I've been lurking for the past several months here, and have learned quite a lot from you good folks. Now I need your help and have come forward to get information in getting rid of the creepy, crawly, makes me shiver, Black widow spider. A few weeks ago I came across what I thought was a Widow near our pump house as I was feeding my rose bushes. I called for my husband to look at it, but he killed it before I could look for the hourglass on its body. It had a rust colored, dried leaf looking egg nest, which I destroyed, but not sure I killed any spiderlings that may have gotten away. Today a storm was brewing, and I happened to look up at the door jam inside the house and lo and behold..... there was another spider that looked like the one at the pump house. I gathered all the bravery and strength I could and put a jar over the top of the spider, captured it, and sealed the jar with a lid. With shaking hands, no, shaking body, I took a closer look at it in the jar. Even tho I knew I was safe from it's bite, I was still fearful. Yep, there was the red hourglass shape on that creature. Red dots were there also. I have a terrible fear of spiders and can not believe I got so close to one, specially a Widow, to collect it. But I needed to confirm my suspicion on what type it was. Now I cannot sleep tonite, wondering if there are any more in this house. I need your help in finding a product out there that will kill these Black widows as soon as possible. Have any of you had these spiders around your house and what did you do to get rid of them. I need info as far as what products to use, both inside and out, where to spray, and how often. We have cats, dogs, chickens and geese. I don't want to use something that would hurt my animals. Also the geese have the run of our back yard, and if they tried to eat these Widows would the venom kill our birds. Any suggestions would be truly appricated. We live in Coastal South Carolina if that is any help. Thanks in advance ya"ll.

-- Carol from Dixie (plantlady51@webtv.net), July 25, 2001

Answers

no matter what you use to kill them all,, you'll end up killing ALL spiders, which isnt a good idea. I had black widows once. Just killed the ones I found, (I checked everfything) didnt see anythng after that. I know cats arent effected by spider bites,, so train your to get them.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), July 25, 2001.

Find yourself a big toad and let it take care of the spiders.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), July 25, 2001.

Hi Carol:

Well, you've already gone a long way toward handling your spider phobia -- you captured one, and looked at it up close.

The next step is to truly believe this important point: the spider is in greater danger from US than we are from them. Most human/spider contacts result in a dead spider!

Here is your assignment: search for information on black widows on the internet. Read about these creatures. Know your enemy!

The more you know about them, the less you will feel threatened.

Please write us and let us know what you have found.

-- Anita Evangelista (ale368s@smsu.edu), July 25, 2001.

Please, please be careful, wanna get snake bit? go after that snake w/ a hoe! wanna get bit by a spider? catch one! try keeping a 'cobweb broom'. this broom is used for clearing off old webs in /around the house, leave the cobwebs on it & it will pick up spiders & pretty much hold them on at a considerable distance from your shaking hands as you escort your unwanted guest out. hmm, don't know if the toxin, would make the spider plain unpalatable,[bite it-spit it out]. The widow is a brittle clumsy spider, does not move around much,prefers dark corners,small cluttered web, so none of my cats have shown any interest in hunting them,& a do have one sterling bug slayer. Last widow i saw moved into an empty garbage can,woo, that gave me the willies for the rest of the day the nest was right in the little handle indent! I was glad she was scrambling to get away from me as much as I was to get away from her!

-- bj pepper (pepper.pepper@excite.com), July 25, 2001.

Venom must be injected to do harm. You can eat Rattlesnake and not get sick. As far as doing in the Black Widows perhaps your husband can just go on regular spider patrols and get rid of them for you. They are helpful predators but I understand you don't want them around in your immediate area. Since they do stick to their webs they are easy to find and destroy. A clean up job around the place will help. Get rid of the places they like to hide in. Good Luck and congrats on striving to overcome the phobia.

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), July 25, 2001.

Widows are non-aggressive unless they are guarding an eggsack. Very fast! You are unlikely to die from a widow bite provided that you get medical attention - although you will be in for a rough night. For the most part, they won't bother you unless you actually grab them or accidentally get caught up in something with them. Look out for a "messy" web, all straight lines and no descernible shape or form, made with VERY thick, stronger than normal silk. Widow silk is very tough and thick. I just ignore them if they're outside (they are, bet on it) and relocate them (carefully!) if they are inside. As far as I'm concerned, anything that eats house flies is a friend of mine!

There is a product that you can get from some seed catalogs (try Gurneys or Henry Fields) that prevents spiders from attaching webs where it is sprayed (probably some sort of silicone spray). The spiders won't be able to live in your house (or wherever you spray it) but it won't hurt them at all. Won't do much good for wolf and jumping spiders, but they won't hurt you anyway.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), July 25, 2001.

I had a similar problem this morning. I went to pick up my bookbag to head for work, and a little spider came walking out of one of the pockets. i tried to look at it as close as i could, and noticed that it had like some red on it, but didnt look like an hourglass. it was quite small as well, perhaps 1 to 1 1/2 centimeters. Does anyone know of any other type of spider that might be mistaken for a black widow??

-- robert c thomson (zzyzxman@att.net), August 20, 2001.