# Gah! Black widow! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 23, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989 "2008-06-23T23:54:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/1 "2008-06-23T23:54:31Z")
Hello, my name is Asimovian, I’m 33 years old, and I just met my first black widow spider. OK, I realize it is highly probably that I’ve encountered a black widow before but without noticing. However, this weekend as I was poking around in the garage, I noticed a rather large spider which had threaded itself between a shelf and my wife’s scooter. Have I mentioned it was big? Quite possibly the size of a small dog? Anyway, I mentioned to my wife as she was coming out to the car that she should be careful because there’s a dinos–I mean, a spider in the corner over there. Her eyes got large and she asked me if I realized that it was a black widow, which I hadn’t, as I hadn’t felt much of a desire to inspect up close. I think I squeaked. Well, we took off to run around for the day, and when we got back, our new friend was where we’d left her, despite all my wishing for the world that she’d be gone. (OK, that’s not really true – I was hoping she’d still be there because if she wasn’t, I’d have been EXTREMELY paranoid about where she’d gone off to.) We searched our cabinets for spider spray, but we didn’t have any because we don’t normally have much trouble with spiders. We had some inspect spray that I used instead – and in massive quantities – before the spider finally succumbed. It was not a pretty death. I’m not a big fan of killing spiders. I usually leave them alone unless I find them in my bedroom or the shower. But I do occasionally crawl around on the floor of the garage, and the idea of being surprised by a black widow is enough to make me want to be well rid of them. We’ve lived in this house for seven years, and I’d never seen one before this weekend. So now I’m wondering, do I have to be afraid of having more of these visitors, or could this have been a one-off “treat” for us? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/2 "2008-06-23T23:58:30Z")
Black widows are shy and retiring. Just leave her alone, and she won’t bother you. We have zillions of them out here. I just ignore them. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/3 "2008-06-24T00:13:32Z")
I get tons of them too. They creep me right out, but I don’t kill them. In fact, last year I found one that had come inside for the winter, I caught her, put her in a container and fed her till the spring. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/4 "2008-06-24T00:21:00Z")
WD-40 and a lighter, Don’t burn down the garage. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/5 "2008-06-24T00:30:47Z")
I’ve seen them a couple of times. My closest encounter was in a little bunkhouse bathroom at the ranch where my daughter takes riding lessons. It was in the sink. I didn’t bother it, but I did check under the toilet seat whenever I used that bathroom from then on. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/6 "2008-06-24T00:30:53Z")
[QUOTE=chacoguy420] WD-40 and a lighter, Don’t burn down the garage. [/QUOTE] I am not kidding when I say that you aren’t the first person to suggest that. However, I’d prefer to just not have black widows in the garage or house. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/7 "2008-06-24T00:35:07Z")
We cut two cords of slash one winter for two girlfriends who had a wood burning stove in their house and that woodpile practically shot black widows out like a novelty device. I’m not Captain Squick, but I stopped helping fetch wood after the third one or so. They are kind of pretty however. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/8 "2008-06-24T00:50:44Z")
Aren’t they also dangerously venomous? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/9 "2008-06-24T00:53:54Z")
[QUOTE=Brad Serum] Aren’t they also dangerously venomous? [/QUOTE] What do you mean also? That’s kind of what the big deal is right? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/10 "2008-06-24T01:06:36Z")
[Vincent Price] _Such power and dignity…unhampered by sentiment. If I may put forward a slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled this world as a stumbling demented child-king long enough! And as his empire crumbles, my precious **Black Widow** shall rise as his most fitting successor!_ [/Vincent Price] ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/11 "2008-06-24T01:09:38Z")
[QUOTE=Brad Serum] Aren’t they also dangerously venomous? [/QUOTE] That is precisely why I have such a problem with them. I’m not fond of any insect, but I’m usually happy to live and let live unless I think a mistake is going to send me to the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/12 "2008-06-24T01:16:09Z")
[QUOTE=Brad Serum] Aren’t they also dangerously venomous? [/QUOTE] Not as much as popular consciousness would have you believe. While their venom is very potent, actual lethality rates vary between 1%-5% depending on species, and that is assuming a full bite. (The males are far less potent and their chelicerae are barely long enough to penetrate most of the epidural level of an adult human.) You don’t want to get bitten by one, of course, and I can’t blame the o.p. for wanting to dispose of the creature for safety purposes, but a pair of leather work gloves and a glass jar would have been sufficient to capture it. They don’t spring or jump, and are generally retiring in the face of a threat. The primary utility of their venom, aside from killing prey (which consists of insects or other spiders) is to ward off potential predators, hence the distinctive read mark to indicate their toxic nature to would-be consumers. Just last week I saw a widow spider (presumably _Latrodectus hesperus_) with her mate who had made their home in a gatepost. She had just caught some kind of beetle and was winding it up in the strands of the web before injecting it with digestive enzymes. It was fascinating, and I was tempted to collect the egg sac and keep it in a jar until the wee ones hatch, but I’m too old for that to be anything but disturbing in a bad Thomas Harris novel sense anymore. Being a grown-up sucks in a lot of ways. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/13 "2008-06-24T01:16:11Z")
[QUOTE=FloatyGimpy] I get tons of them too. They creep me right out, but I don’t kill them. In fact, last year I found one that had come inside for the winter, I caught her, put her in a container and fed her till the spring. [/QUOTE] Um, excuse me. I had heard there were black widows on Vancouver Island, but I’d managed to live in denial until now. I garden, you know. (Or try to.) This involves crawling around on the ground sometimes, and messing with piles of leaves and dirt, and sticking my face and hands into all manner of things, growing or dead. ::la la la la la:: no spiders 'round here, nope, no black widow or brown recluses 'round here, nopenopenope ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/14 "2008-06-24T01:20:47Z")
1. Black Widows are rather small. 2. The big problem with BW toxin is that it induces severe pain in its victims. 3. BW venom can be fatal to very young children. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/15 "2008-06-24T01:23:53Z")
One night, when I was living in El Paso, I walked out the front door and saw a large black spider hanging perpendicularly. I thought it was kinda kewl. Well, being deadly dangerous as they are, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a black widow so I checked its back. OK, no hour glass. I caught it in a jar, knowing that some science teachers might like to have it. I punched some holes in the lid and…long story short, it _was_ a black widow…they have the hour glass on the other side, duh! So I figured I’d just cheated death and I’d show it to people, fishing for some accolades. But no. In fact, seeing it in the jar and how rapt my fascination was with it, some actually offered to round up more for me. “We’ve got a million of those at our place,” they’d say. How anti-climactic! Wikipedia says: _Only 63 deaths were reported in the United States between 1950 and 1990._ > **[Latrodectus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_widow_spider)** > > 34, see text > Latrodectus is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known\[citation needed\] as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. However, the diversity of species is much greater. A member of the family Theridiidae, this genus contains 34 species, which include several North American "black widows" (southern black widow Latrodectus mactans, western black widow... ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/16 "2008-06-24T01:32:21Z")
[QUOTE=chacoguy420] WD-40 and a lighter, Don’t burn down the garage. [/QUOTE] We had one on our front porch a few years ago. My husband used this method and it worked like a charm. [Photographic evidence.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/demo/sets/72157594363719093/) I’ve seen a couple out in the vineyards during some of my classes. I’ve come to expect them and just stay out of their way when I see them. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/17 "2008-06-24T01:59:51Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] Um, excuse me. I had heard there were black widows on Vancouver Island, but I’d managed to live in denial until now. I garden, you know. (Or try to.) This involves crawling around on the ground sometimes, and messing with piles of leaves and dirt, and sticking my face and hands into all manner of things, growing or dead. ::la la la la la:: no spiders 'round here, nope, no black widow or brown recluses 'round here, nopenopenope [/QUOTE] If it makes you feel any better, I’ve yet to see one out in the garden. They can usually be found behind things in basements or under things in garages. There is a great fat one living behind my washing machine right now. Her giant, shiny, bulbous body freaks me right out when she moves. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/18 "2008-06-24T02:03:46Z")
> [@](#): > > However, this weekend as I was poking around in the garage, I noticed a rather large spider which had threaded itself between a shelf and my wife’s scooter. Have I mentioned it was big? Quite possibly the size of a small dog? You may have killed an innocent similar looking spider. [Black widows are typically not that large at all.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_widow_spider) Usually a penny to half dollar size legs included. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/19 "2008-06-24T02:08:24Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] ::la la la la la:: no spiders 'round here, nope, no black widow or brown recluses 'round here, nopenopenope [/QUOTE] Black widows, you’re safe. I’d hoped that when I caught it, some women would throw their panties at me, the great hunter, but IIRC it turns out the treatment is “tylenol for pain.” The brown recluse can be much worse. I knew a guy who was bitten by one on his foot. In a couple days he had a big, ulcerated sore and couldn’t wear a shoe. _It is important to seek medical treatment if a brown recluse bite is suspected, as in the rare cases of necrosis the effects can quickly spread, particularly when the venom reaches a blood vessel. Cases of brown recluse venom traveling along a limb through a vein or artery are rare, but the resulting mortification of the tissue can affect an area as large as several inches, to the extreme of requiring excising of the wound._ :eek: > **[Brown recluse spider | Bite treatment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider#Bite_treatment)** > > First aid involves the application of an ice pack to control inflammation and prompt medical care. If it can be easily captured, the spider should be brought with the patient in a clear, tightly closed container so it may be identified by an arachnologist; if there is no specimen at all, then confirmation by an expert is impossible. > Routine treatment should include immobilization of the affected limb, application of ice, local wound care, and tetanus prophylaxis. Many other therapies have been u... I clicked on necrosis. **_This image, though not due to a brown recluse, is NOT for the squeamish_.** > **[File:Tissue necrosis following bite from Bothrops asper PLoS Medicine.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tissue_necrosis_following_bite_from_Bothrops_asper_PLoS_Medicine.jpg)** > > All journal content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. See also PLoS Medicine—A Medical Journal for the Internet Age for more detailed information. > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > The following 2 pages use this file: > The following other wikis use this file: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989/20 "2008-06-24T02:10:13Z")
> [@Brad Serum](#): > > Aren’t they also dangerously venomous? My dad was bitten by a black widow spider on his calf. He had an ulcerated sore that took about six weeks to heal. Dad always hated black widow spiders. I’m sure the bite didn’t help a bit. [QUOTE=cher3] My closest encounter was… [/QUOTE] I was getting ready to go diving. I lived in the desert and my wetsuit was in the garage. I was hosing out one of the dive booties when a black widow crawled out onto my hand. I shook her off and she died. (Because I stepped on her!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-black-widow/453989.md?page=2)