Coexisting with creepy-crawlies
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Late-Summer through Early-Fall is the time of year Idahoans are most likely to come face to face with the infamous hobo spider.
One local enthusiast says mating season is to blame. The male spiders are running around frantically, looking for a mate. "They're very fast and they can get very large. That's the reason wy people in Idaho are generally scared to death of them," says Dallin Lochridge, "but, I assure you, they're nothing to be afraid of."
Lochridge has studied spiders all his life, and is closely associates with several aracnologists from around the world. He is also the founder and operator of a Facebook group called "Eastern Idaho Spider Identification." He founded the group in order to educate others, and put rumors to bed including many surrounding the hobo spider.
"If you look at the CDC website, there are only two spiders that are considered medically significant in the United States. The genus latrodectus, which is black widows, and the genus loxosceles, which is the brown recluse," says Lockridge.
A quick scroll through Lockridge's facebook group will reveal several members physically handling hobo spiders. One video posted shows a "bite test" where a hobo fails to bite even when provoked.
Black widows are the only medically significant spider common in the Northwest, but Lockridge says they tend to keep to themselves, only biting when physically threatened.
Lockridge says the best way to keep spiders out of your home is to keep it clean. If you can keep other insects out, spiders will have no reason to intrude.
