What kind of spider is this, and should I release it or dispatch it?

[New2chickensnky]

We have the wolf spiders here as well as the fiddle backs. My grandfather got bitten by the good ole fiddler a couple of years ago and his arm looked as if it were rotting off. I am deathly scared of spiders , snakes , and anything else like that. My DH killed about a 4 foot black snake in the yard a few weeks ago and I will not go to the hen houses now because of fear of seeing one and passing slick out in it's path. I know that the black snakes is not harmful, but I have a 21 month old who would pick one up and try to play with it so needless to say , we stay in the house till DH gets home from work and he can protect us with his garden hoe and kill what needs to be killed..Brahama Mama, I know too well about scorpins , when I was younger and went to church camp, there was one in my clothes at the head of the bed. I screamed , went to the phone and called my grandmother to come get me , she had to pack my clothes because I was too afraid to touch them. I agree , that does look like the wolf spiders we have here , in fact , just had to kill one the other day because it was in the kitchen and so was the baby and they were heading toward each other.

 

[seminolewind]

Hi, I'm going to doubt it's a brown recluse cause they are a light tan color. And I don't think they like Penn.
I live in Fla, and they say their are only 2 kinds of poisonous spiders here, brown recluse, and the widow family. The rest really hurt if they bite you, but not poisonous.

 

[Oblio13]

It's not a wolf spider, it's a "Dock" or "Fishing" spider, Latin name Dolomedes. You'd have to try hard to get bitten by one, they're very shy and fast, with good eyesight. Even if you did get bit, it wouldn't be medically significant.

 

[CritterHill]

Quote:
Cool so I was right! I guess the other name for them is nursery web spider? I had posted this in the thread earlier as a possible ID:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/154473

One of the references I stumbled across mentioned that they are closely related to the wolf spider and often mistaken for them.

 

[Oblio13]

Quote:
You're wasting a large percentage of your life being afraid of and killing beneficial critters. Neither black snakes nor these spiders could hurt you or your baby even if they wanted to. Worst, you'll likely pass along this irrational phobia if you don't get it under control.

 

[crtrlovr]

I used to give spiders I found inside the house a gentle taxi ride to the great outdoors. Several years ago my husband was bitten (on his tush, no less...) while he was at work. (He is a captain on the American Queen steamboat-- btw, the largest passenger steamboat ever built-- way cool!!) The bite was from a brown recluse, and there were a few other crew members bitten as well. My husband had to have surgery and lost a larger than golf ball size chunk of tissue, and has had cellulitis (a VERY painful and VERY tough to get rid of infection between the layers of the skin) every year, and sometimes 3-4 times a year. It puts him completely down for days each time. If I KNOW the spider is a harmless flycatcher or something like that, I'll still take it out. If it's brown and leggy, it gets a quick and painless death. There is nothing to repair the damage from a brown recluse; the antivenoms only stop the progression of the damage. That's why if you even think you MIGHT have been bitten by a BR, have it checked. The bites initially look rather similar to a cigarette burn, I'm told...

 

[sundance]

its a spider, KILL IT AND RUN marrie

 

[Aneesa's Muse]

Quote:
I agree with this statement, to some extent... the snakes and the spiders being beneficial and harmless ...and that you could very well pass your phobia on to your children and others, unnecessarily.

Get rid of all the snakes ...you will have an abundance of rodents in very little time. The same for the spiders ...flies, some beetles, even wasp can get caught in a web ..do you really want too many of those destroying plants and harboring disease? Not to mention, the flies and other "flying" things are more likely to actually bite you than the spider itself.

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I used to teach elementary and high school level (private school ..you do it all), and I can't tell you how many of the teachers were afraid of animals ...sadly, to the point that they could not even properly teach science classes or take their class on a fieldtrip, etc. That is really sad!

I still teach, I guess ...I take some of my critters to classrooms and various events, to teach people about exotics and their beneficial behaviours ...also, proper care of them in captivity ...and enlighten people that they are not creepy, slimey, vicious beasts.

Not long ago, I was in a feed store with Tank ...he's a very large (foot and a half) Blue tongued skink.. and a lady a few years older than myself approached us. She was going on and on about how slimey they are and how can I stand it to hold him in my arms that way, etc. All the while, I was petting Tank and talking to him ...he's my buddy... and then she asked if she could touch him. I told her to gently run her finger down his back ...she did.. and you wouldn't believe the look of astonishing shock on that lady's face! I just smiled and sort of giggled a bit.. "kinda feels like a really expensive purse, hunh?" Her eyes lit up ..then her whole face... with this huge "lightbulb moment" smile!

I leaned down and said to Tank, "One down and many to go, buddy... "

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I'm not saying there aren't some creepy and crawley things out there that shouldn't be given the utmost respect and caution... just keep in mind, respect and caution is not a death sentence to another living being.

It doesn't have to be true that "What man fears, man destroys." And just think of the peace we could all have ..2 leggers, too!

~Aminah

 

[Lunachick]

Very well said aneesa.

 

[kodiakchicken]

Ughh! I know they are beneficial, and I never considered myself a spider hater - just not fond of touching them - but I looked at the spider page of whatsthatbug.com and found myself on the verge of throwing up! Guess there were just too many of them in one place to look at!