Black widows & snakes

It just wouldn't be my yard without the black widows. I have a safe haven( at least most of the time) for them. You see I have this mini-nursery thing going in mmy yard. With all those nursery pots plenty of places for them to nest and hide. I am used to seeing their webbing and know where they are. I do occasionally kill them, because I have so many and for safty sake. Today I had a close encounter and it's a good thing they are not aggressive or she would have bitten me. I was digging up a daylily to make room for more. As I was splitting the plant, there she was! A bit too close for comfort. I relocated her to some weeds in the yard next to mine. No one lives there. Ok and this after I uncovered a worm snake.

You think it is an omen?

puttyrat

whats a worm snake?

Sally I didn't know we had black widows in our neck of the woods!!! Brown recluse yes! Heck, just something else to watch out for as well as the copperheads :-)

A worm snake is a nonpoisonous snake that's brown with a pinkish underside. It usually ranges 6-12 inches in length. We have found them under fallen trees, leaves, and pine needles that we USED to rake around the trees. I hope this helps.

I can understand not killing garden spiders and non poisonus snakes but Black Widows? True the bit is only truly fatal to the very young, the old and the infirm but let me tell you they are a very painful bite to anyone! I was bitten 3 times on the stomach many years ago and let me tell you it was not a pleasant experience!

Louisa if you want to know if you have them just walk around the place in the evening and check along fences and buildings or wood piles near the ground. That is when they usually come out and hang around where you can see them on the web. They are most common in areas where it is hot and dry.

I personally would love to see them on the extinct lists!

Hi Zanymuse,

I am sorry about your experience with a Black Widow. I probably should wear my gloves more often. I wasn't expecting to encounter one there. I don't save them all. I have killed my fair share of them. They do serve a good purpose in that their diet consists of roaches and other dark area dwellers.

The snake did not bother me I have run across it or one of it's buddies before in the same area. It was under a flat of Hostas that I moved. There was a black widow there too. I destroyed her egg sack.

As for brown recluses, unfortunately they look similiar to other spiders and are not as easy to identify. I had a cousin who was bitten by one and almost lost her finger. I try to be warey of old shoes, closets or drawers I haven't been in for a while.

puttyrat



This message was edited Sunday, Jul 15th 11:58 AM

Oh my - you are all giving me the willies!! English term for the frights...lol!

Louisa,

There are probably more Black Widows here in Central VA than brown recluses. Either way I am not out to get bitten. Both like dark places and are shy spiders. The Black widow will usually try to hide from you. She only bits if she thinks her egg sack is in danger.

The brown recluse that bit my cousin was in a wood pile.

puttyrat

I'll keep all this info under my hat :-)

While many of these creatures appear nasty and do in fact give a pretty powerful and sometimes fatal bite...all these creatures were put here and there is an order to the species on earth. When any critter becomes extinct things are thrown a little more out of wack with mother nature.
S

And here we are thinking about looking for a place in VA! NOT! Don't care for spiders.

Tim - I have never seen one and have lived in VA for 4 years now. But you live in Florida - I thought you had millions of HUGE bugs and some of them must be poisonous eh!

Louisa...Do you think the crocs or gators eat the spiders there? When we were on vacation in the Lakeland area, we went golfing and one of these species were on the course. Talk about being nervous...

LOL Carol - how the heck would I know....soooo funny - hey -ask Time!! Still laughing!! typo ask Tim not Time !

This message was edited Friday, Jul 20th 10:29 PM

eeeeeek! i'm soooo glad i live in the u.k., only poisonous snakes are adders and there's nothing as poisonous as black widows and brown recluses here! phew! i'd be so paranoid if i was a gardener in the states, how do you guys manage!

lil

hmmmm,

Well you just have to be alert and wearing gloves never hurts. I just do better without the gloves. I like getting my hands dirty. The doctor told me I have mechanics hands from the type work I do. I work in a large retail nursery.

Black Widows have easy to spot webbing. It has a very disorganized web and where I live they like dark moist locations, Such as wood piles, between nursery pots and in the weeds as I recently discovered. There are 5 kinds in the US and the one out west nests out in the open. They also can live up to three years.

Last year I must have found the Grandma of them all. She was huge!!. Bigger then books say they get. I have found many of then bigger than what the books say . Maybe mine just have lots to eat. Too much info I know. I had to do research to determine whether I would let them live or die. It justs depends on where I have found them. So far none in the house.

puttyrat

Sally are the webs sort of flat like - like a sheet of web?