Are the spiders in my backyard dangerous?

Do you have a photo? You should take a photo of one and then email it to an arachnologist. Professors love to get emails like that. I recommend Rosemary Gillespie of UC Berkeley (gillespie@berkeley.edu). She knows her stuff.

In rural areas like mine, Cornell University has an agricultural extension office. There is a drop-off box (like for car keys at the mechanic’s) for insects, etc. If you lived here, you could put a spider in a sealed baggie and drop it off, w. yr contact info. Someone would get in touch w. you. We leave ticks,caterpillars, weird worms, and various forms of unpleasant beasties there all the time. Brownlemur’s idea gets my vote for your area, however.

Sarah; If you think you have spider problems, check this out. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/us/31spider.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Headline under pic: A web crawling with millions of spiders is growing across several acres of a state park 50 miles east of Dallas, inspiring both wonder and revulsion.

And have you talked to your neighbors?

anybody who discounts spiders as harmless needs a reality check. You tube brown recluse bite and you’ll see what these animals are capable of. Spiders are predators and predators are aggresive, they will bite. Noting that, I would advise to kill every single spider not in a web. Web building spiders, ( excluding black widow) catch and eat truly dangerous spiders better than poisons or traps. Leave the webs alone, they might seem gross but they’re serving a purpose.