Serious Widow Questions

[BigBreeder]

I think I need some help. I keep my T's at my business location in New Orleans since the hurricane last year. I am living one house off the beach in south Mississippi where we are building a house where wiped out, same storm. Currently living in 3 campers and two portable buildings ringing the property. A couple of weeks ago, newspaper article about sudden prevelance of Black Widow spiders in south Mississippi since the storm. I laughed as I searched for a long time to catch my 2 in the Shreveport, LA, area. Suddenly, I have come across three fat adult females in 2 days here at the house. One under the dogs igloo house, one on the stairs to what has become my bedroom trailer, and now one in the back of one of the pickup trucks with a camper cover on it. This seems excessive. I am wondering if I should resort to exterminator tactics. I have a Cocker Spaniel and an 81 year old father in law here along with two teenage children. Any experiences out there with such a population explosion? Should we worry about this or let nature take its course. Any input is welcome.
Mark D.

 

[cacoseraph]

they are thick where i live, in So. CA

they are retiring spiders and not a threat unless you pick them up and squeeze them or something.

i wouldn't worry

p.s. i bet i could find ~20 in my 10'x20' backyard and probably ~5 in my house... but they never bother anybody

 

[sick4x4]

food sources and weather!! there are alot more food items avalible because of the weather...more insects equals a greater egg production, and the weather is right for bugs this year..even pest species..so i would think a boom in insects all around at least here in cali.....nothing to worry about...alot of the areas these spiders would of hid were problly destroyed soo they are finding new homes, were ever they can...hopefully the lizard pop catches up!! just tell ur grand pa to be a little more watchfull were he sleeps or sits....

 

[cacoseraph]

just tell ur grand pa to be a little more watchfull were he sleeps or sits....

that is a good point, pretty much all the bites i have heard about in person were one of two things. one, they stuck their hand where they couldn't see and grabbed something with a widow on it, so they pretty much squished it against themselves and it self-defense bit. or two, were asleep and rolled over or did something else to... squish it agains themself and get a defense bite.

the first thing you can do something about.. make sure you can see where you are going to put your hands/extremities. the second thing, not so much... but there is only one person i know that got bit in their sleep, compared to probably 6-8 ppl i personally know that got bit grabbing one.

one thing to know about widows, they have some of the craziest strongest web of any spider i have seen (i'm sure there are stronger out there, just not common in So. cal.) and it makes a popping noise and gives noticeable resistance to you if you break it. if a crazy no-pattern web is strong enough to make cracking sounds when you break it... might just be a widow.

 

[sick4x4]

also i have heard were if you spray often with fabreeze.in the bed room , on beds, living room..ect.this also tends to keep spiders at bay....how true im not sure since i have t's i dont take a chance hope that helps

 

[buthus]

I have tons of widows in the yard this time of the year... usually I collect or exterminate the majority of them to keep the population down, but this year I did not do so. I've lived peacefully with hundreds this year. I've walked through webs and even got tangled up with them a couple of times during night time walks through the yard. Either I have been lucky...or more likely the chances of been bit by one is very small.
BTW... even with a huge population I have yet to find a single widow (male or female) within the house. They just dont like the enviroment within the house. I have found a few spiderlings in the garage trying to survive, but they do not because of lack of prey (due to the dry and dusty enviroment).

I wouldn't worry about them ...plenty of other things in life worth worrying about, but its a waste of time being concerned with some spiders.

 

[crashergs]

i say your health of your children and the health of your relatives take part first than a bunch of black widows, in order to eliminate the probable cause of a bite and a huge emergency room bill on your insurance policy, and a possible severe reaction to the elderly, eliminate them. Yeah there are other things to worry about life than to kill plump widows, and one of them is a bite that can hurt your kids and anyone else thats either young or has a low immune system such as elderly.

a relative of mine got bit by a widow and it wasnt nice to see, he had severe headache, nausea, and fever, one minute he was hot and needed everything off him, and the other minute he was shivering cold, the symptoms of a bite lasted him 7-8 hours and suddenly after that, he just got up from the hospital as if nothing happened. (children and elderely are more seriously affected than young adults) which goes for the most of us here

kill each and every single one if you believe they can cause potential harm, which obviously you have some concern. Im fine with widows in my garage but since i have kids comming in and out, i had to exterminate them all, its not like i need them in the garage or in the home anyway, i dont need insects to help myself keep my enviroment pest free, i can use black flag cans for that

all in all, its up to you, if i were in your shoes, off with their heads! that is, if there are way too many. and if you have more than 1 in your house, its time to start doing some spring cleaning! lol 5? thats just scary.

 

[BigBreeder]

Thank you all for the input. Sometimes just too close to forest to see.......yeah yeah
Seriously, thanks again.
Mark D.

 

[Subterfuge]

that is, if there are way too many. and if you have more than 1 in your house, its time to start doing some spring cleaning! lol 5? thats just scary.

If someone lives in an area 'infested' with Black Widows, there's going to be a whole lot more then 5 in their house.
If you want, you can kill all you see, but you'll never 'exterminate' them from your area, if they're already there.

They're like L. reclusa, everyone gets so worked up about them, but in places like Kansas, there are tons of them in every house!