Is this a 'daddy long-legs; or a 'harvestman'

[rwsmith]

NO! It's a durn Black Widow. There are two things odd about it. It's BIG for a black widow (My mortar joints are extra large) The second thing is that it built its nest in the corner of my front door frame. My son poked it and it ran out so we took a picture of it. I propanized her with the tank on my Burnzomatic torch and threw her on the steps. Then we took down the web and egg sacks and burned everything to ashes with the torch. We got a lot of wolf spiders in the house, but I don't want no dang BLACK WIDOWS in here.

 

[charles_the_hammer]

Odd for one to make a web there. They usually prefer dark, dry places. I could turn over a 5 gallon bucket anywhere on my lawn and go back a week later and there would probably be a Black Widow under there. They are all over the place here but only seem to nest outdoors in dark dry places. At the golf course where I used to work there was one in every irrigation box. As soon as you would pop the box open they would go scurrying down the conduit pipe away from the light. I've learned to live with them outdoors but no way would I be OK with one on or in my house. Glad you gave her Bernz-O-Matic torch.

 

[rwsmith]

It IS very odd.....

Odd for one to make a web there. They usually prefer dark, dry places. I could turn over a 5 gallon bucket anywhere on my lawn and go back a week later and there would probably be a Black Widow under there. They are all over the place here but only seem to nest outdoors in dark dry places. At the golf course where I used to work there was one in every irrigation box. As soon as you would pop the box open they would go scurrying down the conduit pipe away from the light. I've learned to live with them outdoors but no way would I be OK with one on or in my house. Glad you gave her Bernz-O-Matic torch.

I only think that the tremendous amount of rain we have had has driven animals to take shelter whereever they can find it.

I was supposed to have attached a picture...I'll try again.

 

[Tom S.]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lYdD9DdLNY[/ame]

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I only think that the tremendous amount of rain we have had has driven animals to take shelter whereever they can find it.

I was supposed to have attached a picture...I'll try again.

I usually find them in the mailbox, and then they usually end up as a smear on the asphalt. I don't like ANY spiders.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[rwsmith]

The mail lady...

I usually find them in the mailbox, and then they usually end up as a smear on the asphalt. I don't like ANY spiders.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

Missus Smiff, the mail lady, doesn't like spiders in mailboxes either. She'll spend time after work looking for a good home for it.

(Missus Smiff is a little like Elly May Clampett)

 

[LVSteve]

Yep, that's a good sized Widow. I killed something bigger in my old front yard a few years back. I think it was a False Widow.

 

[ameridaddy]

I often find black widows in the valve boxes for my lawn sprinkler system. Got so I carry a can of wasp & hornet spray and open the box lids with a screwdriver rather than stick my finger in the lid hole to lift it.
When I was in 7th or 8th grade, I found a black widow in the corner of our front porch steps. After tossing Japanese beetles in her web for a few minutes and watching her pop out of her hidey hole in the corner and bite them, I put the spider in a peanut butter jar (they were glass back then) and took it to my science class the next day. Teacher and other students were interested, because the teacher could point out its characteristic shiny black, bulbous abdomen and red hourglass to the other kids so they'd know how to recognize one. Nowadays, I think the school would call a SWAT team and have me suspended for a week.

 

[Nevada Ed]

The first meeting with a Wolf spider was an eye opener.

It was stepped on, while crossing a rug.
What we did not know was it was a lady spider........
with baby's.

LOTS of small baby's ...............
that ran off her and spread in all directions !!

Know your spiders.

 

[rwsmith]

You mean a MOCK......

Yep, that's a good sized Widow. I killed something bigger in my old front yard a few years back. I think it was a False Widow.

You mean a MOCK Black Widow.

We did a skit one time where a cowpoke that thought he'd (she dressed up as a he) got bit in the butt by a sidewinder when they sat on it. They were going to have to suck the poison out when someone discovered that it was a 'mock' sidewinder.

 

[rwsmith]

We get LOTS of those......

The first meeting with a Wolf spider was an eye opener.

It was stepped on, while crossing a rug.
What we did not know was it was a lady spider........
with baby's.

LOTS of small baby's ...............
that ran off her and spread in all directions !!

Know your spiders.

We get Wolf spiders in our house all the time since we lived here. I try to catch them and throw them out but those jokers are FAST. If they've got babies, my eye's ain't to good and sometimes I can't tell until what looks like a puff of smoke goes in all directions,

When I was a little kid I went into the kitchen and in the middle of the floor was a full grown Wolf Spider as big as a tarantula making it's way cautiously toward me. I got my Mom and she got it with a flyswatter. Nowadays I'd try to catch it.

 

[old bear]

Many-many years ago, I woke up one morning with a terrible pain in my right hand. Everything worked Ok, but my hand hurt like the dickens. Started to inspect my hand under a bright light, and finally saw two puncture marks. Did not seek medical attention. My hand hurt for weeks, as there was no signs of tissue loss, so I assumed it was not a bite from a Brown Recluse, but a Black Widow. Which is scary enough.