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A little knowledge can help prevent spider bites
In the home or school environment, three spider species are cause for concern: the black widow, brown recluse and aggressive house/hobo spider. These spiders will usually only bite if provoked, but their bites can cause severe reactions, possibly even death in rare cases.
Black widows like dry, undisturbed places such as lumber and rock piles, stacked pots or baskets, rodent burrows, water meters, the underside of bricks and stones, and dry crawl spaces. Females stay in the web. Brown recluse spiders prefer undisturbed places for their webs, hunt primarily at night and will take refuge in clothing and bedding. They are often found in unused closets and storerooms. Aggressive house spiders prefer dark, moist places with crevices for their funnel-shaped webs. They are poor climbers and are rarely seen above ground level.
Make sure students and staff can identify any dangerous spiders in your area and know their likely nesting and hiding places. Teach children not to tease spiders in their webs or poke at them, and not to put their hands in dark crevices. Explain the dangers of spider bites without exaggeration to avoid unnecessary fears.
To eliminate hiding or harborage sites and exclude spiders from buildings, store boxes off the floor and away from walls and seal them tightly with tape to preclude spider access; move stacks of firewood and piles of debris or rock away from schools and elevate them when possible; remove vegetation from sides of buildings and keep grass cut, maintain tight-fitting screens in windows and seal cracks in walls or other entrance sites; keep attics and basements ventilated to reduce moisture, thus reducing the amount of prey insects available as a food source for spiders; and remove webs and egg sacs of existing spiders with a vacuum to discourage subsequent infestation.
If one of these spiders does bite, wash the area, calm the victim and consult a doctor as soon as possible. The very young, the elderly and sick, and people with high blood pressure are particularly at risk. If possible, capture the spider. Proper treatment may depend on identifying the species.
For more, please visit the University of Florida's School IPM Web site (http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu).
Edited by: Angela Brammer, University of Florida
