Oh wow that is really good to know, I thought they looked nearly identical! Any info on dealing with black widows without pesticides? I’ve killed at LEAST 1 or 2 females every night for the past 4 nights I’ve been house sitting for my friend who’s family has heard of no such thing as a big lover.
Not really the place to ask such questions in my opinion, for this is inverts community where people love, keep, breed inverts including spiders as well.
Catch them, keep them for breeding, or mail them to people that want to keep/breed them. They get sold online -- cheaply, so don't expect to profit -- but they're a worthwhile part of the hobby.
I’ve thought about that actually but also for the reason of just to practice spider breeding because honestly I don’t know how to go about selling them yet and it seems difficult. I kept one of the black widows because of its sheer size and right away it made me 2 egg sacks. I popped one open after almost a month and 2 spiders came out. Didn’t crack it open too much so hopefully the rest come out with time. I keep them in a little deli style cup with toilet paper to cover the vent holes. How often should I dampen he toilet paper sub?
I understand completely, that’s why I would never use pesticides. I will do my best to round them up and relocate, sell or give them away to local shops. I live in an apartment and I’m just house sitting for my friend right now and helping his family with their fears of using their backyard, so I don’t have much space to keep black widows. I do have one though!
Why not just catch and move them? Why kill them at all?
That’s probably what I’ll do along with asking people around if they are interested in taking any in but I doubt it. They are all over the place. Now that I think about it though I’ve never actually seen one in the desert. Just in houses near deserts. What kind of location should I relocate in? There’s a very rocky area nearby.
Anywhere with anchor points for webs.
It is pretty common to find mature male widows in the webs of female widows - especially in the daytime. I have lots of western black widows (L. hesperus) in my yard, and I've observed the males coming out during the daytime to poach food that is caught in the female's web. It saves them having to expend energy making their own webs and catching prey - and they can eat safely during the daytime, when she's tucked away in her dark little hidey-hole.