Black Widow and eggs in my garage

[Kat817 19]

I would call the exterminators before they come out this week, and explain about the BW. Chances are when they send the guy out to deal with the ants, they can spray for the spiders too, at not much difference in cost. A big part of the charge for being sprayed is just them coming out. I have our place sprayed every other month, now just precautionary, originally to eliminate the spider population! But during the spring we get tons of box elder bugs, and elm bugs in the neighborhood, and he sprays my property borders for the bugs at the same time, and I never see a difference in the charges on my bill. Might be worth a phone call. Also, he told me you can usually tell whether a web belongs to a BW because their webs are VERY sticky, most spider webs are not. Has proven to be true, with what i have found outside occasionally. Good Luck, and I hope youlearn to love your new home!

Kat

[TexasTerry 0]

New construction does bring in all the critters as they have been displaced out of their former habitat. Still, it doesn't make it any more pleasant! Weatherford area is nice. We lived in FW when I was in Jr. High (this is ancient history). It probably isn't still there, but Weatherford had a great Farmers Market at that time. It used to be like going out into the country.I am amazed at how much the Parker county area has boomed. Now when we drive to FW, it's just heavy traffic once you hit Weatherford area on I20 all the way to FW.

Keep your trees, I would like my privacy and the trees too!

Good luck on keeping the BW at bay!!!

Terry

[Goannabanda 0]

Oh, yes, we have those little critters here - except thy're called Redback Spiders, and are the stuff of legend. They are immortalised in folk tales and songs (there's a famous song about a Redback under the toilet seat, and some poor old codger getting bitten on his poor old codgers!) Redbacks are actually a close relative of the Black Widow Spiders you have in the US.

They are freaky, but there's so many of them in our yard, woodpile and shed, and on occasion in the house (but not much), that you just gotta grit your teeth and stamp the little devils and their egg sacks to death! We don't bother with spray that much - it doesn't seem to do much to kill spiders - we just squash 'em!

I got bitten by one on my big toe - the night before we were due to get married! Luckily, the spider didn't get any / much poison into me - I was fine, and the wedding went ahead as planned... ...had hubby-to-be worried though!

There are so many spiders in these parts, that we end up living with them - the Orb Weavers are cool - making perfect webs in one night just for them to be melted away in the morning. I've never had one of those guys in the house. We often (in summer) let a Daddy Long Legs or two live in in each room - they hang out mostly in the top corner of the rooms, and eat the mozzies, midges and thrip! Although they are one of the most venomous spiders in the world, thankfully these guys are essentially harmless to humans, as they can't pierce the skin with their bite!

I am more freaked out by:

Huntsman spiders (they can be HUGE), they don't have webs, and a really FAST. Even though they are essentially harmless, they freak me out because they are so big, black, hairy and FAST!!! :faint: They are timid, and will run away if disturbed, although can bit if provoked. they aren't considered to be highly poisonous. My mum got bitten once, and she was fine, but when my uncle was sick when he got bitten. We see them mostly in the warmer months.

White Tail Spiders, which are about 1 inch long, white spots on black spider, long body. They are really fast, ferocious and sneaky. They will attack and bite, and their bites are BAD - causing infection and necrosis due to bacteria they carry in their fangs. They seem to like getting into clothing and bedding. We NEVER leave clothes on the floor, as they seem to like that the best, and we check our bedding daily, and under / around the beds every week. They seem to hang out in pairs too - so even if you manage to catch the first one - you stay freaked out until a few days later when its friend appears...:faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint:

and

Cockroaches, of course! Thy're not terribly big here, but abundant. When we first moved into this house, I wondered why the previous owners left behind so many half empty cans of surface spray... ...until I went outside one night and saw all the roaches on the back fence - eeeek!:faint:

...oooh, I'm getting the heebie jeebies just typing this...

[JMO 0]

My dd and I found a wolf spider in my home in the dog bowl one morning. I had no clue what it was because it was HUGE. Well we put it in a bowl and looked at it real close. It had 100's of tiny live babies on his back carring them around. Thats how I figured out what type of spider it was, I googled "spiders with babibie on back"and there was our spider. We have sense bought her a cage and feed her crickets. The babies came of her back after a week or so and it was so cool to watch. We did let all the babies go but we still have "wolfy".. She is fat and happy!!

[Northernsun 4]

Spiders! eewww - not my favorite! Remind me never to complain about living in a climate where it can get to be 30 below zero!

[DonnaB 3]

Moving my feet out from under my desk as I read.

I don't think there are spiders under there, but I can't leave my bare feet there now.

Thanks.

:nervous

[Road Queen 0]

Okay, my electric meter ran out tonight so I am running on generator power which means no sleep (generator right by my bedroom). So I'm reading this thread and thinking, hmmm, I've got it good.

I have lots of little black spiders but I am trying to ignore them. I have a couple of roaches a month. The last one enjoyed the potluck dinner I hosted for my book club. I get some big ugly brown spiders periodically and they do sometimes like my shoes. But overall, my household bug life is under control.

Now, I have come to realize that Malawi doesn't have normal seasons - it has bug seasons. When I came here in March, the flying grasshopper were big, green and flying. As rainy season ended, they got brown, tried to find refuge in the house, and eventually died. Now, it is fruit fly and dust season. It has rained once in 3 months and won't really rain until Dec. My sinus are terrible.

But I have not had a snake, spider bite, or rat in my yard. I am thankful for life's little blessings. (oh, I am having a glass of wine and appreciating my thankfulness)

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

I use a product called "Home Defense" (by Ortho).

I spray it around all my door jams, window jams and around the garage door. I find lots of dead bugs inside my garage, but it seems that walking over the sprayed area kills them before they get too much further.

I live in South Florida.

I buy it at Home Depot.

[babsintx3 0]

Hi Everyone,

Heres an update on my spider situation:

Signed a year contract with Terminix and they spent 1 and a half hours spraying around my new house inside and out. They found another black widow in the garage and exterminated it with some heavy duty stuff. I feel a lot better now though cause theres dead stuff lying around, but I really feel sorry for the crickets. They got clobbered.......

I hate bugs.......!!!!!

Babs in TX

[GE Mom 0]

Well, there's a downside to using pesticides, too. Contrary to what the exterminators will tell you, NONE has been demonstrated safe and many of them can be extremely dangerous. Most of them are chemically very closely related to nerve gas. They work by causing neurological damage to the insects. And many people who are knowledgeable are very concerned that they cause nerve damage to people, too, especially fetuses, infants and small children.

Just be aware that there are a lot of illnesses that we don't know much about (including obesity?), and these chemicals we're pouring into our environment may have an impact that we are ignorant of.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

There are some insect control companies that use "natural" methods to control insects.

Personally though, I think that a chemical used in moderation is a small enough risk to be tolerable. As bad as our chemical industry is at foisting poisons on us, we still have a higher life expectancy than did our grand-parents.

[Elisabethsew 50]

After reading these spider stories I am glad I'm not in a Southern State. LOL. I HATE spiders.

[Iulizbug 0]

BW spiders are real creepy. I was at camp in the Ozarks in Missouri when I was 13 and remember coming back to my cabin and opening up my sleeping bag to go to bed and finding a whole nest of BW spiders. All spiders still freak me out to this day. And now that I live in S.Florida I am sure that they are much more abundant than up north. eeek...I am getting the chills just thinking about them now. :phanvan

~Liz~

03/10/06

241/175/160

5'7''

[HunnyBun 2]

All this spider talk made me afraid now. I'm terrified of spiders, there is nothing worse....

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

All this spider talk made me afraid now. I'm terrified of spiders, there is nothing worse....

AK47's are worse:eek: