Tips for warding off spiders?

I don't have a problem with spiders so much as the webs. I am 6'3" and every time I hike at night I run face first into webs. We have a large spider called a Banana Spider, it can get a leg spread easily as big as your hand and they have been known to catch small birds in their webs. When you walk into the web your only thought is where is he now?:eek:
Most of the spiders you will contact in the woods of North America are not going to bother you. You probably eat more in your home while you are asleep than will ever bite you.:barf:
 
Gespenst said:
I didn't feel it when the brown recluse got me but I felt it when they had to go digging the dead stuff out of my arm three times. I've got plenty of pictures of the damage but it is enough to turn your stomach.
Click to expand...

please email them to me!!!
andrewparks95 @gmail.com
 
I have never really concerned myself with spiders, but that is because where I live we really don't need to worry about highly venomous spiders. Still, I do see all sorts of different spiders rummaging around the site every so often and make sure to keep aware of them, especially if I decide to nap on the ground. A good sealed sleeping bag will help keep them off of you when asleep, but I still come away with a good number of spider bites despite my best efforts to stay out of their way. If you are walking about, the only real time you'd ever run into one would be by accidentally bulldozing his web with your face. Even at this, most spiders sense the massive vibration and realize that whatever just kamikazed his web is not worth messing with and make a hasty retreat. Spiders have absolutely no interest in seeking you out, which means encounters will always be accidental, so awareness and caution are your best defense. Plugging your boots with socks, doing up zippers, keeping loose debris cleared etc are all good preventative measures.

On a side note, I have found many black widow spiders in shipments of produce, and even had them walk on me. Never have I been bitten by one, so I believe they are not as aggressive as some folks may have been led to believe. These "brown recluse" spiders are something I only looked into recently. From what I have read, not everyone reacts the same way to one of their bites. Some folks experience necrosis of the flesh while others show no serious symptoms at all. I don't know what determines how a person's body reacts to one of these bites, but I'd rather not find out the hard way what would happen to me should I get bit myself!
 
I asked simply to see if anyone had an easy solution to ridding them of your camp area. Perhaps people have made a torch-like bouquet and smoked them out. I don't fear them whatsoever, I just, again, did not know if people had a solution to them in the bush. That's all. Some are poisonous, etc, but I am not worried about them anymore than I am worried about a heartattack. But that doesn't mean I want them hanging around the site.
 
franchisekid said:
I asked simply to see if anyone had an easy solution to ridding them of your camp area. Perhaps people have made a torch-like bouquet and smoked them out. I don't fear them whatsoever, I just, again, did not know if people had a solution to them in the bush. That's all. Some are poisonous, etc, but I am not worried about them anymore than I am worried about a heartattack. But that doesn't mean I want them hanging around the site.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that they feel the same way about you... They were there first, just leave them alone and there won't be a problem for either of you.
 
No more going it alone; use the buddy system at all times. Don't fall asleep. Make sure to bash anything suspicious with a stick, boot heel, cosmo magazine, etc.
 
I only have to worry about bears.

They're not likely to be hiding inside a hand-hold when you're climbing, and if they try to crawl into your sleeping bag you'll know about it.
 
When I was in Vietnam there was a spider about the size of a Yugo that used to spin webs across the trails. Okay, it wasn't quite that big, but it was a big sucker, with a leg span about the size of a small dinner plate. Like the aforementioned banana spider, this thing caught small birds and low flying helos in its web. That web was really, really strong.

I have absolutely no idea of what they were called, other than "holy shucks!", but they could scare the heck out of you if you walked into one of their webs in the dark (yes, we often moved in the dark).

I don't know if they were poisonous or not, and I never heard of anyone being bitten by one, but I do know that they could cause a rapid change of underwear. Scared me on more than one occasion, that's for sure.

I think if we had of had the option, we would have run screaming into the night like little girls. I'm just as happy we don't have them around here, whatever they were.
 
Watchful said:
But...and fortunately, I know I can trust a bunch of sarcastic, teasing near-strangers on the internet when I confess this...but centipedes.
Click to expand...
Dang, when I read your first paragraph I was thinking, "what about good old centipedes?" Then I got here. It took me a long time to convince my wife and kids that centipedes in the house were a good thing, they eat the damned silverfish that eat my books, so whenever I see a hundred-legger outside, I catch and release it in the house.

My daughter will probably never stop freaking out about spiders (she's 20 this fall, so if two decades of teaching haven't gotten through yet, I don't think it ever will).
 
I stopped freaking out about spiders a long time ago, but like others have said, many of them deserve respect, and it's better for me and them if we're simply not around each other. I wonder if the OP's question actually has a functional answer, or if there's just nothing we can do.
 
whats tha spider that lives in the north west called ...its some kinda agressive house spider related to the brown recluse....and the have tons of them in montana
 
missin_hobo said:
I wonder if the OP's question actually has a functional answer, or if there's just nothing we can do.
Click to expand...

Interesting article http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1548/eb1548.html A little googling will come up with a ton of reading.

As far as what you can do, besides common sense things like, not putting your hands into places you can't see into, and shaking out your shoes and clothes before you put them on, I don't think there is really much you can do. But with only 2 species of dangerous spiders and the rarity of people getting bit combined with the non life threatening reactions to getting bit, spiders are very low on the wilderness risk assessment. Chris
 
Every fall, I gather a bag load of hedge apples to place in the joists of the basement. Keeps the spiders out of there. I'd imagine you could use them in a similar way outdoors. Just speculation, but maybe the leaves and branches of Osage Orange are an arachnipellent too? Put some in your shelter and give it a shot.

J-
 
I have spent alot of time in the woods in my life, but ended up getting bit by a brown recluse that was living in a storage closet in my basement :eek: I disturbed it getting a sleeping bag out to go camping. It bit me on the outside area of my thigh. Took me almost a year to get over the bite, and still had lingering symptoms that would come and go for some time after that.

Due to the elusive nature of the BR, and the minimal surface contact area they have, you can not effectively spray to exterminate them. I did put out about a 100 sticky traps throughout my basement after I was bitten.


Take some sticky traps with you and form a circle around your sleeping bag if you want :D, or just check your boots in the morning before you put them on, and wear gloves to handle any wood you pick up - If you do receive a spider bite, have the supplies with you to clean the bite area, and have some aspirin to take care of any fever, until you can get to a Dr.

In VA, I'd be more concerned about a copperhead!
 
Spiders and snakes are my weakness, but snakes are the worst. its just the way they slither just creeps me out!
 
Spiders are one of those odd things that engrain a fear in human beings, with their 8 legs and odd ways of catching prey, venom delivering chelicerae (Fangs). Their alien body is so unlike that of humans, it is no wonder they harbor a fear as common as the fear of snakes.

Despite the venomous qualities of the common arachnid (venom is injected, poison is ingested), the truth is they are MUCH less prone to bite than your average dog, snake, mouse, beetle, horse or any other critter you don't predict biting. You have to physically constrain them or harass them to no end to actually get them to pack a bite. Many spiders will drop right away if you hit their web, and will try hard to get out of your shirt or collar before giving you the nip.

That being said, they are as common, if not more common on the forest floor than MANY insects, and the nomadic nature of some species can downright panic someone when they realize how many are around them. If you are sleeping straight on the ground, rake the area around you, and wear a good head net combined with a tighter fitting sleeping bag. If you go with just a blanket, the raking will really help. Being a complete bug dork and liking insects also helps.
 
DSC00327.jpg


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731029

Any tips for keeping them out of your bed? :D
 
you can pretty much fog spiders out of your house. Black Widows are common but destroy mama and the egg sacs quickly, be on the lookout for randomized webs (webs with no patterns) and notable strength (a little stronger than most normal webs) and you'll be Okileedokilee
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top