Spiders, Insects, and Snakes (and other beneficial creatures)

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
Yes, I am one in the large masses of people who hate spiders.  I saw a movie as a youngster, called Tarantulas (I believe), and ever since then I have hated them with a passion.  They are ugly, creepy, and are always looking to bite you, right?  Wrong.  Well, they may be ugly (in the eye of the beholder), but they aren’t out just willy-nilly looking to lay one into you.  Like most animals, they don’t want to be any closer to you than you want to be to them.  Actually, if you do a bit of reading, spiders are very beneficial creatures.  In leading up to this article, I did some quick research and with the exception of the black widow, brown recluse and the yellow sac spider (phys.org article on “Spiders Are the Most Effective Predators”), all the rest are quite harmless.

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According to Preventative Pest Control (Spiders are Surprisingly Helpful to Have Around), only 1/10th of 1% of all the 43,000 spider species have ever ended up killing anyone.  That is a really small number. Spiders, however, are extremely good predators, and they don’t eat any of the fruits and vegetables that we may be producing in the garden.  It is a win-win.  I know, I still have to get over this myself, but I try and let most of them keep going when I see them- unless my wife is totally losing it over one that she has spotted. 

Insects-  I say all the time down to work, “insects are the only thing you can put an ad on tv where you are advertising that you want to kill every single one of them, and get away with it.  You can’t advertise that for horses, or dogs, or even snakes or other things feared.  People would have a coronary over it.  However, one insecticide company after another tells you how good their spray is because they kill them ALL”.  Do you know how many insects there are that are not classified as either beneficial or neutral?  3%.  Yes, 3%.  97 % of ALL insects are either beneficial or neutral to us.  So, next time you spray to kill all those insects, remember that 97% of what you just killed were not doing anything negative, OR were actually doing something beneficial.  We wouldn’t dream of doing that to anything else.  Even mice have “humane traps” now.  But not insects!  Kill them all!! 
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Now, I just threw snakes in the title just to get your attention.  I don’t have as many stats for these creatures, but the same holds true- at least in this area.  Maybe across the world, that might be different.  However, right here in our own little piece of paradise, especially NE of the river, there are essentially no venomous snakes.  The rattlesnakes are in the mountains, on the other side of the river.  Copperheads are rumored to be around but are few and far between.  All the rest are completely harmless.  I love snakes myself.  The more snakes, the less mice.  The less mice, the less ticks around to give you Lyme disease, and any other of the 10 different diseases they carry nowadays.  No thanks.  I’ll take the snake. 
 
The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.