The Urban Pantheist

Sunday was sunny and warm! We stayed in the yard most of the day, doing yardwork (Alexis) and loafing about (me).

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Yellow Sac Spider Cheiracanthium

There are both European and North American varieties of yellow sac spider, both fairly likely to end up in your house. Previously, I have called them the most frequently encountered household spider (in my personal experience). Since that writing, I can add that they are among the least welcome animals in our house. After decades of peaceful coexistence with these nondescript straw-colored predators, one individual ruined it for the rest of the Genus. This miscreant made its way into Alexis' pajama pants to her calf, then something went wrong--Alexis shifted her legs perhaps--and the spider became trapped between cloth and skin. In a panic, the spider sunk a fang or two into skin. Alexis felt flu-like symptoms for a couple days, and a welt raised on her calf and stayed there for weeks.

This kind of bite is extremely rare. Most "spider bites," particularly those without a captured spider to prove it, are the work of nocturnal insects. Chances are you are less likely to receive any kind of bite in a house filled with spiders than in one without any. We leave all others in peace (having never encountered black widows or brown recluses), but the yellow sacs get the old heave-ho.


The first yellow sac spider found in our house, a male on the bedroom ceiling. I wrangled him onto the floor for the photo above, then caught him (yes, in my hands) and tossed him to a likely death outdoors.