Being bitten by a spider, even a non-poisonous one, can be a scary event and this is particularly true when the bite is from a poisonous spider. Many people do not realize that most spider bites can be avoided just by exercising a little bit of care.

Be sure to teach your children to take these same precautions that an adult would. No child is too young to begin understanding to be careful.

Here are some examples of things that you can do to minimize your risk of being bitten by a spider:

- Do not leave your clothes or towels lying all over the place anywhere inside or outside.  - Do not throw your clothes on the floor and then put them on the next day.  If this is something that you do then you need to shake them well first or squish them before you put them on.   - Always make sure to shake out your boots or shoes every time before you put them on.  - In the house you should use sticky traps in order to trap spiders that come indoors.   - Get rid of spiders by vacuuming well and often.  Then get rid of the bag.   - Clean up any junk that is lying around.  Spiders love clutter as it gives them nice places to hide.   - Spiders prefer to live between or under items like cardboard, tarps and plywood that is setting on the ground so get rid of these items whenever possible.   - Get rid of bed skirts from your beds.   - Move your bed a few inches away from the wall.   - Eliminate everything from under your bed.  This way the only way that any spider can get on your bed would be for them to crawl up one of the legs of the bed.   - Store small items in something that you can seal tight.  Seal them in plastic containers or plastic bags that you close tight with a zipper lock or use a twist-tie.  This is particularly important for when you store items that you put your hands or feet into such as raingear, baseball gloves, roller blades, gardening gloves or boots.  - If you store things in cardboard boxes be sure to tape up the edges so there is no way that a spider could get inside.   - Use care whenever you move items out of any storage areas.  Spiders like to hide under the folded flaps on cardboard boxes.    - Use caution whenever you carry boxes as you could put your finger on a spider when you pick the box up  - Use care not to press a spider next to your body when you carry any boxes.    - Never stack wood against your house.  Spiders love woodpiles and if they find a home inside wood stacked next to your house; there is a good possibility that they could wander inside your home.   - Always be sure to stack wood up off of the ground and then cover the wood with a tarp.   - Whenever you pick up any wood you should always be sure to wear gloves.   - Always wear gloves whenever you are doing any gardening.   - Always be sure to check your gloves for spiders.  You can stomp on your gloves, which will squash any spiders that may be in them.   - Never walk around at night with bare feet.   - Always make sure to keep your anti-insect screens closed whenever you leave your windows and/or your doors open.   - Never touch any spider that looks like it may have drowned.  This is especially true of funnel-web spiders, as they are very aggressive.  Funnel-web spiders can actually look as if they have drowned when they really are alive.   - When you work in crawl spaces be sure to wear protective clothing, These include wearing long sleeves and tucking them into your gloves.  Wear long pants and tuck them into your boots.  You can also wear coveralls or wear a jacket that has a hood.  Place rubber bands over your pant legs and shirt sleeves  -Do not ever place your bare hands in any place that you are unable to see clearly to be sure that there are not any spiders present.

By using some caution and following the tips listed here you should be able to drastically reduce your chances of being bitten by any spiders. Always be sure that if you suspect that you may have been bitten by a poisonous spider that you seek medical attention immediately.