Does anyone else check their bedding for spiders before climbing in?

Nope, you’re not the only one. I also check shoes, socks and pants before putting them on. Checking for spiders and scorpions (had one fall from the ceiling into my bed when a kid). Always.

I has never occurred to me to do that. I don’t check my shoes or socks either.

@SuperMouse your should. You never know.

I never use gloves to wash the dishes for the same reason. You can’t really see all the way in there. I’d have to turn them inside out to feel comfortable putting them on. Much less hassle to just use moisturizer afterward.

I don’t but then again spiders don’t bother me at all. I guess I’m lucky that I live in a country where the chances of coming across a spider that could do me any harm are pretty slim.

I pull the blankets completely open, so I would see spiders, but that isn’t why I do it.

@Leanne1986 Which country is that? I want to go to there.

@filmfann Do I want to ask?

@bagelface England

@bagelface it’s nothing too wierd. I like my feet out of the covers, but my body covered when I sleep.

@Leanne1986 Hmm,.. come to think of it I didn’t see any spiders when I was there,.. seems strange though, no? I thought England had its share of countryside,..

After some quick research, it seems like you’re right,..wow,..good to know!

@filmfann Word. I like that sometimes too.

Nope – that’s not one of my fears.

I used to check every night before I went to bed. But my worry wasn’t spiders, it was caterpillars. I knew of course that there would never be one, but at one point my fear of them was so bad that I couldn’t sleep unless I checked. I’ve since improved, thankfully.

The only time I’ve done this is on camping trips when I’ve checked my sleeping bag and on military deployments when we’ve been billeted in tents in the desert.

@bagelface We have our fair share of spiders here (more so at certain times of the year) but, though unsightly at times, they are harmless to humans.

Yeah that is pretty awesome.

no but probably will now! i do an involuntary quick scan of ceilings wherever i go. and this is alberta.

always! I hate spiders! back in australia they get to be HUGE huge huge and they’re everywhere- and millipedes fallling off the ceiling into your sleeping mouth ewwwwwwwwww

@bagelface unless you live somewhere that has truly venomous indoor spiders, or where venomous spiders and scorpions are a REAL problem, you are worrying yourself for no good reason. Those places would be the tropics.

I live in the Midwest, which is at the extreme northern edge of the brown recluse territory, and I don’t even think any of the virulent black widows are found around here. I’ve never seen one in the five decades I’ve been alive, so I doubt they are common here at all. The dangerous spiders live in the more southern states of the US, except for the hobo spider which lives in the northwest, but they rarely come indoors, simply because there isn’t a good food source for outdoor spiders indoors. When I say dangeorus, I mean they might bite you, but it won’t kill you, and at most, it will make you ill. Even the tarantula, which is a pretty big spider, has weak venom. It is the hair on its abdomen which it will flick at you with its hind legs, is more troublesome than a bite.

This is going to freak you out, but it shouldn’t. In the US, there are approximately 30 species of indoor house spiders. While they have venom with which to kill their prey, their venom is quite weak, and besides, despite the belief to the contrary, house spiders do not bite humans. I have plenty of spiders in my house (they serve a valuable purpose) and have NEVER been bitten. I see them more often than most people simply because I like spiders and look for them. I handle them rather often, and they see me as simply furniture. They are unaware of my existence as a living being. Indoor spiders pose no threat to humans at all.

What you should be worried about is other people; they are twenty times more dangerous than the occasional spider you may come across.

I’ve found 3 black widows in my house in the 4 months or so that I’ve lived here, and another in the garden. My neighbor finds them too. Never in the bed, but you can never be too safe, right? I would really like to believe that I’m worrying myself for no good reason, but I just can’t.

Here in Texas, you don’t usually need to check the linens that are actually on the bed, but you do need to thoroughly shake and inspect stuff from the linen closet. We do have the Brown Recluse (aka Fiddleback) spider here in great numbers, but they tend to be shy and retiring. In some neighborhoods it is also a good idea to check your boots for scorpions before putting them on.

When I lived in Arizona, there were always at least two or three Black Widows under my door mat. I simply made a point of not looking under it anymore often than absolutely necessary.

When I’m camping I always do. Normally I do only after getting spider bites.

@Psychedelic_Zebra We have to always be on guard against Black Widows. The bite doesn’t usually kill, but makes a person very sick. Weak people can die from it.

I don’t usually check my bedding unless I have been away for a couple of weeks. I always go through the playroom just before my grandson comes over, since he is only here on weekends.

We do have spiders in our shed, around the pool equipment, in the garage, in the bushes that surround my yard and behind the trash can storage area. I have a regular pest control service, but the spiders nearly always manage to stay ahead of his bi-monthly visits.

@YARNLADY spiders don’t respond to the poisons the same way that most insects do, and althogh you never click on links, you should click on this one, as it will save you $$$ in the long run. Although I’ve never seen a black widow spider in my life, I have seen plenty of black spiders with shiny bodies that look just like them. But to some people, every shiny black spider is a black widow, and every brown spider with a fiddle on his back is a Brown Recluse. Funny thing about the Brown Recluse, all those reports of it having a fiddle on its back is wrong. The Brown Recluse has a very small fiddle shape on its head, not its back. Here is some info everyone who fears spiders should read, and here as well. Please, please, please, read the parts labeled FACT. The only way to learn the truth about spiders is to learn from someone besides the guy across the street or the stories you hear other people tell you. Even the exterminator guy probably has no idea what sort of spiders you have, as he is paid to kill them, not to study them.

@Darwin, you need to read this link because you are being hoodwinked by the myth that everyone else believes is true.

@RedPowerLady you need to read this link

@Psychedelic_Zebra Believe me, we do have Black Widows here in Northern California. I do not want to be bit by one to find out it wasn’t harmless, thank you.

@Psychedelic_Zebra – No, I am not being hoodwinked. I was the curator of Natural History at our local museum, and I know very well how to identify a Brown Recluse, several different species of Black Widow, Wolf spiders, the 17 different species of “tarantula” in our area (most of which are relatively small), and many other spiders. In fact, we actually have two species of Loxosceles in our area, L. reclusa and L. devia.

The Brown Recluse is very common in our area. However, it is indeed reclusive. Hence, it tends to hang out in the backs of linen closets, in garages and in tool sheds. Rather than using the “worthless” identification drawings, we used accurate illustrations, looked for eye arrangement and count, and compared new specimens to previously correctly identified specimens to put a name on spiders brought in for id.

I am actually a fan of spiders. I appreciate the work they do trapping and killing other insects that I would rather not have in my house. However, I certainly appreciate what can happen if by chance one does get injected with venom from a Brown Recluse. We also had a collection of slides from the local hospital that were images of the results of such bites.

@Psychedelic_Zebra Interesting article. However since I was young I’ve been a bit allergic to spider bites. So it is quite easy for me to tell when I get one vs. another type of bite. Not only that but I was taught a neat little trick. Spider bites often have two “holes” or “bite marks” whereas flea bites and mosquito bites have just one. So I feel like a good spider bite detector. lol. Still could be wrong but i’m not so sure about that… So when I go to bed with no bite and wake up with a bite I don’t see how else it could’ve got there.

Yes I do!!! everytime I go to bed =), Here in Chile we have these spiders that are called “Araña del rincón” (Corner Spider) because they nest on dark places, like in closets, behind the funiture, corners of the rooms where most people forget to clean, and they are very dangerous, people have died so, I’m always careful.

@RedPowerLady, you need to read this

@Lorenita does it look like this ?

According to an arachnologist familiar with Chilean corner spiders, I found this comment: Loxoceles laeta ; My wife is from Uruguay and in this small country ( 3 million peoples ) ,there is about one death a year from this small ,timid ,house dwelling spider ,that is also named rincon araña (corner spider) ... It is quite common in Uruguay ,Argentina and Chile.

@Psychedelic_Zebra Touche

@Psychedelic_Zebra yes it is!