Would like to know what kind of spider this is. We were cleaning my daughters room it had made a web on her Leapfrog case. She went to open the case then noticed the spider when it almost crawled on her hand. We both freaked out. She was bit last year by a black widow so she does have a huge fear of spiders now. We have way too many black widows can someone give advice on what i can put around my house kid and pet friendly too please
This spider belongs to the same family (Theridiidae) as black widow spiders, but is in the genus Steatoda, such as Steatoda grossa - http://spiderhugger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Steatoda-grossa-photo.jpg
They are not dangerous, but can have a painful bite if severely provoked. When I was a young boy, I was bitten by one when I picked it up and squeezed it - the pain was enough to put me off handling spiders for quite some time! It is nearly impossible to keep spiders like these to set up housekeeping, as they will make their web in just about any dark, out of the way place - see http://spiderhugger.com/?p=194
Thank you very much!!!!!!!!! It was under my daughters dresser so I guess it was a dark place. We have a ton of black widows with the red mark but i had no idea there were different kinds. Do you think bombing my home will help?
I would not recommend 'bombing'/fogging for these, as that IMHO could pose a greater health risk to your child than that from the spiders. As long as you can confine them to out-of-the way places where they won't interact with people, they will provide a valuable pest control service. Simply concentrate on cleaning up clutter in living spaces, and encourage your daughter not to pick up strange critters until she is old enough to know exactly what they are and can do so safely.
