Spiders Found While Caching

[+fly46]

I found this webpage, which was somewhat helpful, but not entirely, as the spiders I found don't really look like any of these.

 

The spider I found (here in Cacheville, if that helps identify it) had a reddish (not bright red, kinda dull red, but not quite brown) body that just looked like a little round spot, and then really long legs... It looks kinda like the brown recluse shown on that page I linked, but the body just looked like one round red bubble and not the two section brown thing I saw.

 

When I reached in to grab the cache, I felt what felt like a bee's hive/nest, but it could have been the spider's habitat.

 

Luckily, I didn't get bit. I just want to make sure that the spiders I found aren't going to be dangerous to the next cacher that comes along and doesn't read my log and just sticks and hand up and manages to get bit.

[+YuccaPatrol]

Did it look like this?

 

 

Sounds like a "Daddy Long Legs" spider. Very common, very harmless.

 

This one pictured is a Phalangium opilio

 

Just about any rather harmless common spider with really long legs is commonly called a "Daddy Long Legs", although there are numberous familes and species of spiders that share the same common name depending on where you live.

Edited October 7, 2004 by YuccaPatrol

[+carleenp]

Sounds like a "Daddy Long Legs" spider. Very common, very harmless.

 

This one pictured is a Phalangium opilio

 

Just about any rather harmless common spider with really long legs is commonly called a "Daddy Long Legs", although there are numberous familes and species of spiders that share the same common name depending on where you live.

The "really long legs" in the description leads me to agree. Also, when I was in Nashville, that type of spider was extremely common. My tent was coated in them each morning camping. And yes they are harmless.

[+SixDogTeam]

spiders can hurt you real bad.

[TeamQTH]

spiders can hurt you real bad.

 

Spiders can make you hurt yourself real bad, too.

 

TeamQTH

[+fly46]

That was it, but I have never ever ever seen a daddylonglegs with that color body.

The ones that I used to see around Ohio were all one color.

 

 

FYI - daddylonglegs are only harmless because their fangs aren't long enough to bite. They are the most poisonus spider in the world.

[Pantalaimon]

FYI - daddylonglegs are only harmless because their fangs aren't long enough to bite.  They are the most poisonus spider in the world.

Talk about embodying the word "impotent."

 

Imagine how the daddylonglegs must get teased by the other spiders.

 

What if the DLL bites me in an already open wound?

Edited October 7, 2004 by Pantalaimon

[+webscouter.]

That was it, but I have never ever ever seen a daddylonglegs with that color body.

The ones that I used to see around Ohio were all one color.

 

 

FYI - daddylonglegs are only harmless because their fangs aren't long enough to bite. They are the most poisonus spider in the world.

I watched a special on medical myths a couple of years ago. One of the myths that they looked at was the Daddy Long legs one.

 

It seems that the Daddy Long legs can and does bite but only as a last resort. The host of the show got bit and said that it only hurt about as much as a bee sting. They showed the mark that was left and it was only about 1/8 inch in diameter.

 

They also "milked" the spider and tested the venom. They found that it was not quite as toxic as a wasp.

[+aprilbapryll]

spider myths

i had never heard this, so i went looking. according to this website and others i've found, the name "daddy long legs" actually refers to two seperate type of creatures -- daddy longlegs, which feed on vegitation, and daddy longlegs spiders, which may have venom, but there is no evidence of such a bite causing any human detrimental reaction and the only way this could be tested would be to milk one for it's venom and inject it into a human -- therefore this theory has never been tested. brown recluses have a similar fang structures and they are easily able to bite humans. the website is much more in depth and more eloquent as well.

 

<edited because i misread the first time>

Edited October 7, 2004 by aprilbapryll

[Agent N.]

I watched a special on medical myths a couple of years ago. One of the myths that they looked at was the Daddy Long legs one.

 

It seems that the Daddy Long legs can and does bite but only as a last resort. The host of the show got bit and said that it only hurt about as much as a bee sting. They showed the mark that was left and it was only about 1/8 inch in diameter.

 

They also "milked" the spider and tested the venom. They found that it was not quite as toxic as a wasp.

I saw that too

[justinthornton]

That is the wierdest looking Daddy long leg I've ever seen.

[+Robespierre]

That was it, but I have never ever ever seen a daddylonglegs with that color body.

The ones that I used to see around Ohio were all one color.

Were you caching fully clothed this time...the spider may have been embarassed.

[realmofmyst]

When I was growing up I used to have a Daddylong-leg family that lived in the corner of my bed-room. As kids we used to pick them up and study them. Even when we'd take them outside they'd somehow come back. After a while my mom decided to rearrange the furniture so they had no corner to occupy.

They are quite harmless and very delicate.

Best thing to do would be look up what types of spiders are located in your region. Then you can research to see if any are posionous.

I've done that with the snakes in my area. Although now that I'm writting this I think I'll research spiders as well. Thank-you!

[+Peaceable Rhino]

As I understand it -- in reading the nonsensationalist entomological press as opposed to the average newspaper -- only two varieties of American spider pose a threat to your health and then only if you are aged, have a heart condition, or are very young: the black widow and the Brown Recluse spider.

 

Like the scorpions we have out here, a spider bite can make the average adult ill but rarely threatens life.

 

A pair of leather gloves for reaching in dark holes might be the best thing. Better still might be poking it first with a stick: I'd be worried about annoying a rattlesnake!* Their bite is also often not fatal, but you can get very very sick.

 

I'll keep the dangers of unwanted co-occupants in mind when I cache, Fly46. There's an argument there for hanging the cache from a branch over stuffing it in a hole when you think about it.

 

--------

 

* Interesting fact. Most Southern Californian victims of rattlesnake bite get it while walking the dog barefooted! Rock climbers also run into them when they stick their hands on ledges before checking them.

[+briansnat]

Last week I saw this cool looking spider building a web next to one of my caches. I looked it up and it appears to be a Marbled Orb Weaver.

 

[moopgroop]

 

FYI - daddylonglegs are only harmless because their fangs aren't long enough to bite. They are the most poisonus spider in the world.

Not entirely true. Check out this link to learn more.

 

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/longlegs.htm

[+AuntieWeasel]

As I understand it -- in reading the nonsensationalist entomological press as opposed to the average newspaper -- only two varieties of American spider pose a threat to your health and then only if you are aged, have a heart condition, or are very young:  the black widow and the Brown Recluse spider. 

Don't forget the hobo spider in the extreme Northwest.

 

One of my friends was bitten by a black widow, and I know several bitten by brown recluses (which have somehow become more common in recent years). If by "threat to your health" you mean stings which prove fatal, that's true enough. It's more like "intensely unpleasant and painful experiences which leave dreadful scars and sometimes side effects that linger for years."

[bug and snake]

This subject, spiders, has come up before in the forum. I don't think it can be repeated enough. I am crippled as the result of a brown recluse spider bite. Take them seriously folks - PLEASE! My bite was something like 13 years ago and I still suffer to the extent that I am officially classed as disabled in the State Of Texas.

[+OzarksJim]

This article is on this evening's CNN.com website:

 

Coroner: Boy died from spider bite

 

Jim

 

(edited for punctuation)

Edited October 9, 2004 by ozarksjim

[+Anonymous']

I hate spiders, they're creepy.

[flir67]

I've been biten 3 times by brown recluse spiders in the past year and the last time was the worst it left horrible scares and I aboult lost my leg after thinking it was just a really bad boil under the skin.

 

flir67--------------------

[+hedberg]

I've been biten 3 times by brown recluse spiders in the past year and the last time was the

You didn't learn a lesson after the first one...?

[Ditchdigger]

I am not a biologist and don't know one spider from the next so I assme they are all bad. I try to steer clear and leave them alone, because what I do know is that most of them are beneficial and help us more than they hurt.

[+evergreenhiker!]

I am not a biologist and don't know one spider from the next so I assme they are all bad. I try to steer clear and leave them alone, because what I do know is that most of them are beneficial and help us more than they hurt.

That's my attitude towards them. Same thing for poisonous anything else. I just assume all spiders are or could be very poisonous. We all have different reactions to bites. Best thing...leave them alone. If they are in the house, I'll capture them in a safe manner and put them outside.