Hobbies And Interests
Northern Black Widow
The northern black widow, or Latrodectus variolus, is normally never larger than 2 inches, and males are much smaller than females. Their bodies are glossy and black, and they bear a red mark on their abdomen in the shape of an hourglass. Some might have red spotting around this mark; males and immature spiders might have white and yellow spots or stripes. The females of this species are far more poisonous than the males. Bites usually occur when a person disturbs a spider, and the animal instinctively reacts to the threat. Their poison is a neurotoxin intended to destroy the nervous system of small prey, but it is powerful enough to affect humans. Bites will usually swell up and can cause spasmodic pain, abdominal cramping, nausea and profuse sweating. The severity of symptoms depends on the age of the person bitten; children and the elderly will tend to suffer more violent reactions, depending on the location of the bite on a person's body.
Brown Recluse Spiders
The brown recluse spider is very rare but can be found in New Jersey. These spiders vary in color from a lighter cream tone to deeper hues of red and brown. They usually have a marking that looks like a violin on their head. The spiders grow to be about 1/2 inch in diameter. The brown recluse spider is not aggressive, so it will only attack as a reaction to being disturbed by humans or animals. Bites from this type of spider will cause a person to develop a hard white blister where they were bitten. Later the blister will blacken as the tissue dies. The blister will then flake off, leaving a wound that will scar. It can take up to three months for these bites to heal on their own.
Wolf Spiders
Wolf spiders, or Lycosidae, from the Greek word Lycos for wolf, are big, brown, hairy spiders that resemble tarantulas. These spiders can grow up to 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Wolf spiders are unlike most spiders as they do not rely on trapping prey in a web, but rather hunt down their prey using great vision and deft movement. The venom of wolf spiders is poisonous to humans, and their bites are capable of puncturing a person's skin. Their bites can be very painful. Normally a person bitten by a wolf spider will recuperate in a matter of days; but if a child or elderly person is bitten, medical treatment should be sought out.