Black Widow Spiders

[flusher]

Black widows: I have them in the shop and in the crawl space under the house. Rarely see them but they're there. Also wolf spiders in the shop occasionally. They're hard working predators. They don't bother me and I don't bother them.

 

[cqaigy2]

Im not sure i've seen black widows on the west side of the cascades, but remember they were pretty common on the east side. Maybe too wet over here?

 

[caps]

I used to live in Las Vegas. The black widows would be out early each morning along the foundation of the house where the siding started. As soon as the sun came up and it started getting warm, you never saw them. They really like the water meter pits along the roads. Nicotine will also kill them. Put a chunk of chewing tobacco in a gallon jug of water and let it set outside in the sun for a couple days. Then spray the liquid on them and around the foundation.. Also kills crickets and other bugs. Nicotine is a nerve agent and does them in quite quickly. Don't want to get it on yourself however as it is not good for you either.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I used to keep Black Widow spiders as a kid and fatten them up on crickets. They only live 2 years at most. And the biggest one I had only had a body a half inch across. Pretty critters though.

 

[Pilot]

West of the Cascades: A friend who grew up in SoCal, so he knows what they look like, found some under his house in Battle Ground, WA. I suspect they were in household goods when someone moved, as I haven't seen one or heard of anyone else seeing any since I moved to western Oregon in '78.

 

[fordmantpw]

The first two pics were taken on our back patio. My kids found it, and thankfully they are scared to death of spiders! It was disposed of shortly after taking a few pics.

The other I found when I opened the power box to plug in the plug for our camper at a campground in Illinois. A tad scary at first! That's why I always wear gloves when I open those boxes.