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zoewolf

Black Widow Spider in House

zoewolf
16 years ago

I didnÂt know where to post this as there is no insect

forum, and pets is the only one that comes close?

A few nights ago, my daughter and her boyfriend

were sitting on the couch downstairs in the family room, when all of a sudden Joe said, "something is walking down my leg". He had shorts on at the time, and fortunately a pair of tennis shoes, as this is where she -- a black widow spider  decided to stop.

My daughter, who is afflicted with arachnophobia, screamed and ran the other way, but was nice enough to get Joe something to kill her with. After she was dead, he pulled out the couch from the wall, and started searching for more with a flashlight. He didnÂt find anymore, but my daughter will never sit on that couch again (I may not either).

I know that we and probably everybody else in the Western United States has them outside, but I never, and I mean never thought for a second that I would find one in the house. I thought that they were strictly an outdoor spider. Is it possible that she just somehow wandered in that night, or that she maybe had been here awhile? Maybe nesting under the couch cushions? This is really creeping me out, as black widows are the only spider that I fear.

Comments (18)

  • sylviatexas1
    16 years ago

    Maybe someone on the Insects Forum can help.

    (forums for insects & everything! I love it!)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Insects Forum

  • jrdown
    16 years ago

    zoewolf ~

    I was just ready to reply to you when I saw the sylviatexas has a forum for you to check out.

    That said ...... when I lived in SoCal I was always finding Black Widows in the house, the kitchen mostly because there was access to the patio.

    They are pretty unmistakable looking and I would just kill them with a magazine or shoe. You can spay outside but I would be very careful if you have any pets.

    Sorry your daughter is so scared of spiders. Some sure can look ugly but, for the most part, I think they are afraid of us. I understand folks being nervous about being bitten but most people are able to weather a bite just fine.

    There are other spiders that do far more long-lasting damage. I know that isn't comforting but spiders do have their place in the eco-system ...... just not in my house!

    Robyn

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  • sable_ca
    16 years ago

    It is VERY unusual for a black widow to crawl on a human. Are you sure that your spider was a B.W.? They are quite shy and will generally avoid contact with people. In fact, they will rarely be out crawling where you can see them.

    We lived in AZ for ten years and they always lived in our garage/shed. If I saw one I'd kill it, but didn't go looking for them. We had our property regularly sprayed for roaches and other nasties, but the black widows weren't affected by the spray.

    We've been in CA for 20 years and have them again in the garage/shed. I also sometimes find them behind the heavy bookcases and cabinets in the house, but that's rare. If they find a dark, quiet place where other insects come, they'll settle in happily. If you find one on yourself, do NOT kill it in place. Flick it off VERY quickly with a newspaper and then kill it.

  • petaloid
    16 years ago

    It was much more likely to have been some other type of dark-colored spider. It may have gotten on Joe without him realizing before he came into your house .

    Black widows usually hide outdoors under planter pots, rocks or in other cool, dark, damp places, not in people's indoor sofas.

    I am not recommending it, but if you plan to use a pesticide you need to know that insecticides are not generally effective against spiders because they are aracnids, not insects.

    There are different products called acaricides that will kill spiders and mites. (I wouldn't use anything like that inside my home, though)

  • sammy zone 7 Tulsa
    16 years ago

    A good friend of mine opened a box of new textbooks, and was bit by a Brown Recluse. We do have those, but I am not aware that many people have complained about Black Widows. I am curious that you refered to the Black Widow as a female instead of "it" or "he".

    I wish the Home Site members would identify themselves by location like most of the Garden site ones do. But perhaps this question is universal.

    Sammy

  • raul_in_mexico
    16 years ago

    I live in rattlesnake, fire ant, scorpion & black widow country. Black widows do get inside the house and they love to nest in places that don´t see a lot of movement and are not disturbed frequently like underneath the sofas or in the space between the sofa and the wall so moving things around and cleaning oftenly deters them from weaving and building their nest.

    Sammy, they are called "black widow" aside from being black because females eat the male while they are mating, actually it´s part of the mating ritual of the male to offer himself as a brunch for the female while he is pumping sperm with his pedipalps, he even turns around putting his abdomen where it can be chewed by the female.

  • centralcacyclist
    16 years ago

    Black widows will sometimes make their way inside and make webs in undisturbed places where they can hide away during the day. They tend to stay put unless disturbed. I have found a few inside but not many. Their web is distinctive in that it is sticky, strong, and disorganized looking. if you come across a web like this somewhere, wait for night and watch for a black widow to emerge and wait for prey.

    Black widow bites can be dangerous to the very young or very old. Though not as harmful as a brown recluse, the bite will occasionally cause infection. My ex was bitten by a black widow that had made a home under the lawn mower. He was wearing flip flops and was bitten on a toe. Later the bite became inflamed and ugly. A few soaks in epson salts and some neosporin took care of it, thankfully. He also experienced some flu-like symptoms.

    I can relate to your daughter, I'm also phobic. I can't even handle the can of spider spray because it has a realistic illustration of a spider the size of a sandwich plate on the label. My teen daughter dispatches the spiders around here (while rolling her eyes at me).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Black Widow

  • quasifish
    16 years ago

    Blech! I grew up in the Southern California desert where every nook and cranny on the fence had a black widow spider living in it. In the summer, our parents use to send us out after dinner with a fly swatter and a can of raid to kill as many as we could find, LOL.

    We had them in the house often in that area. I've been crawled on, and creeped out, a number of times. I've also run into very aggressive black widow females (and yes, I know for fact they were black widows). Usually it was the larger females, not sure if they are guarding egg sacks when they are that aggressive. I recall one time as a teenager when I was lying on the floor of my mother's garage changing oil in my car. I looked up to see a huge black widow charging down a web (from up under a shelf) right at me! I've never moved so fast in my life! My brother was bitten twice by black widows in that same garage- his bites were very ugly, made him rather sick, and seemed like they took forever to heal.

    Hope you don't see any more in your house.

  • sammy zone 7 Tulsa
    16 years ago

    Raul, thanks for the information. Now that I hear it, I think I have heard it before, but I am still glad you told me. I was working outside today, and saw a dead spider with an orange streak. I need to see a picture to identify it for sure, but I think it is a black widow.
    Sammy

  • buyorsell888
    16 years ago

    I lived in AZ for fifteen years but never saw one in any of the various houses/apartments. Did have them in the garden shed, barn, wood fences etc.

    Dump out your shoes before sticking your feet in. They like to climb in shoes, especially if left outside on porch etc. Lots of people bitten on toe that way.

  • raul_in_mexico
    16 years ago

    Sammy, black widows look peculiar, aside from their glossy black color the size and shape of the abdomen is very revealing, add to that the bright orange/red hour glass shape marking under the belly plus that web they weave ( disordered lacking of form and shape ) are trademarks of them.

    {{!gwi}}

  • ilmbg
    16 years ago

    My nightmare of this summer!! I have seen a few in the house- I would kill them and look at the belly for the red. One nite about 2-3 minths ago, I was going to bed, about 2am. A miniature dachshund sleeps with me. She was shivering for about 10 minutes, then had harder respirations- not faster, just harder. I called the only vet I could find, about 30 miles away(we are very rural in northern Wyoming). Vet says it sounds ok, come in at 8am.. (I had given him her vitals, listened with the stethescope-I am a nurse). About 10 minutes after that I just did not like what I was feeling- just like a patient that was about to go into respiratory arrest. I got to the vet about 30 minutes later- her resp were above 60, heartrate climbing. Spent about 3 hours at the vet- first thing he said when he saw her was that it looked like an insect bite/reaction. She had been on my lap the whole nite, watching tv. Told him I had not seen anything. Hmmmm... Anyway, she did well. The next week I was cleaning- pulled the couch out from the wall- yep, you guessed it! 2 live ones, and one dead one. I could not get hold of pest/weed control- they are only in once a week out here. So....my house is 2,000ft2. I bombed for the size of a 7,000ft2 house! The first thing that I ran into, literally when I opened the garage door was a dead one hanging on a piece of web. YUCK! I have found no more in the house, but have found several dead ones in the laundry room and the garage. I finally talked to pest/weed, and they advised (too late), NOT to bomb, as it does not kill the black widow, but kills all the other things, leaving lots of dead bugs (food) for the black widow. They recommend hiring a professional pest control guy. Yeah! Sure! In this part of the country- a professional??? Doesn't exist. Anyway- the bugs were bad this year, because it was so hot- 105 degrees for several weeks. They wanted in. Now that it is 20 degrees, they want in too. D amn things! Do be careful- they can kill a small dog, so think about small kids.older people, pets. (dog weighs 10#). The supposed history of them wanting to be in cool, damp,dark places was not on target- the three behind the couch were on the west window. One stuck/dead on the screen, one in a small web, the other just sitting on the window.

  • plasticgarden
    16 years ago

    This post is making my skin crawl! Are these things found everywhere in the U.S.? I can honestly say I have never seen one.

  • ines_99
    16 years ago

    yes, plasticgarden, I do believe they are found everywhere, but seem to be the worst out west or down south. I live in Southern NJ and my brothers new home was infested, mostly outdoors, but inside too. I had never known they were in the northeast, and I am not sure if they are "naturally" in this area. My brother's exterminator said they are, and that alot more come in with lumber shipped from down south.

    I cannot even look at a spider without my heart rate going up, I am scared to death of them.

  • plasticgarden
    16 years ago

    Good to know.I will keep an eye out then! We have tons of spiders in our place,but I have never seen one that looked like that.These are just little puny spiders.

    One day my hubby's skin was really swelled up and he went to the doctor (he thought it was skin cancer or something)it ended up being some kind of spider bite.He never got sick though so I guess it wasnt a black widow.

  • centralcacyclist
    16 years ago

    My Yellow Lab was bitten by something in the yard a few years ago that caused her nose to swell a little. I watched her for a few hours but she didn't seem to get any more swollen and was perky. I put her in her crate for the night. It was a night owl evening for me and I was still up hours later at 1 or 2 am. As I went to bed, I checked on her and found her having a lot of trouble breathing, hanging her mouth open to breath. I rushed her to the emergency vet where she vomited and collapsed about ten minutes later. We never did know what bit her. Since our house has a lot of black widows outside, I wouldn't be surprised if that was what it was.

  • HU-338289537
    last year

    I saw a comment about widows not climbing on people? My husband has come in contact with 2 now crawling on hhim in the middle of the night. Own time on His neck . Like wtf, are they coming from underneath the house through text vents? Grossed out and terrified

  • Brenda Medley
    4 months ago

    I feel the same way!!!! I found one in my room tonight I screamed and my husband ran and killed it. Now I'm freaking and too scared to even go sleep in bed with my husband because it was found on the wall by the bed on my side! I have a huge fear of any kind of spiders, now this!? I'm scared to sleep in my own bed