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The most frequently asked question in our local CD forum from people planning to move here is about our bugs and spiders. Indeed we do have a lot. You just get used to them. Last night I was reading in bed and suddenly a spider was on the page...oh well. Just brush him off and get on with it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...rainbow&wpmm=1
Yea, newbies here are all about wanting to know about the critters with more than four legs as well. My general answer is that if it grows or crawls in this country it will likely bite you stab you sting you or stick you. To one degree or another. The further East you go from the Reno Sparks Carson City area (SE actually) the more ornery and big things get. The Black Widows are everywhere in profusion, as one travels SE, you run into scorpions, Vinagaroons, sandspiders, and at certain times tarantulas. There are more species of spiders than can be counted, and flying insects as well. Our horse flys are large , black and grey , stealth bombers and they will get your attention if they get hold of you.
We have three species of rattlers. Diamond back, Mojave Green and the ubiquitous rust colored Great Basin. Along with the Bull snakes, racers and myriad other smaller ones that tend to stay close to water sources munching on grasshoppers and such. Lizards galore! The non venomous snakes and all the lizards are our friends. Horned Toads, Scaleys, Whiptails, Leapords, Bluebellys and the little grey guys, all great for bug control. The snakes take care of various rodentious verminous pests, in a most effective manner.
I think there's some kind of ingrained fear through evolution some people have of spiders. Any little tiny insect bite, they assume it was a spider that bit them. If it's a bite that swells up, it must have been a spider. Reality is that the vast majority of spiders are harmless to humans. They don't chase you down the street looking at you as a food source, not even black widows or tarantulas. If not for spiders, you'd be up to your knees in other insects.
Do I want to be bitten by a black widow, of course not but I don't freak out if I see one either.
Frankly, I have no use for black widow spiders. I don't know that they have any real benefits to the ecosystem, although they may eat other insects. The one good thing I can say about them is that they are slow and easy to spot - my eyes are poor but I can usually tell one from 15 feet away or so if it's on siding. One thing I've learned is that if you rake up a bunch of leaves and let them stay on the ground for a couple of days, a black widow will move in more likely than not. I've learned to always wear gloves now when filling up the compost pile with leaves.
Reality is that the vast majority of spiders are harmless to humans. They don't chase you down the street looking at you as a food source, not even black widows or tarantulas. If not for spiders, you'd be up to your knees in other insects.
I understand that Australia has two vicious and aggressive spiders. One is the funnel web and the other, whose name I forgot, is even more aggressive. They don't chase anyone down the street but they don't scurry away or pretend to be dead when you encounter them, according to various PBS nature shows.
In SC here, I have come across quite a few black widows. This property was loaded with spiders when we bought it. Now they are at a more manageable population.
Frankly, I have no use for black widow spiders. I don't know that they have any real benefits to the ecosystem, although they may eat other insects. The one good thing I can say about them is that they are slow and easy to spot - my eyes are poor but I can usually tell one from 15 feet away or so if it's on siding. One thing I've learned is that if you rake up a bunch of leaves and let them stay on the ground for a couple of days, a black widow will move in more likely than not. I've learned to always wear gloves now when filling up the compost pile with leaves.
I've been bitten by widders more than once. I HATE them. Getting bit is a more than unpleasant experience. Severe nausea, massive joint pain and abdominal pain, dizziness that's just hard to describe, like downing a fifth of Teqquila in one massive gulp, breathing trouble, uggg! It's a neurotoxin, often compared in potency to a cobra. So it's a good thing they cant deliver more venom than they do. It feels like having a cigarette put out on you when the bite is delivered and the bite site festers like a boil. Ican do with out Black Widows. Quite easily.
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