Black widow on a guy's arm

[thedude]

id rather kiss my t. blondi or h. lividium

 

[buthus]

Ive been taking individuals outside to allow them to wander and climb for some distance ...to stimulate and give them some (IMHO) much needed exorcise.

For the conversation at hand I decided to snap some handling shots.

My fav geo I have at the moment...

pallidus ...Jordans breeding loan girl...

variolus...

Laos...

and the infamous menavodi...
oh, and yes, and I will make the claim that of all the latros Ive played with, these tend to be the most irksome to handle. They are fearless, but in a "dont give a sht, stubborn" sort of way. They seem/tend to taste test fingers. Like stabbing the whale your riding...just to see if it will dive.

and saving the most dangerous for last ...S.borealis!!!

 

[Selenops]

Awesome pics! A host for one of those nature programs handled a Black Widow, Nigel or Marvin whatshisname.

Alot more people are getting more closer to their widows and handling them frequently without incident. Cool.

But, once that widow started investigating my epidermis with those peds I'd probably jump a foot up and my widow would be a ink blotch on the nearby wall.

The widow is an inquisitive creature have been known (or according to tall tale?) to take nips out of much larger vertebrates sharing space with them or people's private parts in outhouses that didn't have the common sense to look before doing the do.

 

[buthus]

The widow is an inquisitive creature have been known (or according to tall tale?) to take nips out of much larger vertebrates sharing space with them or people's private parts in outhouses that didn't have the common sense to look before doing the do.

The outhouse myth probably is a bit true in the sense that there was surely a percentage of documented bites that occurred in that manner. A female (esp one with sacs) may get disturbed enough to investigate a body part pressing up against her web. Ive observed hesperus wandering out into open web to check out my hand, but usually they hide themselves the best they can and wait out the problem.

 

[Selenops]

I have no shortages of L hesperus and can find some nice big beauties.

Sometimes, I'll hand catch by pinning the ceph with my forefinger and bundle up their legs simultaneously with thumb and middle finger. And if a very safe and secure grip for an advanced invert keeper.

I try to avoid the abdomen grasping because they secrete oils that permits the spider to glide through their own silk without mishap and makes purchase with my fingers difficult because they like to twist their cephs and are capable of working themselves free IME.

 

[P. Novak]

Buthus, do you get nervous at all handling these spiders?

 

[cacoseraph]

Buthus, do you get nervous at all handling these spiders?

i don't know about him, but i don't really handle stuff that i am feeling nervous about. and that definitely changes from day to day... based on how the animals are acting

in fact, i would say a good way to take a short cut to getting tagged is to continue with plans to hold an animal that has made you feel uncomfortable somehow. i think er, handler's "instinct" is sort of like, pattern recognition on a like, almost unconcious level... you don't conciously notice that the spider is slightly hyperreactive or trembling funny or something... you just get a bad feeling about holding it right then

BUT... there have a been a couple few times when i was playing with something and everything was going well and then all of a sudden the animal starts to seem to act more and more "nervous" where i can't put something back in its cage fast enough. heh. those are some of the really exciting times.

 

[Selenops]

I have absolute no "instincts" at all in handling widows, terrify me and there is the potential humiliation of if I get bit means a trip to the ER. Because that is what one needs to do immediately upon a bite and probably result in a hefty hospital bill atop that. I ain't coming between another enthusiast's relationship with their beloved inverts by any means. JIMHO.

I did something brave today, I let my castaneiceps crawl alittle on my hands, just alittle. And made sure I thoroughly washed my hands really tidy before doing this, don't want no animal odors, and I feel my "instincts" are more attuned to a pede. A pede will give you a warning by opening it's maxillipeds (or fangs) and it is almost a curious reaction rather an aggressive reaction on the pede's part. However, this isn't going to be habit in fact that is probably the last time I do that. But those Asian psychos are out of the question because of the strength of their venom and sheer unpredictability. As far as S heros goes, I feel it can be easily remedied by atypical non-prescription pain reliever.

 

[cacoseraph]

I have absolute no "instincts" at all in handling widows, terrify me and there is the potential humiliation of if I get bit means a trip to the ER. Because that is what one needs to do immediately upon a bite and probably result in a hefty hospital bill atop that. I ain't coming between another enthusiast's relationship with their beloved inverts by any means. JIMHO.

I did something brave today, I let my castaneiceps crawl alittle on my hands, just alittle. And made sure I thoroughly washed my hands really tidy before doing this, don't want no animal odors, and I feel my "instincts" are more attuned to a pede. A pede will give you a warning by opening it's maxillipeds (or fangs) and it is almost a curious reaction rather an aggressive reaction on the pede's part. However, this isn't going to be habit in fact that is probably the last time I do that. But those Asian psychos are out of the question because of the strength of their venom and sheer unpredictability. As far as S heros goes, I feel it can be easily remedied by atypical non-prescription pain reliever.

i don't know... i've been bitten by spiders a grand total of one time... and been bitten by centipedes hundreds of times... sometimes i can tell when a centipede is starting to act freaky but sometimes i just plain get bit


also, S. heros venom is definitely pretty high up on the Sucks Scale. i personally have never really reacted to the little bites i have gotten but Galapoheros had a pretty unfun time for 2-3 days from getting bit by a decent one.

 

[Selenops]

Mine was a pretty docile fellow and just wanted to roam around but doesn't mean he couldn't sink in his fangs the next second. :evil:

I hope Galapoheros wrote the experience in the bite report love to read it.

 

[buthus]

Buthus, do you get nervous at all handling these spiders?

Overall, like Andrew said, if Im nervous, I dont handle something. I say overall, because Id be lying if I said I have never been nervous.
Ive had menavodi on me more than several times now and 3 times I swear there was what surely seemed like a bite attempt ..hard to really know ..one would need to allow whatever to happen to really find out. But... a prick like feeling against your skin ...no brainer IMO.
Easier to explain which species I have become (almost) completely comfortable with.. geometricus, pallidus and bishopi. Though with geos ive had specific individuals with sacs that have displayed "aggressive" defense ...most dont though. I would include Laos also, but even though I have played a lot with them, I have only handled 2 individuals. They act very much like OW species esp ones that Ive kept from the mid-East. Very clumsy out of the web which can be dangerous to the spider.

id rather kiss my t. blondi

Andrew and I were handling a couple huge blondis ...absolutely gentle giants. I cant get my mind off the specie now... I hope to get one now that I interacted with them.

 

[strikedistance]

Two of the prettiest Widows i have ever seen pictures of. Do you keep them or are the shots from the wild. I was not lucky enough to find variolus when i was down under.

variolus...

Laos...

 

[buthus]

Two of the prettiest Widows i have ever seen pictures of. Do you keep them or are the shots from the wild. I was not lucky enough to find variolus when i was down under.

Down under? Actually variolus are found more "up over". ...well that is if you were referring to the big island.
None of these species are found in CA except for geometricus which is not native, but spreading at a speedy rate.

Buthus, do you get nervous at all handling these spiders?

I want to add...
99.9% of my dealing with/handling of widows ...there is no camera involved. I think I have gained a fair understanding of widow behavior, movements etc.. But farting around with a camera and observing the spiders actions through a lens makes me nervous. The subtle stuff that I think Im starting to notice (and maybe understand) is lost via multi-tasking.

 

[strikedistance]

I thought variolus was from australia??

 

[buthus]

I thought variolus was from australia??

L.variolus Northern Black Widow

New England and adjacent Canada south to Florida, and west to eastern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. More common in the northern part of the range

.

 

[strikedistance]

I fell dumb now lol.

 

[buthus]

I fell dumb now lol.

Well pick yourself up and brush off the stupid then! Most of these have the "same" features.. add in silly latin names ..the damn thing could be from anywhere. :?

 

[strikedistance]

Well i take it you breed widows. Any chance you would want a Southern Egg sac. I got my female from florida.

 

[stardragon]

L.variolus Northern Black Widow
.

buthus, I just joined the forum. Great stuff! Anyway, I have looked high and low around my neck of the woods, Lapeer Michigan, for L.variolus but have not had any luck finding them. Just wondering how common they are to these parts and how would I go about finding them.

Also, I was out in Vegas on a vacation staying at a friends place this past August. His backyard was the usual stone and a cinderblock wall common to this area. One night we were out there having a few brewskies and I decided to get a flashlight and do a little parimeter walk. I've always been infactuated with spiders and having never seen a real live widow, I figured I would give it a try. As luck would have it, I came upon a beauty of a girl! My friends figured I must be crazy! Seems that, "that one moment" was the most exciting for me the whole time out there. LOL. So, I took some pics of her with my buddy holding the flashlight but the pics were a bit fuzzy under the conditions.
When I have a chance, I will post the best pic I have. I think it was L. hesperus, but not sure.
Anyway, the trip has whetted my desire to find the L.variolus if I can.

Thanks for all the great info and pics!

 

[buthus]

Well i take it you breed widows. Any chance you would want a Southern Egg sac. I got my female from florida.

Hey ...oops...somehow I missed your question. Thanks for the offer ...for now Im set with mactans from the US. Let em eat there way to one ...she'll be a winner.