Four spider myths debunked

Published 8:13 pm Tuesday, October 19, 2010

It’s spider season.

They’re all over the garden. They’re in the house. Eeeeek!

In honor of this creepy-crawly time of year, we proudly present perhaps the greatest spider Web site of all time: “Myths, Misconceptions, and Superstitions About Spiders.”

Not only is it easy to read, it also is penned by a local, Rod Crawford, the curator of arachnids at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle. (Is there a more awesome job title?)

Here are a few of Crawford’s myth-busters. See www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/ spidermyth for more.

MYTH: Spiders come into houses in the fall to get out of the cold.

FACT: Those spiders are already inside your house 95 percent of the time. Also, putting indoor spiders “back” outside usually kills them, so you aren’t doing them any favors.

“House spiders belong to a small number of species specially adapted for indoor conditions (constant climate, poor food supply, very poor water supply).

“Some house spider species have been living indoors at least since the days of the Roman Empire.”

MYTH: Spiders found in bathtubs or sinks have come up through the drains from the sewers.

FACT: Sorry, Charlie. “This myth … shows how very reluctant people are to confront the idea that the spiders in their house live there all the time.

“Modern drains contain a liquid-filled sediment trap through which spiders cannot penetrate.”

MYTH: A spider bit me while I was asleep.

FACT: You’re more likely to have a case of MRSA. “Skin bumps and sores noticed in the morning are generally caused by nonbite disease conditions.

“Currently MRSA bacteria are among the leading causes of alleged ‘spider bites.’ The minority that are really bites are caused by bloodsucking insects such as fleas, bedbugs, kissing bugs, lice or assorted flies; less commonly by mites or ticks.”

MYTH: You unknowingly swallow an average of four live spiders in your sleep each year.

FACT: Thank goodness, no. “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.”

Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.