Black spider in the house: appearance and character of the uninvited guest

Description of spiders

Spiders have 8 legs. The body is divided into 2 parts, they are connected by a thin stalk. Most spiders have 8 eyes, some have 6. A few arachnids outside Europe have 4 or 2 eyes. Spiders' eyes do not have one location; it depends on the species. Some spiders have the same size eyes, others have different ones. Most spiders have poor vision. But some species have large front eyes with fairly good vision:

The easiest way to determine whether an arachnid is male or female is to look at the front tentacles. In females they are quite narrow; in spiders, the tips of the tentacles resemble boxing gloves. Males use them as pipettes to release sperm during mating.

Which spiders are endemic to Russia and Europe, the most common species

How dangerous is black eresus for humans and pets?

Eresus, unlike many other spiders, is capable of tearing human skin by injecting poison. In this case, at the site of the bite there remains a mark from the teeth located on the chelicerae. After a bite, redness and swelling occur. The pain may persist for several days, and numbness appears in the bite area. Also, a black eresus bite often causes an allergic reaction. The main symptoms are:

• dizziness;
• nausea and vomiting;
• headache;
• dyspnea;
• tachycardia;
• increased body temperature;
• blisters around the inflamed area.

Allergies can pose a deadly threat to humans. In addition, an infection can get into the wound, which will lead to suppuration. Please note that bites to the face and neck are the most dangerous.

In rare cases, the black fathead may bite a pet. The venom of this spider is extremely dangerous for small mammals such as rats, hamsters and guinea pigs. In dogs and cats, death can be caused by an allergic reaction or repeated bites. It is also possible to develop complications, such as disruption of the liver, cardiovascular system and central nervous system.

First aid for a bite

The first step is to calm the injured person, since the bite of this spider often causes panic attacks, which only accelerate the spread of the poison throughout the body. It is best to rinse the wound with clean water and then treat it with hydrogen peroxide. After this, you need to adhere to the following action plan:

1. Take an antihistamine. Injections are the most effective; tablets have a weaker and slower effect.
2. If the pain is severe, you can apply a cold compress to the wound. The use of painkillers is also acceptable.
3. It is necessary to drink a lot of liquid, as this will speed up the removal of poison from the body.

If an allergic reaction occurs, you should immediately call an ambulance.

Cauterizing the wound or treating it with brilliant green is unacceptable. In addition, the patient’s condition can worsen:

• attempts to suck out the poison;
• eating large amounts of food shortly after being bitten;
• applying a tourniquet (regardless of its location);
• drinking alcoholic beverages as a pain reliever.

Harmless species

Hunter bordered

A spider of swamps and swamps, it always lives close to water; the semi-aquatic species has an intriguing hunting technique. It detects slight vibrations produced by insects or other creatures, runs along the surface of the water, and grabs prey.

Body length up to 2.2 cm, paw span about 7 cm - this is the largest spider in Russia. The arachnids are brown in color, with a characteristic pale stripe running from the head down the sides of the thick, cigar-shaped body.

Flower spider

It has a short, wide, flat body. The first two pairs of paws are larger than the hind ones and are widely spaced to make it easier to hold prey. Females are from 6 to 9 mm in length, males from 3 to 4 mm. The female is light in color: the back and legs are white or yellow with darker sides and reddish markings on the belly. The male is darker: reddish-brown with a white patch above the eyes. These colors are variable and spiders change color according to the flower they live on. Both sexes have small, venomous fangs for hunting insects.

House spider

The length of the female is from 9 to 10 mm, the male is from 6 to 9 mm. The spiders are quite large and hairy, with long legs, and the color ranges from pale to dark brown. The abdominal cavity has variable soot markings. Males have a slimmer abdomen than females and longer legs. Males are seen more often than females, they are the ones wandering around the house in search of a partner. Once a spider has discovered a female's web, it will stay with her for several weeks, mating with her multiple times during that time. Then he dies, and the female eats the body; nutrients are needed for the development of the offspring.

Knitting spiders

They live in bushes and meadows, especially if they are near a water source. Long-jawed weaver spiders build circular webs, usually parallel to the ground over ponds or streams. Males and females weave webs, but when males reach sexual maturity, they move onto the webs of other spiders, especially females, where they hunt:

• flies;
• ants;
• aphids

Knitting spiders are slender creatures with long legs. They stretch and align their bodies on flower stems, camouflaging themselves from predators. Their sizes range from half to more than a centimeter, depending on the species.

South Russian tarantula

A rather large, usually brown spider, but the color varies depending on the habitat. He has 8 eyes, two of them are large, the rest are the same size. If light shines into the eyes, they glow. There is a distinct violin-shaped marking on the head. The bite is not fatal, but causes an allergic reaction in sensitive people.

Lifestyle of the black fathead

The spider creates a tube from the web, the depth of which is 5-10 cm. One end of this tube goes into the ground. The diameter of such a shelter is approximately 1 cm. The end of the tube, located above the ground, is expanded and can reach 10 cm in diameter. It is covered with grass or moss and is often called the "ceiling" of the shelter. It is into this part of the web that insects and other arachnids find their way. The tube and the net are connected by a thread, so when the victim is trapped, the spider receives a signal and quickly runs out of the shelter, bites the victim, then pulls it into the hole and eats it. The black eresus throws out the remains of its prey.

The spider feeds on coleoptera, flies, butterflies, mosquitoes, millipedes, woodlice, young lizards, and scorpions. Cannibalism is possible (most often manifested by females towards males).

Reproduction

The lifespan of males is only about 8.5 months, and that of females is 1.5 years. In laboratory conditions they can live more than 2.5 years. The spider reaches puberty late - only by 1-2 years. Adult males are most active in August and September in sunny weather. They constantly migrate in search of females. Courtship with a female can last several hours; before mating, the male performs a ritual dance. If during courtship there are several males near the female, then they fight with each other.

Unlike many other spiders, male black eresus settle in the same tube with the female, feeding on prey with her and periodically mating.

A few weeks after the conception of the offspring, the female creates a cocoon from the web, where she lays eggs. One cocoon can contain up to 80 eggs. The female protects the cocoon; during the day she takes it to the sun, and at night she puts it in a hole. When the time comes for the eggs to hatch, the female weaves the entrance to the hole with a web. The emerging offspring gather around the mother's mouth, absorbing already digested food. At the same time, the female secretes an increased amount of digestive enzymes, which leads to the digestion of her organs and subsequent death. After this, the young spiders feed on the corpse of the parent.

The offspring remains to spend the winter in the cocoon created by the mother. Before full development, it goes through 7-11 molts; until the third molt, the spiders are in the mother’s hole. Once the weather warms up, the spiders disperse and begin to build their own tubes in close proximity to each other and the cocoon. As a rule, they move no more than 5-10 m from the mother’s burrow.

Poisonous spiders

Karakurt

The black spider has a shiny body; juvenile and adult males of the species have 13 spots on their back. Males have creamy white spots, while young females have red (sometimes yellow or orange) spots. All adult females are black. Karakurts rarely come indoors, preferring grassy areas and especially hot, dry areas such as coastal dunes. They build webs close to the ground, in abandoned rodent burrows and under rocks and logs. The male karakurt stops feeding before mating and consequently dies of hunger.

Cross spiders

There are many types of crosses, they differ:

• shape;
• size;
• color.

Typically the species is 2 to 3 cm in length (females) and 1.5 to 2 cm (males). Most species are reddish brown or gray with leaf-shaped patterns on thick, triangular-shaped abdomens, and also have two prominent humps at the front. Cross spiders sometimes have a white or brown dorsal stripe with a white edge.

Hyracantidae

The upper abdomen has a dark, spear-shaped mark that runs down the middle of the abdomen from the point where the thorax and abdomen meet to about the middle of the abdomen.

The color ranges from light beige to yellow, often with a hint of green. The tips of the paws are dark brown.

These are nocturnal hunters who search for prey rather than catch it in a net. Spiders come into contact with humans if they get between the skin and sheets, clothing or shoes. They will also bite if provoked by a person while working in the garden or habitat.

Chiracantida bites are painful and the venom damages the skin, causing:

• slow healing wounds;
• itching;
• edema.

These bites are not considered medically dangerous.

Black Widow

It is a shiny, round black spider with a red hourglass mark on its ventral side (belly). There is also a red or orange spot above the spinnerets. This is the typical appearance of a female.

Male black widows are much smaller than females, with elongated purple, gray or black bodies, white ventral stripes and red, yellow or orange spots. Juvenile females are rounder than males, but have similar coloring and markings.

Body size of black widows: females from 8 to 13 mm, males from 3 to 6 mm. The paws are proportional to the body.

Brazilian wandering spider

Recluse spider

Spider sak (yellow heyracantium)

Why do they appear in an apartment or house?

There are several reasons for the appearance of spiders in a house or apartment:

1. In private homes, spiders are a fairly common occurrence. They live outdoors, but often crawl indoors;
2. A person can bring a spider on his clothes. Having thus entered the house, he remains to live there;
3. spiders are predators. If insects live in a house or apartment (flies, cockroaches, bedbugs, mosquitoes), then even a black spider that accidentally gets into the house will remain: warm, almost safe and plenty of food.

Medium poisonous spiders

banana spider

Giant tree spider

goldweaver

Tarantula

Spider wasp (Argiope brunnich)

Females are larger (especially in late summer, before eggs are laid), and the thorax is brightly colored with yellow, black and white stripes, reminiscent of a wasp. Males are tiny and do not look like females. Weaving webs in high meadows. The network is characteristic, with an obvious zigzag pattern. As a rule, they feed on grasshoppers and other insects caught in the net.

Hunting and food

The jumping spider uses its silk thread both to create a lullaby and to protect laid eggs. But he does not catch his victims with the help of a web, but runs after them.

The predator sits motionless for a long time, inspecting the territory. Noticing minor fluctuations, the spider slowly turns its head in that direction.

His main pair of visual organs focuses on the source of noise in order to determine the distance to it. Then the horse slowly approaches the prey.

It freezes behind or to the side of the victim, after which it makes a dynamic jump. It grabs prey with the first pair of limbs and bites into the chitinous cover with its jaws. The horse then injects poison and digestive juices into its victim.

The horse's nutritional diet includes:

• insects from the order Diptera;
• medium-sized Coleoptera;
• blood-sucking mosquitoes;
• ant.

These arachnids received the name “horses” precisely because of their method of obtaining food. If the fart fails to accurately calculate the distance to the victim, then it will simply remain hanging on the web, which is stronger than steel of the same diameter.

What does it eat?

This arthropod is a 100% hunter. Its prey could be:

• Flies;
• Mosquitoes;
• Aphids;
• Nasty;
• Moths

During the hunting period, the crusader is in the middle of the web with virtually no movement. It appears that he is dead. However, as soon as the victim just touches his web, the hunter instantly reacts and grabs it.

Running up to the victim and plunging into it a pair of sharp claws located on the forelimbs, he injects it with poison that paralyzes the insect. After some time, the prey stops moving. Sometimes the crusader immediately eats the prey. But often he leaves her until he gets hungry.

This type of digestion is called external.

This is interesting! The crusaders do not eat everyone who falls into their net. If the insect is poisonous or has an unpleasant odor, the spider lets it go after biting the fixing threads of the web.

Where does it live?

The species is distributed throughout Europe, with some species found in North America. Favorable living conditions are high humidity, high temperature, and the absence of direct sunlight. Ideal habitats are coniferous forests, swamps, edges, hedges. Less often they settle in meadows, fields, gardens, vegetable gardens, outbuildings, and residential buildings. There are about 30 species of crosses living in Russia and the CIS countries.

On a note!

Once in a person’s house, the spider chooses places away from noise and light. Occupies corners at the top of the room, below behind the furniture. Weaves a web. It feeds on “domestic” insects – flies, cockroaches. To get rid of a spider with a cross on its back, you need to remove its web, throw it outside, and poison the “living creatures.”

Brown Widow / Latrodectus geometricus

Brown widows are thought to have originated in Africa, but the first described specimen lived in South America. Representatives of this species settled in many parts of the planet. Populations of brown widows are found in southern California, the Caribbean, many US Gulf Coast states, as well as Japan, South Africa and Madagascar, Australia and Cyprus.

They can be found in residential buildings, garages, inside old tires and under cars, as well as among bushes and other vegetation.

The brown widow's venom is twice as strong as the black widow's. However, this species is not aggressive. Even when they bite, spiders do not inject all the venom they have. However, there were two reported cases of death from brown widow bites in Madagascar in the early 1990s.

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Reproduction

Crusaders are dioecious arthropods. Males court females at night. Having climbed onto the female’s web, the gentleman arranges for the lady of his heart a small concert, consisting of one dance number, including shaking his beloved’s web with his legs. This is how the female understands what the male wants. By touching the cephalothorax of the chosen one with his pedipalps and thus transferring seminal fluid to her, the male starts the mating process.

This usually happens in late summer - early autumn.

Then the female lays from 300 to 800 eggs in a specially woven cocoon, which she first carries with her and then hides in a secluded place.

In the spring, tiny spiders are born, which, after sitting in their “house” for a while, scatter in all directions and begin an independent life.

Tarantula

Belongs to the family of wolf spiders. The tarantula can be found anywhere it is warm and humid. Lycosa live for more than 30 years and are considered true centenarians. They feed on small mice, toads, and insects. The bites are very painful, but not fatal. Often in people bitten by tarantulas, the area near the bite site becomes yellow for several months.

Currently, more than 200 species of tarantulas are known. If you want, TopCafe will write an article about the most beautiful tarantulas. Write in the comments if you want to admire it.

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Impact of location

We notice characters on clothes, on the body. The specifics require separate consideration. Remember where exactly he crawled:

• on the leg - you will encounter special meanness;
• on the right hand - meeting a kind rich man, on the left - you will earn money yourself;
• on the back - the defection of a loved one;
• on the stomach - pregnancy for a lady, illness for an elderly representative of the stronger sex;
• fell on your face - news of the imminent birth of a child from friends;
• sat on the palm of your hand - a precious gift;
• crawling on the shoulders - a reward;
• on the cheek - a declaration of love; removing it means a damaged reputation;
• on the head - bad thoughts;
• by the hair - someone is interested;
• on the walls of the apartment - expenses for repairs;
• on the ceiling - good luck in your endeavor;
• in the bathroom - long-term plans.

If a scary creature was crawling on your car, then beware of an accident.

Lifestyle

The common cross spider is a resident of the wild, but under certain circumstances it settles in the house. Leads a nocturnal lifestyle, during the day it sits motionless in a shelter or on a web of cobwebs. He weaves it at night. It makes a shelter out of leaves and builds trapping nets between the branches.

Experts managed to find out how the female cross weaves a web. The network consists of 39 different radii, which expand as they move away from the center, 35 spiral turns, 1245 points of contact of threads. The radius of the web of the large Far Eastern cross reaches up to 2 m.

Interesting!

At night the female weaves a net, and during the day it catches prey. The spider eliminates the damaged areas and forms new coils in their place. Natural enemies are birds, but with the onset of darkness their activity decreases. The cross can work quietly.

The lifespan of a spider is theoretically 2 years. Under natural conditions it is somewhat shorter. How long a cross spider lives as a pet depends on proper care. Quietly lives up to 2 years.

How to decipher the emotions of a sleeping person

A poisonous arthropod evokes a response in the soul. The dreamer can remember his experiences. Transcripts:

1. Fright is a quick serious conversation. Who the conversation will be with is determined by other details.
2. Disgust is success in reality.
3. Joy is change.
4. Indifference is a disease.
5. Tenderness, interest—discovery of creative abilities.

Did you feel paralyzed by fear when meeting? The dream recommends taking a responsible approach to fulfilling your current responsibilities. If you start shifting them onto others, you will get a scolding.