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There are over 3,500 species of spiders in the United States. Many are quite harmless and fall into the category of nuisance pests. Others, however, can deliver poisonous bites that range from irritating to potentially fatal.
More About Spiders:
The Black Widow Spider 
Black Widow Spiders
- Black Widow spiders can be found in All 50 States
- Black widow spiders are most recognized for the red hourglass shape on the back. Contrary to legend, female black widow spiders rarely devour the male black widow spider after mating.
- Habits - Black widow spiders spin their webs near ground level. They often build their webs in protected areas, such as in boxes and in firewood.
- Habitat - Black widow spiders are often found around wood piles and gain entry into a structure when firewood is carried into a building. They are also found under eaves, in boxes, and other areas where they are undisturbed.
- Threats - The venom of a black widow spider is a neurotoxin and is used as a defense. Black widow spiders do not bite humans instinctively. The black widow spider bite can cause severe pain. Young children and the elderly are especially susceptible to a severe reaction to a black widow spider bite.
- Prevention - Avoid black widow spider bites by wearing heavy gloves when moving items that have been stored for a long period of time. Spiders often hide in shoes, so check shoes and shake them out before wearing. When spider webs are visible, use caution before putting your hands or feet in that area.
Other Interesting Facts About Spiders:
- There are nearly 40,000 species of spiders world-wide and about 3,800 in the US.
- Spiders rarely bite people and only do so as a means of defense.
- Spiders range in size from small enough to balance comfortably on the tip of a pencil to almost 14 inches in diameter.
- The average person will encounter some 50 different kinds of spiders in their lifetime. Of those, only about a dozen are capable of piercing the skin with their fangs.
About Spider Silk: - Spider silk is the strongest natural fiber known. It's exuded as a liquid and hardens when the spider pulls it, thus aligning the molecular structure. It will stretch up to 1/3 of its original length without breaking.
- Scientists are researching spider silk as a possible replacement for Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests.
- It has been theorized that a spider web with strands the thickness of a pencil could stop a 747 in flight.
- Spiders are the only creatures that can produce silk essentially from the time they emerge from the egg sac until the day they die.
- Black widow silk was at one time used in military gun sights because of its strength and uniform thickness.
- Bridge builders have been known to study spider webs because of the webs remarkable ability to absorb tension.
About Spider Venom:
- Virtually all spiders are venomous but only a few are what we refer to as medically important.
- Components of spider venom show promise in medical research, including areas of Alzheimer's and Lou Gehring's disease and even in preventing permanent brain damage in stroke victims.
- There is no correlation between the size of the spider and the degree of venom potency.
Strange But True
- Little Miss Muffet was a real person. Her name was Patience Muffet and she was the daughter of Thomas Muffet - a late 16th and early 17th century entomologist. His book "Insectorum Theatrum" contained the first illustration of an insect, collected in North America on Sir Walter Raleigh's second voyage. Muffet had a particular penchant for spiders and tolerated and even promoted them in his home. As was common at that time, he believed that spiders possessed medicinal qualities and that consuming them could cure a variety of ailments. Consequently, whenever poor Patience was ill, her father would mash spiders and spoon feed her the pulp. No wonder she was afraid of them!
- The simple act of a spider spinning a web in the mouth of a cave has been credited with saving the lives of the primary figures in three major world religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In many countries, there are tales of a hero or special individual who escaped his pursuers because a spider had built a web across the entrance to his hiding place. For example, David doubted God's wisdom in having created such a useless creature that does nothing but spin a web and has no value. Yet when he was pursued by Saul and took refuge in a cave, God sent a spider to weave its web across the mouth of the cave. Saul and his men did not enter the cave because they felt that no one could have entered without disturbing the web. Similar tales are told of Mohammed when he fled Mecca to escape from the Coreishites and of Jesus being hidden in a cave to escape Herrod's men who searched for him.
- Aristotle advocated swallowing a spider every day as a means of staying healthy.
- Contrary to popular belief, the female Black Widow spider seldom devours the male after mating.
- Spider lings (young spiders) can travel great distancing by ballooning - the process of floating on the breeze using a strand of silk.
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