ≠ daddy longlegs
At least that is not how I learned them. I learned them as two distinct types.
Pholcidae are cellar spiders.
Opiliones are daddy long legs.
I suppose the best housecat to have is one who knows the outdoors, but is ready to retire with an occasional, comfortable, look and see.
Cats that know the outside are more interesting.
50-60 are medically significant if you live in Australia. And our ‘black widow’, the Red Back, can kill. Probably about 5-6 different spiders, if bitten by, it is considered not just medically significant but a medical emergency.
Having said that, our spiders are really cool.
nomadiq @18
Some would say the same of Mick Taylor. No thank you! Never gonna be an outback tourist after all that! Keep your crater spot.
My indoor only does a great job at rodent and insect control. Being well fed doesn’t factor into the equation of a predator. If it moves, the hunting instinct activates.
He begs to go outside, but between other cats and cars he is not allowed except on leash. When I lived in the countryside my cats did go outside and caught many mice, despite being fed daily. They were worthless against the deer and moles unfortunately.
I’ve had close calls with Sydney Funnelwebs and their rural relatives. I treat them with respect. Wolf spiders may be harmless but I did try shifting one out of the house once and it really bit down on the stick I was using so just the bite from the fangs would be very painful. I had a pet huntsman in the bathroom for several month. It did a good job dealing with the cockroaches. As for redbacks, this little ditty should serve as a warning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnEqmnOfV6Q
With fewer cat lives.
cf. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7070728/
↓
Abstract
Simple Summary
Outdoor access for companion cats is a controversial topic. Some have suggested that outdoor access can negatively impact the welfare of companion cats through increased risks of disease and parasites, injury or death due to traffic, predation or ingestion of toxins, and becoming lost. In addition, cats can negatively influence their environments due to the predation of small birds and mammals, and they are sometimes a nuisance to human neighbors. Despite these concerns, recent estimates suggest that many owners still allow their cats outside, likely because it also provides cats with exercise, and allows them to perform natural behaviors, such as hunting, exploring, and climbing. While some suggest that cats need outdoor access, others recommend ways for cats to meet these needs indoors by providing enrichment and properly supervising cats during outdoor access. This review examines the risks and benefits associated with outdoor access for cats, as well as what is currently known about peoples’ practices, knowledge, and attitudes about the provision of outdoor access for cats.
Did you call it Gary?
I generally like the creepy crawlies, but I prefer the Minnesota spiders to the Aussie ones.
FWIW, I can assure USAnians that we Aussies are, as a population, no less arachnophobic than they.
Thing is, as PZ notes, one has to push things.
—
True anecdote:
Once, at work, a cow orker saw a huntsman and freaked and another colle ague got a can of bug spray and basically used half the can on it.
I think it drowned, its lung slits* blocked with gobs of nerve poison (that needs but a fractional amount to kill insects and arachnids).
Big stain on the wall, and on the carpet.
(I am not even slightly exaggerating. This is in semi-rural South Australia)
—
* lung slits on spiders and spiracles on insects — I looked it up just then.
I too would freak out at a giant spider running up the wall, but I’m never afraid of catching and taking them outdoors before the cat eats them.
I don’t think I would be quite so fearless with Australia sized arachnids despite them being mostly harmless.
….vector for bird flu…
…spiders?…
I woke up one morning to find the bathroom wall covered with tiny baby spiders. I cried excitedly to my husband, “We’re grandparents! We have grand-spiders!” Somehow this did not make him excited. :( We kept the bathroom window open, the screen being no obstacle for such tiny beings, and they dispersed within a couple of days.
I’m one of those people who is exceptionally attractive to mosquitoes, to the point where I have gone on group hikes, practically bathed in DEET, yet functioning as sacrificial mosquito meat for the group. The bites on me swell to the size of quarters and itch for many days. Therefore, as regards spiders, any creature who eats mosquitoes is a friend of mine.
Interesting. There’s no advantage to American spiders being able to kill humans so why are some Aussie spiders so dangerous? BTW, in the UK daddy long legs are crane flies.
@28 rockwhisperer
DEET for dinner? Study finds mosquitoes could learn to love bug spray
Respect spiders. Don’t fear but respect. Be kind to them.
Spiders are amazing living creatures. They have their ecological roles and lives and so many astounding, fascinating facets of their intrinsic nature.
They are a part of the base of the food chain our whole world relies upon.
They deserve their space and our respect and have their place and think of them as natural mortein too.
/Cap’n Obvs?
@ John Morales : “lung slits on spiders and spiracles on insects — I looked it up just then.”
Lung slits – land gills?
Versus gills?
Wikipedia says book lungs – so presumably good reading material as well as enabling one to breathe :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_lung
Anyone able to read book lungs? 999
Also exaggerated: the lilkelihood that some random brown spider in the US is a brown recluse. (Essentially zero outside its natural range, the central states south of the Great Lakes.) Per Wikipedia:
The number of “false positive” reports based on misidentifications is considerable; in a nationwide study where people submitted spiders that they thought were brown recluses, of 581 from California only one was a brown recluse—submitted by a family that moved from Missouri and brought it with them…
@ ^ rblackadar : What did they do that for? Pet of theirs?
I think there is even a species in Germany which I’d keep away from in the interest of minimising the risk. Indeed, unfortunately it chances that I am prone to some twitchings on the occasion, and I wouldn’t enrage a field spider, whose bite is known to be painful.
I’m also not sure how allergies come into play, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if allergies to spider bites are a thing (a quick startpage.com search in fact did appear to turn up a few examples).
Don’t do it at home.
StevoR @35, stowaway?
Almost all spiders are On Staff.
Come to Australia
You might accidentally get killed
https://youtu.be/eNEeq5qGh8I?si=LP2MPtNcs2u9YH-W