Where do spiders go when you suck them into a vacuum cleaner?

[russ_watters]

It was my understanding that pretty much every insect with a sting or snake with fangs has venom in it. We may not call them "poisonous", but the venom is what makes them hurt.

This link discusses allergies to bees and their venom: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/allergies/allergicconditions_venom.shtml

Yeah, here it is for spiders:

All spiders have some amount of venom with varying degrees of potency.

http://www.calpoison.org/public/spiders.html

That's not going to make the squeamish ones happy...

 

[Hurkyl]

I've always wondered if I should leave the spiders in my apartment alone, instead of flushing 'em down the toilet. I never see any bugs around, so I guess it's no big deal.

I don't know if I could escort them out: I usually just grab the spider with a paper towel. I don't know if I'm actually injuring it, or if it just rolls up as a defense mechanism (it's usually still alive when it goes in the toilet).

 

[russ_watters]

And for snakes...

Many researchers have argued that different lineages of venomous snakes, like rattlesnakes and cobras, evolved venom independently. They observed that the closest relatives of these venomous snakes were nonvenomous.

Dr. Fry discovered that they were wrong. "Most of the snakes that we think of as nonvenomous are actually venomous," he explained. Garter snakes and many other supposedly nonvenomous snakes actually produce tiny amounts of venom.

http://www.carlzimmer.com/articles/2005/articles_2005_venom.html

Since the venom is basically specially evolved saliva, reactions to even the supposedly nonpoisonous are not surprising.

I'm ok though, thanks for asking.

 

[turbo]

Yeah, here it is for spiders: http://www.calpoison.org/public/spiders.html

That's not going to make the squeamish ones happy...

Good link. My buddy and I were shoring up the foundation of his old barn when he bought a farm here in central Maine, and while we were crawling around under the floorboards, he was bitten on the back by a spider. Apparently, it had a potent anticoagulant in its venom because an area of skin the size of a dinner-plate turned all blue/black like a bruise. We never found out what kind of spider it was - there were all kinds of them under the barn, though. There were some pretty large wolf spiders under there, so it might have been one of them.

 

[turbo]

And for snakes...
http://www.carlzimmer.com/articles/2005/articles_2005_venom.html

Since the venom is basically specially evolved saliva, reactions to even the supposedly nonpoisonous are not surprising.

I'm ok though, thanks for asking.

Aha! That confirms things pretty well. Another thing that I forgot to mention - when that big garter snake bit the base of my thumb, it took hours to get the bleeding stopped, so you can probably add anticoagulant effects to neurotoxic effects. He was a pretty potent fellow.

 

[pivoxa15]

I guess no one knows about vacuum cleaners? And the consequences of sucking a spider inside a vacuum cleaner?

 

[larkspur]

I guess no one knows about vacuum cleaners? And the consequences of sucking a spider inside a vacuum cleaner?

I always wondered if it could crawl back out when the machine was turned off...

 

[Moonbear]

I always wondered if it could crawl back out when the machine was turned off...

If it was still alive, it probably could. It probably depends on the type of vacuum too. If it's just sucked in a hose, it might remain alive inside and be able to climb out. If you run it over with a vacuum that has a beater bar on it, it's probably dead and knocked to pieces before being sucked inside.

 

[scorpa]

In the case of spiders I just point my cat in their direction and let nature take it's course.

In the case of snakes...I either a) Run away or b) rotortiller any of the ones that dare come close enough into garden fertilizer. Option b is only carried out if I happen to be on the tractor and they seem particularly viscious.

 

[Moonbear]

In the case of spiders I just point my cat in their direction and let nature take it's course.

That works too. Ever since Ember adopted me, I haven't seen very many spiders indoors at all.

 

[turbo]

In the case of snakes...I either a) Run away or b) rotortiller any of the ones that dare come close enough into garden fertilizer. Option b is only carried out if I happen to be on the tractor and they seem particularly viscious.

How scary can a snake be if you're on a tractor? Is he going to bite your tires and strand you in the garden until you have to get off the tractor? I never harm snakes intentionally, and am kind of upset if I run over one with my mower deck. Anything that can keep down the bugs in the vegetable garden is welcome! Bats, birds, snakes, frogs, toads, just come on down! I might have to rescind the invitation for wild turkeys, though, if they get a taste for my vegetables. Those guys can EAT, and a flock of them visiting at once can be devastating. It is not uncommon to see 10-20 of them at a time, here.

 

[scorpa]

How scary can a snake be if you're on a tractor? Is he going to bite your tires and strand you in the garden until you have to get off the tractor? I never harm snakes intentionally, and am kind of upset if I run over one with my mower deck. Anything that can keep down the bugs in the vegetable garden is welcome! Bats, birds, snakes, frogs, toads, just come on down! I might have to rescind the invitation for wild turkeys, though, if they get a taste for my vegetables. Those guys can EAT, and a flock of them visiting at once can be devastating. It is not uncommon to see 10-20 of them at a time, here.

Ummm pretty damn scary lol. I've never actually done it, but I'm pretty sure my mom would...she's terrified of them and I don't think living in a house with snakes in it for a few years really helped that

 

[russ_watters]

A friend of mine had a yellow jacket problem once. At any given time, there'd be a hundred in her apartment, but she never did get stung. Kept a vacuum cleaner close at hand, though...

 

[Moonbear]

A friend of mine had a yellow jacket problem once. At any given time, there'd be a hundred in her apartment, but she never did get stung. Kept a vacuum cleaner close at hand, though...

Yikes! I really try to avoid bees and wasps. I've only been stung once, and my entire foot and ankle swelled up from the sting, which really makes me nervous because you're not supposed to have that much of a reaction the first time you're stung. My father was very allergic to bee stings (so much so that he needed to be rushed to the ER any time he got a bee sting due to anaphylactic shock), so I really am nervous that I might have a severe allergy to them too if I get stung again given the first reaction. I wouldn't be so afraid if I didn't have such a reaction, because the sting itself smarted, but wasn't terrible, it was the swelling that hurt more and got all itchy too.

 

[turbo]

The friend of mine that got bit by a spider when we were crawling under his barn had a lot of really nice large pieces of slate under the eaves of his old house in Winslow. He wanted to salvage those to build hEarth's with, so we went there with my truck to get the stones. He had lifted up a pretty big piece of slate I told him to drop it and let me get the big pieces because he had an as-yet uncorrected hernia, so he dropped the stone and picked up some smaller pieces to put in the truck. I went over to get that big rascal and as soon as I lifted it up, I was swarmed with yellow-jackets and was stung repeatedly, especially on the legs, since they swarmed up the legs of my loose-fitting painter's pants. I ran out into that big back yard, swearing, swatting, and stripping off my pants so I could kill the hornets and keep them from getting further up my legs. When things had settled down, George started laughing so hard he could barely talk. I asked what was so damned funny, and he pointed to the big brick building overlooking his back yard, and said "those ladies just got their best show in years." It was a rest home for retired nuns, and they spent much of their time looking out the windows of their rooms toward the river, and George's back yard.

 

[paul007]

Hi All,

Just a quick message (and yes, I admit, some shameless promotion)

A group of 32 University graphic design students near Leicester, Uk are putting on an exhibition of their work on the topic of 'Phobia' this June.

If you are in the area, please consider visiting, otherwise we will be trying to put as much as possible on http://www.inloughborough.com/phobia" nearer the event. Warning there is already a picture of a horible spider on that page!

I've seen some of the preliminary work and it looks very promising.

Paul

 

[edward]

The picture is of a tarantula, they are very people friendly. They aint a spider anyways.

 

[Ki Man]

I don't mind spiders. A few have taken up residence on my window sill but they don't do any harm. In the summer when the swarms of flies return to So Cal then they actually do me some good since the flies like to go all over the windows

 

[Ki Man]

Yeah, here it is for spiders: http://www.calpoison.org/public/spiders.html

haha that reminds me of a time in english class when i was followed around by a spider.

so we had to do an in class journal about what we would be for a day, and i just so happened to be writing about how i was spider-man. while i was writing it, i felt some type of tingling on my neck, and i scratched in that general area and it stopped. then a few moments later it returned, and when i put my fingers onto my neck, i felt something inbetween my fingers so i grabbed it and threw it onto the ground as fast as i could, and flying out of my hand was a spider about an inch long with black and white stripes on it. it started crawling towards my desk but then I had to go up in front of the class to present and when i came back it was gone.

A few hours later, in my last class of the day... I reached into my backpack to grab out a foldre that I kept my math homework in. I opened the folder and out crawls the same spider it crawled towards me and went down the desk and disappeared from sight. haven't seen it since

 

[hypatia]

I was trapped once in a bathroom in Mexico, by a GIANT spider. a can of Lysol was with in reach, so I sprayed it. Its leggs fell off, which was almost grosser then the spider its self.

 

[edward]

I was trapped once in a bathroom in Mexico, by a GIANT spider. a can of Lysol was with in reach, so I sprayed it. Its leggs fell off, which was almost grosser then the spider its self.

Trapped.? Did it hold the door shut? I just hate it when that happens.

 

[Astronuc]

This belongs under a thread for strange and somewhat bizarre new, but since it deals with spiders -

Ear-Popping Spiders, Flying Fire Ants
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10089982

Morning Edition, May 9, 2007 · Bees may be dying, as we've reported. But other insects are doing fine. An Oregon kid complained of popping in his ear — "like Rice Krispies," he said. Doctors discovered two spiders. And on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Portland, Ore., fire ants emerged from an overhead compartment just before takeoff. A passenger says everybody switched to another plane, leaving the ants with no frequent-flier miles.

or it belongs in a thread "Revenge of the Animal Kingdom".