A phobia is an intense, debilitating, irrational fear of certain people, objects, or situations. Arachnophobia is a scientific name for a phobia of spiders. It is one of the most common phobias in the world. Many people have fear of or unease about spiders to some degree, and it doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of a phobia. Nevertheless, you could potentially benefit from spider removal if there are too many of them in your house and their presence is causing you stress.

Why Do People Fear Spiders?

There are many different theories behind the cause of the fear of spiders. Part of the reason is that spiders are so different-looking from humans. The animals that people are closest to and have an affinity for, such as dogs and cats, have faces that roughly resemble human faces: two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and so on. Spiders have eight legs and up to eight eyes. There is little for you to relate to when you look at a spider, so it makes sense that you might feel a little unnerving when you look at one.

All spiders have venom that they use to immobilize their prey. In some spiders, the venom is strong enough to harm a human being. This may be part of the reason why people fear spiders. One theory is that this fear is evolutionary. In other words, people who feared the bite of venomous spiders and kept them out of the home were more likely to survive and pass on the fear to their offspring. This theory is controversial.

In people who have arachnophobia, which is a fear of spiders so strong that it interferes with their daily lives, the condition may stem from a traumatic childhood experience with a spider, such as a bite from one with a harmful venom. Arachnophobia can sometimes stem from observing the phobia of a parent or older family member in childhood, making it a learned behaviour.

How Dangerous Are Spiders?

Generally speaking, spiders are not very dangerous to humans. Only a few species have a bite that poses a threat. The few potentially dangerous spider species that live in North America include the black widow and the brown recluse. Neither of these spiders is particularly aggressive, typically only biting when threatened, and both are rare in Ontario. Even if you do receive a bite from one of these spiders, you have a good chance of recovering fully without any long-term adverse effects.

Spiders are also unlikely to cause property damage to your home. About the worst, they can do is spin webs throughout the house, which can be inconvenient and unsightly, but the webs can easily be cleared away without doing any lasting harm to the underlying structures.

What Are Some of the Benefits of Spiders?

Spiders are much more helpful to humans than they are harmful. The biggest benefit that they have to offer is that they eat insects. This helps to keep pests out of your home. Farmers and gardeners like spiders because they eat insects that consume crops.

In addition to eating pests themselves, spiders also provide food for many predators, such as amphibians, fish, lizards, and birds. Part of their contribution to the ecosystem is providing food to other animals and contributing to the overall biodiversity that signals ecological health.

Scientists can also learn a lot from studying spiders. For example, the African social velvet spider was the first to have its entire genome sequenced in 2014. In other words, scientists identified its genetic material as a complete set. Such an achievement has promising implications for human medicine.

Talk to Truly Nolen About Spider Removal

Spiders aren’t as scary as they seem at first and might be more beneficial than you realize. Still, it is better for them to stay outside. Find out more about all the services we offer for pest control in Markham.