Spider question

LVSteve

LVSteve

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Putting out the trash in the late evening is also a good time to check for unwelcome lodgers around the property. This is especially true after it has been windy as the little buggers parasail in. Sooo, after putting out the bins, I got the flashlight and Raid and went hunting. Nailed one German Cockroach, one American Cockroach (the winged model), two suspected juvenile or possibly male Black Widows and one definite female. This was all in and around the shrubs at the front of the property.

Then when I got back up to the house, I checked next to the garage door. Sure enough, scrappy web with large black occupant thrashing about making more web, or possibly wrapping some prey. I took aim with the Raid then paused. I could see no red hourglass mark in the light. I changed position and shone the light again. Still no mark. Still, this sucker was big so I sprayed it anyway. Checked the corpse next day and I still cannot see a red mark, but the body shape and legs all scream widow at me. Now I know some insects and arachnids go all over dark with extreme age. Is that what I had, a very old Black Widow, or was it something else.
 
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usually only young female black widows will have the red hourglass. they are also more glossy looking than older ones.
 
They are thick here this year, spiders that is. Most are innocuous, and keep down the other bugs that tend to gather in my window wells in this old farm house.

Howsomever, I just disturbed a 2-1/2 incher that was lurking behind the microwave, and he was too fast for me, scurrying to safety under said appliance before I could achieve proper sight alignment with my can of Raid. Smallish oblong body, big legs, all black. . .I guess it coulda been a black widow.

Now I am concocting an ambush strategy. :D

One more thought: never whack wolf spiders with a broom. Apparently, they carry their hundreds of offspring on their bodies, and when you swat momma wolf spider, the babies disperse is all directions, making chemical warfare a necessity.


Bullseye
 
I have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on spiders. If they're not in close proximity to where I need to be on a regular basis, I don't look for them, and generally ignore them if they're in out of the way places. In the shower or in the bedroom and they're toast. The other day, I saw one crawling on top of the computer, between the top of the system unit and the scanner sitting on top of it. It took me two days, but I killed him.
 
I'm not scared of ANY kind of spider....

Bullseye 2620 said:
They are thick here this year, spiders that is. Most are innocuous, and keep down the other bugs that tend to gather in my window wells in this old farm house.

Howsomever, I just disturbed a 2-1/2 incher that was lurking behind the microwave, and he was too fast for me, scurrying to safety under said appliance before I could achieve proper sight alignment with my can of Raid. Smallish oblong body, big legs, all black. . .I guess it coulda been a black widow.

Now I am concocting an ambush strategy. :D

One more thought: never whack wolf spiders with a broom. Apparently, they carry their hundreds of offspring on their bodies, and when you swat momma wolf spider, the babies disperse is all directions, making chemical warfare a necessity.


Bullseye
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...and will not kill any unless there is absolutely no recourse (this includes widows and fiddlebacks). I think they are adorable.

A wolf spider with a back full of babies would rate a picture from me at least...maybe try to find it a cricket or something.
 
Spiders and snakes ALL qualify for an automatic death penalty hereabouts. Just not the warm, caring, environmentally friendly kind of guy in those cases.
 
Spiders seen in your house means one thing = you have some other insect in your home they are after. Pill Bugs, Ants, Silverfish and Earwigs are all great feed for spiders. Get rid of the insects and the spiders go outside to find feed. I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I am by no means a pest control expert. But through trial and error, this has worked for me.
 
FlYFiShErMaN said:
Spiders seen in your house means one thing = you have some other insect in your home they are after. Pill Bugs, Ants, Silverfish and Earwigs are all great feed for spiders. Get rid of the insects and the spiders go outside to find feed. I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I am by no means a pest control expert. But through trial and error, this has worked for me.
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I agree, and the house is pretty much bug free, but the common areas front and back have to be "deloused" at regular intervals. I am not a 100% spider killer, but there are too many walkways where they build their webs out onto the paths. We and our neighbours have to walk there so they have to go. Sniping the roaches is just a bonus.:cool:
 
Both of my canoes are stored in an untidy, well-vegetated spot, that has turned them into black widow incubators and scorpion retreats. It's now standard practice to handle them with heavy leather gloves, long sleeved shirts, etc., and hose them down with aerosol spider killer spray before loading them on the roof rack. Despite that, a couple years ago, after a nearly two hour trip to Apache Lake, some of it at 70 MPH on the freeway, some on the rough, unpaved Apache Trail, we went to offload the Grumman, and found a shiny black marble-sized female clinging tenaciously to the gunnel, right at the point where my buddy was about to place his hand to hoist the boat. I warned him, he stepped back, I squashed it with a gloved hand. Last time I tugged on the fabric sunscreen covering my Royalex whitewater canoe, a scorpion scurried off among the folds. I'm no arachniphobe, but this would be a better place without these wretched critters that lie in ambush for the careless...
 
I raised my boat cover yesterday and there was a wasp nest as bit as a grapefruit. I escaped without getting stung and got the wasp killer and wet every thing. I usually get a couple of stings when I didcover one.
 
i can deal with snakes, spiders? no way! i have been bit about 8 times, almost died one time, they have nurotoxins, that stuff will mess you up real bad!
 
I put out water and such until those little lizards started using our deck area as a breeding area. Now my yard has plenty of cute little lizards to eat the bugs, still too many spiders though, but I have kids, so I don't use sprays. I either smash them or burn them.

I found the latter trick back when I was still in Lansing. My place was infested with the things, but I had just gotten a new German pipe lighter that would put out a 4 to 6" flame. It was all kinds of fun, and in brief bursts, you won't set the walls on fire. My landlord used a propane torch for the same purpose.

Note that doesn't work on squirrels in the attic, they move too fast, but fortunately usually do not carry rabies... anyway... peppermint oil based sprays are also supposed to work. I don't know though, I just like fire... it's the Biblical strength cleanser and all that. If you've got a lot of them outside, consider investing in a Red Dragon agricultural flame unit, the pesticide free way to kill pests. Flamethrowers - not just fun, but good for the environment. Solemn nod.
 
Growing up on the outside of Raliegh NC in the country. I in my haste to leave in my chevette, as a teen, would run full blast into a spider web that stretched across the metal supports on the porch. The spiders that made their home there were a good inch long in body and ten inch legs (or so it felt). Some may know the origin of slam danceing. I can't believe that I was the first, but I was good at it when I got a face full of fat spider and a web I couldn't get off me. And the terror of feeling that spider between my face and hand and rolling that fat furry thing off. Just about gave me a sideways heart attack. They looked like a small tranchula just plane ugly. Doeboy
 
deanodog said:
I raised my boat cover yesterday and there was a wasp nest as bit as a grapefruit. I escaped without getting stung and got the wasp killer and wet every thing. I usually get a couple of stings when I didcover one.
Click to expand...

Along these lines, I picked up a tip from a vet (-erinarian, that is) a few years ago that makes dealing with wasps nests more fun and less expensive than using long-range insecticide aerosols: soapy water.

When wasps start establishing their households along my eaves I break out a "supersoaker" water gun, fill it with water and a bit of soap and blast away.

My assumption is that the detergent breaks the water's surface tension, allowing it to enter the insect's spiracles and drowning it. In any event, it works.
 
I don't like spiders at all! Anyone know what kind this bad boy is?
 

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