Spider Bites - Myth vs. Reality
spider fangs (lower) We get more visitors to our Bugs site looking for information about spiders, spider identification and spider bites than just about any other topic. Most people have an innate fear of spiders and believe that most are dangerous; even small spiders provoke this fear. The truth is most spiders are harmless or even beneficial and the few that do have a venomous bite may not be as dangerous as we once believed. In the US there are three spiders that get blamed for most of the so called "spider bites" that end up in emergency rooms. Where you live largely determines which species gets the blame. The three common culprits are: brown recluse , black widow , and hobo or aggressive house spider. Brown recluse spiders are only found in the south central US . Researchers have tried to find specimens of the spider outside this range but have repeatedly failed. Despite the lack of actual spiders, even the medical community continues to report bites and ulcera...