Photo by Sue Weaver |
Uzzi and Tank and I were licking our lips this morning, thinking of eating our yummy breakfast, when we heard a terrible scream.
Mom bolted out of the feed room holding her hands to her chest and making funny noises (oo-oo-oo-oooo). We ran over to see what was wrong.
“There was a spider in the goats’ feed can, a spider, a huge spider,” she cried. “I didn’t see it, I touched it! It was big as a Volkswagen!”
Uzzi and I looked at each other. We have seen a Volkswagen. It wouldn’t fit in a feed can.
There are 35,000 species of spiders in the world and a lot of them live in the Ozarks. (You can see pictures of some of them here.)
The biggest are tarantulas and we have lots of black widows here, too.
But the ones that scare Mom are those big brown house spiders that live in places like our feed room. Counting their legs, they can be 3 inches across!
Spiders look scary but most aren’t dangerous. Mom’s been bitten by jumping spiders twice this year and it felt like being stung by a bee. Both times the spiders were lurking in their webs under the rim of our water tubs.
So, if you don’t want to be spider-bitten, don’t put your fingertips anyplace you can’t see them (like in a feed can lying on its side).
Also, shake out your shoes and clothing before putting them on even if they’ve been in drawers or the closet and shake towels and bedding before using them.
Wear long sleeves, pants, socks and gloves when working where you know spiders are present and put rubber bands around pant and shirt cuffs if you want to feel extra safe.
