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Well Everyone, - I said I'd know a Black Widow Spider if I ever saw one. I did! Less than two feet from my back door! I was going out before to get a saucer I'd left on the patio table and I noticed something moving under the corner of a seed tray that had overturned during the last storm. I thought at first, it was the rear-end of a large hornet so I gingerly turned it over with my shoe. Lo and behold, there was a large black widow in one of the seed tray cells, complete with it's trademark disorganized-looking web. They're bigger than I thought, even after watching all those Discovery Channel Spider Specials. The rear end of the thing is about the same size as a Bumble Bee!
Normally, I'm one of those "live and let live" people when it comes to bugs. But for this, I made an exception and drowned the thing with Raid. I'm not feeling the least bit guilty either! I'm going to be a lot more careful about pulling weeds in areas that have spider webs attached. Be careful with old pots and trays! I'll also be wearing gloves too! I'd always thought the only place I'd see a Black Widow was on TV. Now, I know they're really around here and not in some far-off country location. Oh, and to add insult to injury, the chair I normally sit in, had a wasp's nest attached to the back of the cushion! I only decided to move it after I killed the spider. Staying in the family room in the air-conditioning and watching movies is starting to seem alot more appealing than weeding in the hot weather. Maybe the next time some of my now, somewhat weedy, flower beds see me will be in November! Now, I won't complain about some of the fierce-looking wolf-type spiders that make a guest appearance in my house once in a while. Maybe I can convince some of them to do a Tony Soprano hit-job on those Black Widows!!!
CG - You're exactly right! I checked wikipedia and it did mention those wasp species that consider Black Widows to be "fine dining".
ani - I'll take 'em and help from whatever species too! I just wish I had finished painting all those rooms in the house a few months earlier, didn't have to entertain the relatives (I'm lying - I loved having them and showing them around) and returning to NJ for the closing on my old house. Last year, I was in much better shape garden-wise and probably would have never had stuff scattered about that led to me meeting a Lactrodectus mactans. Well ani - there's always next year. Instead of weeding, I'll be spraying 2,4 D and old chlordane if I have to!
CG - You're exactly right! I checked wikipedia and it did mention those wasp species that consider Black Widows to be "fine dining".
ani - I'll take 'em and help from whatever species too! I just wish I had finished painting all those rooms in the house a few months earlier, didn't have to entertain the relatives (I'm lying - I loved having them and showing them around) and returning to NJ for the closing on my old house. Last year, I was in much better shape garden-wise and probably would have never had stuff scattered about that led to me meeting a Lactrodectus mactans. Well ani - there's always next year. Instead of weeding, I'll be spraying 2,4 D and old chlordane if I have to!
ROFL! Em, I know how you love to garden . . . and I am sure that was a shock to your system to have your first encounter w/ a black widow. Consider yourself baptized into Southern gardening now! Well . . . you need to come across a few snakes b/f you are totally ready for the title of Southern Gardener . . . so let us know when you see a copperhead and THEN we will officially consider you part of the fold, LOL!!!!!!
I know you enjoyed your company but it did set you back w/ your gardening - and then that horrible hot weather (wh/ thankfully - it does appear we will have a respite from - at least for a while).
I have already encountered a brown recluse this year . . . and last week, turned over some wood (moving some debris) and found a nice little colony of black widows, LOL!!! I did have my gloves on, and you need to wear yours, too!!! Please be careful - it's a jungle out there!!!!!
ROFL! Em, I know how you love to garden . . . and I am sure that was a shock to your system to have your first encounter w/ a black widow. Consider yourself baptized into Southern gardening now! Well . . . you need to come across a few snakes b/f you are totally ready for the title of Southern Gardener . . . so let us know when you see a copperhead and THEN we will officially consider you part of the fold, LOL!!!!!!
I know you enjoyed your company but it did set you back w/ your gardening - and then that horrible hot weather (wh/ thankfully - it does appear we will have a respite from - at least for a while).
I have already encountered a brown recluse this year . . . and last week, turned over some wood (moving some debris) and found a nice little colony of black widows, LOL!!! I did have my gloves on, and you need to wear yours, too!!! Please be careful - it's a jungle out there!!!!!
ani - I did the "snake thing" last year and also met those "ants" with "the attitude". I thought they were the same brown ants that wandered around NJ and then realized, after they were feasting on my leg that they were "fire ants". Why did I always imagine that "fire ants" should be red at the very least? Another "dumb Yankee" learned the hard way! Well, as long as the copperheads don't start crawling out of the woods en masse into my yard, I'll probably be OK. I was, mind you, going to clean the gutters, since I hadn't done that this year and now see scads of wasps' nice little condos inconvienently located close to them. Can the "Killer Cockroaches of Charlotte" be far off? I guess it's not my day to be outdoors!
Last edited by TheEmissary; 06-16-2008 at 07:22 PM..
Oh, well, if you have been bitten by fire ants, then we will forego the requirement on the copperhead . . . and deem you 100% bonafide Southern Gardener!!!!! We simply are not going to allow that "dumb Yankee" talk . . . you have acclimated quite well . . .
The Palmetto Bugs are always close by . . . and usually get inside via such things as boxes that have been salvaged from a grocery store (they hang around Dumpsters - I swear!!!!) So just be careful about bringing home boxes . . . and hopefully you won't have an invasion, LOL!!! I was shocked to find two Palmetto bugs two weeks ago!!! Then I remembered - we had brought home stuff from Sam's in salvaged boxes . . . NOT a good idea . . . So DH sprayed things and no more Killer Roaches, LOL. These were small babies . . . I have been getting up at nite to see if any more are hanging around . . . and so far . . . appears DH terminated them!!!
Em - since its your thread, I must digress a tiny bit and remind you to take some pictures of your flowers along the way and post them for us . . . get the camera out - just think - you could have posted your first Black Widow encounter for us if you had taken some pix!!!!!
Oh, well, if you have been bitten by fire ants, then we will forego the requirement on the copperhead . . . and deem you 100% bonafide Southern Gardener!!!!! We simply are not going to allow that "dumb Yankee" talk . . . you have acclimated quite well . . .
The Palmetto Bugs are always close by . . . and usually get inside via such things as boxes that have been salvaged from a grocery store (they hang around Dumpsters - I swear!!!!) So just be careful about bringing home boxes . . . and hopefully you won't have an invasion, LOL!!! I was shocked to find two Palmetto bugs two weeks ago!!! Then I remembered - we had brought home stuff from Sam's in salvaged boxes . . . NOT a good idea . . . So DH sprayed things and no more Killer Roaches, LOL. These were small babies . . . I have been getting up at nite to see if any more are hanging around . . . and so far . . . appears DH terminated them!!!
Em - since its your thread, I must digress a tiny bit and remind you to take some pictures of your flowers along the way and post them for us . . . get the camera out - just think - you could have posted your first Black Widow encounter for us if you had taken some pix!!!!!
Isn't "Palmetto Bug" such a nice moniker for "Giant Economy-Sized American Cockroach"! Some Florida Ad man got big bucks for that one! I saw one in my old apartment in Lexington KY that was the size of a mouse! I've had a sneeking suspicion that the NC variety is about the size of a '76 Olds 98. Maybe I was bitten by that spider and I'm hallucinating! LOL
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I was going out before to get a saucer I'd left on the patio table and I noticed something moving under the corner of a seed tray that had overturned during the last storm. I thought at first, it was the rear-end of a large hornet so I gingerly turned it over with my shoe. Lo and behold, there was a large black widow in one of the seed tray cells, complete with it's trademark disorganized-looking web. They're bigger than I thought, even after watching all those Discovery Channel Spider Specials. The rear end of the thing is about the same size as a Bumble Bee!
we did too!
I just wish I had finished painting all those rooms in the house a few months earlier, didn't have to entertain the relatives (I'm lying - I loved having them and showing them around) and returning to NJ for the closing on my old house. Last year, I was in much better shape garden-wise and probably would have never had stuff scattered about that led to me meeting a Lactrodectus mactans. Well ani - there's always next year. Instead of weeding, I'll be spraying 2,4 D and old chlordane if I have to! 
