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Kind of spiders in Texas??? Denton

73K views 22 replies 15 participants last post by  Nocturnus 
#1 ·
I'm moving to Denton In August and like MTB a lot. I'm seeing a lot of post with the words "spiderwebs in your face" and stuff like that.

I DON"T LIKE F*****G SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess you will recognize me cause if I get a spider near my face or neck you will hear me yelling like a B***H (and I'm straight!!)

What kind of spiders are in Denton? dangerous? big? :yikes:
 
#3 ·
The good news, however, is that the spiders you run into in those trailside spiderwebs are pretty much benign. The one's that hide in dark concealed places like the Brown Recluse, Black Widow, etc. are not usually out in the open. They're usually under objects or at least in dark places, out of sight. Oddly in Texas it's mostly the smaller spiders you need to be wary of. Outdoors and usually stretched across trails is a big, scary looking yellow and black spider that is harmless...except for the crash you have because you freaked out when it attached to your face as you rode through its web...LOL!
 
#6 ·
On the snakes.

loco-****** said:
You'll be fine. The snakes are much worse. Seriously.
I guess you're mainly referring to rattlesnakes. We have 'em by the tons on our local trail near Abilene, TX. Personally I run over at least 2 or 3 during the year and see others on the side of the trail frequently. I've never had any "close calls" or scary stories about being struck at. I think people "overestimate" the ability and dangers of rattlesnakes. I don't recommend being foolish around them by any means, but they don't seem as capable as movies make them out to be. I think it's mainly the "creep" factor that most MTB'ers have about snakes that give rattlesnakes a somewhat undeserved reputation.
 
#7 ·
It's definitely the creep factor that get me, but it's really any snake for me. I live in Temple and when you get out of town we have rattlesnakes, copperheads and coral snakes. None of which should be discounted for their danger. It's true that RSs aren't going to run you down, but the danger of being struck can get pretty high in a group of riders if he has time to coil. I need to dig up my pic of one out at Stillhouse Lake that 3 of us rode right by. The 4th of us got stopped just as the snake faced him. I am not sure if he could have gotten him, but I will er to the side of caution for them. I have hit RSs and copperheads on the trail here. I just leave them be. There is nothing interesting enough with one for me to screw with it to be bitten. I do use a lot of caution and stay creeped out doing trail work in the summer when I have seen a snake in that area. A friend is just like I am with snakes about spiders. They are not out to get us though. I'm saying there is nothing to worry about really.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, I'd say you have a better chance of getting bitten while doing trail maintenance than while riding. When I'm running my weedeater on our trail, I wear those snake-bike leggings because you can't hear anything and you're concentrating on working the machine. I always like to post this pic when the topic of wading through weeds while doing trail maintenance comes up. Those are MX boots BTW.:D
 

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#9 ·
Thanks for the replies!!!

Althought I don't like spiders, I was more concern with the dangerous ones. (now I know they are the little ones jajjaja-less impresive but more dangerous because of the hidden factor- enhance my paranoia!!!!!!!!!)

With snakes it's not a problem at all. I love snakes!!!!! in fact I had an albine rattlesnake as a pet ;) use to feed it with a mice once/week. Was donated to the Zoo

If I see one in the trail I'm most likely stop to see it well (carefully) it's part of the experience of being in the nature for me and I think it's a formidable reptile.

NOW..... is it the Recluse spider the one that bit you and where the bite is, it start a NECROSIS?????? (tissue start to dye and you can loose a lot of skin:cryin: )

Shiiiiiat!!!!! I think I'm going to doble check the bed 3 times/day, they bite you when you're sleeping:madman:

Thanks!!!!!
 
#10 · (Edited)
BBW said:
NOW..... is it the Recluse spider the one that bit you and where the bite is, it start a NECROSIS?????? (tissue start to dye and you can loose a lot of skin )
Yep those are the ones. They generaly wont kill you unless your really young or really old. But it will rot your flesh and give you a nice scar.

I am surprized no one has mentioned my local fav...

Behold the Wolf Spider!


These things suck. They get to be around 3-4 inches big and like to hide out indoors. When you step on these things, you hear bones crack!
They have a tendency to get stuck in bathtubs, not the first thing you want to see when you jump into the shower in the morning.
 
#12 ·
Welcome to Texas

If it's got a fang, stinger or thorn, it lives here.

While I've seen every kind of snake on the trails and a few tarantulas, nothing compares to the experience last year of reaching for a bowl on the counter and finding a live scorpion inside it. I've since been told that ducks eat them.
 
#14 ·
Eeeek!!!

The bigger and the hairyer, the worst:yikes:

Oregon said:
Never, ever be the first person on a trail in the summer here. Always let someone else go first or all you'll do is pick off spider webs. I took about ten to the face Sunday morning.

It was the tarantula at Erwin Park that freaked me out!
 
#15 ·
Oregon said:
Never, ever be the first person on a trail in the summer here. Always let someone else go first or all you'll do is pick off spider webs. I took about ten to the face Sunday morning.

It was the tarantula at Erwin Park that freaked me out!
LOL.. Yeah, Last Saturday morning I swear I was the first at Erwin. I took so many spider webs to the face and body I totally lost count. I am sure it was more than 10 though.
 
#16 ·
TNC said:
Yeah, I'd say you have a better chance of getting bitten while doing trail maintenance than while riding. When I'm running my weedeater on our trail, I wear those snake-bike leggings because you can't hear anything and you're concentrating on working the machine. I always like to post this pic when the topic of wading through weeds while doing trail maintenance comes up. Those are MX boots BTW.:D
You might be protected from the snakes but I'd like to see you run from the Killer Bees in them things! LOL. Nevermind, when I was attacked last fall doing trail work in Abilene I had heavy workboots on and never ran so fast in my life. Luckily I escaped with only a few stings to the head.

Dallas County was added to the bee quarantine list in 2000.

http://agnews.tamu.edu/stories/ENTO/Sep0400a.htm
 
#18 ·
Welcome to Denton!

I'm getting over a couple of brown recluse bites right now - one is still a pus-laden scab after 6 wks but at least it doesn't hurt like hell when I bump them into something anymore. Also, I now have a nice pair of 1 circular scars on my leg. I got them digging around in old storage sh*t in my garage - that's where you need to be wary of them.

On the trails just look out for poisonous PLANTS. I also had a nasty brush with some poison sumac this summer - I got that from riding the dj trails.
 
#19 ·
Oregon said:
Never, ever be the first person on a trail in the summer here. Always let someone else go first or all you'll do is pick off spider webs. I took about ten to the face Sunday morning.
Yep, I'll second that one. Always let someone ride in front of you or get there after the trail has been ridden a bit and no worries. If you are first on the trail... you are the web cutter.
 
#20 ·
TNC said:
The good news, however, is that the spiders you run into in those trailside spiderwebs are pretty much benign. The one's that hide in dark concealed places like the Brown Recluse, Black Widow, etc. are not usually out in the open. They're usually under objects or at least in dark places, out of sight. Oddly in Texas it's mostly the smaller spiders you need to be wary of. Outdoors and usually stretched across trails is a big yellow and black spider that is harmless...except for the crash you have because you freaked out when it attached to your face as you rode through its webig, scary looking b...LOL!
been there done that as well as the spider dance
 
#22 ·
Here's some pictures of a friend of mine's brown recluse spider bite. DO NOT OPEN if you are at all squeemish to this sort of thing as it's rather gross. You've been warned.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mototiller/bite1.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mototiller/bite4.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/mototiller/bite6.jpg

I've just started MTBing and have been running well ridden trails so no webs for me so far. I'm not looking forward to that. Spiders are ok when they are on webs or something else, but not crawling on me.

Back in high school I used to run cross country. I was warming up for a race and decided to take an easy jog down a trail. Ran full into a spider web. I cleaned the web off of me after doing the spider web dance. Then started to run again when this spider the size of my hand crawled off my hat and across my face! :eek: I ripped my hat off and threw it in the woods and did the fastest undressing you've ever seen. I was standing on this trail in the woods in my underwear swatting all over my body to make sure I was spider free. Then shook off my clothes piece by piece to get dressed again.

Not looking forward to that on the bicycle. I can see some future injuries coming my way.
 
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