Who’s afraid of spiders?

Not too many people have a close relationship with spiders. It’s thought that the fear of spiders is something that’s passed from one generation to the next. In other words, if someone in your family is afraid of spiders, you may be, too.

An innocent dislike of spiders is different from Arachnophobia, which is an intense and overwhelming fear of spiders. Someone suffering from Arachnophobia may have a panic attack when they see spiders, scorpions, and the like. They will, most likely, remove themselves from the area and calm down until the panicky feeling dissipates.

When do you see spiders the most?

Generally, an uptick in spider activity is seen as the seasons change from summer to fall. That’s because it’s mating season and the male spiders are ‘hot to trot’ and looking for females.

What is the purpose of a spider web?

Webs are the same for spiders as supermarkets are for humans. Of course, by that, I mean a source of food. First, an insect gets caught in the sticky silk of the web. Subsequently, the spider moseys on over and injects it with venom. Then it has dinner.

Why should we leave spiders and their webs alone?

Most spiders are harmless to humans. To illustrate, here’s a chart with descriptions of the good and the bad.

It’s pretty amazing how these tiny creatures are able to construct sometimes very large and intricate webs. The seemingly impossible task of creating a huge one that spans two trees is done with the help of the wind. Any little breeze helps to move the ultra-light structure into place.

did you know that many spiders put up and tear down their webs in one day?

As they dismantle it, they ingest the silky protein of their current web so that they can reuse it on their next one.

Here’s a video of one that I was able to catch in the act right outside my front door this past summer. I don’t know if you can hear the screaming in the background. It appears one of my daughters has an Arachnophobia issue.

What do you do when you walk into a spider web?

For another laugh about creepy-crawlies, here’s the Dance Safari post, “Skinks and Lizards and Guests, Oh, My!“.