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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Spider Myths

painting by lucille butler
So people, your some of your comments about my spider
in the glass concerned me! Swallow spiders while we sleep?
That just isn't acceptable to me! How am I ever going to
fall asleep again...much less get a drink in the dark! LOL!
So, I've done a little research! Here are 8 common
spider myths..that's right...they are not true!
My information was gathered from The Burke Mueseum
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You unknowingly swallow an average of four live spiders in your sleep each year. This very widespread urban legend has no basis in fact. For a sleeping person to swallow even one live spider would involve so many highly unlikely circumstances that for practical purposes we can rule out the possibility. No such case is on formal record anywhere in scientific or medical literature.

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Spiders drink moisture from the mouths or lips of sleeping humans. This legend does not seem to be recorded in print anywhere. A variant that one person claimed to have heard on TV is that "a spider will drink from your eye (while you sleep) 3 times in your life." It is probably just a variation on the "swallowing live spiders in your sleep" legend; like that one, it has no basis in fact.

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Spiders lay their eggs in human hairstyles. This one dating from the days of beehive hair-dos relates that a young woman died from the bites of black widow spiderlings that had hatched inside her bouffant. There are a number of variants, including a common one where the victim is a man with an Afro hair-do. Spiders do not find the human body or hair a favorable site for egglaying. Even if the hatchlings could bite, their vinom would be too weak to kill.

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The tip of a banana should not be eaten because there could be spider eggs inside. This seems to be one of the newest urban legends. I find no reference to it from before 2002. As the story goes, some unspecified spider species lays its eggs in banana flowers, the eggs end up inside the ripe banana fruit, and some nameless fate will overtake you if you eat the end with the eggs. Allegedly, monkeys peel bananas from the "wrong" end to avoid the spider eggs. banana flowers are narrow tubes. In consumer varieties, the fruit grows from the ovary deep inside without fertilization. There is simply no chance for spider eggs to get into a banana. Nor would a species that did this survive long, since spiderlings in an uneaten banana could never escape.

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      Spiders can lay their eggs under human skin in wounds created by their bites. Fact: In a surprisingly widespread urban legend, a nameless woman is bitten by a spider (usually on her cheek) while on vacation. She later develops a swelling, from which, in due course, baby spiders emerge! Somehow or other, the venom must have transformed into eggs. Spiders, need I say, do not find the human body a suitable site for egglaying, and no actual case anything like this can be found anywhere in scientific or medical literature. (I specifically remember this story being told when I was young!)

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      Spiders can hold their breath to avoid inhaling pesticides. I only heard this for the first time in 2007, but it is already as widespread as any of the older myths and legends. Exterminators use this story to explain why their pesticides don't kill spiders. The first thing wrong with this myth is that most pesticides that work by respiration, also work by contact. Many also work by ingestion. The second problem is that neither spiders nor insects actually breathe; therefore they cannot "hold their breath."

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      "I'm very kind to spiders; when I find one in the house, I put it back outside instead of killing it." You can't put something "back" outside which was never outside in the first place. Although some house spider species can survive outdoors, most don't do well there, and some (which are native to other climates) will perish rather quickly when removed from the protective indoor habitat. You're not doing them a favor.

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      Spiders come into houses in the fall to get out of the cold. This seemingly simple idea conceals many false assumptions. In reality, house spiders are usually not the same species as the yard or garden spiders outside the house.
      ^0^
      So there you have it! I'm especially glad that I don't have to worry about
      a spider laying eggs in my face while I sleep! :)

      27 comments:

      1. Thanks for doing this public service and relieving us of all those fears!

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      2. Say all you want, just please, please, please, stop with the pictures!!!

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      3. I have to admit, I kept feeling little crawly things on my legs as I typed this up! LOL!

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      4. Whew I am so relieved about the sleeping stuff now.

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      5. but i know someone whose best friends cousins sisters brother that swallowed a spider that laid eggs in a sore he had in his mouth before going back outside until fall...lol. thanks fordebunking themyths...i willl sleep better tonight.

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      6. There was another one about a huge spider living in the tunnels under Windsor Castle....kind of like their own Loch Nes Monster!

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      7. I can't get the song about the "Old Lady who swallowed a spider the wiggle and tickled insider her" out of my head!

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      8. Hi! Betsy,
        Thanks, for sharing all the Facts and Fiction (urban legends) about spiders with your readers.

        Take care!
        DeeDee ;-D

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      9. Fascinating Betsy, you learn something every day. Having now slightly reduced my fear of spiders how about having a go at snakes.

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      10. Ah, I enjoyed this! You know, your next last one wisdom surprised me! I indeed one of those who puts spiders back out; I never knew they were never outside to begin with!;))
        xo

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      11. Hi Betsy

        I need to tell that if you should ever come to Au you will want to look out for the Redback....and the Black Widow...and the Funnel web...
        and then after that there are only the snakes to worry about...

        Happy days

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      12. I'm just thinkin' that if she had spiders actually hatching in her hair, when's the last time she washed it?-LOL! Great PSA, Betsy :)

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      13. Subby ~ I used to work with a lady that went to the beauty shop once a week to have her hair done. In the summer she would prepare and freeze sweetcorn over the weekends...after the hair appointment....and would come into work every day the next week with corn in her hair! It was the big joke around the water cooler! ha!

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      14. I so hate spiders - one of the few things that gives me the heeby-geebys. Saw a HUGE one out on the front porch last night and made myself not scream. Quite an accomplishment!

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      15. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm all up for putting the little things "back" outside. Made me feel better to know they don't survive out there! Saves me from having to clean up a squashed mess on my shoe and floor. Sorry to the spider/insect protectors! The way I see it, there are so many of them around, the few I send to their deaths doesn't change the population too much. I'll take my chances on the other things they may or may not eat that crawl around in my house that I DON'T see. :)

        Great job with the research, Betsy. I enjoyed reading it.

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      16. Spiders holding their breath made me giggle.

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      17. Well, you have made me feel much better/ha
        I am happy to know I am not swallowing spiders!!!!
        Good Job!

        PLEASE DON'T DO SNAKES!!!!!!

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      18. Um, thanks... I think. I had never heard any of these and could have lived happily forever not knowing other people were worrying about this, lol. However, now if I ever do hear any of these in the future, I will be able to have a snappy retort - "But Betsy said...!!!" But what about the one where a roach can get lodged in your ear while you sleep? I actually knew someone this happened to and it's given me nightmares ever since.

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      19. Rosezilla ~ I've heard of bugs in ears, too...even spiders. Unfortunately, this is not a myth. :(

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      20. Betsy, gotta story involving flies and my brother, when we were little, but I'll spare the readers-LOL! I might post it up during next month's Halloween-athon-LOL!

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      21. I say GROOOOOOSSSSS to all of these!
        I just PLAIN don't like 'em!!!!!

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      22. ok i know these are all myths but i still got the heebie jeebies reading them!

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      23. Well, I never knew that. Many years ago (in 19 hundred and frozen stiff when I was a wee lad) I inherited two Tarantula spiders after a friend died (NO, it was NOT from a spider bite!).

        They were quite tame and loving (?) but they kept getting out of their tank and took to wandering around the house, much to the concern of my parents. In spite of what people think they don't bite unless really provoked or feel threatened, but they have claws and can scratch you, just like a cat.

        When one died the other only lasted about a week before it died as well. I think it was lonely. I was broken-hearted!

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      24. Keith ~ oh my, that is very interesting. I didn't know that they had claws! (as if they weren't creepy enough already!)That's kinda sweet that the one left died soon after...he probably was lonely!

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      25. I heard the spider laying eggs in wounds myth as a kid too!

        You have helped me in one way...I now know that I am justified in killing any spiders in my home because they wouldn't live outside. Thanks Betsy!

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      26. OMG!!

        "Spiders can lay their eggs under human skin in wounds created by their bites. Fact:" ~ That is it. The first spider I see I'm calling an exterminator...lol. Or even cheaper...sicking the kitties on them.

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