# Do poisonous spiders lurk under toilet seats?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [April 24, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487 "2020-04-24T11:10:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@clevecallison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clevecallison)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/1 "2020-04-24T11:10:57Z")
Regarding the non-existent “medical” Journal JUMA, I’m surprised that the SD Staff Report did not mention the meaning of the acronym that was widely shared in my college days, “Jump Up My Ass”. Appropriate for the topic.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/2 "2020-04-25T02:17:10Z")
> [@clevecallison](#):
>
> Regarding the non-existent “medical” Journal JUMA, I’m surprised that the SD Staff Report did not mention the meaning of the acronym that was widely shared in my college days, “Jump Up My Ass”. Appropriate for the topic.
Linky?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/3 "2020-04-25T17:32:04Z")
[Linky!](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2082/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/)
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/4 "2020-04-25T18:16:53Z")
A bit of information that’s both unprovable, and irrelevant to the story in the posted link, though it is relevant to the thread title:
Many years ago, I was one of a group of people using an outhouse in, IIRC, the Carolinas. One always took a flashlight when going to the outhouse at night, even if there was a lot of moonlight, because there were black widow spiders in the outhouse. They weren’t aggressive; but you didn’t want to sit on one by accident. Despite the name, the bite’s rarely fatal to humans; but it can be painful.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/5 "2020-04-25T20:00:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> A bit of information that’s both unprovable, and irrelevant to the story in the posted link, though it is relevant to the thread title:
>
> Many years ago, I was one of a group of people using an outhouse in, IIRC, the Carolinas. One always took a flashlight when going to the outhouse at night, even if there was a lot of moonlight, because there were black widow spiders in the outhouse. They weren’t aggressive; but you didn’t want to sit on one by accident. Despite the name, the bite’s rarely fatal to humans; but it can be painful.
True, I was told that also, by a Survival expert teaching at UCLA. It’s warm, dakr, with lots of lies- perfect for the black widow. And if she bites you on you man parts, you are sure to go to the ER.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/6 "2020-04-25T21:04:53Z")
A black widow loves to lurk on the underside of a horizontal surface. Better yet, at the junction of a horizontal surface and a vertical surface. Add a swarm of flies, and the underside of an outhouse seat is paradise on earth to a black widow.
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### Author:  [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/7 "2020-04-26T01:57:06Z")
Growing up in Australia we still had a backyard toilet, checking the seat for redbacks before sitting was a must and we found them there often enough to make sure we never forgot
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats/852487/8 "2020-04-27T00:15:42Z")
Note: The Australian Red Back is, more or less, and American Black Widow. There was some discussion 30 years ago about if it was actually the an import, like rats and foxes, or a native variation. I haven’t heard how that worked out.
> [@Slim Newton](#):
>
> There was a redback on the toilet seat when I was there last night,
> I didn’t see him in the dark but boy I felt his bite.
> I jumped high up into the air, And when I hit the ground,
> That crafty red-back spider Wasn’t nowhere to be found.
> I rushed in to the missus, Told her just where I’d been bit,
> She grabbed the cut throat razor blade, And I nearly took a fit.
> I said, “Just forget what’s on your mind, And call a doctor please,
> 'Cause I’ve got a feeling that your cure Is worse than the disease.”
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1ohXFxj68)