Yes it is quite true when experts would say there is less to fear in spider bites than the spider itself. There are indeed very few species of spiders (countable numbers) that can induce very potent venom toxins which could seriously harm human health and most of them are even far from the human civilizations. However, some of them do really live among us, like the black widow spider which happens to be very common in the North American Continent. They are the ones that people should still be on the lookout for as you may never know when and where they could attack and cause you the medical hassles you are quite forgiving of a possibility of.
Although, you have to understand that unlike our sinister insect friends, mosquitoes, spiders don't seek out human beings just so they could bite them. Generally, spiders will never ever bite any human beings unless it feels threatened, intimidated or cornered. In order, they don't bite unless they are somehow externally, deliberately or unintentionally disturbed. Also most spider fangs are so small that they are unable to penetrate an adult person's skin. Also, spiders may also bite humans if they are accidentally or deliberately disturbed in their webs. Web weaving spiders are often tricked into the impression that they have caught something in their webs and therefore, they bite.
In truth, the severity of a spider bite may depend on certain different factors such as the kind of spider that bit the person, the dosage of venom injected in a bite, and the age and health condition of the person that has been bit. More than half the time, spider bites don't cause any reaction at all, but there are certain individuals with skin allergies that tend to develop severe dermal reactions after a bite. The harshest conditions that a normal healthy person could get from a common spider bite would range from minimal itching in the skin, stiffness, redness, minor inflammation, and pain which at worst would be par to a bee sting. Commonly, symptoms from a spider bite could only last from a few minutes to few hours depending on the size of the spider fangs and the kind of venom injected upon a bite. However, reactions to every bite may differ from person to person. If the symptoms would evolve into much harsher conditions of reactions, it would be wise to call a physician right away or send the person bitten to a hospital to have the reactions checked and treated as soon as possible.
There are times as well the spider bites are undetectable and symptoms would only then develop after a few minutes to hours after the bite. In some cases, there are species of arthropods that are often mistaken as spiders when they bite. Arthropods like ticks, bees, fleas, bedbugs, wasps, and mosquitoes.
First Aid Treatments
For first aid treatments on spider bites, you may commence with washing the bitten area first with clean water and then applying an antiseptic to prevent any possible infections. Then you can use ice or ice cold water to reduce the inflammation or swelling of the bitten spot. Often, the bites from arthropods, not only limited to spiders, could result to extreme itchiness. Instead of scratching the bitten area, one should apply itch relieving medications or treatments on it. Scratching the bitten area may potentially lead to dermal lacerations which could become infected and worsen the situation. However, if you find out early one that a black widow or any member of the venomous spider species have bitten you, or you suddenly have internal sensations as reactions to the bite, it would be wise to have yourself check with a physician or submit yourself of clinical confinement.
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Two General Classifications of Spiders
Most of us don't pay close attention to how spiders behave. We often are inhibited by the precedence of fear and disgust that's why we take less pleasure in getting to know these 8-legged creatures. While this is true and undeniable, there are also things we all need to know about them in order to fully understand their nature. Knowing them fully doesn't only warrant us of extra additional knowledge about things, but it can also give us an idea on how to effectively deal with them without fail. That is the most important part in dealing with pest like spiders; to know more about them and use this collective information against them so that we won't have to be bothered by them anymore in the near future.
For beginners, we could start by getting to know the two general classifications of spiders that we often find in our homes. Actually, we can generalize them into two types: one is the kind of spider that hunts or often called wandering spiders, and the other one is the kind of spider that builds webs. These two distinctions basically pertain to how they approach their prey. Although, all spider species are able to produce spider silk and threads, some of them don't necessarily use them to capture their prey. Wandering spiders would often take their time walking on the ground or prowling in the trees in search for meal. While orb weaving spiders take their time hanging in their webs until a prey ensnares itself on the sticky structure. Typically, wandering spiders are relatively larger than web-building spiders naturally because they would have to really in their brute strength to fight their way in rendering their prey. They also usually have keener eyesight for better detection of their food while on the other hand, web-building spider are often weaker or even blind in their visual capabilities.
These are the two general classifications of spiders. Below we will be further identifying which type of spider belongs to what classification so that you will be able to identify them as well whenever they are present inside your household. It is important that you get to know them so that you may be able to know what type of control method you are going to use or what type of approach will you do to effectively deal with them. Often there are certain specific methods of approach depending on what classification of spider you are dealing with.
Hunting Spiders Members
1. Jumping Spiders
Perhaps the most common type and regularly seen hunting spider member is the jumping spider. We do really see them all around most of the time whether indoor or outdoor. We may say that they have probably infiltrated all levels of human territories and perhaps they are also the most prevalent and numerous species of spiders in the planet. These athletically agile spiders are often found most active at day time. They are usually found in window ceils, verandas, balconies, ceilings, walls and all other areas of the house which are usually exposed to sunlight. They frequent this type of places because they instinctively know that the light of the sun will enable them to see their prey clearly and thus giving them leverage in easily capturing their prey. Jumping spiders are generally small spiders. They range from 1/5 to 1/2 of an inch long and usually they are dark colored and compact looking arthropods.
2. Wolf Spiders
This type of spiders is larger than most species of spiders in the planet. They are normally found outdoors but often found as well indoors in certain occasions. These spiders are prowlers and are usually seen on the ground, lurking behind on rocks stalking for any passer-by prey. But their hunting grounds are not only limited to that as they are also found in varieties of hunting locations such as meadows, grassy fields, bogs and swamps. They usually come out of their hideouts when the temperature is warm. They find this environmental temperament as an ideal season to go on hunting.
3. Fishing Spiders
Fishing spiders or dock spiders are literally into fishing. As their name would imply, they are usually found in wet to watery places like ponds, swamps, streams, and water inlets that have vegetations nearby. They are rarely seen indoors but whenever an opportunity arises they may pay a visit. Fishing spiders are dubbed to be the largest spider species in the upper Midwest areas, ranging from an inch to an inch and a half long. However if they do spread their legs, they could reach as much as four inches in length.
Web-Building Spiders Members
1. Comb Footed Spiders
Commonly known as the cobweb spiders, this type of spiders is generally found indoors and are usually the ones considered as pests by humans. They are thought to be so because they cause terrible nuisance to a house's maintenance with all their orb webs scattered all around the house. They can be also found outdoors, but most of the time they are indoors because they are instinctively aware that wherever sunlight is unable to reach, mosquitoes and other small insects thrive. These medium sized (1/8 to 3/8 inch) long spiders spend most of the day waiting for little insects to get entrapped in their webs.
2. Orb Spiders
This type of spiders requires larger coverage for their web entrapment thus they would need a larger and much more open space to build their orb webs. That's why they are not usually found indoors but are naturally found in outdoor areas like the lawn or the garden, wherein they could catch their type of prey and be able to build their full span webs. These iridescently colored spiders are relatively large species of spiders and would generally take-on species of insects relatively large as well in contrast to their own size.
3. Grass Spiders
Grass spiders of course are naturally found outdoors. But like all spiders, they can still be found wandering in certain occasions inside the house. These spiders are moderately sized range from 1/2 to 3/4 inch long.
For beginners, we could start by getting to know the two general classifications of spiders that we often find in our homes. Actually, we can generalize them into two types: one is the kind of spider that hunts or often called wandering spiders, and the other one is the kind of spider that builds webs. These two distinctions basically pertain to how they approach their prey. Although, all spider species are able to produce spider silk and threads, some of them don't necessarily use them to capture their prey. Wandering spiders would often take their time walking on the ground or prowling in the trees in search for meal. While orb weaving spiders take their time hanging in their webs until a prey ensnares itself on the sticky structure. Typically, wandering spiders are relatively larger than web-building spiders naturally because they would have to really in their brute strength to fight their way in rendering their prey. They also usually have keener eyesight for better detection of their food while on the other hand, web-building spider are often weaker or even blind in their visual capabilities.
These are the two general classifications of spiders. Below we will be further identifying which type of spider belongs to what classification so that you will be able to identify them as well whenever they are present inside your household. It is important that you get to know them so that you may be able to know what type of control method you are going to use or what type of approach will you do to effectively deal with them. Often there are certain specific methods of approach depending on what classification of spider you are dealing with.
Hunting Spiders Members
1. Jumping Spiders
 |
| (c) quepid.org |
2. Wolf Spiders
 |
| (c) magickcanoe.com |
3. Fishing Spiders
 |
| (c) bugguide.net |
Web-Building Spiders Members
1. Comb Footed Spiders
 |
| (c) brisbaneinsects.com |
2. Orb Spiders
 |
| (c) dhh.louisiana.gov |
3. Grass Spiders
 |
| (c) entomology.wisc.edu |
Outdoor Spider Control
Your spider friends may often be found both indoors and outdoors and you would really have to do something about them before you end up having a houseful of cobwebs and spider mess. Control has to be implemented in any way necessary for they may not cause physical damage to your homes but they could very well ruin a good home fashion statement and designing and you really don't want that kind of thing from happening to your beloved house. As much as possible you would want your house to stay as pretty as it was when it got built and spiders can really make that house of yours look old.
But first of all, you would have to understand why there are certain spiders found indoors and why other type of spiders are commonly found only outside of the house. If you get to know the reasons why they are found inhabiting in two different locations, you will come to understand how their biological responses work and hopefully you will be able to know how to approach the idea of controlling them. You have to understand that there are certain conditions or circumstances that dictates a spider or spiders where to dwell in a given period of time. It's your job to figure that out.
In this article we will be discussing what are the reasons behind the disparity of spider locations within a household, a discussion on the difference between indoor and outdoor spiders and how to control them given the specific spider and their location.
Implementation of Residential Spider Control
Spiders have always been cold blooded creatures, except those hairy few which are considered as mammals to some extent. That's why when the weather is warm they are usually found lurking inside the house for they won't be able to tolerate the warm weather conditions outside. But it doesn't necessarily go that they are absolutely not found inside the house during other weathers. It's just that it becomes high time for them to be lurking inside the house if it's summer or fall seasons. Usually they take this time of the year to look for hibernating wards inside human dwellings.
The implementation of spider control methods and approaches can prove to be quite a challenging task. You have to understand that it is almost improbable to fully eradicate the spiders that dwell inside the house and therefore you have to accept that there will always be still some of them left even after you have executed a full blown spider control method. Think about it, a spider could lay hundreds to thousands of eggs in a single sitting. If you happen to live in a house nearby a susceptible spider habitat like rivers, lakes or rainforests, you can therefore expect that there will be a lot of spider visitors in your home. Therefore, you may have to employ more potent measures in dealing with this situation. Most likely your house will become the house of many different species of spiders and that would be inclusive of the most dangerous ones.
One thing you have to understand in all of these is that you would have to foster a sense of acceptance on spiders at the end of the day, knowing that you can't really get rid of all of them. That would be the only time you will have peace of mind when it comes to dealing with them. One way to develop that sense of acceptance is to acknowledge their important roles to the environment. Their beneficial nature is also the foundation of many of the other species role to the entire ecosystem making them very important proponents to the environment. If ever, fostering a level of tolerance to spiders may just not be possible, you may take other options of approaches in dealing with them by using non-chemical based methods that will not have lethal aftermaths on spiders.
Outdoor Spider Control Approaches
You are very well aware that one way or the other you would have to reduce the population of spiders that inhabit your house. You may opt to begin with the usage of conventional, non-chemical based methods in dealing with them. These means are more manual in nature but they are nevertheless still very effective in reducing the spider presence inside your home. Although, it would require extra amount of time and effort but it will surely still deliver the kind of quality output you would want at the end of the day.
1. Sanitation is a very important aspect to a pest-free household. If your house is clean and free from all the things that are prone to pest infestations, then you can be assured that even spiders will not thread anywhere near your house. You may start doing that by removing stockpiles of woods or twigs or any other forms of debris that may become suitable dwelling places for spiders. Usually these kinds of places are the ones regularly inhabited by black widows which happen to be one of the most venomous spiders in the world. If you don't want to fall victim of a widow's bite, then you must get rid of those kinds of piles in your house. The same thing applies to office establishments.
2. Grasses, vines, weeds, and shrubs are among the most favorite organic places that spiders dwell. Spiders like the cool environment that these organic entities give therefore they find them as suitable breeding areas. If you don't want spiders to breed more of their species, you have to make it a point that you prevent grasses and shrubs from growing into more bushy proportions. Always cut them short and maintain them all throughout.
3. Remove webs as much as you can as they can be broods to thousands of spider eggs that may hatch anytime soon. You may call this approach as population control wherein you halt the proliferation of spider inhabitants inside your house. You may do that by knocking webs with broomsticks or water sprays.
But first of all, you would have to understand why there are certain spiders found indoors and why other type of spiders are commonly found only outside of the house. If you get to know the reasons why they are found inhabiting in two different locations, you will come to understand how their biological responses work and hopefully you will be able to know how to approach the idea of controlling them. You have to understand that there are certain conditions or circumstances that dictates a spider or spiders where to dwell in a given period of time. It's your job to figure that out.
In this article we will be discussing what are the reasons behind the disparity of spider locations within a household, a discussion on the difference between indoor and outdoor spiders and how to control them given the specific spider and their location.
Implementation of Residential Spider Control
Spiders have always been cold blooded creatures, except those hairy few which are considered as mammals to some extent. That's why when the weather is warm they are usually found lurking inside the house for they won't be able to tolerate the warm weather conditions outside. But it doesn't necessarily go that they are absolutely not found inside the house during other weathers. It's just that it becomes high time for them to be lurking inside the house if it's summer or fall seasons. Usually they take this time of the year to look for hibernating wards inside human dwellings.
The implementation of spider control methods and approaches can prove to be quite a challenging task. You have to understand that it is almost improbable to fully eradicate the spiders that dwell inside the house and therefore you have to accept that there will always be still some of them left even after you have executed a full blown spider control method. Think about it, a spider could lay hundreds to thousands of eggs in a single sitting. If you happen to live in a house nearby a susceptible spider habitat like rivers, lakes or rainforests, you can therefore expect that there will be a lot of spider visitors in your home. Therefore, you may have to employ more potent measures in dealing with this situation. Most likely your house will become the house of many different species of spiders and that would be inclusive of the most dangerous ones.
One thing you have to understand in all of these is that you would have to foster a sense of acceptance on spiders at the end of the day, knowing that you can't really get rid of all of them. That would be the only time you will have peace of mind when it comes to dealing with them. One way to develop that sense of acceptance is to acknowledge their important roles to the environment. Their beneficial nature is also the foundation of many of the other species role to the entire ecosystem making them very important proponents to the environment. If ever, fostering a level of tolerance to spiders may just not be possible, you may take other options of approaches in dealing with them by using non-chemical based methods that will not have lethal aftermaths on spiders.
Outdoor Spider Control Approaches
You are very well aware that one way or the other you would have to reduce the population of spiders that inhabit your house. You may opt to begin with the usage of conventional, non-chemical based methods in dealing with them. These means are more manual in nature but they are nevertheless still very effective in reducing the spider presence inside your home. Although, it would require extra amount of time and effort but it will surely still deliver the kind of quality output you would want at the end of the day.
1. Sanitation is a very important aspect to a pest-free household. If your house is clean and free from all the things that are prone to pest infestations, then you can be assured that even spiders will not thread anywhere near your house. You may start doing that by removing stockpiles of woods or twigs or any other forms of debris that may become suitable dwelling places for spiders. Usually these kinds of places are the ones regularly inhabited by black widows which happen to be one of the most venomous spiders in the world. If you don't want to fall victim of a widow's bite, then you must get rid of those kinds of piles in your house. The same thing applies to office establishments.
2. Grasses, vines, weeds, and shrubs are among the most favorite organic places that spiders dwell. Spiders like the cool environment that these organic entities give therefore they find them as suitable breeding areas. If you don't want spiders to breed more of their species, you have to make it a point that you prevent grasses and shrubs from growing into more bushy proportions. Always cut them short and maintain them all throughout.
3. Remove webs as much as you can as they can be broods to thousands of spider eggs that may hatch anytime soon. You may call this approach as population control wherein you halt the proliferation of spider inhabitants inside your house. You may do that by knocking webs with broomsticks or water sprays.
Indoor Spider Control
Perhaps the most annoying part of having a pest spider infestation within your territory is when they have infiltrated the interiors of your home. More than half the time you are able to tolerate spiders' presence outside of your home whether be it in your lawn or garden. You seem to perceive that scenario to be probably okay. However, it is a different story if spiders are present inside your house, with all the cobwebs everywhere and sometimes, they come down to you from the ceiling crawling on your hair or on your face while you are asleep. Just the thought of it grosses you out to fear. It becomes an even worse scenario if we are talking about people who are apparently arachnophobic. Imagine how will they be able to handle such sort of situation? Therefore, there is indeed a need for a homeowner to know the ways on how to keep those spiders from getting inside their priced abode.
A way to know how to deal with spiders that thrive in the interiors is to know the indoor spider control approaches. In contrast to outdoor spider approaches, this spider control approach deals with the spiders that are already inside the house. The main purpose is to get rid of them. However, to become more efficient and effective in getting rid of spiders for good, you have to compound this approach with the preventative aspects of outdoor spider control. These two approaches would have to go hand in hand in order to successfully combat spider infestations. You may go through the previous article if you wish to have review on how to keep spiders away from your outdoor territories and to prevent them from invading your internal home.
Indoor Spider Control
Indoor spider controls are still manual approaches in dealing with spiders just like the outdoor approaches. But this would require you to pay more close attention to the interior parts of your territories. Physical areas of the house which can be a possible entrance to spiders for them to get inside your house or possible reasons why spiders would deliberately choose to be inside your house, i.e. food resources, unsanitary conditions. You have to make sure that you eliminate all these possible reasons so that you can be ascertained of a pest spider free environment.
Despite being manual in nature, you may also opt to use some tolerable insecticide to assist your indoor spider control approaches. However, you would have to make sure that you are using the kind of insecticides that are legally prescribed. There are these types of insecticides that lead to environmental risks and harms and they happen to be prohibited by the law to be used for residential and commercial purposes. In order to avoid purchasing the wrong insecticides, make it a point to always read first through the instructions in the labels and also, research firsthand on what are the type of insecticides that happen to be prohibited from usage.
Routine house cleaning is also important when you are controlling spiders that thrive indoors. If you happen to notice a thriving, persistent spider population inside your home, this may indicate that there is another insect population inside your home that serves as a food resource to the spiders.
In order to quell the presence of these food resources, you must:
1. Get rid of all the stockpiles of paper trashes out of your house. This can be a pile unused scratch papers, cartons and boxes and all other clutters. These can serve as homes to many mosquitoes and small insects which can also be in turn become a food source to spiders. If there are a lot of insects inhabiting those areas, it will serve as an invitation to spiders to get inside your home. Never allow this kind of thing from happening. Get rid of the garbage properly and make sure noting stockpiles anywhere inside your home.
2. Cracks and seams in walls, ceilings, floor corners and doors can always become passages for not only spiders but as well as other food insects for spiders into your house. Make it a point that you seal off these openings once and for all to prevent the food sources as well as the spiders themselves in entering your indoor territory. You may do that by using sealing solutions, cements, and etc. It is important that you scout out first and identify which places inside the house have these openings. From then you can now estimate how much sealing solutions you will need for the entire task to be done.
3. Screens may be effective filtering mechanisms for a house against mosquitoes and other insects. But they are useless when they are damaged and ran. Make sure that you regularly check on your house screens to see if they are damaged or not. Immediately replace damage screens with new ones and make sure to reinforce them properly. It would help if you can double your screen layers so that in case the initial layers get damaged, the other one will act as a failsafe.
4. You should have noticed that there are certain kinds of lighting fixtures that are attracting moths and other insects. This is actually empirical in nature as there are actually enticing forms of lights to insects. Make sure that you replace your light bulbs with less attractive lightings so that it will not invite these insects and thus thwart spiders as well. Yellow bulbs are usually less inviting than those fluorescent, mercury and sodium vapour bulbs.
5. Use vacuum or brooms to sweep off the webbings on your ceiling, wall and floor corners, window ceils and doors. This can hold egg sacs which will eventually become the next breed of spider inhabitants in your home. Remove them as you see them. Look for them wherever they could possibly be.
6. Lastly, check on what type of insects are most common inside your house so that you will know how to deal with them and to prevent spiders from turning them as food sources. You may be able to know this by checking on the webbings and see which insects are usually being caught.
A way to know how to deal with spiders that thrive in the interiors is to know the indoor spider control approaches. In contrast to outdoor spider approaches, this spider control approach deals with the spiders that are already inside the house. The main purpose is to get rid of them. However, to become more efficient and effective in getting rid of spiders for good, you have to compound this approach with the preventative aspects of outdoor spider control. These two approaches would have to go hand in hand in order to successfully combat spider infestations. You may go through the previous article if you wish to have review on how to keep spiders away from your outdoor territories and to prevent them from invading your internal home.
Indoor Spider Control
Indoor spider controls are still manual approaches in dealing with spiders just like the outdoor approaches. But this would require you to pay more close attention to the interior parts of your territories. Physical areas of the house which can be a possible entrance to spiders for them to get inside your house or possible reasons why spiders would deliberately choose to be inside your house, i.e. food resources, unsanitary conditions. You have to make sure that you eliminate all these possible reasons so that you can be ascertained of a pest spider free environment.
Despite being manual in nature, you may also opt to use some tolerable insecticide to assist your indoor spider control approaches. However, you would have to make sure that you are using the kind of insecticides that are legally prescribed. There are these types of insecticides that lead to environmental risks and harms and they happen to be prohibited by the law to be used for residential and commercial purposes. In order to avoid purchasing the wrong insecticides, make it a point to always read first through the instructions in the labels and also, research firsthand on what are the type of insecticides that happen to be prohibited from usage.
Routine house cleaning is also important when you are controlling spiders that thrive indoors. If you happen to notice a thriving, persistent spider population inside your home, this may indicate that there is another insect population inside your home that serves as a food resource to the spiders.
In order to quell the presence of these food resources, you must:
1. Get rid of all the stockpiles of paper trashes out of your house. This can be a pile unused scratch papers, cartons and boxes and all other clutters. These can serve as homes to many mosquitoes and small insects which can also be in turn become a food source to spiders. If there are a lot of insects inhabiting those areas, it will serve as an invitation to spiders to get inside your home. Never allow this kind of thing from happening. Get rid of the garbage properly and make sure noting stockpiles anywhere inside your home.
2. Cracks and seams in walls, ceilings, floor corners and doors can always become passages for not only spiders but as well as other food insects for spiders into your house. Make it a point that you seal off these openings once and for all to prevent the food sources as well as the spiders themselves in entering your indoor territory. You may do that by using sealing solutions, cements, and etc. It is important that you scout out first and identify which places inside the house have these openings. From then you can now estimate how much sealing solutions you will need for the entire task to be done.
3. Screens may be effective filtering mechanisms for a house against mosquitoes and other insects. But they are useless when they are damaged and ran. Make sure that you regularly check on your house screens to see if they are damaged or not. Immediately replace damage screens with new ones and make sure to reinforce them properly. It would help if you can double your screen layers so that in case the initial layers get damaged, the other one will act as a failsafe.
4. You should have noticed that there are certain kinds of lighting fixtures that are attracting moths and other insects. This is actually empirical in nature as there are actually enticing forms of lights to insects. Make sure that you replace your light bulbs with less attractive lightings so that it will not invite these insects and thus thwart spiders as well. Yellow bulbs are usually less inviting than those fluorescent, mercury and sodium vapour bulbs.
5. Use vacuum or brooms to sweep off the webbings on your ceiling, wall and floor corners, window ceils and doors. This can hold egg sacs which will eventually become the next breed of spider inhabitants in your home. Remove them as you see them. Look for them wherever they could possibly be.
6. Lastly, check on what type of insects are most common inside your house so that you will know how to deal with them and to prevent spiders from turning them as food sources. You may be able to know this by checking on the webbings and see which insects are usually being caught.
General Spider Management
I suppose there are only two generally way that would sum up the entire idea of pest control approach, even with spider control. One approach would be the use of preventive, non-chemical based methods and the other would be the chemical based. Both of them are effective and efficient in dealing with spider pests but more than half the time only one of them would fit to one's preferences on pest control methods. Sometimes, the preferences are governed by some set of rules and regulations as there are certain restrictions on some methods of approach in dealing with pest spiders. For example, there are some chemical based spider control pesticides that are not allowed in some states because they could serious detriment to the surrounding environment once it is used. Such considerations should be carefully and thoughtfully underscored to ensure that you will not have to go through any legal ramifications and sanctions in the near future.
But before we move on discussing about these pest spider control methods, there is an important thing that must be impressed to the reader of this article. The idea here is only to control them and not eradicate them. One must understand that supposedly, spiders are ought to be encouraged to exist in the environment because of their natural purposes that serve crucial importance to the ecological balance. Your task then is to maintain their numbers that they don't go out of hand and cause setbacks to your properties. At some point even, using pesticides to deal with spiders are no longer necessary, as they will on their own remove themselves from human territories. What you are actually doing when executing a pest spider control method is that you are controlling their population. And I suppose the best approach is to naturally get rid of their food sources by implementing sanitation inside your house. That way you wouldn't even have to kill them whenever necessary.
Prevention and Organic Pest Control Methods
Spiders are often small creatures and would conveniently fit in through small openings. Seams and small cracks are ideal passages for spiders to get inside your property. It would be wise to seal off these openings to prevent any further spider incursions. Another way for spiders to infiltrate inside your house is through vessels firewoods, plants, boxes, cartons and crates which are often transported inside-out of your house. In order to prevent spiders' transportation through these vessels, make sure that any of the items are checked and cleaned first before they are carried inside your home. That way you will prevent the spiders from attaching themselves through these items and infiltrating your home. Regular routine chores also help a lot in controlling spiders in your house. Usually spiders like to lurk and thrive in dirty secluded places and you have to make sure that such places don't exist inside your house. Vacuuming is always a very effective way to deal with spiders as their soft bodies could never be able to withstand the suction pressure. And also, clean off cobwebs as you see them. Dusty old cobwebs are potentially no longer in use by any spider.
If you are to take care of individual spiders, you may be able to do so placing a jar on them. Not the other end though cause it would squish them. Place a piece of paper beneath the jar so that they will be sealed within the jar and you can then just throw them away for good. Make sure you throw them away from your house otherwise, they will just probably find their way back in.
Screens could also help a lot in keeping spiders away from entering your house. Not only does it deter spiders from getting in but as well as other insects that spiders would have for food. If there's no food source to find inside your house, spiders will find no interest in thriving in your place. Make sure that the screens that you will use are those that are tight and have very small openings to ensure no insects will ever get through. You also have to regularly check on the screens to make sure there are no damages or ran on it.
Chemical Control
Usually, pesticides are of no use to quelling spider infestations unless you can visible spiders and spray it on them. That's the only time that spider pesticides could actually work. Fumigating type of pesticides is usually prohibited as they could often lead to serious health hazards and environmental risks due to unintentional absorption. There have been many occasions when a spider remains unaffected by any spider pesticide treatments. A spider may just walk on and over a treated area without getting killed even if the treatment has just been implemented a few hours ago. It means, it can only take effect on the spider if the pesticide is directly sprayed on the spider itself. The residuals of the spray have little or no effect at all to its target.
There are also certain chemical treatments that contain amorphous silica gel and also pyrethrins that deal with spider problems. However, complex chemicals such as these ought not to be used by amateur hands. Hence it would require professional assistance to have them applied effectively, and even with a professional's hands there are still necessary precautions that have to be done initially to ensure that the implementation of the chemical is safe. The chemical works as a corrosive element that imbues itself with the dust and air and once it comes in contact with the spider; the spider's exoskeleton will react to it, causing it to dry out and would eventually kill the spider at some point. The process is somehow like dehydration wherein the organism is deprived of its water components. Usually, these treatments are placed on seams and cracks wherein spiders are most likely to go through. So that by the time they get in the house, they wouldn't have much time anymore to live.
But before we move on discussing about these pest spider control methods, there is an important thing that must be impressed to the reader of this article. The idea here is only to control them and not eradicate them. One must understand that supposedly, spiders are ought to be encouraged to exist in the environment because of their natural purposes that serve crucial importance to the ecological balance. Your task then is to maintain their numbers that they don't go out of hand and cause setbacks to your properties. At some point even, using pesticides to deal with spiders are no longer necessary, as they will on their own remove themselves from human territories. What you are actually doing when executing a pest spider control method is that you are controlling their population. And I suppose the best approach is to naturally get rid of their food sources by implementing sanitation inside your house. That way you wouldn't even have to kill them whenever necessary.
Prevention and Organic Pest Control Methods
Spiders are often small creatures and would conveniently fit in through small openings. Seams and small cracks are ideal passages for spiders to get inside your property. It would be wise to seal off these openings to prevent any further spider incursions. Another way for spiders to infiltrate inside your house is through vessels firewoods, plants, boxes, cartons and crates which are often transported inside-out of your house. In order to prevent spiders' transportation through these vessels, make sure that any of the items are checked and cleaned first before they are carried inside your home. That way you will prevent the spiders from attaching themselves through these items and infiltrating your home. Regular routine chores also help a lot in controlling spiders in your house. Usually spiders like to lurk and thrive in dirty secluded places and you have to make sure that such places don't exist inside your house. Vacuuming is always a very effective way to deal with spiders as their soft bodies could never be able to withstand the suction pressure. And also, clean off cobwebs as you see them. Dusty old cobwebs are potentially no longer in use by any spider.
If you are to take care of individual spiders, you may be able to do so placing a jar on them. Not the other end though cause it would squish them. Place a piece of paper beneath the jar so that they will be sealed within the jar and you can then just throw them away for good. Make sure you throw them away from your house otherwise, they will just probably find their way back in.
Screens could also help a lot in keeping spiders away from entering your house. Not only does it deter spiders from getting in but as well as other insects that spiders would have for food. If there's no food source to find inside your house, spiders will find no interest in thriving in your place. Make sure that the screens that you will use are those that are tight and have very small openings to ensure no insects will ever get through. You also have to regularly check on the screens to make sure there are no damages or ran on it.
Chemical Control
Usually, pesticides are of no use to quelling spider infestations unless you can visible spiders and spray it on them. That's the only time that spider pesticides could actually work. Fumigating type of pesticides is usually prohibited as they could often lead to serious health hazards and environmental risks due to unintentional absorption. There have been many occasions when a spider remains unaffected by any spider pesticide treatments. A spider may just walk on and over a treated area without getting killed even if the treatment has just been implemented a few hours ago. It means, it can only take effect on the spider if the pesticide is directly sprayed on the spider itself. The residuals of the spray have little or no effect at all to its target.
There are also certain chemical treatments that contain amorphous silica gel and also pyrethrins that deal with spider problems. However, complex chemicals such as these ought not to be used by amateur hands. Hence it would require professional assistance to have them applied effectively, and even with a professional's hands there are still necessary precautions that have to be done initially to ensure that the implementation of the chemical is safe. The chemical works as a corrosive element that imbues itself with the dust and air and once it comes in contact with the spider; the spider's exoskeleton will react to it, causing it to dry out and would eventually kill the spider at some point. The process is somehow like dehydration wherein the organism is deprived of its water components. Usually, these treatments are placed on seams and cracks wherein spiders are most likely to go through. So that by the time they get in the house, they wouldn't have much time anymore to live.
A Victory Story About Spider Fear II
(This is part II of the guest post sent to me by Christian C. - read part I here)
So I went on living in a world full of fear over some creatures that are barely the size of my thumb (except for those species that are particularly larger though). I was somehow living in an incarcerated existence; full and hesitation in every move. I couldn't act or move around the way normal people would do. I was too afraid that I might end up encountering a spider along the way in any of the moves that I make. Too afraid to go to places in the fear that a spider might just be lurking in the dark corners of that place, it was a bit milder of hell-like life, however, nevertheless it was still bad living that way. I felt that I really had to do something to change things the way they were. Spiders are small creatures and are even apparently harmless according to many researches and scientific ratifications and therefore I should feel the way I do about them. I felt that I have to conquer this fear for them and find a way to surface from the drowning feeling of being imprisoned by intimidation. I can't live the difficult life anymore. One day I went out to find a way on how to deal with this long running fear for the creatures. I went to a nearby therapist.
The therapist that I went to was recommended by a friend in the office. That friend somehow noticed me so inhibited by my disorder and I couldn't be as productive as I should be. So I went to the therapist upon my office mate's advice. I felt awkward at first, entering the office of the therapist as I don't know where to begin in telling my tale or probably I felt ashamed that time telling him about my fear. I felt that the fear I had was just nothing else but a joke that could be personally dealt with. But it wasn't long until that I recollected myself and accepted that I do need some help and it has got to be with therapist that I will find one soon enough. A good kind of help I thought, considering his professional statute. I had a feeling that I was in the right place. I just hoped that I wouldn't end up getting disappointed to find out that the entire thing was a total sham.
I told the therapist everything that I've been through. Starting from how it all started and the progressive manifestation that have eventually developed me into fearing spiders. I even went into the process of introspection and regression, in order to fully remember the precise details and to assess which incident or situation that triggered me into fearing the creatures. It lead me into telling the real score of that incident when I watched the movie and the spider that fell off on my face. It didn't take much for the therapist to know the real problem as to why I developed such fear. And then he prepared me to a series of therapy sessions.
He started by talking me right into resting on the couch and asked me to meditate on my fear. He told me to visualize on the idea of seeing a spider and imagining that there's one that's near me right now. He also talked me into thinking that there's actually one spider that's crawling in my skin at the moment and in the concurrently asked me questions about how I felt towards the scenario. I told him that I'm really panicking at the moment and any time then I would truly freak out and would probably walk out of the room because of the mind projection thing that's going on. I started to feel that I was in the wrong place and my spirit began to weaver as I thought that I would never really get through the entire process. I thought that I would just settle with having the fear for my entire life. I even thought that as long as it doesn't get me killed I will be just okay. But a part of me wanted to continue and push through the entire nightmare-ish process of projecting a spider walking and crawling into my skin.
Even the therapist forced me into visualizing the entire idea of a spider walking into my skin. Every time I feel like giving up, the therapist would always remind of the goal I set upon myself when I entered the room and impressed unto me the gravity of the situation that will be if I don't succeed in the therapy. It somehow got me into thinking and decided to pursue the entire program even if the fear that has beset me is already crucifying me. But I know I had to push true.
The entire meditation and concentration part of the program took me a while until I got around of the idea of a spider crawling in my skin. I could already visualize me being calm about the spider presence. But the program didn't stop there as there is still the last part of the program which involves a more physical and real approach. This time, the therapist took a transparent jar with a spider as large as my fist. I almost felt like freaking out at that time and I think I was just a brink away from scurrying out of the room straight through the door. But I knew I had already made a resolve, and if I do run away, it would have been all for nothing and I don't want to make my trip to the therapist pointless. So I sat and the therapist freed the tarantula on my arm. I could feel the furry pointy legs brush into my skin and I seriously feel like jumping out. But the therapist reminded me of the concentration and visualization I had earlier and asked me to recur the thoughts and the feelings I had when I accepted. And I got over the feeling of fear at that very moment.
Since then I stopped fearing spiders. I don't try to catch them though and put them into jars to get back on them. But I could very well do those things I used to be afraid to do before. I could go to anywhere now without having to fear anything at all. Thanks to that therapy.
So I went on living in a world full of fear over some creatures that are barely the size of my thumb (except for those species that are particularly larger though). I was somehow living in an incarcerated existence; full and hesitation in every move. I couldn't act or move around the way normal people would do. I was too afraid that I might end up encountering a spider along the way in any of the moves that I make. Too afraid to go to places in the fear that a spider might just be lurking in the dark corners of that place, it was a bit milder of hell-like life, however, nevertheless it was still bad living that way. I felt that I really had to do something to change things the way they were. Spiders are small creatures and are even apparently harmless according to many researches and scientific ratifications and therefore I should feel the way I do about them. I felt that I have to conquer this fear for them and find a way to surface from the drowning feeling of being imprisoned by intimidation. I can't live the difficult life anymore. One day I went out to find a way on how to deal with this long running fear for the creatures. I went to a nearby therapist.
The therapist that I went to was recommended by a friend in the office. That friend somehow noticed me so inhibited by my disorder and I couldn't be as productive as I should be. So I went to the therapist upon my office mate's advice. I felt awkward at first, entering the office of the therapist as I don't know where to begin in telling my tale or probably I felt ashamed that time telling him about my fear. I felt that the fear I had was just nothing else but a joke that could be personally dealt with. But it wasn't long until that I recollected myself and accepted that I do need some help and it has got to be with therapist that I will find one soon enough. A good kind of help I thought, considering his professional statute. I had a feeling that I was in the right place. I just hoped that I wouldn't end up getting disappointed to find out that the entire thing was a total sham.
I told the therapist everything that I've been through. Starting from how it all started and the progressive manifestation that have eventually developed me into fearing spiders. I even went into the process of introspection and regression, in order to fully remember the precise details and to assess which incident or situation that triggered me into fearing the creatures. It lead me into telling the real score of that incident when I watched the movie and the spider that fell off on my face. It didn't take much for the therapist to know the real problem as to why I developed such fear. And then he prepared me to a series of therapy sessions.
He started by talking me right into resting on the couch and asked me to meditate on my fear. He told me to visualize on the idea of seeing a spider and imagining that there's one that's near me right now. He also talked me into thinking that there's actually one spider that's crawling in my skin at the moment and in the concurrently asked me questions about how I felt towards the scenario. I told him that I'm really panicking at the moment and any time then I would truly freak out and would probably walk out of the room because of the mind projection thing that's going on. I started to feel that I was in the wrong place and my spirit began to weaver as I thought that I would never really get through the entire process. I thought that I would just settle with having the fear for my entire life. I even thought that as long as it doesn't get me killed I will be just okay. But a part of me wanted to continue and push through the entire nightmare-ish process of projecting a spider walking and crawling into my skin.
Even the therapist forced me into visualizing the entire idea of a spider walking into my skin. Every time I feel like giving up, the therapist would always remind of the goal I set upon myself when I entered the room and impressed unto me the gravity of the situation that will be if I don't succeed in the therapy. It somehow got me into thinking and decided to pursue the entire program even if the fear that has beset me is already crucifying me. But I know I had to push true.
The entire meditation and concentration part of the program took me a while until I got around of the idea of a spider crawling in my skin. I could already visualize me being calm about the spider presence. But the program didn't stop there as there is still the last part of the program which involves a more physical and real approach. This time, the therapist took a transparent jar with a spider as large as my fist. I almost felt like freaking out at that time and I think I was just a brink away from scurrying out of the room straight through the door. But I knew I had already made a resolve, and if I do run away, it would have been all for nothing and I don't want to make my trip to the therapist pointless. So I sat and the therapist freed the tarantula on my arm. I could feel the furry pointy legs brush into my skin and I seriously feel like jumping out. But the therapist reminded me of the concentration and visualization I had earlier and asked me to recur the thoughts and the feelings I had when I accepted. And I got over the feeling of fear at that very moment.
Since then I stopped fearing spiders. I don't try to catch them though and put them into jars to get back on them. But I could very well do those things I used to be afraid to do before. I could go to anywhere now without having to fear anything at all. Thanks to that therapy.
A Victory Story about Spider Fear I
(This is a guest post by Christian C.)
If there are things that I wouldn't be able to forget in my life, then perhaps one of it is the fact that I was an arachnophobic. It was probably three years ago that I would hysterically react if ever I would find a spider that would thread along my presence. Even if the spider is meters away from me, but still in my line of sight, I would freak out and would immediately get out of the house or anywhere to avoid the its presence. The thought that it might eventually come close to me already shrinks my heart into absolute fear. I could not also forget how things were each time I get into a place and feel within me that there's actually a spider presence inside, I would feel relentlessly uptight, even if I'm not seeing any spider at all. The thought alone degrades me and would sometimes find myself screaming out of imaginary fear. My mentality is so much hinged in the idea that spiders are scary creatures and I think it all started out when I was five years old. Since then everything in how I see spiders
changed until three years ago that everything fortunately went well; that I didn't get to fear any spider's presence at all or at least I've learned to control my impulses whenever I see one. I could really not forget how things turned out just fine eventually. I thought there's absolutely no hope for me anymore, until I was introduced to an exposure therapy three years ago.
I knew that I had to do something about my debilitating condition towards my fear on spiders. It's considerably hampering my day to day activities already and I have been becoming quite unproductive because of it, especially when I started to work at the office. I am hesitant to go into certain places in the office which I think is inhabited by a spider and I'm even afraid to go under my office desk to throw trash into the basket because I fear that I might get bitten by a spider just lurking beneath the desk. It's a good thing that my superiors understood the state that I'm in and have given me ample consideration so as not to put me into a situation wherein I would irrationally freak out. This is how impeding my fear is for some time.
I do know that my fear towards spiders is irrational and compulsive and I'm very much aware that the fear is only a state of mind. However, I find it very difficult to do away with it once and for all. Every time I personally attempt to get rid of the fear, so as to force myself into encountering the spider (not even personally touching it), just by the mere presence of it, I would immediately withdraw from my resolve and go back right to where I was. I shrink in fear before I could even come close to that place where the spider is. Still I know that I have to get rid of it at some point. I know that I must not let things go the way they are right now with spiders or else I would direly suffer from the consequences of these compulsions. I have been considering medical help since then because I was already thinking that I couldn't handle these things on my own and the fear is growing in me and I'm beginning to think that it may reach a point of no return soon. I had to go and get some help to someone who really knows how to handle things like this.
Let's go back first to where it started. I remember that it was summer of the year when I was still five years old when I watched a horror movie about oversized spiders taking over the world. I could not remember the title of the movie as I was careless of such things before, being a five-year old and all, the only thing you would probably care about it the special effects you get out from the movie and the awe you would feel watching them. However, in this particular spider movie I have watched, I was in for more than just the feeling of awe in watching its special effects as I would contract a far worse feeling of fear out of it. I watched the spiders in the movie rampaging in the cities and tearing all the people in its way into pieces. It was a gore-ish movie and I believe I should have not watched it but apparently my elder sister's friends did not care about the sensitivity of a five-year-old's perception. After seeing the movie, I started to feel a sense of fear as the images of the movie scenes are constantly recurring in my mind. It went on that way for the following days until three days later, I was at the lawn of our house, playing underneath our big sycamore tree, when I suddenly noticed a glistening threadlike thing above me, and somehow it was reflecting the sun. And I eventually came to notice the X mark in the middle. I looked even more to discern what it was when suddenly I felt something dropped on my face and started to crawl. I could distinctively remember the furry, rough, pointy texture of its limbs as it crawled into my face for a second or so. The images of the spider move I last saw recurred like flashing images in my mind. And then I realized that it was a spider, I swiped it off my face as fast as I can and ran back home to hide. I dreaded the presence of a spider ever since.
So, until I grew up, I carried the fear within me, haunting me like some childhood ghost that's not letting go no matter what I do. I would really want to get rid of it but I don't how just yet.
to be continued...
If there are things that I wouldn't be able to forget in my life, then perhaps one of it is the fact that I was an arachnophobic. It was probably three years ago that I would hysterically react if ever I would find a spider that would thread along my presence. Even if the spider is meters away from me, but still in my line of sight, I would freak out and would immediately get out of the house or anywhere to avoid the its presence. The thought that it might eventually come close to me already shrinks my heart into absolute fear. I could not also forget how things were each time I get into a place and feel within me that there's actually a spider presence inside, I would feel relentlessly uptight, even if I'm not seeing any spider at all. The thought alone degrades me and would sometimes find myself screaming out of imaginary fear. My mentality is so much hinged in the idea that spiders are scary creatures and I think it all started out when I was five years old. Since then everything in how I see spiders
changed until three years ago that everything fortunately went well; that I didn't get to fear any spider's presence at all or at least I've learned to control my impulses whenever I see one. I could really not forget how things turned out just fine eventually. I thought there's absolutely no hope for me anymore, until I was introduced to an exposure therapy three years ago.
I knew that I had to do something about my debilitating condition towards my fear on spiders. It's considerably hampering my day to day activities already and I have been becoming quite unproductive because of it, especially when I started to work at the office. I am hesitant to go into certain places in the office which I think is inhabited by a spider and I'm even afraid to go under my office desk to throw trash into the basket because I fear that I might get bitten by a spider just lurking beneath the desk. It's a good thing that my superiors understood the state that I'm in and have given me ample consideration so as not to put me into a situation wherein I would irrationally freak out. This is how impeding my fear is for some time.
I do know that my fear towards spiders is irrational and compulsive and I'm very much aware that the fear is only a state of mind. However, I find it very difficult to do away with it once and for all. Every time I personally attempt to get rid of the fear, so as to force myself into encountering the spider (not even personally touching it), just by the mere presence of it, I would immediately withdraw from my resolve and go back right to where I was. I shrink in fear before I could even come close to that place where the spider is. Still I know that I have to get rid of it at some point. I know that I must not let things go the way they are right now with spiders or else I would direly suffer from the consequences of these compulsions. I have been considering medical help since then because I was already thinking that I couldn't handle these things on my own and the fear is growing in me and I'm beginning to think that it may reach a point of no return soon. I had to go and get some help to someone who really knows how to handle things like this.
Let's go back first to where it started. I remember that it was summer of the year when I was still five years old when I watched a horror movie about oversized spiders taking over the world. I could not remember the title of the movie as I was careless of such things before, being a five-year old and all, the only thing you would probably care about it the special effects you get out from the movie and the awe you would feel watching them. However, in this particular spider movie I have watched, I was in for more than just the feeling of awe in watching its special effects as I would contract a far worse feeling of fear out of it. I watched the spiders in the movie rampaging in the cities and tearing all the people in its way into pieces. It was a gore-ish movie and I believe I should have not watched it but apparently my elder sister's friends did not care about the sensitivity of a five-year-old's perception. After seeing the movie, I started to feel a sense of fear as the images of the movie scenes are constantly recurring in my mind. It went on that way for the following days until three days later, I was at the lawn of our house, playing underneath our big sycamore tree, when I suddenly noticed a glistening threadlike thing above me, and somehow it was reflecting the sun. And I eventually came to notice the X mark in the middle. I looked even more to discern what it was when suddenly I felt something dropped on my face and started to crawl. I could distinctively remember the furry, rough, pointy texture of its limbs as it crawled into my face for a second or so. The images of the spider move I last saw recurred like flashing images in my mind. And then I realized that it was a spider, I swiped it off my face as fast as I can and ran back home to hide. I dreaded the presence of a spider ever since.
So, until I grew up, I carried the fear within me, haunting me like some childhood ghost that's not letting go no matter what I do. I would really want to get rid of it but I don't how just yet.
to be continued...
Applying the Spider Fear Therapy to Yourself
Spiders are hideous, disgusting and gross. Just the fact of imagining them lurking from the dark readying themselves to pounce for an imminent attack scares the hell out of you already. Don't worry, these sorts of fears don't only occur to you as they could actually happen to me as well and to everyone around you. Most people, even some of the braves of men would sometimes fear the presence of spiders nearby, because unlike larger animals which you can immediately detect and capture if necessary, spiders, being so small would prove to be a difficult thing to evade, let alone capturing them. You would also consider fearing the idea that there could be quite a lot of them everywhere. And if ever they do attack all at once, you are really in serious situation. You may be able to use traps, or fumigation methods to get rid of the spiders once and for all. However, there's no saying when they will be back for vengeance. Considering that there are still thousands of them outside of your house, an eventual spider infestation is just a matter of time once again. Therefore the obvious conclusion is you can never escape them. You may be able to run but you can never hide from their attacks if ever they would intently do so.
Spiders also come in many different color and often bright colors that they could definitely the candies in our eyes. Being an eye-catcher is a good thing in a different opinion, but when it comes to spiders, we could almost equate the color of the spider into fear. The fear of being more brightly colored the spider would be, the more dangerous they may become. However, in truth that is absolutely not true as that kind of indication is only applicable to snakes and not to spiders. The most dangerous of all spiders are not even colored so well at all. It's actually dull brown in color and you could almost mistake it for something else not poisonous at all. The black widow spider in itself is not brightly colored at all. The only color in them is the red hourglass shaped marking beneath their abdomen and of course the black. Still, we can get ourselves so hyped up from fear each and every time we see a spider come in our way. We get so fearful that we would even be so afraid to squish them right off. These are just of the common manifestations to anyone who fears the presence of spiders or in other words, a person who happens to have arachnophobia. They would usually manifest these behaviors each time they see on that would come their way. They would become so hysterically afraid that they wouldn't eve dare squish the spider right away even if it's already conveniently conducive for stepping. It is a different case however if you are squeamish. If you're squeamish, you wouldn't only fear squishing spider, but all the other bugs that are squishable.
So how do you deal with these kinds of fear yourself? How do you make sure that you wouldn't have to fret away from spiders each and every time you see one pass by your way? The bigger question would be now is how to deal with the problem without any help but still be able to conquer your fear with flying colors? Is that even possible?
The answer to these questions relies on how well you will be able to handle yourself and persevere in your quest to truly conquer your fear.
There are many ways to conquer the fear alone without the assistance of professional experts. It is also more advantageous that way because you wouldn't have to spend anything at all or any amount for professional help since you would be doing the treatment on your own. The truth that you have to understand essentially is the truth that any fear is conquerable because they are all a state of mind. Fear is just a matter of conquering your consciousness. If you conquer the conscious part of your brain that deals with the fear, then there's just absolutely nothing to fear about. The important ingredient here is courage. If you have to courage to conquer your fear, then you may therefore be able to be brave in anything that you are afraid of. The same thing goes as well with the fear of spiders. Spider fear is ultimately conquerable; you just have to make sure you are brave enough.
The first thing that you have to do in order to go through the initials of the treatment is to mentally condition your mind first. This can be done gaining enough information about the thing that you fear the most. If you fear spiders, you must research about the facts about spiders, both good and bad sides. If you know all these things about spiders, you may be able to use the facts you have learned to move on to the next step of the process. The next process now then would be acceptance.
The next process is acceptance. Using all the information you have gathered, inclusive of both pros and cons, you may start reconditioning your mind and begin accepting the nature of spiders as they are omnipresent and you can't do anything about it. If you comprehend the entire nature of spiders, it may truly help to accept all sides of them. For example, if you know that there are only a few species of spiders that are poisonous, you wouldn't have to fear anymore the multitudes of spiders that are inside the house because you know that you wouldn't have to worry of being harmed of them anymore.
Next step after acceptance is exposure. You will never be able to get to know and numb yourself from your fear when you won't expose yourself to it. Make sure that you will forcibly condition yourself and your mind to face your fear on spiders by physically touching a spider's presence. Once you get used to it, you'll never have to freak out every time you see one anymore.
Spiders also come in many different color and often bright colors that they could definitely the candies in our eyes. Being an eye-catcher is a good thing in a different opinion, but when it comes to spiders, we could almost equate the color of the spider into fear. The fear of being more brightly colored the spider would be, the more dangerous they may become. However, in truth that is absolutely not true as that kind of indication is only applicable to snakes and not to spiders. The most dangerous of all spiders are not even colored so well at all. It's actually dull brown in color and you could almost mistake it for something else not poisonous at all. The black widow spider in itself is not brightly colored at all. The only color in them is the red hourglass shaped marking beneath their abdomen and of course the black. Still, we can get ourselves so hyped up from fear each and every time we see a spider come in our way. We get so fearful that we would even be so afraid to squish them right off. These are just of the common manifestations to anyone who fears the presence of spiders or in other words, a person who happens to have arachnophobia. They would usually manifest these behaviors each time they see on that would come their way. They would become so hysterically afraid that they wouldn't eve dare squish the spider right away even if it's already conveniently conducive for stepping. It is a different case however if you are squeamish. If you're squeamish, you wouldn't only fear squishing spider, but all the other bugs that are squishable.
So how do you deal with these kinds of fear yourself? How do you make sure that you wouldn't have to fret away from spiders each and every time you see one pass by your way? The bigger question would be now is how to deal with the problem without any help but still be able to conquer your fear with flying colors? Is that even possible?
The answer to these questions relies on how well you will be able to handle yourself and persevere in your quest to truly conquer your fear.
There are many ways to conquer the fear alone without the assistance of professional experts. It is also more advantageous that way because you wouldn't have to spend anything at all or any amount for professional help since you would be doing the treatment on your own. The truth that you have to understand essentially is the truth that any fear is conquerable because they are all a state of mind. Fear is just a matter of conquering your consciousness. If you conquer the conscious part of your brain that deals with the fear, then there's just absolutely nothing to fear about. The important ingredient here is courage. If you have to courage to conquer your fear, then you may therefore be able to be brave in anything that you are afraid of. The same thing goes as well with the fear of spiders. Spider fear is ultimately conquerable; you just have to make sure you are brave enough.
The first thing that you have to do in order to go through the initials of the treatment is to mentally condition your mind first. This can be done gaining enough information about the thing that you fear the most. If you fear spiders, you must research about the facts about spiders, both good and bad sides. If you know all these things about spiders, you may be able to use the facts you have learned to move on to the next step of the process. The next process now then would be acceptance.
The next process is acceptance. Using all the information you have gathered, inclusive of both pros and cons, you may start reconditioning your mind and begin accepting the nature of spiders as they are omnipresent and you can't do anything about it. If you comprehend the entire nature of spiders, it may truly help to accept all sides of them. For example, if you know that there are only a few species of spiders that are poisonous, you wouldn't have to fear anymore the multitudes of spiders that are inside the house because you know that you wouldn't have to worry of being harmed of them anymore.
Next step after acceptance is exposure. You will never be able to get to know and numb yourself from your fear when you won't expose yourself to it. Make sure that you will forcibly condition yourself and your mind to face your fear on spiders by physically touching a spider's presence. Once you get used to it, you'll never have to freak out every time you see one anymore.
How The Word "Arachnids" Came to Be?
We commonly know spiders to be spiders and not on their real nomenclature arachnids probably because of the reason that it is appropriate to name them like that since the name has generic applications to all species that belong to it. There are other arachnids of course. The harvestman is often regarded as spider; however it is not, but still belongs to the arachnid group. Scorpions also belong to the species of arachnids but they are not spiders in any way. They belong to a completely different species and must not be regarded as spider. Having said that, it is therefore understood why you can't call spiders as arachnids since there are many different species that belong to them. It is just appropriate to call them as "spiders" since that is how they are being called since time immemorial. Calling them in any other way is either inappropriate or would make people awkwardly uncomfortable since they are not used to it. Spiders should remain to be called spiders and that's how it should be. But let's set that aside first and let's focus on the main content of this article which is how the name arachnid came to be.
There are many myths and theories as to how the name arachnids came to be. Actually, there are so many of them that scientists and word origin specialists could no longer trace the real foundations of the name. The name arachnid is just understood the way they are defined now by dictionaries and how they are commonly defined by scientists at present. But there's one myth that stands out among them all. This one is the myth that originated from Greece and which happens to be the most accepted theory of them all so far by many contemporary scientists.
The name arachnid isn't actually arachnid at first, but the word origin was Arachne and this was the name of a person. The story of Arachne isn't actually a happy story, but a rather tragic one. One's tragic disposition could only be compared to how spiders would tragically look like normally. When you learn this Greek myth, you will then be fully be able to understand the extent of how spiders are named the way they are and all the other species that belong to the same genera. You would fully comprehend why arachnids would normally look like that.
You have to understand as well though that the idea of myths is fictional and are most likely non-existent. They exist to give a literary interpretation of things and to explain the things that were not explained before because of the lack of empiricism before as well as the incapacities of the technology and science before to find out the real truth in the things that one would see.
The Myth of Arachne
The story of Arachne traces from a long time before, when Gods and Goddesses still reside at Mt. Olympus - the believed place where gods and goddesses of the Greeks dwell. Arachne just happens to be a mere human being. A mere thread spinner who weaves tapestries and other works of clothe. However she was so pretty that a lot of women in her town envy her. At the height of the praises she gets for her beauty, it got into her head and she became conceited. She bragged so much about her beauty that she dared mock the goddesses in Olympus claiming that she's more beautiful than even the goddesses. Her claims have reached Mt. Olympus and have direly offended the goddesses, especially the goddess Venus. One day the goddess descended down from Mt. Olympus to pay the conceited human Arachne a visit in her tapestry shop. Venus disguised herself as a mere human being in order to conceal her presence from Arachne and to interact with ease and ultimately find out the truth on the woman's brags. Indeed the goddess Venus discovered the apparent unmatched beauty of the human Arachne and what caught the goddess's ire even more is that unravelling truth that the human Arachne was indeed a braggart, constantly bragging about her beauty and upon saying this in the presence of the true goddess of beauty, Venus casted a spell on Arachne and turned her into a creature of the dark. Arachne began to shrink in size so small that she could barely be seen in an immediate naked eye view. Then she suddenly started growing more limbs in her body; two limbs came out from under her arms and other two pairs of limbs in her lower torso, all in all constituting eight limbs. And then the threads she weaves to create tapestries became silk threads that come out from her behind. Venus intentionally did this so that instead of making beautiful tapestries for other people's embellishments she would make tapestries of silk threads for her own dwelling. Arachne became a spider and would forever lurk in the dark in concealment, hiding in plain sight to many people because of how hideous she has become.
Since then, the word Arachne became the word arachnid as we know it right now and it simply refers to any bug-like creatures that possesses eight limbs in total and lurks usually in dark places concealing its presence from humans. These creatures are usually hideous in appearance and would normally catch the fear of a lot of people once they are seen. Scientists have made it a point to base the generic name of these creatures to the myth of Arachne because of the strong semblance in characteristics being portrayed in the story. The words arachnids is perhaps just the evolution of the word as to how it is more conveniently pronounced to some people in the different places in the world and have eventually become the general calling for all creatures of the same sort.
However, even if the myth portrays arachnids as hideous, it's not always necessary that all arachnids in real life would also look the same way. In fact, in a scientific perspective, arachnids are fascinating and beautiful creatures.
There are many myths and theories as to how the name arachnids came to be. Actually, there are so many of them that scientists and word origin specialists could no longer trace the real foundations of the name. The name arachnid is just understood the way they are defined now by dictionaries and how they are commonly defined by scientists at present. But there's one myth that stands out among them all. This one is the myth that originated from Greece and which happens to be the most accepted theory of them all so far by many contemporary scientists.
The name arachnid isn't actually arachnid at first, but the word origin was Arachne and this was the name of a person. The story of Arachne isn't actually a happy story, but a rather tragic one. One's tragic disposition could only be compared to how spiders would tragically look like normally. When you learn this Greek myth, you will then be fully be able to understand the extent of how spiders are named the way they are and all the other species that belong to the same genera. You would fully comprehend why arachnids would normally look like that.
You have to understand as well though that the idea of myths is fictional and are most likely non-existent. They exist to give a literary interpretation of things and to explain the things that were not explained before because of the lack of empiricism before as well as the incapacities of the technology and science before to find out the real truth in the things that one would see.
The Myth of Arachne
The story of Arachne traces from a long time before, when Gods and Goddesses still reside at Mt. Olympus - the believed place where gods and goddesses of the Greeks dwell. Arachne just happens to be a mere human being. A mere thread spinner who weaves tapestries and other works of clothe. However she was so pretty that a lot of women in her town envy her. At the height of the praises she gets for her beauty, it got into her head and she became conceited. She bragged so much about her beauty that she dared mock the goddesses in Olympus claiming that she's more beautiful than even the goddesses. Her claims have reached Mt. Olympus and have direly offended the goddesses, especially the goddess Venus. One day the goddess descended down from Mt. Olympus to pay the conceited human Arachne a visit in her tapestry shop. Venus disguised herself as a mere human being in order to conceal her presence from Arachne and to interact with ease and ultimately find out the truth on the woman's brags. Indeed the goddess Venus discovered the apparent unmatched beauty of the human Arachne and what caught the goddess's ire even more is that unravelling truth that the human Arachne was indeed a braggart, constantly bragging about her beauty and upon saying this in the presence of the true goddess of beauty, Venus casted a spell on Arachne and turned her into a creature of the dark. Arachne began to shrink in size so small that she could barely be seen in an immediate naked eye view. Then she suddenly started growing more limbs in her body; two limbs came out from under her arms and other two pairs of limbs in her lower torso, all in all constituting eight limbs. And then the threads she weaves to create tapestries became silk threads that come out from her behind. Venus intentionally did this so that instead of making beautiful tapestries for other people's embellishments she would make tapestries of silk threads for her own dwelling. Arachne became a spider and would forever lurk in the dark in concealment, hiding in plain sight to many people because of how hideous she has become.
Since then, the word Arachne became the word arachnid as we know it right now and it simply refers to any bug-like creatures that possesses eight limbs in total and lurks usually in dark places concealing its presence from humans. These creatures are usually hideous in appearance and would normally catch the fear of a lot of people once they are seen. Scientists have made it a point to base the generic name of these creatures to the myth of Arachne because of the strong semblance in characteristics being portrayed in the story. The words arachnids is perhaps just the evolution of the word as to how it is more conveniently pronounced to some people in the different places in the world and have eventually become the general calling for all creatures of the same sort.
However, even if the myth portrays arachnids as hideous, it's not always necessary that all arachnids in real life would also look the same way. In fact, in a scientific perspective, arachnids are fascinating and beautiful creatures.
More Myth Busters: The Myth About Venomous Spiders
Contrary to what most people thing about spiders, are actually docile creatures or at least most of the spiders are. They are not hostile and aggressive and the only time they do bite humans is when they feel threatened or hurt and that circumstance alone is hard to come by or very rare as they are usually found hanging in the ceiling, barely within human reach. One has to consider the apparent proximity between a person and a spider, before jumping right into the conclusion that spiders can really do harm you. Also, almost all spiders are totally harmless to humans. Most spider species don't have venoms that can seriously harm humans. There are only a single percent out of all the spider species in the world that can pose serious threat to humans because of their very potent venoms. These poisonous spiders usually carry neurotoxin venom which primarily attacks the nervous system of a person, which is also the reason why they are considered dangerous. However, these spiders are barely found wandering in households or in any human dwellings. Most likely they are found in deep jungles or rainforest, far from human interference. Although, there are certain very rare occasions that these poisonous spiders would find their way near to human habitation, these should mostly not bother you at all. Also, there is no spider venom in this world that doesn't have antivenom yet. Unless, of course if there's still a poisonous spider species that isn't discovered yet, then that would really makes things a bit different. But come to think of it, even so a discovery of a new species of poisonous spider is unearthed, that doesn't still change the fact that there is just so few species of spiders that can harm humans, thus making the possibility of contracting the venom from a newly found species of poisonous spiders virtually improbable.
Like what was said earlier, there are only very few species of spiders that are considered truly poisonous to human beings and that they are rarely found wandering in human dwellings (It's a different story if you live deep in a jungle or forest). They are so few that one could actually just identify and enumerate them all; so few, that there are actually just three of them that live on earth.
One of them is the black widow spider. Notorious and famous for its neurotoxins, they are perhaps the most commonly seen poisonous spider in the world. However, their existence itself is built on so many myths and misconceptions. Say for example, the belief that their neurotoxins are inevitably fatal. The truth is, a black widow's venom may be a very potent neurotoxin but it could only become fatal if it results to certain complications, especially if the person has histories of cardiac disorders or diseases. The effects of a black widow spider could immediately be dealt with the initial clinical procedures. It is imperative though to hospitalize the person bitten by a black widow so as not to take the risk at all. It's better to be sure now than to be dead later.
Another is the Sydney funnel web spider, which already have accumulated popularity due to some numbers of reported cases of fatality from its bite. However, a funnel web spider doesn't really target human beings as they prey on smaller creatures they can manage to devour. It is wrong to think that they would deliberately pay you a visit just to bite you contrary to what most people believe they would do.
Perhaps the most notorious and the sole master and supreme ruling species of the entire poisonous spider species in the world is the Brazilian wandering spider or the banana spider as what local people commonly call the spider. This spider holds the title of the most venomous spider in the world according to Guinness world book of records. A .006 milligram dosage of its venom is enough to kill a mouse instantly. And imagine each bite may inject a pack-full of venom; it wouldn't take much to kill a full grown adult. Without doubt, they are indeed poisonous and fatal, however, there are only very few of them in the world and they are endemically exclusive to a specific place in the world (You'd know what the place is by reading again its name). Therefore, the banana spider isn't that much of a threat to anyone at all unless if they all suddenly procreate rapidly, then your house is in danger of a visitation. And no matter how poisonous a wandering spider can be, it still has antivenom. Once administered right away to bitten individual, he will most certainly live to see through the rising of the sun in the next day.
There are other two poisonous spiders though that still is worth to fear but they don't have as much reputation as the three mentioned above. These two spiders are the brown recluse spider, easily recognizable by the brown fiddle shape figure in its back and the redback spider which happens to be a relative spider of the black widow, only that its red markings is on its back and not below of the abdomen. These spiders are feared, not because they can cause fatality, unlike the spiders mentioned above, however they cause severe health complications which makes them apparently dangerous as well.
This is the truth about spiders and the fear of them. The truth is that there's absolutely nothing to fear at all if you just sit around your house's corner, watching TV. Don't worry about getting killed with a bite because there's absolute one in a million chances you'll get bitten with one of those spiders you would really have to worry about. Just as long as you stay put and leave those poor spiders in peace, you would coexist harmoniously with the spiders. Next time you see a spider, just leave them be, they wouldn't be doing anything to you. Trust me when I say, they are more afraid of you than you are to them.
Like what was said earlier, there are only very few species of spiders that are considered truly poisonous to human beings and that they are rarely found wandering in human dwellings (It's a different story if you live deep in a jungle or forest). They are so few that one could actually just identify and enumerate them all; so few, that there are actually just three of them that live on earth.
One of them is the black widow spider. Notorious and famous for its neurotoxins, they are perhaps the most commonly seen poisonous spider in the world. However, their existence itself is built on so many myths and misconceptions. Say for example, the belief that their neurotoxins are inevitably fatal. The truth is, a black widow's venom may be a very potent neurotoxin but it could only become fatal if it results to certain complications, especially if the person has histories of cardiac disorders or diseases. The effects of a black widow spider could immediately be dealt with the initial clinical procedures. It is imperative though to hospitalize the person bitten by a black widow so as not to take the risk at all. It's better to be sure now than to be dead later.
Another is the Sydney funnel web spider, which already have accumulated popularity due to some numbers of reported cases of fatality from its bite. However, a funnel web spider doesn't really target human beings as they prey on smaller creatures they can manage to devour. It is wrong to think that they would deliberately pay you a visit just to bite you contrary to what most people believe they would do.
Perhaps the most notorious and the sole master and supreme ruling species of the entire poisonous spider species in the world is the Brazilian wandering spider or the banana spider as what local people commonly call the spider. This spider holds the title of the most venomous spider in the world according to Guinness world book of records. A .006 milligram dosage of its venom is enough to kill a mouse instantly. And imagine each bite may inject a pack-full of venom; it wouldn't take much to kill a full grown adult. Without doubt, they are indeed poisonous and fatal, however, there are only very few of them in the world and they are endemically exclusive to a specific place in the world (You'd know what the place is by reading again its name). Therefore, the banana spider isn't that much of a threat to anyone at all unless if they all suddenly procreate rapidly, then your house is in danger of a visitation. And no matter how poisonous a wandering spider can be, it still has antivenom. Once administered right away to bitten individual, he will most certainly live to see through the rising of the sun in the next day.
There are other two poisonous spiders though that still is worth to fear but they don't have as much reputation as the three mentioned above. These two spiders are the brown recluse spider, easily recognizable by the brown fiddle shape figure in its back and the redback spider which happens to be a relative spider of the black widow, only that its red markings is on its back and not below of the abdomen. These spiders are feared, not because they can cause fatality, unlike the spiders mentioned above, however they cause severe health complications which makes them apparently dangerous as well.
This is the truth about spiders and the fear of them. The truth is that there's absolutely nothing to fear at all if you just sit around your house's corner, watching TV. Don't worry about getting killed with a bite because there's absolute one in a million chances you'll get bitten with one of those spiders you would really have to worry about. Just as long as you stay put and leave those poor spiders in peace, you would coexist harmoniously with the spiders. Next time you see a spider, just leave them be, they wouldn't be doing anything to you. Trust me when I say, they are more afraid of you than you are to them.
Spider Art Projects
It might sound too ridiculous for a person with Arachnophobia to believe, but October is a month for spiders, at least in some parts of the world. Many pre-school teachers are even inclined to give activities that would help their students to learn more about spiders and perhaps shake off their fear on these little creatures. The goal of the celebration is to correct the common misunderstanding that we all have about spiders. It is so easy to assume and believe that spiders are nothing but harmful and hairy crawlies; blame that mentality to Hollywood because of their non-stop depiction of spiders as monsters that eat live humans and to people who have Arachnophobia who make up stories to make spiders appear more dangerous than they actually are.
The truth about spiders is that they might have venom but the amount of venom that they can excrete is too little if compared to the venom released by other animals like snakes. Thus, it is safe to say that in select instances when their bite indeed pierces through the skin (majority of the spiders have fangs that cannot penetrate the skin); the venom that they inject into the body is far from being lethal. The most that the venom can do is cause itchiness and reddening, apart from these two, spider bites cannot harm you more.
To help pre-school teachers convey this message to young children, they need to use methods which children can relate to. For example, they let their students do spider-related art projects and get involved in cooking spider-inspired children's food. This article is all about art projects, so if you are curious as to how you are going to teach kids about spiders without frightening them, and then read until the last sentence. Have fun!
Spider-related Art Projects
Children love to use crayons, construction papers and pencils to express themselves. When properly guided, making art projects is a very effective way to get across your points to children.
1. Spider handprints
While many parents might disapprove of the idea of their children having anything to do with spiders (especially if they have Arachnophobia themselves), the teaching of proper spider knowledge during the month of October has become tolerable to most of these parents. During this month, you can actually assign kids to make their own stationery with spiders as the main design. The procedure is simple, simply ask your students or the kids who you are teaching to bring with them a construction paper which measures 7 by 10 inches, or you can provide your students with the paper if you can afford it. You also need to prepare poster paints (poster paint is a good choice because it can be easily washed away by water).
Now, paint each of your students' palms and fingers (except the thumb). You can let the kids pick their favorite color. Once everybody has their palms and finger painted, ask them to press their right palm on the centre of the construction paper, do no forget to instruct them to spread their fingers outward and to not move their palms while they press. Let them count up to five and then ask them to slowly lift-up their palms. Now, ask them to do the same with their left pal, with the palm overlapping the print left by the right palm. The resulting imprint is an 8-legged spider design. To make the "painting" more realistic, let each student cut-out colourful small circles which will serve as the eyes of your spider.
2. Spider Web Painting
This project is quite messy but the fun that kids will have through it will be priceless. So, if you are ready to deal with the mess, prepare sheets of white construction papers measuring 8 inches in each side. Find a suitable stout open box that can contain the paper properly. Ask your students to dip a piece of marble in black paint and let them drop their painted marbles into the open box with the white construction paper resting on the bottom. Let each student tilt his or her open box to make the marble roll over the paper. Make them do circular motions to imitate the shape of a spider web. You can also use white paint and black construction paper, depending on your preference. Once your students are done, let them pull out the marble and ask them to wash their hands while they wait for the paint to dry. Once dry, give each of them a spider sticker to stick on their spider web.
3. Spider Paper Plates
Teach your students how to make fun spider paper plates. The materials needed are: black paint, paper plates, and sheets of construction papers (pre-cut to 1 by 18 inches), a stapler and some staples. Student participate is limited to the painting of the paper plates but when it comes to stapling the construction paper sheets to the paper plate, I think that you should just do it yourself. The construction paper sheets will serve as the legs of the spider. The fun part of this art project is during the testing part where you ask each of your students to line-up and bring with them their plates. You need to have some snacks ready so that the kids get to try using their paper plates.
4. Spider Webs Made from Spaghetti
This project is best for 1st graders because at this stage, kids are already capable of handling things gently and cooked spaghetti has to be handled quite gently in this specific project. Group your students into 4 or 5 and have them sit together in a table. Place a bowl of cooked spaghetti in each table (about a kilogram of spaghetti will be enough for 5 groups) and a small bowl of white glue. Now, ask the students to mix the white glue to the spaghetti bowl as they would do with spaghetti sauce. Let them have some fun mixing the spaghetti with their hands. You can then ask them to pull spaghetti stands and use these strands as "spider silk" to start constructing them own spider web.
The truth about spiders is that they might have venom but the amount of venom that they can excrete is too little if compared to the venom released by other animals like snakes. Thus, it is safe to say that in select instances when their bite indeed pierces through the skin (majority of the spiders have fangs that cannot penetrate the skin); the venom that they inject into the body is far from being lethal. The most that the venom can do is cause itchiness and reddening, apart from these two, spider bites cannot harm you more.
To help pre-school teachers convey this message to young children, they need to use methods which children can relate to. For example, they let their students do spider-related art projects and get involved in cooking spider-inspired children's food. This article is all about art projects, so if you are curious as to how you are going to teach kids about spiders without frightening them, and then read until the last sentence. Have fun!
Spider-related Art Projects
Children love to use crayons, construction papers and pencils to express themselves. When properly guided, making art projects is a very effective way to get across your points to children.
1. Spider handprints
While many parents might disapprove of the idea of their children having anything to do with spiders (especially if they have Arachnophobia themselves), the teaching of proper spider knowledge during the month of October has become tolerable to most of these parents. During this month, you can actually assign kids to make their own stationery with spiders as the main design. The procedure is simple, simply ask your students or the kids who you are teaching to bring with them a construction paper which measures 7 by 10 inches, or you can provide your students with the paper if you can afford it. You also need to prepare poster paints (poster paint is a good choice because it can be easily washed away by water).
Now, paint each of your students' palms and fingers (except the thumb). You can let the kids pick their favorite color. Once everybody has their palms and finger painted, ask them to press their right palm on the centre of the construction paper, do no forget to instruct them to spread their fingers outward and to not move their palms while they press. Let them count up to five and then ask them to slowly lift-up their palms. Now, ask them to do the same with their left pal, with the palm overlapping the print left by the right palm. The resulting imprint is an 8-legged spider design. To make the "painting" more realistic, let each student cut-out colourful small circles which will serve as the eyes of your spider.
2. Spider Web Painting
This project is quite messy but the fun that kids will have through it will be priceless. So, if you are ready to deal with the mess, prepare sheets of white construction papers measuring 8 inches in each side. Find a suitable stout open box that can contain the paper properly. Ask your students to dip a piece of marble in black paint and let them drop their painted marbles into the open box with the white construction paper resting on the bottom. Let each student tilt his or her open box to make the marble roll over the paper. Make them do circular motions to imitate the shape of a spider web. You can also use white paint and black construction paper, depending on your preference. Once your students are done, let them pull out the marble and ask them to wash their hands while they wait for the paint to dry. Once dry, give each of them a spider sticker to stick on their spider web.
3. Spider Paper Plates
Teach your students how to make fun spider paper plates. The materials needed are: black paint, paper plates, and sheets of construction papers (pre-cut to 1 by 18 inches), a stapler and some staples. Student participate is limited to the painting of the paper plates but when it comes to stapling the construction paper sheets to the paper plate, I think that you should just do it yourself. The construction paper sheets will serve as the legs of the spider. The fun part of this art project is during the testing part where you ask each of your students to line-up and bring with them their plates. You need to have some snacks ready so that the kids get to try using their paper plates.
4. Spider Webs Made from Spaghetti
This project is best for 1st graders because at this stage, kids are already capable of handling things gently and cooked spaghetti has to be handled quite gently in this specific project. Group your students into 4 or 5 and have them sit together in a table. Place a bowl of cooked spaghetti in each table (about a kilogram of spaghetti will be enough for 5 groups) and a small bowl of white glue. Now, ask the students to mix the white glue to the spaghetti bowl as they would do with spaghetti sauce. Let them have some fun mixing the spaghetti with their hands. You can then ask them to pull spaghetti stands and use these strands as "spider silk" to start constructing them own spider web.
Spiders in Ohio
It is not surprising to know that hundreds of unique spider species can be found in many different countries across the globe. Experts approximate that there are about 500 thousand kinds of spiders all over the world. Of this tremendous number, only 41 thousand have been named and identify. Thus, if you really look into it, you can make a long list of the different spiders that can be found in different habitats whether these habitats are in deserts, waste lands or the tropics. In most cases, spiders are harmless although they might look to be the contrary of that. In Ohio for example, majority of all the spiders found there are completely harmless to humans. If you are in Ohio, you might be interested to identify spiders by yourself. Simply follow the steps provided below to learn how to identify spiders that inhabit in Ohio.
1. If you want to find a crab spider, simply look in your garden (or your neighbour's garden if you don't have your own). These spiders normally stay under flower petals and tree barks. They also like to crawl around fruits so you might as well find them in fruit trees. Crab spiders can adapt to the color of their environment so expect to see a yellowish crab spider under a yellow flower and so on.
2. You will also find it easier to identify a spider by identifying first if it spins a web. In many cases, spinning spiders in Ohio are orb weavers. The most common ones are the humped orb weaver, golden orb weaver and the garden orb weaver. These spiders weave very sticky webs which they use to catch prey. They spin their webs between trees where most of the insects fly.
3. You can also find very small spiders in Ohio. These spiders spin very unusual webs. These webs are very different to the regular webs that we see. These spiders are called Sheet Weaver Spiders and they weave their webs into the shape of a cone composed of several layers. The cone-like web is very effective in catching prey that are bigger that the spiders. These spiders are only a fourth of an inch big so they depend greatly on their webs to catch food for them.
4. Ground spiders are also very common in Ohio. These spiders can be recognized by the appearance of their spinnerets or those "pincers" that they use to weave their webs. Their spinnerets are barrel-shaped and their middle eyes are not circular, instead the eyes are narrow. The color of most ground spiders are black, pink, brown, grey or a combination of these colors.
5. Jumping spiders are quite common in Ohio too, just like wolf spiders are. These spiders prefer to live in shrubbery areas or in forests. However, they can also live in deserts and in a many other types of environments around Ohio and in many parts of the United States. Wolf spiders can be identified by the alignment of their eyes. They have eight eyes like all other spiders by these eyes are set in different rows. This unusual placement of their eyes gives them very excellent vision. These spiders can most easy to identify when they are carrying their eggs. Unlike most spider species, these spiders carry their eggs with them through an egg sac attached to their bodies. Thus, if you see a spider that has an egg sac attached to its body, then there is a high possibility that it is a wolf spider. Moreover, the spider is usually brown in color with orange markings on its back.
Like what has been said earlier in this article, there are so many other spiders in Ohio. The more common ones are already given above, but if you want to know more about the spiders that live in Ohio, you might want to refer to the list below. The list is obtained from the data gathered by the Ohio State University. This list has been published for a couple of times already. The first publication was in 1994. The original list contains 624 species. But for the purposes of this article, we will just list down a portion of this actual number. (Source: http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu)
Antrodiaetidae - The common name for this spider group is Folding Door. There are two spiders in Ohio that belong to this group.
Atypidae - Three spiders have been discovered in Ohio to belong to this group. These spiders are more commonly called as Purse Web.
Ctenizidae - So far, only one spider has been found in Ohio to belong in this group. The common name for this spider is Trap Door.
Agelenidae - More commonly known as Funnel Webbers. Six of these have been found in Ohio.
Amaurobiidae - Even with 10 spiders belonging to this group, Amaurobiidae or Hackledmesh Weavers are still not very common in Ohio.
Anyphaenidae - Also known as Ghost Spiders. There are seven spiders in Ohio that are classified as Ghost Spiders.
Araneidae - The common name for his groups is Orb Weaver and this group ranks as the third largest group with 57 members, it follows after Jumping Spiders with 76 which also follows after Dwarf Weavers with 83.
The other groups are listed below (scientific name first followed by their common names if there is any). Enclosed in the parentheses is the number of spiders belonging to that group.
Clubionidae/Sac spiders (13)
Corinnidae/Ground sac spiders (20)
Ctenidae/Wandering spiders (1)
Cybaeidae (2)
Dictynidae/Meshweb weavers (26)
Dysderidae/Dysderids (1)
Gnaphosidae/Ground spiders (43)
Hahniidae/Hahniids (7)
Erigoninae/Dwarf weavers (83)
Linyphiinae/Sheetweb weavers (46)
Liocranidae (2)
Lycosidae/Wolf spiders (56)
Mimetidae/Pirate spiders (6)
Miturgidae (3)
Mysmenidae/Dwarf cobweb spiders (2)
Nesticidae/Cave cobweb spiders (1)
Oecobiidae/Flatmesh weavers (2)
Oonopidae/Dwarf six-eyed spiders (1)
Oxyopidae/Lynx spiders (2)
Philodromidae/Philodromid crab spiders (16)
Pholcidae/Daddylongleg spiders (3)
Pisauridae/Nursery web spiders (8)
Salticidae/Jumping spiders (76)
Scytodidae/Spitting spiders (1)
Segestriidae/Segestriids (1)
Sicariidae/Six-eyed sicariid spiders (2)
Tengellidae (1)
Tetragnathidae/Long-jawed orbweavers (18)
Theridiidae/Cobweb weavers (56)
Theridiosomatidae/Ray orbweavers (1)
Thomisidae/Typical crab spiders (31)
Titanoecidae (2)
Uloboridae/Hackled orbweavers (3)
Zoridae/Zorids (1)
Zodariidae (1)
1. If you want to find a crab spider, simply look in your garden (or your neighbour's garden if you don't have your own). These spiders normally stay under flower petals and tree barks. They also like to crawl around fruits so you might as well find them in fruit trees. Crab spiders can adapt to the color of their environment so expect to see a yellowish crab spider under a yellow flower and so on.
2. You will also find it easier to identify a spider by identifying first if it spins a web. In many cases, spinning spiders in Ohio are orb weavers. The most common ones are the humped orb weaver, golden orb weaver and the garden orb weaver. These spiders weave very sticky webs which they use to catch prey. They spin their webs between trees where most of the insects fly.
3. You can also find very small spiders in Ohio. These spiders spin very unusual webs. These webs are very different to the regular webs that we see. These spiders are called Sheet Weaver Spiders and they weave their webs into the shape of a cone composed of several layers. The cone-like web is very effective in catching prey that are bigger that the spiders. These spiders are only a fourth of an inch big so they depend greatly on their webs to catch food for them.
4. Ground spiders are also very common in Ohio. These spiders can be recognized by the appearance of their spinnerets or those "pincers" that they use to weave their webs. Their spinnerets are barrel-shaped and their middle eyes are not circular, instead the eyes are narrow. The color of most ground spiders are black, pink, brown, grey or a combination of these colors.
5. Jumping spiders are quite common in Ohio too, just like wolf spiders are. These spiders prefer to live in shrubbery areas or in forests. However, they can also live in deserts and in a many other types of environments around Ohio and in many parts of the United States. Wolf spiders can be identified by the alignment of their eyes. They have eight eyes like all other spiders by these eyes are set in different rows. This unusual placement of their eyes gives them very excellent vision. These spiders can most easy to identify when they are carrying their eggs. Unlike most spider species, these spiders carry their eggs with them through an egg sac attached to their bodies. Thus, if you see a spider that has an egg sac attached to its body, then there is a high possibility that it is a wolf spider. Moreover, the spider is usually brown in color with orange markings on its back.
Like what has been said earlier in this article, there are so many other spiders in Ohio. The more common ones are already given above, but if you want to know more about the spiders that live in Ohio, you might want to refer to the list below. The list is obtained from the data gathered by the Ohio State University. This list has been published for a couple of times already. The first publication was in 1994. The original list contains 624 species. But for the purposes of this article, we will just list down a portion of this actual number. (Source: http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu)
Antrodiaetidae - The common name for this spider group is Folding Door. There are two spiders in Ohio that belong to this group.
Atypidae - Three spiders have been discovered in Ohio to belong to this group. These spiders are more commonly called as Purse Web.
Ctenizidae - So far, only one spider has been found in Ohio to belong in this group. The common name for this spider is Trap Door.
Agelenidae - More commonly known as Funnel Webbers. Six of these have been found in Ohio.
Amaurobiidae - Even with 10 spiders belonging to this group, Amaurobiidae or Hackledmesh Weavers are still not very common in Ohio.
Anyphaenidae - Also known as Ghost Spiders. There are seven spiders in Ohio that are classified as Ghost Spiders.
Araneidae - The common name for his groups is Orb Weaver and this group ranks as the third largest group with 57 members, it follows after Jumping Spiders with 76 which also follows after Dwarf Weavers with 83.
The other groups are listed below (scientific name first followed by their common names if there is any). Enclosed in the parentheses is the number of spiders belonging to that group.
Clubionidae/Sac spiders (13)
Corinnidae/Ground sac spiders (20)
Ctenidae/Wandering spiders (1)
Cybaeidae (2)
Dictynidae/Meshweb weavers (26)
Dysderidae/Dysderids (1)
Gnaphosidae/Ground spiders (43)
Hahniidae/Hahniids (7)
Erigoninae/Dwarf weavers (83)
Linyphiinae/Sheetweb weavers (46)
Liocranidae (2)
Lycosidae/Wolf spiders (56)
Mimetidae/Pirate spiders (6)
Miturgidae (3)
Mysmenidae/Dwarf cobweb spiders (2)
Nesticidae/Cave cobweb spiders (1)
Oecobiidae/Flatmesh weavers (2)
Oonopidae/Dwarf six-eyed spiders (1)
Oxyopidae/Lynx spiders (2)
Philodromidae/Philodromid crab spiders (16)
Pholcidae/Daddylongleg spiders (3)
Pisauridae/Nursery web spiders (8)
Salticidae/Jumping spiders (76)
Scytodidae/Spitting spiders (1)
Segestriidae/Segestriids (1)
Sicariidae/Six-eyed sicariid spiders (2)
Tengellidae (1)
Tetragnathidae/Long-jawed orbweavers (18)
Theridiidae/Cobweb weavers (56)
Theridiosomatidae/Ray orbweavers (1)
Thomisidae/Typical crab spiders (31)
Titanoecidae (2)
Uloboridae/Hackled orbweavers (3)
Zoridae/Zorids (1)
Zodariidae (1)
Spiders as Pets
Given the right living conditions, spiders make an excellent pet to boys and men alike. Many spider species are safe around humans thus there is no reason for mothers and wives to panic once the males start to play with these 8-legged creatures. Examples of spiders that are suitable as pets are the tarantulas and the wolf spiders. Just like all other animals and insects that people choose to domesticate, keeping spiders are pets also has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Keeping Spiders as Pets
Disadvantages of Keeping Spiders are Pets
Advantages of Keeping Spiders as Pets
1. Unlike other pets that require high maintenance, spiders are clean creatures. They would just sit quietly in their respective cages (of course, if they are sufficiently fed).
2. Many pets require vast living spaces. For example, dogs have to roam around to exercise or rabbits have to run to and fro. But spiders do not need all of that space. They are already happy and contented to live in a suitably sized terrarium. Then again, enthusiasts have to make sure that the terrarium can serve an as excellent spider habitat.
3. Since spiders can be kept in glass terrarium, you can actually put them on display. These creatures are incredibly amazing to watch, not to mention that their external appearance is intriguing enough to keep people gazing at them for hours. That's excellent entertainment for visitors in your house. Moreover, spider-watching is also a nice way to unwind after a day's work.
4. Now this one is rather crucial. Spiders do not need socialization. That means that you do not have to touch your pet to make it feel comfortable or secured. You do not have to make it interact with other spiders too. Unlike regular domesticated animals that require too much attention, spiders would not mind being left to attend to itself for as long as you give them enough food.
5. When it comes to expenses, obviously, spiders are cheaper to take care of. You do not have to buy different sorts of products to keep them healthy and beautiful. You do not have to buy them fancy cages, toys or clothes. Spiders live a simple life.
6. Most importantly, you do not have to buy a spider. Of course, if you have money to spare, you can do that. But, essentially, you can get spiders even in your own habitat. You can catch spiders in your garden or inside your house. You can also go spider-hunting in forests and other habitats. As far as the government is concern, it is not illegal to catch spiders in the wild, so you might as well want to use this fact to your advantage.
7. Lastly, just like what the other pets can do, taking care of spiders will help children learn to take on responsibility. Raising another living thing is a big responsibility for most children, but once they get through it, you can be assured that these kids will become better people once they grow up. Moreover, spiders can also spark their interest in animals, nature and in science.
Disadvantages of Keeping Spiders are Pets
1. Almost all spiders can excrete venom no matter how small. Although majority of these spiders cannot excrete enough venom to harm humans, the venom can be sufficient to cause itching, reddening and swelling of the bitten area. However, it might also be good news that most of these spiders do not have fangs which are long enough to inject their venom into the blood system of a person; so technically, the most that these spiders can do is give their human victim a sting.
2. One of the most popular spider pet which is the Tarantula has urticating hairs which they can "fire" whenever they feel threatened. Although Tarantulas are naturally patient with humans, there are cases when because of anxiety or stress they become aggressive and "fire" a couple of their hairs to their owner. The hair can cause serious irritations and when they get into the eyes of their victim, the hairs can even cause significant vision damage. However, this situation can be avoided by handling the pet away from the face and by wearing protective gloves.
3. Although spiders can live in a simple terrarium, select spider species also require a terrarium that has the exact physical condition of their natural habitat. That is, the terrarium has to be of the same temperature, lighting and humidity as their natural habitat. Moreover, pet owners have to make sure too that the spiders get the same nutritional requirements that they get from their natural habitat or else, these spiders might grow weak and die.
4. Spiderman can climb buildings for some reasons, right? Well, Spiderman's abilities are solely based on the abilities of a real spider. Spiders can climb different surfaces and even if the owner keeps his or her spider pets in a glass container, if it is not covered, it is still possible for the spider to escape out of the container. Thus, owners have to always cover the "cage" of the spiders and at the same time make sure that the cover will not deprive the spiders with the right amount of oxygen that they need. Airflow is very important to most spiders and if air is not properly flowing, spiders might just suffocate and die.
5. If the owner decided to take care of spiders other than the Tarantula, he or she has to prepare himself or herself of the possibility of losing his or her pet after a short time. Spiders are short-lived thus if the owner has the tendency to be attached to pets, then he or she should choose a tarantula. According to spider enthusiasts, Tarantulas can live as long as 20 or 30 years even in captivity.
6. Now, just like all other pets, at some point, spiders can also get sick. They are also susceptible to many forms of diseases caused by parasitic or fungal infection. The problem is, too few experts know how to treat spiders. So, the tendency is, once your spider becomes ill, you might as well expect that your spider can die because of the disease.
7. If detachment is a disadvantage for you, you should know that most spiders cannot be handles and caressed like ordinary pets. You have to keep your distance from them pets and content yourself to watching them from behind the glass.
8. You can't easily mate your spider. It is very difficult to cross-breed spiders too so you need to mate your spider with the same species and finding another spider pet owner with the same specie as yours can be daunting.
9. Many insurance companies do not merit spiders as pets, so if ever you got bitten by one, your insurance will be void by virtue of neglect or deliberate interaction with a supposed "dangerous" creature.
Studying Spider Biodiversity
Like all other creatures the live on earth, spiders are also very interesting research subjects. These arachnids have exploited almost all types of niches throughout the entire planet. Their ability to adapt to their environment and to develop characteristics that will enable them to survive in each of these environments make spiders very useful indicators of the changes experienced by our environment. Thus, studying spiders enable experts and researchers to explore the different concepts of biological diversity on our planet and at the same time, provide useful practical data on the application of these concepts to the steps that we take in conserving environmental biodiversity. People behind these studies usually proceed with their researches in three levels, each increasing in depth as the one before it. These levels are: 1. Sorting and Classifying, 2. Contrasting and 3. Evolutionary Comparison. This article will discuss about the first level in length. However, for levels 2 and 3, all that this article can offer is an overview.
1. Sorting and Classifying
A comprehensive spider study involves different spider subjects or a collection of different spiders. Spiders might be grouped according to the environment that they are found or to different characteristics. In is very important for researchers to develop and effective and efficient way to sort and classify spider collections in order to assess fully if the data is comprehensive enough to make the study rich and realistic.
But how do researchers collect spiders? Oftentimes, the more equipped researchers are the biologists because they are highly trained professionals who know how to handle different types of creatures, including spiders. First, biologists would choose a range for their sampling. So, if the sample range is 100, they would have to find 100 spiders from 100 different trees, if the test environment is a forest. Collected spiders should not be deformed in any way and almost every time, biologists would simply dislodge a live spider to drown in a vial of alcohol. The alcohol will serve as a preservative of the spider's body. Each spider collected will be examined in the laboratory to determine whatever data that the biologist would need from the spider. These spiders are photographed using a microscopic camera and the photos will be compiled along with a detailed description of the spider.
Now that each of the spiders have been identified, the biologist would have to sort these spiders one by one. Normally, biologists sort spider based on their specie but of course, in some cases, biologists may opt to sort them some other way. To get accurate information about the spider, it has to be inspected based on its external characteristics. This task will be easier now because all that the biologists have to sort are the photographs along with their descriptions. This task would have been harder if the biologist have to sort dead spiders. This is also the importance why they have to preserve the spiders, carefully examine them in the laboratory and take clear microscopic shots of their preserved bodies. Biologists use tables and graphs to assist them in classifying spiders based on specie. Examining the spider's genital is often the easiest way to quickly identify which specie a spider belongs to.
Now that the spiders have been classified based on specie, the biologist would have to assign each specie-group with a "friendly name". The name will help the biologist and the other researchers to refer to specie with description names that would easily relate the spider specie into an image in their minds. This is extremely helpful to research groups where there are many people working on the same research.
To be able to know if the collection does represent the real spider diversity in the test environment, the data gathered should meet certain standards. For example, the biologist has to construct a Collector's Curve which plots the cumulative number of spider species versus the number of spider species found in the place. The curve was developed by Colwell and Coddington in 1994. According to the two, sampling cannot stop while the curve is still increasing. Thus, if this happens, it only proves that the sampling is yet incomplete. Furthermore, if the curve flattens out, then all the species have been detected.
The collector's curve is constructed by using random specimen data within the spider collection. The process is rather too technical for a lay person to understand, but to put it simply, each point in the graph shall represent one random sample from the collection. The graph will progress for each sample which has been randomly picked up until the entire plot is completed, that is, all X and Y coordinates have been filled up. The resulting graph would either be flat, steep, slow rising or slow falling. The shape of the curve actually determines the diversity of the spiders in the test environment. Biologists are trained to interpret such graphs to give understandable conclusions to a lay person.
2. Contrasting
The real goal of level 2 is to contrast the diversity of spiders in the test environment with the diversities of the environments where conservation efforts are in place. To do this, biologists will compare the collection that that they have obtained in their test environment with the data that that has been obtained in conserved environments. These data might have been obtained by other biologists and researchers, so the members of the research team also need time to understand the data before it can be compared to theirs. In order to do that, they need to follow mathematical and statistical formulas to establish a common ground. Once the calculations have been completed, researchers will be able to answer questions like "how does the test environment rank among protected environments", "how will the protection be performed” and so much more.
3. Evolutionary Comparison
Now, this level is rather more interesting to an average reasonable person because it explores the distinctiveness of each spider specie from the others based on the spider evolution. That is, biologists will have to consider that at one point in time, spiders belonging to different spider species might have evolved from the same species.
1. Sorting and Classifying
A comprehensive spider study involves different spider subjects or a collection of different spiders. Spiders might be grouped according to the environment that they are found or to different characteristics. In is very important for researchers to develop and effective and efficient way to sort and classify spider collections in order to assess fully if the data is comprehensive enough to make the study rich and realistic.
But how do researchers collect spiders? Oftentimes, the more equipped researchers are the biologists because they are highly trained professionals who know how to handle different types of creatures, including spiders. First, biologists would choose a range for their sampling. So, if the sample range is 100, they would have to find 100 spiders from 100 different trees, if the test environment is a forest. Collected spiders should not be deformed in any way and almost every time, biologists would simply dislodge a live spider to drown in a vial of alcohol. The alcohol will serve as a preservative of the spider's body. Each spider collected will be examined in the laboratory to determine whatever data that the biologist would need from the spider. These spiders are photographed using a microscopic camera and the photos will be compiled along with a detailed description of the spider.
Now that each of the spiders have been identified, the biologist would have to sort these spiders one by one. Normally, biologists sort spider based on their specie but of course, in some cases, biologists may opt to sort them some other way. To get accurate information about the spider, it has to be inspected based on its external characteristics. This task will be easier now because all that the biologists have to sort are the photographs along with their descriptions. This task would have been harder if the biologist have to sort dead spiders. This is also the importance why they have to preserve the spiders, carefully examine them in the laboratory and take clear microscopic shots of their preserved bodies. Biologists use tables and graphs to assist them in classifying spiders based on specie. Examining the spider's genital is often the easiest way to quickly identify which specie a spider belongs to.
Now that the spiders have been classified based on specie, the biologist would have to assign each specie-group with a "friendly name". The name will help the biologist and the other researchers to refer to specie with description names that would easily relate the spider specie into an image in their minds. This is extremely helpful to research groups where there are many people working on the same research.
To be able to know if the collection does represent the real spider diversity in the test environment, the data gathered should meet certain standards. For example, the biologist has to construct a Collector's Curve which plots the cumulative number of spider species versus the number of spider species found in the place. The curve was developed by Colwell and Coddington in 1994. According to the two, sampling cannot stop while the curve is still increasing. Thus, if this happens, it only proves that the sampling is yet incomplete. Furthermore, if the curve flattens out, then all the species have been detected.
The collector's curve is constructed by using random specimen data within the spider collection. The process is rather too technical for a lay person to understand, but to put it simply, each point in the graph shall represent one random sample from the collection. The graph will progress for each sample which has been randomly picked up until the entire plot is completed, that is, all X and Y coordinates have been filled up. The resulting graph would either be flat, steep, slow rising or slow falling. The shape of the curve actually determines the diversity of the spiders in the test environment. Biologists are trained to interpret such graphs to give understandable conclusions to a lay person.
2. Contrasting
The real goal of level 2 is to contrast the diversity of spiders in the test environment with the diversities of the environments where conservation efforts are in place. To do this, biologists will compare the collection that that they have obtained in their test environment with the data that that has been obtained in conserved environments. These data might have been obtained by other biologists and researchers, so the members of the research team also need time to understand the data before it can be compared to theirs. In order to do that, they need to follow mathematical and statistical formulas to establish a common ground. Once the calculations have been completed, researchers will be able to answer questions like "how does the test environment rank among protected environments", "how will the protection be performed” and so much more.
3. Evolutionary Comparison
Now, this level is rather more interesting to an average reasonable person because it explores the distinctiveness of each spider specie from the others based on the spider evolution. That is, biologists will have to consider that at one point in time, spiders belonging to different spider species might have evolved from the same species.
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