Black Widows :( (Raleigh, Apex, Holly Springs: new house, crawl space, water heater) - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary - North Carolina (NC) -The Triangle Area - City-Data Forum

twilitem00n · 09-06-2008, 07:37 AM

How common are black widows in Raleigh? I mean, if the majority of home owners scoured their yards for black widows, would they find any? How often are they found in a garage? Does anyone have experience with living with them? The new house we purchased seems to be infested with them in the garage. We haven't seen any inside, but I am so scared that we will. The previous home owners left their paperwork for previous pest treatments, and one of their complaints was for spiders in the garage. The exterminator company they used came out that day and sprayed residual spray in the garage and then bombed it. I was a little nervous that he did that, since the water heater is in the garage and he sprayed residual spray behind it, but he said that it is a sealed system. I've lived in North Carolina for 12 years and I have never seen so many black widows. I am worried for the safety of my son.

tsmithgolf2000 · 09-06-2008, 07:49 AM

I have had 3 houses in Apex in the past 12+ years and in my first house I had black widows all in my garage, we got a pest control service and after a few treatments we never saw them again. My 2nd house I never saw one and I was in my crawl space alot as I had a walk in crawl. My 3rd house which I have lived in for about 8 months I saw my first one under the fake rock thing that goes over the irrigation backflow. It's dark and damp under there so I should have known there might be one there. I sprayed under the rock and just left it hopefully to deter anymore.

Now for you I would clean the garage out really good, spray and you shouldn't see them anymore. If you keep a bunch of junk/clutter in your garage then they might come back as they like dark damp places. I imagine black widows are found on a regular basis but if you don't want to see any around your garage then get a pest control service and keep your garage clutter free. I have little ones and I don't worry to much about black widows, although now you got me thinking. I am more worried about them seeing a snake and trying to pick it up.

goat1of2 · 09-06-2008, 08:32 AM

I've seen exactly two in 22 years here.

1966 · 09-06-2008, 11:00 AM

I seen one for the first time in 3 years living here right on my front porch. The stinking huge thing spun a web in plain view, I thought they lived in dark places. Where I would never be able to see them. This one must have been lonely.

twilitem00n · 09-06-2008, 04:12 PM

tsmithgolf2000, when you had pest management come to your first house to rid of the black widows, what was their course of action? Did they spray just the garage or the inside of the house as well?

bluedevilz · 09-06-2008, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1966

I seen one for the first time in 3 years living here right on my front porch. The stinking huge thing spun a web in plain view, I thought they lived in dark places. Where I would never be able to see them. This one must have been lonely.

If the spider was "huge" it probably wasn't a black widow...

Black widow spiders aren't very big, usually 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length. They also don't like to build webs in "plain view"

Its more likely you saw a garden spider....

http://i.pbase.com/v3/48/95248/1/481...denSpider5.jpg

These do get quite large and are very common around here, much more likely to see out in the open as well.

import07 · 09-06-2008, 06:23 PM

I moved to NC last year from Ireland and have seen a few black widows. The first time I ever saw one was at the playground with my 3 year old. I told him what it was and they were "harm and danger" spiders and not to go near them if he seen them. We moved to Holly Springs a few months ago and I was in the garage with my son when he seen one and called me, he got the message and knows the difference between Black Widows and regular spiders. So it might be good to educate your kid and let him see one (not sure how old you kid is but it worked for me)
I had seen about 3 more, 2 more in the garage and 1 outside. We had a 12 month contract with a pest control company from our previous house and the call out every month to spray for bugs. The will spray just about anywhere you ask them as part of the deal, only takes them a few minutes.
As for their size, I was talking to our pest control guy and he said he has seen one that was as big as top of a styrofoam cup (open part)but usually they are smaller. Haven't seen any since he started spraying but still see some webs.
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

melizza · 09-06-2008, 07:29 PM

I just moved here from Charleston SC and we had black and brown widows really bad there. You will notice if you have a problem if you notice a web with a dead spider in it (they kill other spiders). Also their egg sacs are about the size of pea and have little spikes all over them. The best way I have found to deter them outside of a spray is to keep your home clear of cobwebs and physically squish the egg sacks. Spray won't kill the eggs. Well, that is what the exterminator told us anyway...

twilitem00n · 09-06-2008, 08:23 PM

We had the garage sprayed and bombed, so I hope that that will remedy the problem. My husband also found a hole in the garage leading to the outside, so he used some calk to seal it up. My son is seven months old, so he's not old enough for me to be able to explain to him that black widows are dangerous. I am just nervous that they may be in the house. Are they common in garages? That would at least make me feel better!

bluedevilz · 09-06-2008, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by import07

I moved to NC last year from Ireland and have seen a few black widows. The first time I ever saw one was at the playground with my 3 year old. I told him what it was and they were "harm and danger" spiders and not to go near them if he seen them. We moved to Holly Springs a few months ago and I was in the garage with my son when he seen one and called me, he got the message and knows the difference between Black Widows and regular spiders. So it might be good to educate your kid and let him see one (not sure how old you kid is but it worked for me)
I had seen about 3 more, 2 more in the garage and 1 outside. We had a 12 month contract with a pest control company from our previous house and the call out every month to spray for bugs. The will spray just about anywhere you ask them as part of the deal, only takes them a few minutes.
As for their size, I was talking to our pest control guy and he said he has seen one that was as big as top of a styrofoam cup (open part)but usually they are smaller. Haven't seen any since he started spraying but still see some webs.
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

Black widow as big as the open end of a styrofoam cup? That would be about 4 inches.....sorry but black widows just don't get that big....the largest have a span of maybe 3 inches if you have the legs spread. By and large though these are spiders of 1/2 inch to inch in length.