From the comfort of your home, you like to think that you are protected and safe from the outside world.
Stories of home invasions and accidents are in our everyday news, but you never think it will happen to you.
Then it happens. Standing in your kitchen you look over, and to your horror let out a startling scream that catches you and your intruder off guard.
The uninvited guest that evoked a sense of fear and anxiety was a spider crawling toward your feet.
Many people have arachnophobia or a fear of spiders. Is this fear legitimate, should we be wary of these 8-legged creatures?
Or is it their quick pace and daunting appearance that gives people uneasiness?
For one Tennessee woman, her introduction with a spider in her home turned out to be undiplomatic and hostile.
Fox News reported:
“A Brentwood, Tenn. woman who was recently treated for a brown recluse spider bite later found dozens more in her apartment, she claims.”
After hallucinating and unable to walk, Angela Wright went to the hospital. The cause of her ailments stemmed from a bite from the brown recluse spider.
Adult brown recluse spiders grow to only about 1” in body length; even though this spider is small it packs quite a venomous bite.
Distinguishable characteristics of the brown recluse include a dark violin shape on the top of the leg area with the tip pointing towards the abdomen, and six eyes instead of the typical eight, according to Survival Life.
“Spider bites from a recluse may cause significant cutaneous injury with tissue loss and necrosis”, according to Survival Life.
Bites can also cause “fever, rash, chills and nausea, among other side effects”, according to Fox News.
In Wright’s case, it manifested in various symptoms as her body tried to reject the poison pumping through her system, beginning with arm pain and bumps on her chest.
“I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move and I could barely swallow,” Wright reported to Fox News. The doctors thought that a stroke may have been imminent if medical attention was delayed further.
The apartment complex where Wright resides quickly sprayed her home after they were informed of what had happened.
Shockingly, the danger didn’t stop there. Wright continued to find spiders “left and right”, reported Fox News, even spotting them in her bed and in her shoe.
After a thorough search of her apartment, after it was sprayed, Wright still found about 50 brown recluse spiders.
This clearly seems it would qualify as an infestation. Wright is looking to break her lease agreement with the apartment complex on those grounds.
A local attorney reported to Fox News that Wright would have to prove that her apartment is “uninhabitable” in order to be excused from paying the costs of leaving before the lease is up.
Staying at the hospital for a near-deadly spider bite you got while in the apartment should be enough to gain legal standing, but it is unclear at this time if that is possible.
While Wright’s situation is terrible, and she surely faced danger with the venomous bite of the brown recluse spider, getting bit is still uncommon.
There are over 3,000 species of spiders in North America that we know of, and of those only recluse spiders, widows, and hobo spiders are considered really dangerous, according to Dengarden.
According to Venomous Spiders, approximately 6 people die a year from spider bites in the United States.
Brown recluse spiders specifically are generally considered not to be a threat because they aren’t aggressive by nature, and only bite when threatened.
Children are more vulnerable to their venom and should be more cautious when in areas where brown recluse spiders are prevalent.
Let your children know what the spider looks like, and warn them not to touch the spider or play near where they found it.
Spraying a bug repellent on your children when they are going to be outdoors also helps to prevent injury.
The “fiddle spider”, as the brown recluse is commonly called for its back markings, are primarily found in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, according to Live Science, but can reside anywhere in the United States.
Spiders are useful creatures to have outside the home, as they eat many other unwanted pests, but they are better left outdoors.
Being cautious of spiders is a good idea, to ensure you safely navigate how to deal with them, but screaming every time you see a spider probably isn’t the most logical approach.
Encountering spiders is not a favorite by many people’s standards, but if you can safely put it outside, assuming it is not venomous, then that is the best choice for you and your environment.
Please let us know in the comments section if you have had an experience being bit by a spider, or if you have seen venomous spiders in your home.