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Today a friend posted a cute thing on Facebook about jumping spiders. I happen to adore them, they are very cute little creatures. If you google "jumping spiders with raindrop hats" you'll see what I mean. They have cute little faces, and they're fuzzy. And they don't hurt people. Although they have venom like all spiders do, they're really tiny, and not aggressive, and their venom is not considered medically threatening to humans.
I commented about how overjoyed I was when I had one on my arm not long ago. I peered at it, it peered back at me, then I carefully released it into the grass. (I was happy, because it's not every day I get such an up-close look at one, and they're so small you can't see how cute they are unless you get a close look.)
Anyways, some fool came along with a photo of a nasty infected wound on someone's finger, and claimed that this was her friend after a jumping spider bite. *sigh* I question if the pic wasn't something they just found on the internet. If real, how does this friend know it was even a spider, and not a staph infection or other infection of another kind of wound, if known as a spider bite, was the culprit collected for identification, or is it somebody's random guess, if identified, by whom? An expert? Or an ER nurse, who doesn't know a ton about spiders? Etc. If proven to be a jumping spider bite, I'd say that person has like a one-in-a-million allergic sensitivity, or a useless immune system.
Reminds me of how I was recently at our local zoo, and a woman was getting a corn snake out to give a talk on it. A little girl came up close, wanting to see, and her idiot of a grandpa said, "Oh, look...she's touchin' a snake! She's gonna git bit! You best come back here, you'll git bit too!" Bless that old woman, she turned such a look of scorn on him, and she scolded him and said, "Oh, hush! This is a very nice snake. Her name is Clementine, and she's not going to bite anyone. We don't need your drama here." Then she sat down and did her talk and let the kids pet Clementine.
It drives me crazy when people want to act all dramatic and make out pretty harmless animals to be some kind of a public safety hazard, when they aren't.
Ha ha!! I agree. One summer I captured a large tomato hornworm and brought it into the house to show my child and my nieces. One of the nieces was about to pet the hornworm when her mother came into the room. The mother looked at the hornworm and screamed "GET AWAY FROM THAT THING. DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S POISONOUS!!!!" Actually, they are harmless, and they taste pretty darned good fried.
Ha ha!! I agree. One summer I captured a large tomato hornworm and brought it into the house to show my child and my nieces. One of the nieces was about to pet the hornworm when her mother came into the room. The mother looked at the hornworm and screamed "GET AWAY FROM THAT THING. DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S POISONOUS!!!!" Actually, they are harmless, and they taste pretty darned good fried.
OK, I have to ask: exactly WHAT do they taste LIKE?
Today a friend posted a cute thing on Facebook about jumping spiders. I happen to adore them, they are very cute little creatures. If you google "jumping spiders with raindrop hats" you'll see what I mean. They have cute little faces, and they're fuzzy. And they don't hurt people. Although they have venom like all spiders do, they're really tiny, and not aggressive, and their venom is not considered medically threatening to humans.
I commented about how overjoyed I was when I had one on my arm not long ago. I peered at it, it peered back at me, then I carefully released it into the grass. (I was happy, because it's not every day I get such an up-close look at one, and they're so small you can't see how cute they are unless you get a close look.)
Anyways, some fool came along with a photo of a nasty infected wound on someone's finger, and claimed that this was her friend after a jumping spider bite. *sigh* I question if the pic wasn't something they just found on the internet. If real, how does this friend know it was even a spider, and not a staph infection or other infection of another kind of wound, if known as a spider bite, was the culprit collected for identification, or is it somebody's random guess, if identified, by whom? An expert? Or an ER nurse, who doesn't know a ton about spiders? Etc. If proven to be a jumping spider bite, I'd say that person has like a one-in-a-million allergic sensitivity, or a useless immune system.
Reminds me of how I was recently at our local zoo, and a woman was getting a corn snake out to give a talk on it. A little girl came up close, wanting to see, and her idiot of a grandpa said, "Oh, look...she's touchin' a snake! She's gonna git bit! You best come back here, you'll git bit too!" Bless that old woman, she turned such a look of scorn on him, and she scolded him and said, "Oh, hush! This is a very nice snake. Her name is Clementine, and she's not going to bite anyone. We don't need your drama here." Then she sat down and did her talk and let the kids pet Clementine.
It drives me crazy when people want to act all dramatic and make out pretty harmless animals to be some kind of a public safety hazard, when they aren't.
OMG, yes. Jumping spiders are as harmless as it gets. The omly really nasty N American spiders are the widow species and the fiddleback. Oh, and I've heard hobos are rather nasty. Never had any experience with them. Tarantulas, as big a they are, are VERY docile really. You have to really antangoninze one to get bit. Now, scorpions, they sting for spite
I like the little black and white striped Zebra Back jumping spiders. They are harmless and very good at eliminating silverfish in the house. They are also very cute, furry, clean and quite smart little spiders. I discovered how clean and smart they are when I observed a zebra jumping spider climbing down the kitchen wall every morning when I was preparing to make the coffee. I noticed that it would wait until I'd finished filling the coffee carafe with fresh water from the sink and then it would climb down into the sink to where there were droplets of water near the drain. There it would use the water droplets to bathe and groom the fuzzy fur all over its face and body and then it would climb back out of the sink. I watched it do this same morning bathing ritual for several days. I didn't want to some day forget it was there and accidently flush the spider down the drain so a few days later I provided it with its own bath tub. Before I filled the coffee carafe I placed a small shallow plastic container lid with a teaspoon of fresh water in it on the splash board right beneath where the spider always came down the wall. That spider saw it when it came down the wall and immediately caught on to my intent and the convenience of a proper bathing facility for itself. It spent more time giving itself a thorough bath in that lid than it ever had while using the water droplets in the sink and that became it's new morning bathing routine. No more climbing down into the sink and risking getting flushed down the drain.
I like the little black and white striped Zebra Back jumping spiders. They are harmless and very good at eliminating silverfish in the house. They are also very cute, furry, clean and quite smart little spiders. I discovered how clean and smart they are when I observed a zebra jumping spider climbing down the kitchen wall every morning when I was preparing to make the coffee. I noticed that it would wait until I'd finished filling the coffee carafe with fresh water from the sink and then it would climb down into the sink to where there were droplets of water near the drain. There it would use the water droplets to bathe and groom the fuzzy fur all over its face and body and then it would climb back out of the sink. I watched it do this same morning bathing ritual for several days. I didn't want to some day forget it was there and accidently flush the spider down the drain so a few days later I provided it with its own bath tub. Before I filled the coffee carafe I placed a small shallow plastic container lid with a teaspoon of fresh water in it on the splash board right beneath where the spider always came down the wall. That spider saw it when it came down the wall and immediately caught on to my intent and the convenience of a proper bathing facility for itself. It spent more time giving itself a thorough bath in that lid than it ever had while using the water droplets in the sink and that became it's new morning bathing routine. No more climbing down into the sink and risking getting flushed down the drain.
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What a great story! I can visualise the entire process. Sorry I can't rep you as yet.
While in general I agree, when our kids we little we taught them not to mess with snakes. They were too young at the time to understand the difference and we didn't want them confusing a good snake with a copperhead or rattlesnake, both of which thrive in our state. They didn't grow up petrified of snakes but as little kids playing in the yard, better safe than sorry.
A few years ago, I was waiting to be called for a lab test at a Quest Diagnostics Lab. A woman started shrieking about the "monstrous spider" near her in the waiting room. I calmly walked over and picked up the Daddy Long Legs and put it outside. She said to me, "Why didn't you KILL it when you had the chance?". Oh, brother.
I've known them as Utah Jumping Spiders...and yes, they are fun to watch
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Actually, they are harmless, and they taste pretty darned good fried. 
