Web Slingers

We are entering the season of the spider in the year of the bug. Fed by insects that are feeding on plants that grew in greater number from this winter’s El Nino rains, the spider is a happy creature.

The hairy, hysteria-inducing tarantula is crawling out from under his rock. The cellar spider has taken up residence in homes. The orb weavers have woven their spectacular webs and filled them with insect carcasses.

And experts say there are even more that you cannot see.

“Spiders are most commonly present within 12 feet of any given person at any given moment,” said Gary Hevel of the Smithsonian Institution’s department of entomology. “Under the table, in your drawers, on the ceiling above you.”

So the Miss Muffets of the world, those prepared to abandon a hearty meal at the mere sight of the eight-legged creature, had better beware. Pest control companies in Los Angeles are expecting this year to be their busiest in a decade.

It is good to be the spider. It is a bad year for the arachnophobe.

“I hate them,” said Lisa Telles of Granada Hills. “I hate the way they look. They have too many legs. They’re hairy. I can spot a spider in a room in my house the second I walk in and I just scream and my husband has to come in and kill it.”

The spider has definitely made enemies.

“In the last two days it has really picked up,” said Bill Haden of Hydrex Pest Control in Van Nuys. “We’ve had more calls for spiders than in the past.”

“All the insects and creepy crawlies are coming out of nature and invading homes,” said Ray Sobrino Jr. of Conejo Valley Pest & Termite Control. “And they’re good for business.”

But what of the spider, the natural enemy of the bug? Hasn’t he done more good than harm?

“A spider just looks different,” said Ben Didee of Cal-Western Termite & Pest Control in Chatsworth. “Some people would soon as scream when they see one across the street.”

Randy Cohen, an entomologist who works at Cal State Northridge, said he first started thinking about spiders when he saw the unusually large fly population this spring.

“For a spider that’s like prime rib,” Cohen said.

Of course, the news is not equally good for all spiders. The deadly black widow, for instance, a common spider in Southern California, doesn’t cater kindly to moisture and may be out in smaller numbers, said Rodney Crawford, the curator of arachnids at the Burke Museum in Seattle.

Other spiders are happy to eat the widow’s share.

“It’s the old classic cycle,” Cohen said. “There is an increase in prey so there is an increase in predator.”

But Cohen and others who work in the bug world say the spider should be considered a friend of humans. To an acquaintance who complained of spider bites, Cohen gave this advice: “The spiders don’t want to eat you. They want to eat what’s crawling around under your bed, maybe.”

And for those that want the spider squished, Cohen shakes his head. “Silly,” he said. “Just plain silly.”

Crawford, who agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment, pointed out that without spiders the world might be overtaken by bugs.

“Without spiders most people couldn’t exist,” Crawford said. “Insects would eat through the world’s food supply.”

For those unhappy about the current crop, be warned: Next year may be worse. The spider is on a one-year cycle so the eggs hatching now are those laid last year. The more spiders that get sustenance from the increased bug supply this summer, the more eggs that will be laid for next year’s spider population.

For all its good intentions, the spider seems devious, untrustworthy, dangerous.

“Some spiders are very treacherous,” said Art Evans, the director of the insect zoo at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. “The fear of spiders goes way back in our evolution. I think just about everyone has been out for a walk and felt that silken spider web brush against your cheek and you get that chill and think: “Where is the spider?’ ”