Dang......Keep finding a ton of Black Widows around my house here in wichita ks....

[Ruskiegunlover]

Have found a total of 4, all females with multiple egg sacks. Found one tonight with, I believe, a male still hanging around. SHIT guys. I can deal with snakes, most spiders. But I CANNOT DEAL with these little bastards around my house. Never found one around my house before, have lived in 3 houses in this city. Never before. My wife bought a little tikes plastic table, its been outside waiting until my son is old enough to play on it. Noyiced over the last several weeks a ton of spider web on it, and tonight looked under it carefully......And found number 4. Damn it. Thinking I may have an exterminater come out and look the house over. Simply cannot believe it. Most of my naighbors tell me they have never seen them around their houses either.

SHIT. The idea of my son in the future setting down on that table/chair set, and getting bit really upsets me. He is only 6 months old, and not to the point of playing outside yet.....But the idea. Shit. Just shaking me up. I don't THINK that these little demons come into houses really, believe they tend to be an outdoor spider. Going to check my bed and windows out just to be safe. Shit. Anyone else dealing with this too?

[rgmcl]

Blackwidows like dark damp places and yes they will come into the house. I have found two of them in our basement in the twenty some years we have lived here.

[alismith]

Years ago, while teaching, a student brought me a spider in a jar. She caught it in a web behind her sofa. It was the largest, female black widow I had ever seen. I asked her if she knew with it was ans she said she didn't (that's why she brought it to me). Of course, it was still alive. I took some alcohol and took care of that problem right there. I told her what it was and that she should tell her mom to check behind all the furniture to make sure there were no more.

Black widows, around here, are found mostly in wood piles, barns, or sheds. They like places that don't get disturbed much.

If I were you, I'd be on the phone to an exterminator as soon as possible.

Those, and brown recluses, are two spiders that should be taken care of as soon as they are seen.

Good luck with your spider problem.

[Ruskiegunlover]

Damn. Already checked in my room, on my bed, and in the windows around our bed. Absolutely no spider webs under our bed, or in the living room where he spends a lot of time during the day. He is watched during the day by my mother in law, so he is in good hands.

[Ruskiegunlover]

I would imagine that they do not tend to be the drifting type of spiders that would wonder like wolf spiders....Least I hope not. I know my basement is fairly well clean and organized, but my gun area and an area around some shelves has a few piles of gear and boxes, and assorted crap that I need to sort and throw away. Probably go down this winter sometime and clean it all up thoroughly.

[Helen Keller]

carb cleaner works.......




making walls of borax works too.

[tank_monkey]

Damn. that sucks. Hope you can clear out all those Black Widows.

They're here too in California, but I'm lucky that my property has never had one. (fingers crossed)



THIS is the ONLY Black WIDOW I want to ever see near me......

[NAPOTS]

We have them all over out here, I find and kill them all of the time. They like places that aren't frequently disturbed. There web is very distinctive. It is a really messy disorganized web and if you break the strands with a stick you can hear them pop. I'll find them under the eaves of the house, under the overhang of the walls over the foundation, underneath the runners of the fences up against the posts, in the shed. they are nasty and I kill them when I find them but they aren't going to come and get you either.

Congrats on the son, mine is about the same age and I have the same concerns. We use and exterminator which helps but they are still around.

[davepool]

We have them all over out here, I find and kill them all of the time. They like places that aren't frequently disturbed. There web is very distinctive. It is a really messy disorganized web and if you break the strands with a stick you can hear them pop. I'll find them under the eaves of the house, under the overhang of the walls over the foundation, underneath the runners of the fences up against the posts, in the shed. they are nasty and I kill them when I find them but they aren't going to come and get you either.

Congrats on the son, mine is about the same age and I have the same concerns. We use and exterminator which helps but they are still around.

Same situation here, they are not an aggressive spider and run and hide the minute their web is disturbed, still not something you want if you have young children.

My wife has actually given them a reprieve from instant death after finding a large scorpion caught in a web, she's been stung about half a dozen times and hates scorpions more than she fears widows. We let the widow live until she spins an egg sac and then kill her.

[5.56NATO]

Frequent vacuuming can ruin their life cycle and keep them outside where they belong. Outside, you just gatta be carefull.

[Aggressive Perfector]

While living in Arkansas my problem was less Black Widows than it was Brown Recluses. I found a few after moving into our third house down there, at first just squashed them, told the landlord, and shrugged it off. The landlord just said he couldn't be bothered over spiders. Then I started finding them all over the place. In my man cave, my living room, even had one hanging out behind the shampoo bottle while I was in the shower. Hell of a surprise when I grabbed the shampoo bottle and found myself trapped in the shower with the little bastard. I finally took it upon myself to trap one in a jar and show my landlord what I was dealing with and showed pictures of what their bites do and got the problem taken care of. Either way, I highly suggest calling an exterminator ASAP. Black Widows and Brown recluses aren't to be messed with.

[rci2950]

When i first moved in to this house the yard was completely full of regular ol spiders. Just a complete spider farm. I bought a few gallons worth of "Demon WP" and covered the whole yard, all the trees, bushes, the walls, inside and outide of the shed and the lawn. There was complete silence. Note even a fly for almost half the summer.

[5.56NATO]

I've never seen more toads/frogs and snakes in the yard than this year, I imagine that's why I see so little bug traffic indoors.