Cat

Do you still have that spider up your shorts.  LOL

Naw.  I put it in your coffee.  : P

I thought that last cup had a little extra zing to it.    And whats with this new interest I have in flies.  

 Interesting. The Palm Springs paper had an article about this, specifically Black Widows, and whomever the expert was said that there weren't more spiders; that it was just the time of year when you can see BWs better because they are biggest at this time ofyear.  Some lady quoted in the article says she spotted 40 in her back yard at night.  I've killed maybe 5 around my place recently.  I just make sure I shake my shoes out if I leave them outside and I do a little de-webbing under patio chairs. Any place that hasn't been disturbed in a while is where BWs like to roost.

Ray

Vanity mentioned that one of her children was recently bitten by a spider. 

I have a phobia of black widows.  Let's hope there isn't an plague of them.

I read yesterday that California has become home to the "Brown Widow" which has an even more poisonous bite than her black cousin.  One more bug for you to worry about Audrey!

Do you mean the brown recluse.  Yeah that one scares me even more than the evil black widow. 

Just the sight of a black widow sets my heart to racing.

No Audrey, it's not a Brown Recluse.  This is a Brown Widow.  I'll see if I can find the article and pic for you.

Audrey, here's the story and photo:  http://www.10news.com/news/...

Thanks Pamg

You've just given me something new to be phobic about.  LOL

The brown widow's venom is more potent than the venom of its cousin, the black widow, and one bite can send a person to the hospital.

I hear you Audrey.  I'm not phobic about spiders of any kind, but black widows give me the absolute creeps!!

Me too pamg.  I can hold other spiders in my hand but the mere sight of a black widow paralyzes me.

i called my hubby, he is out spraying as we 'speak' !

bluck

I spray around my home, under the eves and the patio twice a year.  I never have a problem with spiders.

What really scares me is, my cat has super-long fur.  When we go out on the patio, I worry that one could get into his fur, unbeknownst to me, and bite either him or me.  My apartment complex has a regular exterminator, but I still run across the occasional black widow.

Never, EVER put on shoes or gardening gloves without checking them first.  Black widows love those close, dark places. 

That's another thing: The report said you MUST SPRAY DIRECTLY ONTO A BLACK WIDOW because they do not collect residue from sprayed areas on their body.  Windex or 409 will kill them, according to our local expert. Also, you have to a spray specifically formulated for SPIDERS on BWs *and* you have to spray it right on them.

Ray. That has not been my experience.  The spray I use is specifically for spiders  and it seems to work on them all. I have found a few DEAD Black Widows.

I mentioned to Steven Mayer on Twitter that I had seen some spiders hiding on top of the hay that we bought for our animals. There are also some black widows hiding out in our feed bags waiting to attack me. Very nice.

I don't think there is an excess amount of spiders around here, but there are a lot of them. I have a bunch of them living in my wild jungle garden because I have basically let it go.

farming areas are down so the spider population has increased..those old crop dusters used to be a pretty good thing out this way...we have been killing widows all over the place..i dont use insecticides or weed killers because of our animals..its not that tuff to power wash ..cut weeds and an occasional torch will also do the trick..certainly not worth killing one of our best friends with poison

I had not one, not two, but three black widow spiders in my mail box last week. I'd kill one, come back the next day and there'd be another one. I went and sprayed it down with Ortho on the weekend, so here's hoping that deals with it. So far, no spiders this week.

409 works great with killing a black widow!    I was bitten on my left thumb by a black widow....OMG! the pain was so intense.  I was  put on IVs and then was in bed for 3 days there was a point that i wanted to cut my thumb off.   i have a very funny shaped thumb now.......but yet I still have 3 black widow tattoos....Respect!  They are vicious.

i was bitten on my leg..had one in a boot..went to the hospital they gave me meds and i had to go to work in torona on the desert east of ridgecrest on the salt lake the next day in 135 degree heat..i was sick from the bite the meds and heat...miserable but i had to go because i was running the job..i hate black widows..ive watched my dad smash them bare handed growing up..not my favorite beast

A friend was making some unique jewelry  from insects~ sounds odd but the green beetles were quite lovely. The process required the bug to be alive and black widows proved to be the hardest to prepare. Almost anything that was used on their bodies caused them to explode.

In July my little 2lb chihuahua was bitten by a spider and later died from complications.  I lost it and went on a killing rampage around our condo, I sprayed about 10 gallons of pesticide everywhere.  I can't stand our Landlords, we were told there would be an exterminator but we never see them and this is the only place where the bug problem is insane.  I have to be super cautious when and if i let my two small children play on the patio.  

I HAVE to disagree with that person.  I have seen more black widows around my house that it is just plain eerie. Normally I stock pile sparklers and kill them.  I know it's sound sadistic but at least they go out in a glory of colors! On top of that I don't have to worry about them coming after me or having to spray some nasty chemicle.  Plus I do love the pretty colors. lol 

Oh! I"m so sorry Sandwich.

I have a chihuahua too.  Even though she's about 8 pounds,  she probably couldn't survive a bite either. 

We lost a wonderful Siamese cat in June,  so let's grieve together.

out in the oilfields near Taft, I needed to work inside a small room which worked as an air intake for a large generator (7.5MVA @ 12.5KV) The room works like a walk in swamp cooler. I opened the door to about 30+ black widows in a 6'X12' "room".

Black Flag's "ant & spider" spray worked a little on the smaller spiders, but the full grown "mamma's" kinda shook it off and got pissy. "Kills on Contact"? Hmmm... I had an encounter with a LARGE brown recluse and it didn't phase that beast either. (that one was in a "handhole" in the ground and took the brunt of a cutting torch :)  )

We ended up using some industrial solvent in the generators.... now we have a cricket problem in there :^

I always smash the BWs on my patio and porch area.  I never kill the ones out in the garden.  I just let them do their job and I am extra cautious when working out there.   I never pick up anything  without checking for BWs first.   One year my neighbor brought me a box of fresh picked persimmons which I left in the kitchen.   Early the next morning I found a BW in my hair when I looked in the mirror.  I have always blamed that BW occurrence on those persimmons.  Spiders do not live in a house where there is nothing for them to eat.  And you can take my word for it that there are no bugs in my house for them to munch on.  Spiders like to hang out where the food is.  They build their webs where they are most likely to catch something. 

RAID works well for me!!!! I spray half a can on the BW's!! hubby says a short spray will work and my comment is:  not if they are still moving!!!!!!

Spiders like to hang out where the food is.  They build their webs where they are most likely to catch something.   hmmmmmm my bathroom?????  maybe the soap? possiby they need a shower also!!!!!