Spiders in our aviary!

[MrsKay]

uh uh. nope. nosiree. not hap'nin. uh uh. ewwwwwh. not sorry. don't care. uh uh. nope. can't do that. uh uh. (I'm obviously not a spider person)
I would have to really spray down that aviary and not let my birds in there forever, well, a long time anyway.

 

[SoCalWendy]

What's making me crazy.....besides the fact that it's probably waiting for me to get home......... Is that two weeks ago, I woke up with THREE spider bites. Ever get a spider bite? They hurt like HELL. The same morning, i found a dead spider in one of my birds water bowls. I freaked out. What is going on?

Are you SURE they were all spider bites? A spider wont' just come down at night to seek you out and to bite you. If one WAS in your bed, and you rolled on it, swatted it while sleeping, then yes, it's likely that it bit you - repeatedly. Normally house spider bites aren't much of a problem, unless you are allergic, THEN it can be a bit of a BIG problem.

Last year I had an unfortunate encounter with a Black Widow.
http://www.parrotforums.com/off-topic/36212-black-widow-bite.html

I have to correct you on the "a spider won't just come down at night to see you out" comment. I'm sure your correct in most cases of spiders, but here in San Diego we have these little brown jumping spiders that will jump and attack anything that moves. I had one crawl over my sofa and into my empty popcorn bowl. It attacked the unpopped kernels, before it jumped at me. The bowl got tossed as all three of us girls got up screaming, running in different direction, and I pee'd my pants. I've had two other incidences with the same type of spider and in those cases as well, they were just as aggressive, attacking anything that moved. One followed me around my room before I smashed it. Poor guy, but don't be a creeper.

 

[Terry57]

Michele, your posts cracked me up! So visual, I felt like I was there and hiding behind you.
I am terrified of spiders, and like SoCalWendy have also pee'd my pants when an especially terrifying one got on me while I was driving

 

[Matt_95]

Beautiful spider Wendy! I've had a lot of spiders, mainly tarantulas and trapdoors but also a few funnel webs, those guys are crazy! However I had to rehome the funnelwebs as my baby cousin who was over a lot began to walk and I didn't feel comfortable with such a deadly spider around him.

 

[BirdyMomma]

Hahaaa! So Cal Wendy, did you really pee your pants? Hahahaaa Terry?

I think rolling over on the spider is definitely how I got bit. I've had spider bites before, and this one was a little worse. Hard, itchy, burning hard bump. After a few hours of scratching, it broke, where the two small marks were. A little fluid came out. Itched for over a week.

Jersey Wendy, how bad does a (dry) tarantula bite hurt? Did it leave a mark? Did you need to see a doctor? How much worse would a venomous bite have been?

Sorry for the questions, just interested.

 

[Colorguarder08]

Well birdymomma you are braver than me I would have given it a gigantic F that and avoid that area for the rest of my life soooooo not kidding. I don't do spiders nuh uh no way. Hell the pics of them are already causing my flight or fight response to kick in. Early June I found a wolf spider in my room happened to be while I had bronchitis and a sore throat that caused me to lose my voice. I refused to sleep in my room and bug bombed the entire house made sure I got enough to put one in every single room (including closets) and the kind that didn't exclude ANY spider types. I wasn't taking any chances.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I have to correct you on the "a spider won't just come down at night to see you out" comment. I'm sure your correct in most cases of spiders, but here in San Diego we have these little brown jumping spiders that will jump and attack anything that moves. I had one crawl over my sofa and into my empty popcorn bowl. It attacked the unpopped kernels, before it jumped at me. The bowl got tossed as all three of us girls got up screaming, running in different direction, and I pee'd my pants. I've had two other incidences with the same type of spider and in those cases as well, they were just as aggressive, attacking anything that moved. One followed me around my room before I smashed it. Poor guy, but don't be a creeper.

Aaah, yes, those little curious jumping spiders. They are pretty much completely harmless, but also completely unafraid, LOL.
Jumping spiders watch people and videos › News in Science (ABC Science)

Your encounter with one had ME peeing my pants.

...
Jersey Wendy, how bad does a (dry) tarantula bite hurt? Did it leave a mark? Did you need to see a doctor? How much worse would a venomous bite have been?

Sorry for the questions, just interested.

I barely felt the dry bite, Michele. "Blue" bit me through my T-shirt, and upon closer inspection you could see 2 small puncture wounds on my upper arm. No doctor was needed.

Every person reacts differently to a 'wet' bite. I know quite a lot of people who were 'tagged' by their spiders who never needed medical attention at all. But those were all folks who kept New World species only. If someone gets tagged by an Old World specie, such as an Indian Ornamental, things can be a bit more critical.

Let me see if I can find Findi's article....
http://www.parrotforums.com/nonfeat...ngerous-sometime-yes-according-new-study.html

Here's one last photo of "Blue", my pretty Pinktoe.

 

[Tangie]

Hmmn...I'm glad I live in Maine, so I don't have to be too concerned about 'poisonous' spiders. I have some pretty big ones in my room that can make my room look like a creepy Halloween party! I do have to beware of spider webs because Kiko wants to fly a lot lately, and he got tangled in one a few days ago.
I don't think spiders are scary or gross, and I have no problem with them being around me.

 

[Timothy]

Firstly, BirdyMomma, I LOVE your narrative!! It was amusing as you described in perfect detail your dilemma! Reminds me of a favorite quote by an awesome writer Anton Chekhov: Dont tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass.

Anyway While JerseyWendy is correct, all spiders have venom, not all have large enough mouths to bite birds or people, also, most spiders will run run run before they choose to bite. Can you tell me what color this guy was? or maybe find a pic of him online? Where do you live? could give you some insight on them, as i am stricken with arachnophobia to an extreme so i learned which spiders are dangerous in my area.

 

[Timothy]

Also forgot to mention, If a spider isnt deadly to you or birds, best thing to do is leave it as it will get rid of mosquitoes and other things that ARE dangerous to you and your birds. Any spider around here that is helpful i leave (though it kills me cause im terrified of them regardless)

 

[Matt_95]

Regarding wet bites, I do know that the Australian tarantulas can cause intense pain for several hours and also can cause vomiting for several hours. They will also kill a dog very quickly. However they're not really a worry as if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Like most animals. Dry bites can also be a bit of a worry, the mouthparts and fangs have lots of bacteria living on them and it's possible to infect the bite and also for it to become necrotic. I used to have around 50 spiders, they are definetly an animal that requires a lot of respect, they have the ability to do significant damage.
I donated a lot of my spiders to science a while ago though as many of them were unknown to science. There's also currently some research going on with trying to find a cure or treatment for breast cancer from Australian tarantula and funnelweb venom.

 

[BirdyMomma]

Weco, Long Beach is south shore Nassau County, and I believe that Kings Park is North Shore Suffolk County. I would say it's about 45 minutes away. We often drive out to the North Fork (Claudios in Greenport is one of our favorite restaurants- and of course the wineries!) so I've seen the Kings Park exit on the Expressway (?). Is that where you're from?

Hi Timothy. I looked up the spider that I found in Squabbles water bowl, and it looked like a Hobo spider. The spider from yesterday's wildlife adventure was considerably larger, and thankfully not in our house. I am wondering if Hurricane Sandy is to blame- totally serious. Our house was flooded, and then a lot of work was done. Ever since then, we have had ants, and even worse CRICKETS in the house at night........ I once nearly broke my hand, during a late night altercation with one of them in the bathroom. Again HUGE insect, and I'm bleary eyed with sleep (and wine), just hoping to relieve myself quickly enough to be able to fall back to sleep. I'm also naked. I turn on the light, and something jumps straight up in the air almost to the level of my chin......I had no idea what the hell it was, or what was happening. I started screaming, which was stupid, because I'm really short, and this thing had no trouble whatsoever repeatedly jumping to the height of my mouth......... I grabbed a hand towel and frantically started swatting, not smart in a tiny bathroom, where every surface is either ceramic or glass. I'm also naked, which was adding to the creep out factor. None of my blows hit home, and as jiminy cricket hopped easily out of reach of my flailings, I took one last chance, missed, but bashed my hand on the sink....... I didn't scream (I was certain he would hop right into my mouth) but I nearly ran THROUGH the bathroom door trying to get out of the bathroom.

So I'm wondering if the same conditions that brought the ants and crickets, perhaps are also inviting to spiders?

 

[Selestine]

We used to get tarantulas in Arizona (not as big as yours Wendy! Did you have to lock your birds up when they were out?! They look big enough to be a bird-eating spiders lol). If I saw one in the road, I would gently nudge them out of the line of danger with a stick They are actually really good, as they eat other insects.

Yes, we have tarantulas here in Arizona -.- I remember one day a few years ago.. I think my kids were four and five.. we were all out on the back patio working out together. Well, hubby and I were working out and the kids were "working out", but anyway.

I'm sitting on the bowflex and my daughter says "Mommy, a spider just ran across your butt!" So I said, it's okay, it'll be fine. But she insisted I find it, so I got off the machine and bent down to look for it.. and this giant freaking tarantula runs out. Like.. right at my face.

I start screaming.. my daughter starts screaming. She is basically trying to climb up my body, and my husband is laughing his butt off. We're screaming "kill it, kill it!" So he stomps it, and it leaves this wet spot on the concrete like like size of my spread hand..

I look over and my little son is just standing there. I said "You weren't scared of the spider, honey?"

And he says......

"No mommy. I'm a MAN."

 

[Kinny]

I assure you, it is/was NOT a tarantula.

THIS is a tarantula (I LOVE spiders...and yes, that was my "Flicka" )


...and as for your question, whether spiders and/or spiderwebs are dangerous:

ALL spiders are venomous. Spider WEBS are not.

Any spider that feels threaten will try and bite.

AAAARGH! WENDY! WHY?! JUST about to go to bed at 3:15am..finally...and i see this! My skin is crawling and I'm sitting here now all rigid and upright with shivers literally going down my spine... *shudders* Boy am I glad my Loki decided NOT to buy one of those baby Tarantulas at the Pet Store...

 

[Kinny]

LOL Selestine. Your little boy is hilarious!
Edit: ..and I'm surprised at your daughter..if i saw that I'd have frozen and then screamed for you to get off and annihilate that HUGE spider of death!!! Kids are so much less afraid... I'm jealous >.<

 

[SoCalWendy]

Hahaaa! So Cal Wendy, did you really pee your pants? Hahahaaa Terry?

I think rolling over on the spider is definitely how I got bit. I've had spider bites before, and this one was a little worse. Hard, itchy, burning hard bump. After a few hours of scratching, it broke, where the two small marks were. A little fluid came out. Itched for over a week.

Jersey Wendy, how bad does a (dry) tarantula bite hurt? Did it leave a mark? Did you need to see a doctor? How much worse would a venomous bite have been?

Sorry for the questions, just interested.

Yep, I really did pee my pants. :54:

 

[SoCalWendy]

Michele, your posts cracked me up! So visual, I felt like I was there and hiding behind you.
I am terrified of spiders, and like SoCalWendy have also pee'd my pants when an especially terrifying one got on me while I was driving

Glad I'm not alone :30:

 

[Scott]

I first crawled into this thread last night and didn't sleep a wink!

Just kidding..... though I have an intense visceral fear of spiders and snakes. One of my early distasteful memories of spiders was at a summer camp; I observed a "daddy long legs" walk deeply into my sleeping bag. For the duration I slept on TOP of the bag!

SoCal has a large population of black widow spiders and I frequently vacuum them into spider-heaven but haven't observed them near the birds.

 

[RavensGryf]

I once was sitting in a banquet room eating.... I had a glass of water to drink. I guess someone else was attracted to the water too, because right before my eyes I saw a small (though big enough!) brown spider descend directly into my glass, and INTO the water... This sort of thing didn't make me scream, but you could imagine my shock and surprise :52: at such an incredibly bizarre thing happening!

Spiders are no big deal to me. They're just like insects that I squash. Yes I know they're Arachnids not insects . Unless they're a type known to be super deadly, (then I'll be out of there in a flash), but I'm not creeped out by them.

BUT... Now, if you want to see me throw everything and run (and be so terrified that no sound will come out of my mouth), just show me a bunch of maggots THAT I absolutely can NOT handle!!

 

[SoCalWendy]

I once was sitting in a banquet room eating.... I had a glass of water to drink. I guess someone else was attracted to the water too, because right before my eyes I saw a small (though big enough!) brown spider descend directly into my glass, and INTO the water... This sort of thing didn't make me scream, but you could imagine my shock and surprise :52: at such an incredibly bizarre thing happening!

Spiders are no big deal to me. They're just like insects that I squash. Yes I know they're Arachnids not insects . Unless they're a type known to be super deadly, (then I'll be out of there in a flash), but I'm not creeped out by them.

BUT... Now, if you want to see me throw everything and run (and be so terrified that no sound will come out of my mouth), just show me a bunch of maggots THAT I absolutely can NOT handle!!

Maggots are gross, and they smell gross. But Roaches do it for me. I won't sleep in a home that has roaches. I would go bizerk!!