Zombie Spiders

Zombie Spiders

Zombie Spiders sounds like something out of a horror movie, right? Well they are a real thing. When I open a crawl space door I never know what I am going to find. At a recent inspection I saw 1,000s of these spiders suspended from the subfloor in the crawl space. They are a little off putting at first sight but are actually fascinating. The name zombie spider is a little misleading. Most people equate the word zombie with brain thirsty monsters who are undead. The weird thing about zombie spiders is these spiders don’t move much if any. They are actually infected with a fungus that attacks them and encases their bodies, literally consuming the spider from the inside out. When infected, the spiders move about in a “zombie” like state until they die and are suspended encased with the fungus. The fungus that attacks these spiders is known to be harmless to humans. A crawlspace is a perfect place to find these spiders because they are usually dark and damp allowing the fungus to thrive.

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