Nature Connection: The Itsy Bitsy Spiders

It’s that time of year again, when spiders seem to be everywhere. This will either give you the shudders or make you curious. I suggest the latter, as learning about the things we’re afraid of often helps us overcome our fears.

It is true that the bites of some spiders can be painful. Some spiders, like the black widow spider, are venomous, so if bitten by one, you should seek medical attention. And yes, we do have black widow spiders here, but you may never see one. This is because they are perfectly happy minding their own business and staying far away from you.

The most common “spider” we see here is the one we call the daddy longlegs, which isn’t actually a spider at all. The harvestman, which is the correct name for this long-legged guy, belongs to a different family altogether, but because of its long legs and spider-like habits, most of us grew up thinking it was a spider. Like so many other things we may have been taught back in those dark ages of misinformation, it is not true. 

Spiders are arachnids and as such have eight legs, not six like insects. The head and thorax are fused and connected to the abdomen. Most spiders have both chelicerae and pedipalps around their mouthparts and which serve various functions according to species. They do not have antennae but may use pedipalps to help sense their surroundings. They usually have eight eyes, and many have spinnerets, used for web making.

There are many, many kinds of spiders but the most common types we see here are wolf spiders, orb spiders, jumping spiders, and garden spiders. Most of these are not only harmless but helpful in that they eat many small annoying insects, especially in our yards and gardens.

If you think you are seeing more spiders than usual, you probably are. Spiders seek warm places in the fall, such as your basement and attic. They are fully grown in the fall and looking for mates, so they are more obvious than at other times of year. If you don’t want them settling in for the winter, now is the time to remove the webs, etc. There’s no need to spray or kill the spiders. They will move along on their own. 

Some spiders will move right into the house with you and for some people this is taking it a bit too far. Again, watch for webs, but also watch for the spiders themselves. If you’re up to it, simply capture them and let them go outdoors away from your home. There are several ways to do this without harming the spider. If you’re not up to it, ask a friend or neighbor to give you a hand. It’s not hard and I’ve never had a spider try to bite or come after me. They’re perfectly happy to go their own way.

Like many people, I can have my Miss Muffet moments with spiders, especially big hairy ones that appear next to me when I don’t expect them. Over the years, however, I have learned so much about them and their beneficial ways that I’ve gotten to enjoy them and their interesting spider habits.

The fact that spiders make webs that are specific to the kind of spider they are amazes me. Orb spiders are the ones most of us think of when we think of spider webs. The webs are easy to see right now if you are out early in the morning by the woods, fields, or marshes. They build them in trees, on fences, in window ledges, and anywhere a web might catch insects. If you walk in the woods like I do you may find yourself getting a face full of spiderweb if you’re not paying attention as they love to build webs across paths.

Another common web we see at this time of year is the web of the funnel spiders. This web is often seen on the ground, and it is not unusual to see dozens of them in close proximity. On a recent morning, we saw hundreds of these webs in the woods, alongside a path that bordered a salt marsh and along a roadside. Funnel spiders weave a fairly tight and compact web that tilts toward a hole where the spider sits, waiting for some unwitting insect to come along. When it does, the spider runs out of its hole, grabs the insect, and runs back to its hole to consume it.

Wolf spiders tend to be on the large side and can be hairy and fierce looking. They are solitary and many prefer to live in holes in sand or dirt from which they can grab unsuspecting prey passing by. 

Spiders are favorite animals for Halloween decorators to include as they can be scary and menacing looking. Once you learn more about them, though, you may realize they are simply a helpful part of our overall ecology. Many predator animals look scary on purpose. Think about sharks, hawks, snapping turtles, and crocodiles. None of them look very friendly but they all have important roles to play in the world.

If spiders give you the creeps, that’s OK. There’s a good argument that humans are instinctively afraid of spiders and snakes as in many parts of the world they can be dangerous. Here on the Cape that is mostly irrelevant, although we do have some spiders to avoid, such as the aforementioned black widow and the uncommon brown recluse spider. The latter gets misidentified often and many innocent brown spiders are killed due to fear and ignorance, so do your homework.

Try to see the good spiders do and refrain from killing them on sight. You don’t have to love them, but learning to live with them will do far more good than killing them, for your yard or garden especially.