I’m scared of spiders. My friend says spiders have 8 dicks and shoot web from their dicks. I’m too scared to look it up. Is it true?
—Anonymous
Dear Wallace Calloway of Manchester, NH,


Say hello! This is my pet tarantula, Dicky! He’s about six years old and named after my brother (We miss you, Dick.)
Your friend is 100% right. Dicky, like all creatures in the arachnid family, has eight dicks which he uses primarily to craft beautiful webs. These webs flutter gently in the summer breeze like the hem of a silk nightgown. They collect insects for eating, and in the morning, glistening dewdrops… as do my eyes whenever I see a particularly enchanting web!
A spider’s dicks are very different from a human’s or a dog’s. They have two to four joints, as opposed to one. Since they have no legs, they use their dicks to crawl about.
In addition to emitting web material, certain species of spider can shoot gobs of venom up to ten feet. When the venom hits you in the eye, blindness and searing pain will prevent you from running away, and once the paralysis sets in the spider can begin to eat your body.
Dicky, of course, has been de-venomized in most of his dicks. He still has a small amount in his weaker, hind-dicks, so he can still catch grasshoppers and baby snakes.
One more fascinating thing: According to African legend, when a spider loses a dick in battle, the dick will still have enough web material and residual energy to weave one final letter. If the spider loses all eight dicks, the letters will spell out the spider’s true name.
Just a myth? Who knows! But I hope my pet is fine with just “Dicky”!
—Dr. Ricky D. Dickdoctor, MD