Nah, thier venom has the same effect as "flesh eating" bacteria...quite nasty stuff. My grandmother still has a big 'ol scar from when she was bitten as a kid.
Argiopes from the USA Home <-- A lot of questions of the type "What spider is this?" concern Argiopes people find in their garden. In the US Argiopes are also called "garden spiders". These spiders are one of the most handsome spiders we can find on this planet. They are large, have a remarkable web and are beautifully colored and not venomous at all. The spider can be identified by the construction of its web. It is the only spider that makes a zigzag line or a cross of zigzag white web material in its web. The spider hangs, head down, in the hub. By appropriate stimulation the spider vibrates its web vigorously until it becomes an indistinct blur. Males are much smaller than females. The female spider can be seen making egg sacs. She puts her web-spinning superiority to the use of constructing a perfect egg sac. The egg sac often hangs in plain view in the web or tied nearby to herbs or other objects. She often makes more than one egg sac.
The Camel Spider The ground war was over and we, the members of the 8th Marine regiment were stuck in an agricultural research area of the University of Kuwait. Outside the lines of trees was desert but inside was grass and rows of trees. This site was the headquarters for the 3rd Corps of the Iraqi army and was our objective. Which we took without a fight. After the cease fire was called and everything settled down we were moved to various locations throughout the area. My battalion (2/4) was given an area inside the research area while the rest of the Regiment was to be placed outside in the desert. It was both nice and aggravating. It was nice because the trees stopped the hot dry wind off the sand and for the most part sand storms themselves. At the same time, however, the grass was like thorn bushes and the trees attracted a creature more intimidating than the Iraqi army and that was the Camel Spider. This spider grew to over eight inches in width and had a mouth in the front of his body that opened four ways. These spiders were incredibly fast. One Marine tried to run from one only to have it overtake him climb up his back and bite him in the face. They were not poisonous but never-the-less they hurt quite a bit. We had mosquito netting up around our tents and those spiders loved it. They would climb all over that netting. At night you may be able to count as many as twenty at a time on one wall. After we'd been there a while and the boredom level really started to climb, someone had the idea to have spider battles. Each platoon would bring their champion to the company headquarters for the fight. Usually the bets were sodas and pogy bait (snacks), considering the fact none of us had any money and beer was illegal in the country. The object was to either get male on male or female on female then you would have one heck of a fight. If it was male on female, then you can imagine what happened. These Camel spiders are some of the toughest creatures that I have ever seen. I saw one kill a rat tree times its size. All and all I had great respect for them especially considering the fact I did not want to get bitten by one. To best describe one look at a tarantula, put a mouth on front and double it's size. You have a Camel Spider. http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/3201/camel.html
This is a picture of a person two years after being bitten by a recluse: Apparently the poison can remain active for that long in sensitive people.
OK, if the articles on the Garden Spider and the Camel Spider are true, how do these spiders kill their prey if they are not poisonous/venomous? ALL Spiders have venom of some sort. Whether or not they are harmful to humans is another matter altogether. That is how they liquefy the insides of their prey to ingest them.
I was told the daddy long legs have poison that can kill a human. The reason they are harmless is because their mouths can not penetrate our skin.
brown recluses have a golden brown complexion, and are usually about an inch to an inch and 1/2 long. they are a part of a group referred to as fiddlebacks, for if you look at their back, they have a dark section in the shape of a fiddle. oh, and sorry about the garden spider...he's dead. if i'd have known they weren't dangerous i would have kept it around. it was a beautiful (but scary looking) spider.
damnit buck!!! you beat me!!! and if you see a brown recluse....make sure to beat the hell out of it! show no mercy!!
Unless it's already on you. Then brush it off first before beating the hell out of it. Oh, and they are usually only about the size of a dime, max.
Similar thing happened to me drapg, I arrived home one night and went to pick up my family cat, but I felt something crawl on my hand, so naturally I freaked, and flicked whatever it was, away. So I go inside and 5 minuted later, I run my hand through my hair and find A FREAKING HUGE SPIDER ON THE BACK OF MY HEAD. I have hated spiders with a passion ever since.
