As children, they frightened us! We had heard about spiders, how they spin scary webs and some have venom! If bitten by one they can  make you ill … or even kill you!

TV and movies didn’t give our arachnid friends much in the way of warm fuzzies either. Can anyone really forget the spider that nearly devoured poor David Hedison in “The Fly” (1958) or  those vicious monsters in “Kingdom of the Spiders” (1998)?

Okay, the comic Spiderman might be an exception, turning a boy into a superhero, but for the most part, spiders are looked upon as a threat.

If you are a prepper or survivalist you generally do not want those eight-legged arthropods around you, just for the reasons mentioned above. However, they also do a service, devouring insects and pests we generally do not want around our fruits and vegetables.

Also, scientists are now researching the use of spider venom in medicine!

And some get big. Really big!

We would not want one as a pet, as some large spider fanciers do, but they can certainly be appreciated and respected for what they are.

For a great guide on the bigger variety of spiders, what makes some dangerous and others merely awe inspiring, check out the video on the next page!

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