Do you want to learn about violin spiders? If your answer is “yes,” then take your time to read the following.

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods. You can find them anywhere in the world except Antarctica. They have eight legs and range from small jumping spiders to the black tarantula, which is the largest spider in the world. Spiders are not insects. They differ from the latter by their eight legs and two body parts.

The violin spider which is also known as a brown spider, a brown recluse spider and a brown fiddler, may be deep yellow, brown or gray. It is called a violin spider because of the black line coming from the dorsal side which makes them look like a violin.

Generally all spiders look the same, but there is one feature that makes the brown spider different from all the other species — his eyes. Unlike other spiders, this one has six eyes instead of eight and they are arranged in pairs.

Brown spiders are met mainly in the southwestern parts of the United States (like Texas, Louisiana and California). They live indoors and outdoors. These spiders build their webs in wood, closets, beds, cellars and garages. In other words, they build their webs in quiet and tranquil places.

Violin spiders catch their food in two ways — in their web or by hunting. If the web doesn’t work effectively then they start hunting. They mostly hunt at nights. Male brown spiders may move far from their webs and actively hunt both on land and water, whereas females usually stay beside the web and watch.

Brown spiders are not aggressive. They will bite you only when they are pressed to your skin. They bite too much especially in the spring and summer. You are most like to get bitten by them while you are asleep or putting on clothes or shoes. In most cases their bites are not very dangerous but they may cause severe pain. There are cases where people remain unaware of being bitten.

The signs of being bitten include itching, vomiting and fever. The bite area varies between one to three inches. Anyway, it is not easily treated. Several months will pass until you get totally cured, but the brown spider will have always left its permanent mark on you — a terrible, ugly scar.

There is no definite thing you can do to lessen the possibility of getting bitten by these spiders. All I can advise is to stay away from them or to check your bed before sleeping.

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