I like spiders. I remove them from places they shouldn't be, like the bath, the oven, the toilet and so on. Generally, if I'm removing an orb-spinner, I move it to my bit of the garden where it can adversely affect the greenfly.
I'm in Britain, though, where spiders are harmless and the most (and only) venomous snake goes as far as:
severe pain at the location of the bite
swelling, redness and bruising at the location of the bite
nausea (feeling sick)
vomiting
diarrhoea
itchy lumps on the skin (hives or nettle rash)
swelling of the lips, tongue and gums
breathing difficulties with wheezing, similar to asthma
mental confusion, dizziness or fainting
irregular heartbeat
I think brown recluses would cause me to change my casually friendly attitude and bare-handed rescue habit.
In very vaguely related news, I've safely ejected two wasps this weekend and now there's a wasp going around the lights. I may have a wasp problem here. Wasps are great little clean-up girls until around this time of year, when they tend to get drunk and aggressive for some reason, and this isn't where they should be.
Maybe I need to ... erm ... rip out the entire kitchen and reseal the walls there. I'm pretty sure I shut the bathroom walls' various holes pretty well. Maybe they're coming in through a vent brick.
