Spiders: Are they as bad as they seem?

Arachnophobia

You have some quiet time, the kids are in bed, the lights are low and the house is still, and you decide to do some light reading as you get into bed. You make yourself comfortable, pull the blankets up to your chin, and stretch your hand across to the bedside table to pick up your book, and over the top of your reading glasses you look as you pick up the book, and there are eyes staring back at you. Eight of them…

Now, this is a big moment. Impulse takes over. You scream, and take no regard for a sleeping spouse next to you, children down the passage who if woken will be awake for at least another hour, or the expensive lamp next to your bed, which will no doubt end up in a thousand small pieces after you are done thrashing around mindlessly destroying everything within arms reach as you pummel the 8-eyed intruder with your fluffy down pillow. The dust settles, or in this case, the feathers, and you stop to survey the battlefield and confirm your victory, but after no sign of the fallen arachnid, you wonder where it is. In the bed? On the pillow? On your back!? All you know, is there will be no more sleep tonight, until it is found…It’s just not safe!

Or Is It?

What makes us so afraid of spiders? They are all over, throughout most parts of the world, and yet we have this deep fear of them. We seem OK if they are outside in the wild, but as soon as they are close to our living space we generally seem uncomfortable. Some more than others, yes, but as soon as a spider is close to us, we often get uncomfortable.

Spiders are fascinating animals. They spend most of their life in specific types of habitat, and their ability to survive is influenced by all sorts of factors- temperature, humidity, vegetation, food availability, and the occurrence of natural predators.
Two reasons spiders have been able to adapt to these diverse habitats are the fact they can produce silk, and venom.

Silky Trap

Spider webs are made from silk, which the spider can produce from silk glands in the abdomen and released through spinneretes. They can produce various types of silk- all used for various reasons, including guidelines, dispersal (small spiderlings will produce lines of silk light enough to be carried on a small breeze, and let the air currents float them away to a new destination, called balooning), web construction, egg sacs, retreats, prey wrapping, and mating (in a kind of bondage type of situation!). Protein based, spider silk has marvelled us humans for centuries, as it is about 5 times the strength of steel, can stretch more than double it’s length, is lighter than cotton, is bacteria and fungus resistant, and is impervious to temperatures as low as -40 degrees! Some spiders even go so far as to roll their web up as the sun begins to appear, and eat it, absorbing all that protein again, to re-use the next night!

Venom. Not Poison.

All spiders (except one family) produce venom. A spider’s primary weapon is it’s chelicerae- jointed jaws on the front of the mouth, made up of two parts: the basal segment, and the fang. Spiders will inject their prey with venom, immobilising it, and also expelling a digestive enzyme into the prey, where these digestive fluids then liquify the animals insides, leaving the exoskeleton mostly intact, as the liquified insides are sucked out.

So just how Dangerous Are They? In South Africa we have approximately 2020 recognised species of spiders. Of those species, a tiny fraction are considered to be of medical importance.
Button Spiders : 6 species of Button Spiders occur in South Africa, and these spiders have a neurotoxic venom, affecting the respiratory system.
Sac Spiders : A cytotoxic venom, normally leading to necrosis, if not cleaned and managed correctly, could lead to secondary infections. Slight fever and nausea not uncommon with these painless bites.
Violin Spiders/ Six-Eyed Sand Spiders : A potent cocktail of neuro- and cytotoxic venom.
Baboon Spiders : Based on their size, Baboon Spiders can inflict quite a painful bite, however the effect of their venom has not been confirmed but it is believed to be of no direct danger to humans.

Spiders are by nature quite shy animals, and unless provoked, will not easily attack anything they do not see as prey. Having a spider walk across your hand will not provoke them to bite, nor will accidentally walking through their web. Like most creatures in the animal kingdom, they are also preyed upon by other animals, including scorpions, birds, mites, monkeys, wasps and other spiders, and would rather be left alone, safe from harm.

High Risk Breeding

Most spiders put their life on the line (literally) to ensure their genes are passed on. Sexual dimorphism occurs in most species, with males often being much smaller than the females, and often looking very different. Some species have to perform an intricate courtship ritual that involves ‘dancing of the palpi’, while others have to tap out a specific rhythm on the females web to make sure she doesn’t mistake him for prey.
Most spiders (much to the relief of many people!) will live for about a year, hatching in Autumn, maturing in Spring and laying her eggs in Summer, and then dying in late Summer. Some spiders however- like the Baboon Spider- can live for a dozen years or so!

So, next time you decide to throw the bedside table lamp at the small jumping spider next to your bed, he’s not as harmful to you as you may think. And by morning, he will probably be gone, and will have eaten that pesky mosquito who has been keeping you up all night too!

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