Brown Recluse and Black Widow Spiders

[Ecurb Noselrub]

People are going to be out more now that it's warming up, so this is a good time to remember how to identify two poisonous spiders that you might encounter: The brown recluse and the black widow. Check out these sites:

http://www.brownreclusespider.org/brown-recluse-spider-location.htm

http://www.brownreclusespider.org/black-widow-spider/black-widow-spider-bite.htm

The brown recluse is the more venemous of the two. It's tell-tale sign is a small violin shape on the back of the cephalothorax.  For the black widow, only the female is venemous.  Her tell-tale sign is a red hourglass on the abdomen.

[AnimatedDirt]

Not sure the Brown Recluse lives in So. Cal.  I've not seen one in my life thus far here.  As for Black Widows... they are pretty common in my backyard.  Feisty little gals...

[fester30]

We get both in Arkansas.  The recluse is the real nasty one.  It lives up to its name.  You have to check your shoes and even the sleeves of your shirts before you put them on.  They like to hide, so if you stick your hand in some place dark you might come out with a flesh-eating problem.

[Sandra Craft]

Not sure the Brown Recluse lives in So. Cal.  I've not seen one in my life thus far here.

I was told they did not, and then met a local guy who'd been bitten by one.  Made a nasty mess of this thigh and he got it treated early.

As for Black Widows... they are pretty common in my backyard.  Feisty little gals...

I had a black widow pet for awhile -- my mother had accidently chopped off a couple of its legs while gardening and I made a home for it out of a large jar.  I intended to catch flies for it but it freaked my mother out and she flushed it down the toilet one day while I was at school.  I didn't speak to her for a week.

[xSilverPhinx]

I had a black widow pet for awhile -- my mother had accidently chopped off a couple of its legs while gardening and I made a home for it out of a large jar.  I intended to catch flies for it but it freaked my mother out and she flushed it down the toilet one day while I was at school.  I didn't speak to her for a week.

I had one too, but then it had a bunch of babies and freaked everybody out (had put a couple of egg sacks the spider was "hugging"), so she threw them all down the sink and left the water running for quite a while. plenty of similarities between your story and mine.  

I had not, in my calculations prior to securing the animal in an old coffee jar, thought that baby black widows could go through the holes I had punctured through the lid.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Not sure the Brown Recluse lives in So. Cal.  I've not seen one in my life thus far here.

I was told they did not, and then met a local guy who'd been bitten by one.  Made a nasty mess of this thigh and he got it treated early.

Since the BR often hides in boxes and containers, they can get inadvertently shipped all over. Their natural habitat is from the Midwest to the South, but they can show up just about anywhere that is engaged in commerce.

[Ali]

This thread is literally making me shudder and shake.  My one true phobia is spiders.  We have both BRs and BWs in CO.  I'm terrified of one biting T or our dog because they are both so little.   

[Buddy]

We have brown recluse here, and they love hay. I am always careful to wear gloves when feeding.

[OldGit]

Blimey, BH, do you eat hay?

Luckily we have no poisonous spiders here and no seriously poisonous snakes.

[Buddy]

Blimey, BH, do you eat hay?

Luckily we have no poisonous spiders here and no seriously poisonous snakes.

Haha OG, very funny. I meant feeding the horses.

[Crow]

I despise house spiders they move way too fast, grow way too large (seen them approximately about 160mm in total span in my house before), and they seem to love me. I have had three crawl onto my face in the last year alone whilst watching tv, and a few smaller ones crawl onto to my laptop whilst browsing in bed. I seriously dislike them. Other types of spiders are fine but house spiders just no.

[Ali]

I despise house spiders they move way too fast, grow way too large (seen them approximately about 160mm in total span in my house before), and they seem to love me. I have had three crawl onto my face in the last year alone whilst watching tv, and a few smaller ones crawl onto to my laptop whilst browsing in bed. I seriously dislike them. Other types of spiders are fine but house spiders just no.

  That's it.  That's proof.  No loving god could let something like that happen.  Proof.   

[Sandra Craft]

Other types of spiders are fine but house spiders just no.

How about car spiders?  I don't mind house spiders since they eat all the mosquitos (can't even remember my last mosquito bite) but the spiders who chose my car to live in sometimes bug me (heh).  But seriously, I hate having to destroy a spider web before I get into my car some mornings.  Don't know what it is about the car they like.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Here's a Texas yellow garden spider, for your viewing pleasure.  Non-poisonous, but creepy.

http://www.bugsinthenews.com/Texas%20Spiders/Argiope%20aurantia%2028%20July%2020078%20Stephen%20M%20Justin%20TX%20WA%20dorsal%20body.jpg

[Sandra Craft]

Here's a Texas yellow garden spider, for your viewing pleasure.  Non-poisonous, but creepy.

Ohhh, what a beauty!  Love the pattern on her back, looks like an Indian blanket.