Black Widow Infestation

[buthus]

Widowman...take a hesp sac... now, cut yer hand with a sharp knife ...then squash the sac into the wound. Thats about it...good luck! :worship: ;P

 

[8+)]

Yeah, didn't you once report something along those lines happening to your neighbor?

 

[cacoseraph]

i'm sure they can envenomate, there's no doubt in my mind about that. all i'm saying is that the effects of the venom is not going to be anything at all until they are adults or very close to it. sure they can inject, many other smaller critters do...

my understanding is that the american black widows (hesperus, mactans, and variolus) all inject a super complicated macromolecule that starts chemical chain reactions that produce all the symptoms associated with a bad bite. as such, it is not really like a normal envenomation where you need to have have a gram injected into you to suffer full affects

don't get me wrong, i play with widows at all sizes... but i just don't think the mechanics are there to say they are completely harmless

 

[cacoseraph]

Hope your right cos I've handled L. mactans spiderlings MANY times, I just assumed they wouldn't be able to puncture human skin yet.

they don't have to puncture through your skin... they have to get through an extremely thin layer of tough, dead tissue and that's it. i believe black widow venom can be injected intradermally, that is it can be injected *into* the skin, not through it. you skin has miles (hundreds maybe thousands, i can't quite remember) of capillaries and veins and stuff in it, all designed to shuffle chemicals around

 

[buthus]

Yeah, didn't you once report something along those lines happening to your neighbor?

He showed me the webbing ...and the swollen hand. It was no doubt a latro web. He claimed that there was tiny spiders on his hand and that he wiped (smeared? ) them off. Cant recall if he headed to the doc or not though.
Nope...i wont call that proof ...but a reasonably believable scenario.


Ive finger squashed many an escaped sling with no apparent affect.. but finger tips ARE tough spots...plus oily and such.
As for young/"sub-adult" latros... so far...non that ive handled have shown any sign of defensive action besides fleeing from the huge clumsy mammal. Ive had a few adults show me that they will bite.


Reduction of population isnt really that difficult. Go out at night, find adults... transport them to a nice spot and eliminate any sacs.
Overall, they are beneficial to have around.

 

[Irene B. Smithi]

Wow, I've learned a new word, "SPIDER-HUGGER!!" Do you really move black widows to a new home??? That's just wild. I'll agree they are beneficial, and I know their shy, but still, I can't imagine myself caring one around and finding a new home for it... I have a general rule in my yard, if it's not overpopulated I allow small population of spiders like Wolf spiders and such to run around freely on the perimeter walls, but nothing is allowed to thrive on the house walls, they just end up inside if they do. And I allow only one black widow in my yard, I know where she is and have yet to see her out at the same time as my son... so I leave her alone...

Reduction of population isnt really that difficult. Go out at night, find adults... transport them to a nice spot and eliminate any sacs.
Overall, they are beneficial to have around.

 

[chris_vegas]

they don't have to puncture through your skin... they have to get through an extremely thin layer of tough, dead tissue and that's it. i believe black widow venom can be injected intradermally, that is it can be injected *into* the skin, not through it. you skin has miles (hundreds maybe thousands, i can't quite remember) of capillaries and veins and stuff in it, all designed to shuffle chemicals around

I might have to re-think my handling policies hmmm...:?

in my experience though you'd have to do something very stupid/cowardly to convince a widow to bite...they don't seem to regard biting as a defensive technique unless they're guarding an egg-sac.

That's just my experience though, maybe other people have seen them exhibit different behaviour?

 

[buthus]

That's just my experience though, maybe other people have seen them exhibit different behaviour?

They are not THAT predictable. Some will drop and roll even if they have sacs... others will attempt to investigate whats going on and MAY try and defend sacs/webbing. Also, different species seem to have slightly different reactions. I had an "Alicia" (sp?) widow (s.Am) crawling around on my desk and I put my hand down to let her crawl on ...she just stopped cold when she touched my finger and attempted to tag me. ha...i felt the prick, but either i pulled away in time or it was "dry".
Some do a sorta taste test when walking on you ...I had a group of menavodi ..they all reacted to handling in a stupidly "brave" and stubborn way ...always scared me cause they would stop and taste ...skin, gloves, brush handle etc. Didnt mess with em much ...at least not so much via the "cocky method".

things that seem true(ish)..
A widow forced out of her web/enclosure ...more prone to bite.

Widow choosing to leave a jar/enclosure (thinks yer hand is structure)...less bity. (most handling vids are done this way ...its all a trick! )

Night/dark/active widows.. more prone to bite.

Daylight... less prone to bite. (if ya want to show off handling a widow right outta her web.. for whatever sillyreason... do it in the bright sun! )

Sacs... more prone to bite.

Pre-gravid vs gravid ... Not sure...always wondered.

Feeding and disturbed ...usually they do not defend food against something huge and clumsy.

Feeding and "gently stimulated" ...another thing in the web! Double score! ...very prone to bite.

 

[8+)]

Well I have to eat a little, crow and admit that I have three widows living along my front porch railing! One has a retreat that runs down into the square iron pipe at the top of the banister. She has a suitor who has waited for her final molt; which I think occurred the other night

The other two are juvies I discovered living in light fixtures, on the columns spaced along the rail. I'm pretty sure they are now trapped in, as there are no large openings. It will be interesting to see if males can get in there.

These lights are on all night, and so the food supply is plentiful. Obviously, food supply and competition are enough to make these adaptable spiders alter there natural behavior. I'll post pics if I get the chance.

Wonder how long before/if widows will become actual house spiders...?

It's fun to have outside pets!

 

[cricket54]

When I lived in Morongo Valley, CA (up the canyons near Palm Springs) I had black widows all over the furniture on my porch. I removed the ones I would find in the house that were in places that you could get bit, but left the ones in the garage, on the porch, and around the yard alone. We had so many bugs out there that they did me a service. I collected a few in jars. They were very shy and non aggressive. When I moved to MS, a bunch of them came with me even though I throughly vacumed out and under all the furniture. I had baby black widows hatch out of the coffee maker in the house even. I had other egg cases hatch out from somewhere, but have not found a single one of the babies that survived. So I am totally unworried about them. The 4 I had in jars are still alive and living out their lifetimes happily as I feed them crickets. I wish I could find southern black widows around here as I know they exist, but have not found a single one. I wouldn't worry too much about your widows unless you have little ones who might try to stick their hands in their webs and touch them. My grandchildren visited me in CA and they were educated about not touching stuff there. We had night time excursions looking at the desert in the dark and finding the widows around the house. I was much more conserned about the Mohave Green Rattlers that occassionaly came on my porch actually.

 

[Quetzalcoatl Nyarlathotep]

Wow, I've learned a new word, "SPIDER-HUGGER!!" Do you really move black widows to a new home??? That's just wild. I'll agree they are beneficial, and I know their shy, but still, I can't imagine myself caring one around and finding a new home for it... I have a general rule in my yard, if it's not overpopulated I allow small population of spiders like Wolf spiders and such to run around freely on the perimeter walls, but nothing is allowed to thrive on the house walls, they just end up inside if they do. And I allow only one black widow in my yard, I know where she is and have yet to see her out at the same time as my son... so I leave her alone...

There is no use for ignorance on arachnoboards. The widows are sacred, and this land belonged to them long before humans arrived. They are beneficial, and one should appreciate all spiders, not just the "cute" ones.

 

[MetalMan2004]

If you don’t want them, gather them up and sell them on AB. I almost gaurantee you could make some money.

 

[AngelDeVille]

Is there money in reviving long dead threads?