Tag Archives: Arachnophobia

San Juan County, WA Spider Information – Resource Sheet 

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Scared of Spiders?  Here’s a go-to info-sheet (that I plan to update as time allows) with links to verifiable, research-backed Spider Information/Literature.  Let’s end all the misinformation and our arachnophobia.  Too often people buy into false reports.  Don’t listen to someone’s tall tale of horror.  These stories are sensationalized and inaccurate.  Know the facts.  Dispel the rumors.  Spiders are not out to kill you.  It’s just not true. 

YOU have to do the reading!  These are scientifically based, accurate studies with information related to spider bites.  

Hobo Spiders (Tegenaria agrestis) ****Medically insignificant 

*Bennett RG, Vetter RS. An approach to spider bites. Erroneous attribution of dermonecrotic lesions to brown recluse or hobo spider bites in Canada. Can Fam Physician. 2004 Aug;50:1098-101. PMID: 15455808; PMCID: PMC2214648 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2214648/pdf/15455808.pdf.

*Melissa M. Gaver-Wainwright, Richard S. Zack, Matthew J. Foradori, Laura Corley Lavine, Misdiagnosis of Spider Bites: Bacterial Associates, Mechanical Pathogen Transfer, and Hemolytic Potential of Venom From the Hobo Spider, Tegenaria agrestis (Araneae: Agelenidae), Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 48, Issue 2, 1 March 2011, Pages 382–388, https://doi.org/10.1603/ME09224

How to identify and misidentify a Hobo Spider –https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/2210/2015/05/PLS116_1.pdf

Brown Recluse Spiders (Loxoceles sp) – NO! I repeat “NO, none, nada!” established populations in our area.  

In the attached links below, you will find links to information about the Brown Recluse Spider.  Information that comes from a verified, reputable source – from an actual expert.  Brown Recluse spiders do not live in the San Juan Islands.  Caveat: this is not to say that if you move here from an area where there ARE established populations, one might be found hitching on your moving boxes.  It’s possible, BUT – they have not been able to survive and breed here.  If you see a large brown spider in your house – especially on the ceiling, it is most likely (99.99%) going to be a Giant House Spider (Eratigena duellica).  They are very common and harmless.  If you don’t like them, just catch in a cup and take it to a sheltered area outside – preferably another structure where it might have a chance to survive.  They won’t hurt you. 

Map showing distribution of Brown Recluse spiders (Please note that San Juan County is NOT found on this map)  – https://spiders.ucr.edu/spiders-map

Map of Brown Recluse Spider distribution – UC Riverside

Where else can I find reliable information on Spiders?

There are a few sources I’ll list here.  The first two are the ones you should look at first.  They are valuable resources with information from highly credentialed experts in all things arachnid-related.  If you read something written by either Rod Crawford (Seattle Burke Museum curator of the arachnid collection) or by Rick Vetter (UC Riverside Department of Entomology), you can be assured it is correct. 

As a local resource, you can also check out the Facebook Bug Group (Bugs of the San Juan Islands).  There are several group “experts” with experience identifying spiders.  These folks generously volunteer their time and knowledge, so keep that in mind and please refrain if you feel inclined to INSIST they are wrong and there are INDEED Brown Recluse Spiders living in your house in San Juan County.  If you have a spider you’d like identified, it helps to have a couple of clear photos to submit.  Try and get a shot of the dorsal (top) of the spider, and if you’re able, one of its face – showing eye pattern.   You may contact me, Cynthia Brast-Bormann at cynthiabrast@icloud.com to submit live or deceased specimens for identification.  I will help you coordinate a drop off point for collection.  Please don’t indiscriminately KILL a spider though and ask me to ID it.  It will likely make reliable identification more difficult.  Just get a cup and a lid with some air holes punched in the top.  I appreciate your showing kindness to the helpless creature you’ve caught.  I will ID and humanely release.  

Here’s a link to Rod Crawford’s site – http://staff.washington.edu/tiso/

If you’re interested, here’s a link to his blogpost of our 2022 outing on San Juan at Reuben Tarte Park collecting spiders – https://crawford.tardigrade.net/journal/album8630.html

More great links featuring Rod Crawford: 

  1. Spiders aren’t out to get you – https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/seattles-real-spider-man-sets-us-straight-theyre-not-out-to-get-you/

Rick Vetter UCR  

Myth of the Brown Recluse: Fact, Fear, and Loathing

https://spiders.ucr.edu/myth-brown-recluse-fact-fear-and-loathing

Local help: 

Bugs of the San Juan Islands Facebook Group – There are at least 4 spider group experts and folks with entomology degrees or experienced backgrounds in the group who are more than qualified to help you.  https://m.facebook.com/groups/bugsofthesanjuanislands/about/

Bugging You from San Juan Island (Cynthia Brast-Bormann’s entomology blog for the San Juan Islands)  https://buggingyoufromsanjuanisland.com

Great YouTube information and fun links to watch from one of Bugs of the San Juan Island’s group experts, Arlo Pelegrin (entomologist and arachnologist) 

  1. Spiders of the West and their Medical Significance – Arlo Pelegrin at Dept of Health

SPIDER SLEUTHING IN THE SAN JUANS – DAY 14 – Arach-no-phobia

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Let’s break down this fear you have about spiders! Take the word ARACHNOPHOBIA here. If you break it into parts Arach -NO-phobia, it will be easier. Just focus on the NO PHOBIA part, and watch the short clip below of my jumping spider friend who came out daily to “play” in our sunroom for over a week. Yes…every day at 3 o’clock, it would peek out from behind our door trim and hop onto my finger.

Spiders don’t want to bite you. They are our friends! Sweet little souls who provide wonderful (free) pest control services in and around our homes.

Salticus scenicus jumping spider wants to play

Spider Sleuthing in the San Juans – Day 11 – Arachnid Advocates Needed

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I had to take the weekend off! Fatigue is setting in from the smoke and the yellow haze cast over the island isn’t helping. I’m weary of viewing responses from folks about how they want to “kill” any poor hapless spider that makes its way into their home. Arachnophobia is tough, but thousands of innocent creatures could escape a horrible death (stomping, squishing, flushing) as a result of human hysteria if only….if ONLY…that human might take a moment to educate themselves about the poor soul they just MURDERED. If you are guilty of this and you’re feeling badly, GOOD! It means there is hope for you to change your ways. Become an arachnid A-D-V-O-C-A-T-E!

A friend of mine shared the article linked below on Facebook today. It’s timely in that it speaks to the over sensationalized media reports that cast a negative light on spiders…and other insects. We need to change how we think of them! Check it out.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.10143?fbclid=IwAR3UA5nTITpw_x404VtlT-F2-Z-dqG1uVzYko5Tq1mM5kCBIWvW9R64w4qA

For today, please don’t relocate your little (or big) house spider outdoors! Leave it in the corner to do its thing. It’s going to wander a bit, but it isn’t going to bite you or harm your pets. Be curious about it. If you name it, it can become part of your family! If you want an ID for that spider, send me a message or post a photo on my Facebook Page (Bugs of the San Juan Islands).

https://www.facebook.com/buggingyoufromSJI

Thanks for reading!

p.s. Here are some neat spidee links to check out! It’s time to advocate for your eight-legged friends

5 Reasons to Love Spiders
A Spider Love Story
12 Spider Books for Little Learners

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-49804294

https://www.ranker.com/list/cute-spider-pictures/eric-vega

https://www.facebook.com/RosieTheSpood

Spider Sleuthing in the San Juans – Day 9 – How to get that spider out of your bathtub!

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IMG_7516

Eek there’s a spider in the tub!

Eek! There’s a spider in the bathtub!  Do you really want to turn on the water and drown it?  Hopefully you are not nodding your head “yes,” but instead finding courage to overcome your arachnophobia and finding a tiny bit of compassion.  Just take a deep breath.  Get a towel, or a cup and a card, and find your brave inner self to save this poor little eight-legged individual to live out its life.   Say this mantra with me….”Be NICE to spiders!”  Then say it over and over and over to yourself.  It will make you a much more confident person. You can tell your friends and co-workers about how YOU got a spider out of the BATHTUB!

At my house, the number one threat to spiders is my cat.  Millhouse is determined his job is to be spider exterminator.  He squashes them.  He used to eat them!  Once he ate one.  He fainted.  I had to rush him to the vet.  He revived on the way.  The next time, he bit one and spit it out.  I don’t know if the spider was foaming from being punctured or if the cat was foaming because well….maybe cats foam at the mouth sometimes when they eat something they shouldn’t.  In any case, he’s evolving his kill techniques.  Now he eats too much cat food and uses his massive body weight (he thinks it’s muscle) to flatten them.

I’m on the other side.  My job is to save them. It was a good thing I saw this one before Millhouse did.  You see, Millhouse loves to drink his water out of the bathtub.  I have to leave the water dripping for him.  That’s why you’ll note the stain on the tub.  It’s from hard well water.  One day I will scrub off the yellowing, but for now, pretend it’s not there.

The first thing I recommend to get the spider out is to grab something like a hand towel or a plastic cup and some sort of paper (mailer, index card, envelop, etc.).  I used a towel.  Watch my video and see how easy it is!  The spider isn’t going to bite you.  It just wants OUT of the tub.  Probably it was thirsty.  See my post from October 27, and you can read all about how to give a dehydrated spider a drink.  At this point, it needs your help.  It is stuck.  The sides of the tub are too slippery for it to crawl out.    It’s really easy!  Here goes…

The general idea is to be extremely gentle.  You don’t want to injure the spider.  Keep chanting your mantra…”Be nice to spiders!”  Over and over and over!

Hackelmesh Weaver Callobius.severus

Safe!

See!  It’s not that hard.  The spider didn’t attack me.  Isn’t it so cute! By the way, this spider is a Hackelmesh weaver (Callobius severus) https://bugguide.net/node/view/7018 .  I checked later today and it has crawled off somewhere.  Happy to escape the cat!