My first black widow spider (moved, amount, disabled)

[newyorkdoc]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

we had a plague of them this summer. then a bunch of lizards moved in.
no more spiders.
stephen s
san diego ca

This was hilarious.

[JerZ]

How funny...I forgot I even started this thread, so long ago.

About nine bajillion black widow sightings later, I'm pretty much immune to the terrorized factor now. In fact, my son was even bitten by one. The doctor pointed out the holes where the "fangs" had been and everything. If that didn't make me faint, probably nothing will.

I've even taken pictures of them in my garage!

[JerZ]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I've had 4+ years of California experience (mostly in LA area) and never once saw a black widow spider (did see a rattlesnake once); reading these posts I'm horrified to realize just how many times I stuck my hands into gardening gloves without ever looking inside. Another thing to add to my list of things to worry about, I guess. I didn't realize how common they were. I'm more than happy to leave them alone, and leave the dangerous spider pets to others who appreciate them!

Come on over to my house, then. I can give you the Black Widow Tour.

[Fontucky]

One morning at dawn earlier this summer, I opened the side door to head out to the grape vines..... and damned if I didn't run face-first into a big, fat BW sitting in the center of her web looking pretty. She'd spun that thing during the night, because it wasn't there when I'd last entered that door around 7pm.

I don't like spiders, so that creeped me out and sped me up with a jolt of adrenaline. Didn't need coffee that morning.

This old place is full of them, outside (thankfully) around the perimeter of the house and in the detached garage.

[dogmom]

Before we moved out of state for a few years now here to Palm Springs area we lived for over 19 years in Covina and then 6 in Claremont, had BW spiders in both areas, along with rats, snakes, all kind of vermin, ugh....comes with the territory, especially Claremont and the foothills. Never bit by a BW, dogs never bit, sons who are now grown never bit that I knew of, anyway. I worried more about coyotes than anything. And I am allergic to bees..

Good idea, don't stick feet in shoes or hands in garden gloves, most BW spiders I saw were hanging around in leaves, near the foundation of the house.

Would rather deal with those than fire ants anyday...

[user_id]

Originally Posted by JerZ

About nine bajillion black widow sightings later, I'm pretty much immune to the terrorized factor now. In fact, my son was even bitten by one. The doctor pointed out the holes where the "fangs" had been and everything. If that didn't make me faint, probably nothing will.

Yeah, black widows are everywhere here. Just out of curiosity what happened to your son? I've never known anybody that has gotten bite, one crawled on me once but did no bite.

Around 10 at night (they come out at night) a couple times a month I like to go black window hunting with a can of raid. Its sorta fun!

[JerZ]

Originally Posted by user_id

Yeah, black widows are everywhere here. Just out of curiosity what happened to your son? I've never known anybody that has gotten bite, one crawled on me once but did no bite.

Around 10 at night (they come out at night) a couple times a month I like to go black window hunting with a can of raid. Its sorta fun!

The Raid reaction is so gross...it takes them...a while. And their legs are going a mile a minute the whole time...ughhh...

What happened to my son is that his hand swelled up like a balloon. That's a cliche, but it literally did look like a balloon, or I suppose like one of those medical gloves...Did you ever blow one up just for hoots? That is EXACTLY what it looked like, the whole hand.

The hand also got very hot but he didn't run a fever.

He was on antibiotics for two weeks, and on Benadryl just to get the swelling down.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by dogmom

Before we moved out of state for a few years now here to Palm Springs area we lived for over 19 years in Covina and then 6 in Claremont, had BW spiders in both areas, along with rats, snakes, all kind of vermin, ugh....comes with the territory, especially Claremont and the foothills. Never bit by a BW, dogs never bit, sons who are now grown never bit that I knew of, anyway. I worried more about coyotes than anything. And I am allergic to bees..

Well, snakes eat rats. You could encourage some possums to come around, as they eat rats, too. Coyotes, if hungry enough, might eat a rat. Find some lizards to hang around. They eat insects. Now all you need is a couple of hawks for the snakes and your circle is complete.

[StuffedCabbage]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

Black widow spiders are reclusive and non-aggressive. They won't bite unless you disturb them. From what I hear, you don't feel the bite as it has an anesthetic. The aftermath of a bite is the worst. You get sick and can experience necrosis around the bite.

Another clue that you have a female black widow around is if you find a dead male. The males are smaller, skinnier, brownish with kind of striped bodies/legs. If you see a lifeless spider like this around, keep your eyes open for the female, which looks as you described with the black bulbous body and red marking on its belly.

Also be aware that juvenile black widow spiders have marking different than adults. Juveniles can have red or other bright-colored markings, stripes or spots on their backs. You might see a juvenile and not realize it's a black widow. Nice thought, eh?

No necrosis with a black widow bite. Where is this misinformation coming from? I've seen this elsewhere and it is not true. Black widow bites are usually not even visible. Their venom is a neurotoxin - and a strong one at that. The bite causes pain in the limb or other area which takes hours to develop, and then the systemic neural symptoms such as muscle spasms tearing salivation (much of this is effects on the autonomic nervous system).

Necrotic spider bites are most often (in N. America) due to Loxoceles sp. most often the brown recluse - which has a venom that initiates tissue destruction.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by StuffedCabbage

No necrosis with a black widow bite. Where is this misinformation coming from? I've seen this elsewhere and it is not true. Black widow bites are usually not even visible. Their venom is a neurotoxin - and a strong one at that. The bite causes pain in the limb or other area which takes hours to develop, and then the systemic neural symptoms such as muscle spasms tearing salivation (much of this is effects on the autonomic nervous system).

Necrotic spider bites are most often (in N. America) due to Loxoceles sp. most often the brown recluse - which has a venom that initiates tissue destruction.

This thread was last responded to over four years ago.