Here in florida the spiders are our first line of defense against roaches and other large outdoor critters that like to come inside.

I much rather have a spider in my house guarding the nooks and crannies instead of having roaches trying to set up shop.

Have a lady friend in Dallas who was bitten by one of these. Lost some meat on her calf and was laid up for a couple of months. Its not a good thing and these puppies are killed if we find them!

JoeA

I'm more like 350HP930, which is why I always Identify the spider to decide whether it lives or dies.

http://www.cirrusimage.com/spider_bold_jumping.htm

These little guys are my favorites. I like the way they constantly watch you when you are around them, it almost appears as though they are curious as to what you are doing(even though they are merely observing whether you are a threat or not). When I was a kid I would actually catch and play with those spiders.

But all this talk about poisonous spiders, just be glad you don't live in Sydney Austrailia.

http://www.termite.com/spiders/Funnel-Web-Spider.shtml

http://www.spiderzrule.com/spider3.htm

Just look at the fangs on those things, you can tell they are serious.

I was bitten on the back by a Brown Recluse spider when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton back in the late '80's. We confirmed the spider and caught a few in the window ledges of our building. My wound was over my scapula (shoulder blade) and grew to several inches over a week and had to be debrided every day at the Camp Pendleton hospital. I had fever, night sweats, muscle spasms so bad I had to take two different muscle relaxants. All I have left is a scar and a small "divot" in my back that still bleeds now and then. Considering what could have happened, I guess I'm pretty lucky!