CLOSED: Is this a black widow spider?

We are finding these all over under our siding and in out of the way places around our fence, house, in where the water meter is and our garage. (I assume that they are in our house as well... shudder). We try and keep things uncluttered, but we get them anyway. This one showed up on some landscaping we installed about two weeks ago.

If it's not a black widow, then any ideas what type it is and is it dangerous?

By the way, we live in South Carolina, not on the coast but mid-state.



This message was edited Jul 13, 2007 4:19 PM

I think it's a Northern Black Widow, Latrodectus variolus

http://bugguide.net/node/view/26421

Here's a link to its Bug Files page. That's a great picture, maybe you'll want to add it

http://davesgarden.com/bf/go/1267/

if it's any consolation, they don't really like to be indoors. they like the kind of areas that you described outside, including meters and things like that, but mostly woodpiles, rock walls, etc.

if you have a lot of them, you may well want to call a professional to do some spraying, if you have children or pets especially. the bite is nothing to fool around with, i know. the sickest i've been in years was when i was bitten by one a couple of years ago.

i know that we normally are on the side of the "bug" on dg, but i would have no qualms about killing them around my house.

Thanks, both of you. I kind of thought it was a Black Widow or a Red Widow, but definitely in that family. I guess I was hoping it was a look-a-like and not so poisonous. That one was dead, I had just killed it. I've killed probably 12 of these suckers in the last few weeks. I do worry because we have two small children, 9 months and 2 years and I've found these on some of their play equipment and in their sandbox. So I guess I will call a professional and see what they can do.

Thanks again!

Juli

Ugh! Call an exterminator and quick! This may sound crazy, and I don't believe it myself because I never actually saw one, but when my brother bought his house here in NJ, he started noticing what he thought were black widows on the outside of the house and in the yard, and the exterminator confirmed it - I had no idea they were in this area, the exterminator said they come up from the south with lumber.

If there is one creature on the planet I intensely dislike and fear, it is the spider.

bhavana, they don't need to "come up from the south", as the north actually has more of them occuring naturally. they are native to many northern states.

And Canada. They don't import too much U.S. lumber either.

Oh, isn't that nice. Glad we have such a hospitable environment. I had thought they couldn't survive the winters - which are more mild now than ever anyway. Maybe I am getting my spider facts confused, because there are rumors of brown recluse around here, though some deny it.

i'm not up on my brown recluse facts, though someone here will be and will help you answer that question. i do know that brown recluse can and do survive winters. missouri is loaded with them. they are a spider that does love being inside-part of the family! lol

yes, and the bite can be very,very dangerous. I have heard that ALL spider bites have the potential to be bad, depending on who they bite....I don't believe I have ever been bitten, but i know of people in my area who have, and have had very bad skin reactions, like an ulcer etc. - not a good thing!

In college in psychology, I learned that unfounded and irrational fear of anything is usually learned, that my extreme fear of spiders ( heart rate increases, panic attack symptoms, all that good stuff ) was probably something I picked up as a very young child, after seeing someone else react badly to a spider. I don't have any unreasonable fears of anything else, except maybe being buried alive, and I doubt that anyone would have no issue with THAT!

Actually, oddly enough when I lived in Lousiville, KY I was bitten by a brown recluse. It was pretty ugly. I have a nasty scar on my thigh from it. I don't want to see what a black widow can do. I'm calling the exterminator on Monday. My husband and I are checking every toy, sandbox, etc before our daughter is allowed anywhere outside. She's hating it but I guess I can live with that.

i think that all spiders have a certain amount of poisoness venom to enable them to dispatch their prey. there are only a very few that would cause any kind of serious problems for humans however. the recluse and the widow are the two to be most concerned with, imho.

also, remember that spiders don't want to bite us. they don't want to exhaust their venom and energy on something they can't eat. it is only by accident that people will be bitten. i learned to live with a house full of recluse' in missouri and to always shake my shoes and clothes before putting anything on. i don't have a big fear of spiders just a respect for them. my little jumping spiders live happily in the house with me around the windows in the kitchen and i would never think of harming them.

eek - those little jumping spiders really scare me....they move too fast!

I never really felt they WANTED to bite me, in spite of their somewhat evil appearance, but I still don't like them, based on the fact that they could possibly bite me... if the situation warranted a bite. I leave the outside spiders alone, but once they come indoors, their lives are over.