Spiders In Florida???? Please No pics!

[mystree]

I have heard - and I have no confirmation of this - that there is no chemical that takes care of spiders and that there is nothing that you can do about them. Can anyone confirm this?

I know you have to spray them directly. When we lived in South Carolina,we had black widows and they loved the garage & the area around our well. I hate spiders but would go out in the garage about once a week armed with bug stop and look for new webs and spiders.I would also crush their egg sacks with a stick.I get the heebie jeebies thinking of it. I'm in Minnesota now the daddy long legs are ok,but anything black and fuzzy up here has to go...lol

[pirate girl]

Did you know Daddy Long Legs are one of the the most poisonous kind of spider?

But since their mouth is so small, they can't inject much poison so they're not that dangerous.

[TOC]

Originally Posted by pirate girl

Did you know Daddy Long Legs are one of the the most poisonous kind of spider?

But since their mouth is so small, they can't inject much poison so they're not that dangerous.

that is actually incorrect...its an old wive's tale.

the "daddy long legs" that everyone thinks of actually aren't even spiders! actual "daddy long leg spiders" are also not poisonous.

so don't worry.

link: UCR Entomology Spiders - Daddy Long Legs

[the_pines]

Spring Hill has all the good spiders most definitely. I saw a really big brown spider in someones shed the other night. It was about the size of a half dollar and hairy all over. Now those banana spiders get UGE, and their webs can catch birds in them. Generally speaking you don't have to worry about spiders. I only had a problem once when my leg was almost paralyzed for three days because something bit me on my ankle. My leg was cramping really bad and I was in a lot of pain. The kind of blunt dull pain that you want to beat on the affected area so it stops momentarily. That was a long time ago though. It healed up perfectly fine except for a small scar where the bite was. I'm actually not even sure what it was that bit me either.

Now I normally don't kill any bugs or anything, except fireants that bite my feet. However I did kill a black widow that was on the porch the other day because I didn't want to take the chance with my three girls running around all over that area. I was going to move it, but it proved too squishy to move with a pool fixture. Its markings were the most distinct I have seen before too. So im sure of it, it was definitely a black widow.

Also my shed gets invaded by jumping spiders. Sometimes fifty or more crawling all over it. You don't have to worry about them at all. I let them crawl on my arms and stuff before. They're absolutely no danger whatsoever. My sister has had a couple as pets she calls "piders." There are some really colorful little jumpers around, and they're excellent little hunters. Please don't kill those little guys. They will fight bigger spiders and everything. They will not hurt you and they're fun to watch.

Now scorpions are less commonly sighted, but they're there. You just don't see them as much. Typically they stay in pine tree bark. But I have found one in my grandma's microwave under a napkin before. And really the scorpions here aren't that dangerous. About the same as a bee sting more or less. I know of several people that have been stung by them and its just a small temporary amount of pain. Put a little Neosporin or Calamine lotion on it.

In places with lots of ants you wont find many spiders. The ants are more to worry about here because they don't avoid contact. They're little robot soldiers that have no fear. If any spiders are around, dangerous or not, ants will swarm it most likely. And Bull Ants or whatever they're called feel as bad as a bee sting or worse when they bite and they can keep biting. I rubbed my back up against a dirt wall in an area that was being dug out and I got mauled by Bull Ants. I literally pulled my pants down and was standing in my boxers right next to a main road using a garden hose to spray all over myself and in my underwear. I had welts all over me when I got home and I felt sorta weird right after so many of them mauled me. Kinda dizzy or something.

[fehr4jesus]

we just returned from Destin Flordia and my husdand and i took a night walk, well the condo that we stayed in had a deck that was covered and we saw like dozens of huge brown spiders and we could not figure out what kind they were...I know you said you don't want pics and i do have a picture of them if its ok that i put one up??I am just curious what kinda spider it is???

[Muggy]

Golden Orb Weavers arm harmless and you'd be a fool to walk into one of their webs. As for the fat brown spiders, you may be seeing a cousin of the Golden Orb, a Garden Orb Weaver. Also harmless.

[Ghostgecko]

Never met a Banana spider down in Key West, but opened a door one day to see a 8" long black scorpion with babies on her back swinging from the door jam. Made the funniest sound you could imagine for a 30 yr old man! I hate those things, when I was in Vegas I was ALWAYS shaking out my shoes...

I think I might have seen a Wolf Spider, will have to look them up. Try 8" long brown centipedes in Hawaii that are poisonous, and WILL chase you if you mess with them.... Big as dinner plates, sounds like somebody wants to mess with you, surely though I will keep an ear closer to the floor tonight...

They do eat a lot of bugs, don't mess with them and they leave you alone for the most part. You should be ok, I have lived here in 3 years have seen more scorpions than anything. But never a Black Widow except in San Diego...

[AONE]

Well my rule for spiders is simple. inside you die outside you live. the daddy long leg typs don't bother me so i just get a feather duster and move them outside. They are the ones that wil;l generate cobwebs in corners. in 1 day they can make it look like you are the worlds worst house keeper. They sem to be totally harmless and don't have hairy legs. The banana spiders are pretty amazing and I have had a few outside none inside. They too are hairless. I have a picture on my myspace of the one in the back yard. it was cool.. at a distance. The only one I really have an issue with are the wolf spiders. they get huge, are hairy , fast and aggressive and worse of all they don't respect my rule. I have a dog that seems to find them when they come inside and they are promptly dispatched. Once as I was about to climb in bed I saw a large one... 6" in my bedroom. I was "au natural" and chasing this fast spider it ran iinto my closet and the thought of dealing with it in my clothes was worse than going in after it. I was so pleased when it ran back into the room but then it disappeared. All of a sudden this monster jumped on my naked back. I moved so fast I left it in the air ...it found the shoe I was caring I had the speed of Jet Li at that moment. My neighbor has one the size of a dinner plate. I didnt really want to visit him anymore. They come into the house from the attics when they arent getting enough water. My pool qualifies for outside so they need to learn the rule.

I did bomb the house and haven't seen any since... I bombed the attic too. The order has been restored :-)

[ebbe]

Beware the wolf spider...wear boots when you kill it. Ewww. Heebie Jeebies indeed.

Just get the pest man on a regular basis. Should help quite a bit.

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by AONE

Well my rule for spiders is simple. inside you die outside you live. the daddy long leg typs don't bother me so i just get a feather duster and move them outside. They are the ones that wil;l generate cobwebs in corners. in 1 day they can make it look like you are the worlds worst house keeper. They sem to be totally harmless and don't have hairy legs. The banana spiders are pretty amazing and I have had a few outside none inside. They too are hairless. I have a picture on my myspace of the one in the back yard. it was cool.. at a distance. The only one I really have an issue with are the wolf spiders. they get huge, are hairy , fast and aggressive and worse of all they don't respect my rule. I have a dog that seems to find them when they come inside and they are promptly dispatched. Once as I was about to climb in bed I saw a large one... 6" in my bedroom. I was "au natural" and chasing this fast spider it ran iinto my closet and the thought of dealing with it in my clothes was worse than going in after it. I was so pleased when it ran back into the room but then it disappeared. All of a sudden this monster jumped on my naked back. I moved so fast I left it in the air ...it found the shoe I was caring I had the speed of Jet Li at that moment. My neighbor has one the size of a dinner plate. I didnt really want to visit him anymore. They come into the house from the attics when they arent getting enough water. My pool qualifies for outside so they need to learn the rule.

I did bomb the house and haven't seen any since... I bombed the attic too. The order has been restored :-)

normally thats true I leave things alone as long as they stay outta my house but black widows I kill if I see them outside because I have children.