Welcome to my Spider Pages. Here you'll find a huge amount of
information and pictures about spiders. I also have work sheets for
school children to use with my pages. Companies can advertise on my
site for a very reasonable fee. Click here.
I have a lot of spider photos sent to me from people wanting
spiders identified. I don't claim to be an expert but I always
answer every email sent to me and will ID a spider if I recognise
it. Photos sent in must
be clear and large and show the markings and
number of eyes, leg position etc as all these things help to ID the
spider. |
FUNNY:
Check out YouTube's video of the effects of drugs on
spiders.
Click here.
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IMPORTANT - SPIDER
PHOTOS:
I often have people emailing asking for permission to use the
photos on this site. Unfortunately, it is not my right to give this
permission.
If you would like to share your photos with those who ask -
examples recently have been a book publisher and a researcher for
National Geographic - please note this with your photos and I will
publish that along with your photos and name. |
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HOW TO GET RID OF SPIDERS
I get many emails asking me how to get rid of spiders in the home
as understandably, a lot of people have a great fear of spiders.
Spiders
are an important part of the food chain, getting rid of unwanted insects
and being food themselves for birds and other animals, so I don't really
advocate removing them.
However, I decided to do some research and find
some ways that people have found to keep spiders out of their house and
included them on a new page here.
If you have any proven methods, please
email me with them. |
VERY IMPORTANT!!!
"I have felt tired with some back and headaches together with
giddiness but put this down to jet lag and back to workitis. I would
appreciate your advice as a friend has suggested that they could be
spider bites......"
I quite often receive emails like this one
and cannot stress strongly enough how important it it to
seek medical advice for any suspected bite or sting that
causes a reaction. I am not a doctor, just a teacher
in Australia, so have absolutely no qualifications to give
advice on medical situations!! Please see your doctor!!
I must also
stress the fact that any bite can be dangerous, as even the most
harmless of spiders can have an adverse affect on certain people.
Any spider bite should be reported to your doctor. |
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VENOMOUS OR POISONOUS??
Just to straighten out a common misconception!!
Spiders are venomous NOT poisonous. Poisonous means
if you ate it, you would get sick, venomous means that it injects its
venom into you. |
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FLYING SPIDERS:
Flying spiders? All across central Texas there have been
millions of spider webs flying thru the sky.
Scott Lawrence from Snerdey Webs has a video of them to share.
It is quite big, so be patient.
Click
here. |
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"If you wish to live and thrive, Let a
spider run alive" - so says an
old English saying.
This started a search for more
spider legends and superstitions so I have now added 2 new
pages -
Spider
Legends
and
Spider Superstitions.
If you have any to contribute, please
email
me and I'll add them to the pages. |
I have been sent a great many photos of spiders and have a large
photo gallery now.
Click here to have a look.
There are also some great closeups here. I also have
added 2 pages of common spiders from Australia and the United States
which seems to be the places most queries come from. Here's the links:
Common Spiders Australia
Common Spiders USA
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SPIDER
BITES AND TREATMENT:
People often ask about spider
bite symptoms and treatment so I have added a page with symptoms of some
of the most dangerous spiders in the United States and some not so
dangerous ones, as well as the treatment for them.
Please remember to
see your doctor for any bite that is worrying you.
Click here for Spider Bites, Symptoms and Treatment. |
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SPIDER BITE HOME
GROWN REMEDIES: |
| I have started a new page of home grown
remedies for spider bites. Often these old time treatments have been
passed down through the generations from before it was common to go to a
doctor and often they worked well!! But we must also remember that
sometimes they didn't!! So while I am publishing them here, I take no
responsibility for anyone who tries them and they don't work!!
I am still and will always advocate going to your
doctor for any bite that is not healing!! Click
here for the page,
click here
to send in any remedies. |
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 |
 Click
the chart for a page from
www.termite.com
with spider charts for both Australia and USA which have
spider identification of venomous and dangerous spiders.
Click
here for a small version of the chart you can get free
on their pages.
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INTERESTING NEWS:
COURIER MAIL - An Alice
Springs man who was bitten on the bottom more than 20 times by a
Redback spider needed 16 doses of antivenene to survive. For the
rest of the story, go to our
Redback spider page.
NEWS24.com
- Spider snacks on snake.
Click here for the full story
from Africa.
MORE INTERESTING NEWS:
Scientists have crossed a
spider with a goat!
Click here |
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I had quite a few queries about Daddy Long Legs' Venom and the
different types of Daddy Long Legs.
Click here for the answer kindly
provided by the Australian Museum. |
Some pictures and information on these pages have been
adapted, with permission from Steve Parish's wonderful
publication: "Amazing Facts About Australian Insects and
Spiders". Available at all good bookstores. |
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HOAX - Click
here
to read about the original Blush spider hoax email.
I have been sent some nice photos of spiders in amber.
They are available to buy too!!
Click here.
Finally something to think about from one of our visitors. If only
we all had this attitude and took the time........Click
here.
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INTERESTING NEWS:
(April, 2004) There was a story doing the rounds from Iraq
about the 2 spiders in the photo on the right. It is another hoax.
These are camel spiders or solfugids - Galeodes granti
which are rather common in the areas that the American troops are right
now. They are relatively harmless arachnids (no venom) but they have a
significant "bite".
Click here
to read more about them. |
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