Well...

I just don't like spiders, snakes aren't all that bad...

Only 6 out of our 44 Florida snakes are venomous! These snakes are the eastern coral, the southern copperhead, the cottonmouth, and 3 species of rattlesnake; eastern diamondback, timber and the dusky pygmy rattler.

If you see one of these mentioned, no not approach them, back away slowly. If you find them in a home or building call your local animal control and have the experts come and remove them. (In my 4.5 yrs in FL I've never seen any rattle snakes, however that doesn't mean they aren't right next door.)

All of Florida's snakes are good for our environment. Yes I know, a lot of people tend to scream and run or kill the snake at first sight of them, but don't. These non venomous snakes eat the other critters you don't like for example, rats and other pest like rodents.

Believe it or not I've rescued three men in two separate incidents from the non venomous Black Racer, and even got bit by one ungrateful critter for saving it from a certain demise had I not been there to rescue either the big linebacker type young man or snake.  

Nine times out of ten when you see these guys laying around they are just trying to get warm, they don't like you anymore then you like them and just want to be left alone. They will run (slither) from you faster then you can run from them.  Frankly I'd much rather have one of these around my yard then a rat chewing into my power or A/C lines which can happen quite frequently around here and becomes quite costly for the homeowner. 

There is also the Eastern Black Indigo that often gets confused with the Black Racer, heck I confuse them all the time. This is just as harmless as the Black Racer.

Now spiders on the other hand I do NOT like. I have no use for them what so ever! I don't go off killing every spider I see mind you, but I do try to avoid them at all cost.

Florida has 5 species of venomous spiders: The ever so popular Black Widow resides here very happily! You all know what she looks like, black with the red hour glass on her belly.

Well she has cousins....

My first year here I found her cousin the "Brown Widow". She looks like her black widow cousin except she is brown with the same bright red hour glass.

Our bug guy that sprayed our beachside office had never heard of the species until I showed him one day. The outside of our office was covered in nests of brown widows. He was so excited he brought a book the next day to show me. He wasn't showing me something I didn't know already, I was all over the internet the first time I saw one.

According to the internet the brown widow sticks to beachside communities south of Daytona Beach. I'm here to tell you that is wrong. I've found her north of Daytona and across the river. They like to hide their nests under window eaves, bbq grills, chairs etc. Their nests are round balls with spikes coming out of them.

Then there is the Red Widow. I've never seen or heard of this spider until researching this blog. They don't look like their cousins except in shape. They have a black belly, red head and red spots on the top of their belly outlined in yellow.  

They like palmettos and sand-pine scrubs, that's why I've never seen one...

My, isn't she a lovely specimen? (ewe!)

Then my favorite non favorite, the Brown Recluse. These nasty little buggers hide in places that aren't messed with often. For example that corner of your shed that you've been meaning to clean up for the last year, beds used for guests only, or (yikes) clothes that have been left hanging for a long period of time.

The bite of this spider should be attended ASAP as it kills the living tissue of the skin around the bite area.

The brown recluse has a brown fiddle shaped marking from his head back toward his body.

We do have rather large Wolf spiders and they are not venomous but (icky) they do rear up on their back legs when you try to push them out of your garage!

Precautions:

Wear gloves when doing yard work. That'll hopefully stop any unexpected bites from spiders. The good snakes will run away usually before you see them. Wear shoes when doing yard work, not flip flops.

The Eastern Diamond Back can strike up to 4 ft high and doesn't usually warn you with a rattle so keep alert while hiking oe in his or her territory.

Don't stick your hand into any crevices, between rocks or into holes that you can't see into. Spiders like dark places (along with other insects & critters you may not want to meet).

Black Racer Photo & Eastern Indigo Photo By Kenneth L. Krysko courtsey of myflorida.com

spider photos thanks to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences