Happy Halloween!

It’s that creepy, crawly time of year, again – Halloween!  So, naturally, I got to thinking about our eight-legged friends.  Can spiders be a helpful part of a simple home?

Spiders keep our homes and yards, as well as the planet, from being overrun by insects, and they, themselves, are food for birds, reptiles and small mammals.  For humans, the vast majority of spider bites are harmless and require no specific treatment.  And, it’s said that allowing a spider to live in your house infuses it with good luck, as spiders are harbingers of wealth and happiness.

And, spiders are surprisingly interesting creatures:

• Spiders aren’t insects (who are defined by having eight legs); they’re arachnids.
• Male spiders don’t build webs to catch their food; instead they are always looking for females to mate with.
• A spider’s thread is stronger than the same thickness of steel and is considered the strongest material in the world.
• Baby spiders can make perfect webs shortly after hatching.
• The blood of a spider is light blue-green.
• There may be 1000 spider eggs in an egg sac the size of a pea.
• Of the 40,000 species of spiders, only one is vegetarian.
• If you want to get away from spiders, you’ll have to move to Antarctica.
• There are people in South America who eat tarantulas.
• Abandoned spider webs are called cobwebs.
• Most common spiders have only 6 eyes, while some cave dwelling species have no eyes at all.

Spooky!  So, let the spiders enjoy Halloween, too!  Allow a spider (or several) to live near your ceiling or on your windowsill, and watch the number of bugs who call your home theirs, dwindle.