Spider myths vs. facts
Persistent claims about spiders examined against the evidence. Each page cites the primary or academic source that refutes it.
- Myth vs. fact
You swallow spiders in your sleep
The claim that the average person swallows several spiders per year while sleeping is a fabricated statistic with no supporting evidence. Spiders avoid the vibrations, heat, and CO2 plume around a sleeping human.
- Myth vs. fact
Daddy longlegs are the most venomous spider
The popular claim that daddy longlegs have the most potent venom but cannot bite humans is wrong on both counts and conflates three unrelated arachnids.
- Myth vs. fact
Brown recluses live everywhere in the US
Brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa) has a well-defined native range across the south-central US. Reports outside this range are overwhelmingly misidentifications.
- Myth vs. fact
Spiders are insects
Spiders are arachnids, not insects. The two groups diverged hundreds of millions of years ago and differ in body plan, respiration, and life history.
- Myth vs. fact
All spiders spin webs
All spiders produce silk, but many do not build prey-catching webs. Wolf spiders, jumping spiders, crab spiders, and ground spiders are active hunters that use silk only for draglines, retreats, and egg sacs.
- Myth vs. fact
Tarantula bites are deadly
No tarantula species native to or kept as pets in the United States is medically significant to a healthy adult. The reputation reflects size and folklore, not toxicity.
- Myth vs. fact
Spider eggs were laid in my skin from a bite
No spider species lays eggs inside human skin. The urban legend is a recurring chain-email fabrication; spiders deposit eggs in silk sacs in their own retreat, not in vertebrate tissue.