We’ve all been walking outside one day when -BAM- all of the sudden you are assaulted by the sticky, stringy, and practically invisible webbing of a spider. Then, while your fingers fumble with the slippery strands the panic of if the spider was still on its web - which is now enveloping you - sets in. Or better yet, you’re innocently walking through your backyard and you hear the faintest crinkle of leaves off to your left, you turn to look, hoping that it is just a squirrel but to your horror, it is a big old snake.

I’m not going to lie to you, I definitely panic about this too and I am definitely still scared about finding spiders on me and my things, but I can assure you that no matter how much you may think you hate spiders and snakes, they definitely hate you way more and they are also way more scared of you.

Let’s put some things into perspective.

We are enormous compared to snakes and spiders. And not only are humans ginormous, but we also have the power to change and wipe out entire landscapes within hours. If you were a snake or a spider and you just saw a bipedal, 6-foot tall, giant alien looking thing destroy your house and then build their own on top of yours you would be pretty peeved too, and not to mention terrified.

In addition, most snakes and spiders pose very little actual threat to your life, but we pose a huge threat to their lives. There are 37 species of snakes found in North Carolina, and only 5 of them are venomous, and there are only 2 types of venomous spiders. Most of the time these venomous species are going to be too terrified of you to bite you unless you instigate a fight with them.

Spiders are also important to our ecosystem because they eat bugs. They help keep the populations of roaches, flies, mosquitoes and more down so why wouldn’t we want them around? Spiders even help crops grow because they can help get rid of the nasty pests that destroy your garden.

Snakes have benefits too, whether you like it or not. Snakes help to manage populations of both insects and small mammals like rodents. Plus, controlling rodent populations also helps crops grow when there aren’t hundreds of little mice around to eat your stores of grain. Finally, saving a population of nonvenomous snakes around can help deter venomous snakes from hanging around that area so if you see a black rat snake hanging around your backyard, you should probably thank him.

Look, I’m not asking you to just stop being terrified of snakes and spiders, in fact, you should definitely be cautious around them. However, I am asking that if you see a snake or spider in their natural habitat just leave them alone. They will mind their own business and do their own thing if you will too. Turn on your inner Steve Irwin and appreciated their place and responsibilities in this world.