Anyone noticing a lot of black widows in their yards?

[swbtoo]

Lots of brown recluses in New England. Glad your brother is OK. I've seen a lot of spiders since moving to NC but no Black Widow or recluse (that I know of). I'm not real good about wearing gloves when working in the yard, and have been known to be out there occasionally barefoot. I love to go barefoot, and up north I did it all the time, but I'm trying to reform here.

[tluv00]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

Unless you have one of those head lamps on your forehead or flash light on your forehead at night you are probably not seeing black widows in your yard.

Black widow spiders are found in protected places, such as under rocks, wooden boards and in dense plant growth. They frequently nest in electrical, water and telephone equipment boxes outdoors. Around homes, these spiders may be found in crawlspaces, beneath appliances, usually in corners that are dark and damp.

I killed a black widow Memorial Day on my patio wide out in the open. It had the hourglass and everything. Definitely a Black Widow.

[kelly237]

Originally Posted by tluv00

I killed a black widow Memorial Day on my patio wide out in the open. It had the hourglass and everything. Definitely a Black Widow.

Rabid raccoons come out in the day...maybe the Black Widow has rabies

[sacredgrooves]

I studied spiders quite a bit since I deal with them on a daily basis. I would say 8/10 here with crawlspaces have one under their house. I see them about every day. Like mentioned they are very shy and want nothing to do with us. They are also near blind. When you disturb their web they hide immediately. Those seeing them out in the yard, that is common when they are searching for a new home but once established they almost never leave their web.
Recluse spiders are extremely rare here and yet they take alot of the blame for nasty bites(I am not saying it doesn't happen, but it is an convenient explanation in most cases). If you look at their habitat map, it ends in our mountains. They dominate the central part of the country and are non-existent up north aside from an occasional shipping package.
We also have Brown Widows here which are a slightly less toxic version of their cousins.

[Gez137]

Hey all,
I recently looked at a model home and when I walked in the master bedroom there was a huge spider on the wall. I know it wasn't a black widow, but it was really black and it looked like it was smushed, the legs were almost flat to the wall. Does anyone know what that might have been?. I ran out of the room and out the door so fast I didn't have time to study it. I really hate spiders!!!!

[jerry condrey]

hey folks
got a little info for ya on your spiders.the black widow is a common spider here in in nc,and this year they may be numerous because of last year's drought coupled with a mild winter.just watch where you put your hands and feet,wear gloves when gardening,don't leave shoes outside.use a pesticide when necessary,and don't keep a lot of trash and debris in your yard.a good place to look for bw spiders are around certain large ornamental plants and shrubs.they really like to build around cactus.also,the brown recluse is not,i repeat,NOT,found in nc except in the mountain counties bordering georgia.recently many supposed br bites were found to have come from other sources,such as staph infections,and allergic reactions to other bug bites.even where the br is found in our mountains,they are extremely rare.most common in midwest.hope this allays some of your fears and cuts the bad spider count down to one.worked for orkin for many years and we had classes on this stuff..............
jerry

[jerry condrey]

Hi!I'm new on this site and just read your post about your friends getting bitten by a brown recluse.I worked in the pest control industry for years and never saw a br spider. they are only found in the mountain counties bordering Georgia in NC,but are common in the midwest.a lot of wounds have been treated as br spider bites,but were almost always found to be staph infections.even in our mountain counties whwere they are found,they are very rare.black widows we have,br spiders,no.
jerry

[lauren4521]

One of my neighbors just emailed me that they found 2 enormous black widows right around/on their kids' playset/swingset. One was right underneath the slide that her 3 kids under 5 use daily, the other was on the pole in a corner above the swings.

They have sprayed and plan to move the playset (its small enough) often now to avoid this. Seems not only are they more numerous, but they are not so hidden this season.

Lauren

[gastric]

As I posted in one of the other spider threads I had a widow living by the doorbell at my front door. Clearly not very secluded and elusive.