Spider Identification Chart – Venomous or Dangerous?
7 September 2006
Termite.com is actually the site that I got the funnel web spider first aid information from (obviously not verbatim – mine is more vivid). If you happen to see a creepy looking spider in your back yard and want to know whether you’re taking your life in your hands by poking it with a stick (even if you’re not, please don’t), then this chart is for you:
I personally like the web version much better as it has an animated image of the male funnel web spider that does a little jig!
The chart lists the spiders by whether they are:
- Deadly and Dangerous (this is where the funnel web spider is)
- Venomous – Poisonous – Painful Bite, and
- The “Low Risk” Spiders
Termites.com is actually a really good, very informative site about all sorts of creepy crawlies. These guys are apparently the ones who can eradicate the following vermin and nasties from your home:
- ants
- bedbugs
- bees
- birds
- borers
- cockroaches
- fleas
- rats and mice
- silverfish
- spiders
- termites (of course!), and
- wasps
Funnel Web Spiders 
23 September 2006 at 6:21 pm
we had a spider in our pool and it was reasonably small and it had a yellow line down the middle what kind of spider is it is it venomous or is it harmful? Cna it kill you or not plz email me back if you know what kind of spider it is
23 September 2006 at 6:50 pm
OK, knowing what country and state you’re in would be helpful. I’ll email you as asked. I’d suggest that if it were in your pool as you say and your pool is chlorinated that your spider is probably already dead.
11 September 2007 at 5:36 pm
I just found a spider on the wall and put it in a cup, usually i just smash them or put them outside but this one looked different. I went online and looked at pictures of a lot of different spiders and found that it looked exactly like a hobo spider. So, then i looked to see if they lived in washington (since im in tacoma) and, of course, they do. My friend told me that i should be careful of an infestation because the roof was just done and it may have disturbed a nest. THEN after i thought i couldnt be more freaked out i found that a guy died in Yelm, Washington last year around this time and that was some sort of bug bite and a hobo spider may have been to blame. I guess all i can do is keep my eyes open, how common are they? and what else, if anything, should i do? or am i just being weird by not wanting to go to sleep.
19 September 2007 at 6:49 am
Cool that I may be able to put your mind at ease a bit, since I’ve just been studying these types of spiders since I found a large one that seemed like a prime candidate. I found by far the best written word on identification from a couple guys from Washington U., I believe it was. First of all, with the multi-multi-multi-milions of people living hand in hand with this type of spider,(at least from cal. to wash. west to the dakotas) I could only find the POSSIBILLITY that as few as a handful of cases of bites with necrosis MAY be attributed to hobo spiders EVER! It gets better: There are at least two or three different spiders (large and small house spiders and the barn spider-and those ARE their semi-formal names, and from their latin names they ARE similar) that it takes a REAL spider dude with a MICROSCOPIC gander of their genitalia to differentiate between them! So, yeah, they are kinda scary looking spiders if you are afraid of such benign things, but it seems ludicrous to me to find the hobo next to the recluse and widow on the danger meter. To be on the safe side, check out the “recluse first-aid kit”.
19 September 2007 at 8:23 am
Mark,
Thanks for that detailed reply! I didn’t realise how rarely hobo spiders are a problem. Unlike funnel web spiders which WILL kill you 😉
cheers
Michelle
9 October 2007 at 8:20 am
i want to know if barn spiders are dangerous , or poisonous or are they just harmful???
29 September 2008 at 3:48 am
what does a funnel spider look like? What are their dangers?