Most likely baby black widows hatched by my window and got in, cause for concern?

tonyiscool65

Arachnopeon
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So I didn't realize how bad of a black widow problem I had at my house until I went and tried to find the eggsack that these little poops spawned from. And while I was out their I found 4 full grown adults! So I can only guesstimate that those baby's in my house are black widows. I have two spiders, if I was to move them from the area and spray some bug spray how long before I can safely put my tarantulas back in their place. Or should I just let the baby's die off with time? and also sorry for posting this in tarantula chat no one was replying in true spiders
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
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Bug spray is going to do you and the other inhabitants of the house more harm than eliminate all the widows unless they get a good direct blast of Chaindrite or equivalent. Widows are very resistant to pesticides.
Better is diligence, grab the old vacuum and take the place apart. Be thorough. Repeat in a week or two. Or, of course, the good old up to our eyeballs in the things and oh well approach: learn to live in a house where you NEVER stick your hand in an area you cannot see clearly.
 

Bugmom

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Are you 100% sure the adults are black widows and not false widows?

In any case, most of the babies will likely die off, especially with winter coming. They are of no danger to you or your animals at the moment - too small to bite you. I've had black widows spiderlings in my hair, crawling on me, etc. and aside from it being very annoying, there was no danger to me. I've lived my entire life in areas that had a high population of black widows and I've always just let them be. Natural pest control! Widows are not interested in biting you, after all - venom production takes resources they want to conserve. Just don't squeeze them. They don't like that :)

As The Snark says, you could vacuum them up. That's what my friends and I use to do when there were just flat out too many widow babies.

I would never use bug spray anywhere that my tarantulas were in or near. I do have an exterminator that comes a few times a year to deal with an ant problem, but they never use sprays inside my house. They put the pesticides inside my walls via the electrical outlets.
 

tonyiscool65

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Are you 100% sure the adults are black widows and not false widows?

In any case, most of the babies will likely die off, especially with winter coming. They are of no danger to you or your animals at the moment - too small to bite you. I've had black widows spiderlings in my hair, crawling on me, etc. and aside from it being very annoying, there was no danger to me. I've lived my entire life in areas that had a high population of black widows and I've always just let them be. Natural pest control! Widows are not interested in biting you, after all - venom production takes resources they want to conserve. Just don't squeeze them. They don't like that :)

As The Snark says, you could vacuum them up. That's what my friends and I use to do when there were just flat out too many widow babies.

I would never use bug spray anywhere that my tarantulas were in or near. I do have an exterminator that comes a few times a year to deal with an ant problem, but they never use sprays inside my house. They put the pesticides inside my walls via the electrical outlets.
I'm pretty sure they are black widows. I vacuumed them up as best as possible, I probably squished like 20 of them. I'm more concerned with my two cats possibly getting bitten but I think the spiderlings will die soon enough with no food sources. As of now tho I've moved my pets so that no black widows set up shop in their enclosure. This is the first year we didn't get sprayed for spiders where I'm living at and it crazy to go from never seeing a spider or any bug to walking into webs every other day. Thank you.
 

Ranitomeya

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An abundance of a predator is a sign of an abundance of prey items. What usually happens is the slower-maturing, less reproductively efficient predators are wiped out with their faster-maturing and highly fecund prey and once the pesticides wear off, the prey population goes out of control due to lack of predators and then the predators return and experience similar increases in population due to the availability of prey. At equilibrium, the populations of both predator and prey are usually quite manageable. Also, unusual numbers of a specific predator could occur and continue to occur past equilibrium of prey and predator species if there were multiple species of predators, but one or more are completely wiped out and never returned.
 

viper69

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There's no need to kill them. As they are small, just capture them and release them outside. They are beneficial to human. The mortality rate I believe is 1-4%, not very high. I had some adults at my place. They are VERY skittish and very afraid of disturbances from people. They build webbing that looks like shattered glass, ie no discernible pattern. Also, they only build at levels a few inches above ground generally speaking. For such a disorganized looking web to me, they sure are fast to escape though. Faster than some of my larger Ts hah.
 

KezyGLA

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I have always wanted to see this spider for real instead of on youtube or tv. I thinkl the webbing they make is quite unique and they are a very attractive spider.

If there is a way to easily remove them from the house I would choose that route as spraying anything like that in a home where you have Ts is never good.
 

TownesVanZandt

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I have always wanted to see this spider for real instead of on youtube or tv. I thinkl the webbing they make is quite unique and they are a very attractive spider.

If there is a way to easily remove them from the house I would choose that route as spraying anything like that in a home where you have Ts is never good.
You have them in Andalucia, so you could go spider safari across the countryside :D
 

KezyGLA

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You have them in Andalucia, so you could go spider safari across the countryside :D
Heheh. I didnt even know they were in Andalucia. I thought only pedes and trapdoor was the most interesting. Thanks for letting me know. I barely get to go in the countryside there unless visiting family. I will be looking forward to the next trip even more :)
 

Estein

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The hatchling widows also aren't venomous yet, so you don't have to worry about getting envenomated while you capture and release them.
 

viper69

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The hatchling widows also aren't venomous yet, so you don't have to worry about getting envenomated while you capture and release them.
Interesting, where'd you learn that?
 

viper69

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I have always wanted to see this spider for real instead of on youtube or tv. I thinkl the webbing they make is quite unique and they are a very attractive spider.

If there is a way to easily remove them from the house I would choose that route as spraying anything like that in a home where you have Ts is never good.
I can tell you first hand they are pretty. However, I can tell you that some of the redbacks found in other parts of the world are much prettier than the ones found here IMO. I saw a few either from elsewhere and the red marking was far more striking in pattern than the USA.
 

Jeff23

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The hatchling widows also aren't venomous yet, so you don't have to worry about getting envenomated while you capture and release them.
While a small spider may have some problems penetrating the skin, I think they do have venom.

EDIT* I am not a Black Widow expert but have never seen otherwise. We have lots of them here.
 
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viper69

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While a small spider may have some problems penetrating the skin, I think they do have venom.

EDIT* I am not a Black Widow expert but have never seen otherwise. We have lots of them here.
That's what I thought to. I'm no venom expert, but I haven't come across an animal that isn't born ready w/the venom per se. Im sure there's an exception in nature.
 

Estein

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That's what I thought to. I'm no venom expert, but I haven't come across an animal that isn't born ready w/the venom per se. Im sure there's an exception in nature.
Unfortunately I can't give you a text citation-- I learned this from a recent presentation I saw from Dr. Susan Reichert, a former president of the AAS.

Also she was super cool and signed my textbook. :bookworm:
 

viper69

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Unfortunately I can't give you a text citation-- I learned this from a recent presentation I saw from Dr. Susan Reichert, a former president of the AAS.

Also she was super cool and signed my textbook. :bookworm:
She's an impressive scientist no doubt.
 

Jeff23

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Unfortunately I can't give you a text citation-- I learned this from a recent presentation I saw from Dr. Susan Reichert, a former president of the AAS.

Also she was super cool and signed my textbook. :bookworm:
That is very interesting. I wonder when/how the transition occurs? Does it have the equipment but it is just not mature enough to make the venom? If you find details on this I would love to see the link.

I think Black Widows are beautiful spiders. But they probably evoke more fear into people in my geographic area than multiple tarantulas combined.
 

Estein

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That is very interesting. I wonder when/how the transition occurs? Does it have the equipment but it is just not mature enough to make the venom? If you find details on this I would love to see the link.
I was poking around the internet for this info--I'd also love to know more--and I'm kind of surprised the info isn't more accessible. Maybe that's just because I think everyone should be more interested in spiders though. :happy:

Dr. Reichert's husband actually volunteers pretty often where I work, so I'll see if I can put a bug in his ear next time I see him and get some info.
 

compnerd7

Arachnobaron
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I have raised and bread many kinds of widows... 4 adults in the same area doesn't sound like widow behavior, they could be regular house spiders. And when those egg sacs hatch, you usually have 1,000's. Also, their venom isn't THAT toxic (if they can even break the skin) so I wouldn't be overly worried about them. Your cat will more than likely eat them all up before they get if size to cause harm haha.

Here are some pics just for fun. Who doesn't like pictures?

Western female before sexually mature, they can have quite a unique pattern
IMG_2817.JPG IMG_2820.JPG IMG_2819.JPG IMG_2818.JPG IMG_2821.JPG
.
 

ReignofInvertebrates

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I'm 99% sure that ALL venomous spiders have venom from sling to adult, but lack the ability to penetrate skin until they are large enough.
 
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