Every few years, every year to be fair, the news papers and social media go spider story crazy. They make out that you; your friends, your family and your pet dog have no chance in hell of surviving the winter. The moment you go to bed, spiders are going to crawl out from under, wrap you up in a cocoon of silky, cold web, and inject the most painful venom into you then suck your insides dry. Leaving a shallow shell of the person you once were. Sounds fun.

Sooo let’s get straight to the point. It’s an utter load of bull. You, your family and your pet dog are most likely going to survive another miserable winter and another snow free Christmas (if you’re in the UK of course). You’re more likely to die from choking on your Christmas dinner, slipping in a wet isle in your local supermarket or just eating too much shit than from a spider bite. Take a moment to let that sink in.

Now let’s get to some interesting, non-exaggerated, points.

There are approximately 48 species of native spider in the UK. None of which are humongous or deadly or poisonous or man-eating. They are simply of no particular danger to humans. Or your pet dog.

A few cool looking spiders (if you’re interested) are; Green Huntsman spider, Water spider, Wasp spider and the Invisible spider.

However, a few spiders here and there do happen to bite. Garden Spiders (Araneus diadematus) have been known to bite, resulting in a little inflammation and itching. This usually lasts no more than two days. And that’s it. The garden spider is no bigger than 13mm and is usually seen in between the months of June and October. They are characterized by a white ‘+’ cross-shaped mark on the abdomen.

A spider which has a very bad reputation is the False Widow spider. There have been a few incidences which have claimed the need of medical attention. However, this spider is generally harmless and the incident was most likely an allergic reaction, just as some people are allergic to peanuts and wasp stings etc.

Spiders are quiet boring in reality. To be honest they make webs or dig holes and then sit around all day waiting for an annoying fly or bug to cross their path (The wolf spider chases! How cool is that).

Spiders, if anything, are very helpful. How I hear you cry?! They control pests, such as flies and other irritating insects. Spider venom is currently in research to treat medical conditions such as arthritis! As disgusting as it sounds, they are a delicacy in some countries! And finally they limit disease an example being malaria, where spiders catch and eat mosquitoes. They are more friend than foe I’d say.

Interestingly, on occasions exotic spiders can very rarely arrive in the UK from other countries accidently. Which results in another wave of crazy we’re all going to die stories.

Winter is coming and some poor spiders will find shelter from the harsh weather indoors. Just use a glass and a piece of paper to release them outside safe and sound. Simple as that.

So to conclude; sadly there are no venomous spiders in the UK, however, on very rare occasions they will creep across our boarders illegally, hide in your fruit baskets, under your bed or even in your cupboards. They will make nests, mate, explode and release their babies everywhere. So just look around your room before you sleep.

For more information check the links below.

Bibliography:

http://www.uksafari.com/spiders4.htm

http://www.wildengland.com/wild-animals/small-creatures/spiders

http://benefitof.net/benefits-of-spiders/

Picture sourced from Google: http://cisr.ucr.edu/brown_widow_spider.html