Wes Mantooth

...Help?

Okay long story short, girl I'm sort of seeing is renting a house and it seems to have an inordinate amount of Black Widows hanging around. Personally I've killed around 8 or 9 in the last week or two including 4 in the garage (one hiding on a rake handle), another in the mailbox, one on the back porch, another coming out of the space between the brickwork...and you know, all of that is okay I don't mind spiders...but nothing will give you a case of arachnophobia like finding one crawling on the back of the toilet tank.

Now, I'm not too familiar with black widows, the worst I had growing up was those awful wolf spiders that hide in the wood pile...so I'm flying blind here. From asking around this seems to be a rather unique problem, I've never seen one at my place either. From what I've read they tend to flee from active houses but its pretty common to find them in vacant ones (her house was vacant for awhile before she started renting) but she's lived there for 6 or 7 months now and it seems to be a new problem (eggs hatched maybe?).

So I'm curious if anybody might know what attracts them or why they might be showing up in such large numbers? Perhaps before paying for an exterminator there might be a more cost effective solution? I sprayed around the house a few days ago with something I picked up from the hardware store (for the life of me I can't remember what it was, it did list widows on the label) Any advice would be great as I'm afraid I'm going to show up one day and find her dead on the floor from about 500 widow bites.

^ sorry very late and very over tired hope the above is make sense, forgot to ask earlier when I was actually awake.

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Xerxys

Well, that just means the house is old and was infested with insects. You need to fumigate, have it checked for termites and ants and see what happens from there. Many black widow species are immune to the fumigation poison used.

Check the house, all of it, for nooks and crannies and have them caulked (pronounced cocked, **giggles**) especially around the kitchen where you have roaches and rodents. Case in point, once all the house is purged of all insects, then the black widow spiders will leave.

An alternative. Get a pro to do the fumigation. They will bring poison you can't buy without a permit and kill everything alive in your house. This is probably best because it appears that not only is there more than one nest in your house but they have an established breeding and feeding ground zero.

clavus

Sounds like you had a hatch of spiders. Pay a professional 50 bucks (or whatever) and have him kill the fuck out of your black widows.

Normally, I find spiders in my house and toss them outside. I have no quarrel with them. But black widows are different. They will make you sick sick sick if they bite you. You don't want to put your hand in a gardening glove and get bit by the little bugger living in there.

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Wes Mantooth

Yeah we figured it was time to call the in the pro's. I was surprised because its a relatively new house, she keeps it clean and she hasn't had problem with other insects. Only one has actually gotten in the house (toilet tank) but still its not fun thrusting your hand into a mailbox or grabbing a rake handle and seeing one of those things crawling around. So fumigation/exterminator it will be...at least I have an excuse to invite her over to my place for the weekend...er while I sleep on the couch of course...

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

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Hektore

I would call in the pros at this point; sounds like a newspaper just isn't going to cut it.

I've never heard of such a thing unless you did have a hatching inside somewhere....What area of the globe do you live in and are you sure they're black widows?

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Wes Mantooth

Just outside of Nashville, TN, southeastern US, so this is kind of the heart of black widow territory from what I understand. I would bet my life on them being black widows black body, round abdomen about roughly a little smaller then a marble, red hour glass. The only one I wasn't sure of was the one of the porch, I hosed it down with raid from afar but it was sitting in the middle of a web that ran from the house to the porch railing. All I saw was the round black body...so I assumed.

Asked the gf this evening before going out if she saw anymore, and she told me she found a dead one in the flower bed under the mailbox...maybe my spraying worked? Other then that, no more have been seen since maybe Wednesdayish.

I can only imagine that maybe some eggs hatched and they were trying to get out of the house...only we found them first. Still kind of creepy though. On a side note I was reading in the paper the other day that the major flooding we had here this spring was responsible for driving brown recluse(s?)closer to peoples homes and there's been a lot more reported sightings/bites this year, is the same possible for widows?

Thanks again for the input all.

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antithesis

I'm sure the flooding could be a contributing factor, many creatures extend their range when their natural habitat is unusable. Do you get those brown recluse spiders by you too? Those things are nasty.

...What about a hybrid black widow brown recluse spider? AHHHHHHHH.

Also, caulked is not pronounced as "cocked". Otherwise Faulkner would be "Fockner". If anything it's "caukt". But hopefully that will be something that will help keep the bugs out.

FuglyStick

Lucky dog

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Wes Mantooth

Goddamn...fuck the spiders. This thread is now about Scarlett Johansson.

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FuglyStick

Successful thread-jack is successful

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hunnychile

Niiiice jack! Perhaps The BEST Thread Jack Ever!

I'm not gay, but she is simply gorgeous and one of the sexiest ladies ever posted here.

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dlish

what do you get when you cross a hot blonde with a spider?..why spider woman of course!




sorry i have nothing to add to this conversation. it is interesting though. no, really it is!

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I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Wes Mantooth

Wait..what were we talking about again?

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FuglyStick

Spiders. They are bad.

BAD SPIDERS! BAD!

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Wes Mantooth

Yup, spiders are AWESOME!

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FuglyStick

(^^^ HOLY FUCK!!! )

Itsy.

Bitsy.

Spiders.

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Wes Mantooth

Sweet mother of GOD! ^^^

...spiders often infest refrigerators...I think

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FuglyStick

Cats are natural predators of spiders. Or not.

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dlish

when you have these running around in your backyard...



you need this

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An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Xerxys

Being gay is alright, as long as your female, that is.