tell me about your experience / knowledge of black widow spiders
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Just found what I am pretty sure is a black widow spider outside my house and now I am worried there are more to be found. I killed it quickly, but I saw a very round body and the signature hourglass (more like two triangles) red markings on its body.
The spider was underneath a folding canvas chair which had been on my front porch for days. It's a shaded area, but next to our carport, adjacent to the house; not exactly the environment that I read the spiders live in. So I don't know how to reduce the environment for these spiders, since it's not exactly a permanent environment anyway. Can you share what you know? |
Anonymous
| They are black with a red spot. Talk with an exterminator. I grew up with many spiders (black widows, brown recluse, and tarantulas). I am not scared of tarantulas and would pick them up and move them out of my parents' large, sunken shower in their bathroom. Black widows and brown recluse scare me silly. I would call and exterminator, meet with him/her and talk about reducing the attractive environment, esp if you have kids. I would not spray, if you have kids. I think they like trees and ground coverage. But I am not sure about this area since I am from another part of the country. |
Anonymous
|
Can you post a picture of the dead spider? Maybe someone here can help you ID it.
I'm from a rural area and have always heard that they prefer dry wood -- woodpiles, branches in piles, etc. |
Anonymous
|
I've found them, killed them, and been bitten by one. They like dark places. Creepily enough, we had several living in the hollow internal space of the shed door outside. But I have found them on my porch and commonly in my woodpile. We had an exterminator come after the door incident, and he basically said there wasn't too much you could do, but that the good thing was that they don't come inside - very rare to do so. He also said that for the most part, the females stay in their webs. So usually bites happen when you disturb their web. The exterminator said that the only way to deal with them is to kill them when you spot them with a spray or something. And, which I find unrealistic, to remove areas where they want to live (like our woodpile or your lawn furniture).
When I was bitten, I sat against the wood pile out in our back yard and one bit the back of my leg. It hurt a LOT and I felt horrible, but I did not have to go to the hospital or even stop breastfeeding my child (multiple panicked calls later). I just felt like I was having extremely painful muscle pains, sweats, and nausea for about a day and then the next evening I was fine again. My doctor told me to always wear protective clothing, including gloves, whenever I mess with unused outdoor spaces. So lawn furniture would be a classic example. |
Anonymous
| They're beautiful. Seriously pretty spiders for all that they're deadly. |
Anonymous
|
Is this in DC!??? I didn't know we had black widows here.
(hold me). |
Anonymous
| Has anyone seen a brown recluse spider in the DC area? |
Anonymous
Seriously. Please tell me this is not the DC area. |
Anonymous
Yes we have them here. We also have black widows, possibly brown widows, copperhead snakes, rattle snakes and Asian mosquitoes. |
Anonymous
|
We live in Fairfax and our 2 1/2 year old found a black widow in the street in front of our house. I was standing right next to her and she bent down to touch something. I realized it was a spider and we moved away. My DH went over for some reason and saw it had the markings. He brought it into our driveway, took pictures of it and then killed it. Scared both of us that DD was so close to it and touched it!
|
Anonymous
|
I was bitten by a Black Widow in AU Park last Fall. The good news is, if you aren't very young or old, it's not too bad. I had stomach pains and general body aches for several weeks, but not bad enough to go to emergency. Although, I should have seeked treatment straight away because it became infected a couple of weeks later. That was probably the biggest danger (a staph infection).
I had my arm in the deep dark depths of weeds close to the wooden fence and garage. I now won't garden without long gloves and long sleeve shirts (plus long pants and boots). It wasn't as scary as it sounds and I don't do anything about trying to get rid of them (it would be hard to find them). They don't seek you out. Just be careful when gardening and sweep your porch/keep it clean. |
Anonymous
We don't have rattlesnakes. |
Anonymous
Several years ago a co-worker of mine got not by one around here. When I saw his hand a few days later I almost threw up |
Anonymous
Timber rattlesnakes are around here. |
Anonymous
I have never seen a brown recluse in the WDC metro area. From what I understand, they are primarily in the Midwest (I'm from Oklahoma, and our house was full of them). The distribution is described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider |