Do you think spiders would be scary if they had less legs?

[Pearwood]

(Just for the record: All spiders are poisonous. Some just don't have strong enough poison or long enough fangs to affect a human. DLL fall into that category.)

Yeah I know they're poisonous, I've heard that Daddy Long Legs are more toxic than black widows but I don't really buy that. Being in England and in an urban area spiders that are much more dangerous to humans than bees are practically non-existant.

 

[Kopikatsu]

(Just for the record: All spiders are poisonous. Some just don't have strong enough poison or long enough fangs to affect a human. DLL fall into that category.)

Yeah I know they're poisonous, I've heard that Daddy Long Legs are more toxic than black widows but I don't really buy that. Being in England and in an urban area spiders that are much more dangerous to humans than bees are practically non-existant.

That's...definitely not true. I would assume that comes from the 'Beware the quiet ones' belief? 'Cause they don't bite. (Well, they try, but they can't puncture the skin. It's kind of cute. You have to REALLY piss one off to make it try and bite you, though. Otherwise it just chills.)

 

[Pearwood]

That's...definitely not true. I would assume that comes from the 'Beware the quiet ones' belief? 'Cause they don't bite. (Well, they try, but they can't puncture the skin. It's kind of cute. You have to REALLY piss one off to make it try and bite you, though. Otherwise it just chills.)

I mean if they could pierce the skin then they'd be more toxic than widows, like I said I don't believe it myself it's just something I heard.

 

[Kopikatsu]

That's...definitely not true. I would assume that comes from the 'Beware the quiet ones' belief? 'Cause they don't bite. (Well, they try, but they can't puncture the skin. It's kind of cute. You have to REALLY piss one off to make it try and bite you, though. Otherwise it just chills.)

I mean if they could pierce the skin then they'd be more toxic than widows, like I said I don't believe it myself it's just something I heard.

Apparently...:

Daddy-longlegs spiders (Pholcidae) - Here, the myth is incorrect at least in making claims that have no basis in known facts. There is no reference to any pholcid spider biting a human and causing any detrimental reaction. If these spiders were indeed deadly poisonous but couldn't bite humans, then the only way we would know that they are poisonous is by milking them and injecting the venom into humans. For a variety of reasons including Amnesty International and a humanitarian code of ethics, this research has never been done. Furthermore, there are no toxicological studies testing the lethality of pholcid venom on any mammalian system (this is usually done with mice). Therefore, no information is available on the likely toxic effects of their venom in humans, so the part of the myth about their being especially poisonous is just that: a myth. There is no scientific basis for the supposition that they are deadly poisonous and there is no reason to assume that it is true.

What about their fangs being too short to penetrate human skin? Pholcids do indeed have short fangs, which in arachnological terms is called "uncate" because they have a secondary tooth which meets the fang like the way the two grabbing parts of a pair of tongs come together. Brown recluse spiders similarly have uncate fang structure and they obviously are able to bite humans. There may be a difference in the musculature that houses the fang such that recluses have stronger muscles for penetration because they are hunting spiders needing to subdue prey whereas pholcid spiders are able to wrap their prey and don't need as strong a musculature. So, again, the myth states as fact something about which there is no scientific basis.

http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

So yeah, go figure. I wonder why noone has bothered to test a Daddy Long Leg's poison.

 

[Amondren]

I hate spiders. All their eyes penetrate my soul and their mouths MOUTHS.

 

[CodeOrange]

Do you think snakes are scary?

/thread

 

[Wulfheri]

I think dead spiders are way more awful then living spiders but that differs ofcourse from person to person.

 

[Irriduccibilli]

The legs, the hair, the many eyes, and the fact that it shoots yellow liquid out of its ass, that just aint normal... well most of the time anyway.
Seriously, where is Yao Ming when you need him?

 

[Grahav]

Yes, because they would have wings.

 

[Kingsnake661]

I have a tiny pet peeve when it comes to talking about "poisonous" spiders and snakes... and that is... there ARE no "poisonous" ones... just venomious ones. There's a difference. Poisions are ingested, inhauled, or absorbed through the skin, and are generally used sololy for defence. A poision dart frog springs to mind. Venom, is a compound that's intected into the body, and it's primary usage is offincive, for killing pery and it also aids in digestion.

I know... I know.. it's prolly just me nit picking... but it's still the truth. >.>

Carry on...

 

[ELD3RGoD]

Eyes, lots of them. Fangs, 'mouth', legs, feet, hairs, head, body, web, things out of it's ass, everything. Urghhhhhhh. Everything about them is disgusting. However, I refrain from killing them and get pissed off when others do so.

 

[Silent Anima]

I don't find spiders scary with eight legs.

But if they pogo'd around on one leg, they would be fucking terrifying.

Oh gosh, the image that is now in my head is both hilarious and horrifying. Thank you very much for that.

I 100% agree! Now someone needs to make a gif of that.

 

[Nazz3]

Well im not really scared of them.

I mean just look at those cute creatures!

http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae329/SlidellofOlde/Creepy_Spider.jpg

http://k53.pbase.com/o4/86/100786/1/59642744.CharlottesWeb5491w.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hTVE0OADUGs/TDuHrxZsJxI/AAAAAAAADhE/2CsGDuap9_U/s1600/lotsaspiders.jpg

http://wildanimalsphotos.com/upload/23754-40585/scary-spider.jpg

http://b34nz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1249620006052.jpg

There goes another night's sleep.

You're welcome

 

[Brandon237]

snip

Yes, jumping spiders are awesome, and intelligent. I had one as a pet, it would wait for me to get it a fly, and then bugger off. Every time, the cute little opportunistic bastard.

I don't know why, but tarantulas do look very strokable...

OP: I'm only scared of spiders I know are highly venomous. I know which are and aren't in my region, and if it ain't gonna leave me in agony / hospital et cetera I am not scared of it. Although any widow spider, black, brown or cream that I see I will kill and be dead bloody terrified while doing it, those scare the crap out of me. My gran was in hospital for a month after a black widow bite. Not fun.