SPIDERS

Some interesting facts

Spiders are insects from arthropods family. They are from class arachnidan. These spiders are found in tens of thousands in species. They vary widely in sizes and shapes. They can be very small, even near microscopic to reasonably big, as big as an adult human palm. They vary in color. They can range between absolute colorless to dark black. Some of them are very poisonous where as some of them are absolutely non poisonous.

Spiders have well defined two segmented body. Their body is divided in belly and thorax. They have three to four pairs of eyes on their head. In spite of this, spiders have poor vision though some species have exceptionally good vision.

Spiders belong to different habitats. Some of them like moist, damp places, near basements and crawling places. Some like warm places, near ceilings, places near attics or ventilators. Some of them belong to jungles as they are completely wild. Some are found inside human houses or nearby areas, may be on trees or in vegetation. Their wide number of species gives them a wide variation of habits.

Spiders are carnivorous in nature. They are meat eaters. They love to eat other spiders. They eat small reptiles also. They are good hunters. They eat animals they can subdue and kill.

Spiders are not having any chewing organ. They cannot cut their prey to pieces. So they use a digestive enzyme on their prey before swallowing them. This digestive enzyme makes the prey dissolve slowly into a liquid.

Spiders lay eggs to reproduce. Male spiders are smaller in size and they court females to mate. It is dangerous for males to court as after mating, females eat the males as their egg laying meals.

Eggs produce spider lings after some days. They develop in several series of molts and ultimately turn to adult spiders. The reproduction in spiders is very rapid.

Spiders produce silk from their glands. They can spin webs with this silk. The webs help the spiders catch their prey. The webs are of different size and shape depending on the species. Some are funnel shaped; some are flat hexagonal in shape. Some of them big and some small. Some live on the web, some on wall or in some crevice. Many live on trees and vegetations. They live both indoors and outdoors.

The spiders prefer to live where they can get plenty of food and a place where its web is not disturbed by others.

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How spiders enter human house holds

Spiders are generally wild. They prefer outdoor habitat. But they crawl inside a house in search of food. The spiders enter in a house through open windows or poorly screened doors, windows or air vents. There are other routes of entry also. A spider can come in through cracks, crevices or any hole in the wall. But essentially a spider is not an indoor animal. They are sometime transported with some luggage in a house. They try a way out after they catch their prey.

Types of spiders

Spiders have a very large family. They have more than ten thousand species. Most of them wild. Some of them dangerously poisonous. The most famous one is Black widow. It is a big wild spider. The female spider eats the male after mating. Another famous species is Tarantula. It is a wild hunter and a very poisonous spider. So many species are available that it is not possible to list every one.

Problems created by spiders

Spiders are a danger to humans if they bite. Or if they come in contact with human skin. Spiders have venoms to kill their prey. This venom is not always fatal to humans but they can create big problem if injected in large quantity. Spiders like Black widow or Tarantula is fatal even in single bite. The silk gland secretions in a spider may cause problems in humans. There may be some blister like eruptions if a human skin comes in contact with the spider secretions. These eruptions are very painful and last for many days. They are hard to cure. Spider venom causes a very severe pain and burning sensation if injected in the body. It may lead to paralysis sometimes. Some spider bites can create sores on the spot of bite. This becomes extremely painful after 8 to 10 hours of bite and the person must take expert medical assistance to get relief. A person must be very careful with spiders. One never knows how it can cause pain to a human. Spiders are therefore an injurious pest to humans and should be kept away from human habitats.