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Show s Spiders Are More Helpful : To People Than Harmful you JL ,CrSe The sight of spiders and "rat rjer.ike creatures strikes he Limo hearts of many peo-1 peo-1 Especially is this true with ,mi y black widow spiders Lked with the crimson a tdass on the abdomen and it fearsom looking taran- 't be HITH SUCH creatures cstactiveatthistime ofyear, m pit reach the peak of their ,at" teneem about sharing space nice ili the spiders. Even reason-after reason-after ka that spiders are far more carp tereficial than harmful to peo-,nrt peo-,nrt riitolittletoallaytherepul-on- Mesperienced by those peo-tllal peo-tllal : pie who fear that they may get s on ; taten and poisoned, observes M Roberts, extension en- wologist, Utah State Uni versity. He says it may help if people will realize that the odds of being bitten by one of these ' critters is slim. "As far as we know, there has never been a death reported in Utah resulting result-ing from tarantula or black widow spider bites. Actually, these bites are seldom serious unless the victim is less than four years old or is quite elderly." USUALLY all that happens from a black widow spider bite is a slight local swelling and two tiny red spots with some redness and pain around the swelling. Black widow bites can normally be treated with a cold compress on the wound. However, Roberts said that if the victim is very young or old or if the spider injects a lot of venom, cramps in the stomach, sto-mach, thighs or neck may result re-sult within 30 to 90 minutes. If these symptoms occur, get medical treatment to relieve the pain. The symptoms usually usual-ly will simply disappear after two or three days. Although a tarantula looks deadly, Roberts assures that it really is quite peaceful if left alone. Usually a tarantula will bite only after a great deal of taunting. It does have sharp, strong fangs capable of inflicting inflict-ing a painful bite similar to a couple of pin stabs. If bitten, treat the bite by cleaning the would. Medical treatment with antibiotics to avoid secondary infections may also be appropriate. approp-riate. ' |
