Damn it! My porch is infested with those big, black meanies! Red hourglass and everything. Suckers are at least an inch across. I HATE SPIDERS!

Tonight I killed three using the tried and true WD-40/Bic Lighter method (it was great), but I know there is some kind of chem I can just spray myself.

What the hell do I do? Should I call a pro? How much should I expect to pay if I hire someone?

These things are giving the wife and I the heebee-jeebees!

DID I MENTION I HATE SPIDERS?!??!

Make the wife deal with it..lol

I hate spiders too - None in Wa no lemons either.  Doesn't RAID make something?

I don't know. I found some chem on the web, but it's super concentrated, expensive, and made for pros. You have to have the special applicator they use.

Maybe I should throw lemons at them?

About 3 years back, I had a slight problem with bees.  They built their hive in the wall of my house.  The wife discovered it and promptly freaked when she walked into our laundry room and found it had about 30-40 uninvited guests buzzing around.  I did a quick check for the Raid, but there was none to be found.  I gave it some thought and came up with what turned out to be a great solution.

The trusty ol' Hoover upright w/ drapery attachment!!

It took me about a week to eventually clear them all out.  But, it worked like a champ and I didn't get stung once.  You should have seen me.  I was like Zorro down there!

We call 'um "black widders" in Jawjuh.  

Seriously, the black widow is one of the most common spiders in the Southeast; I don't know about Ca...I'll take your word for it.  

I don't know the name of it, but there's a chemical one can buy at Home Depot around here that I've found to be at least marginally effective against black widders.  I don't remember the name of it, but it has a picture of a widow on the front along with other bugs that the stuff is supposed to kill.  I also remember the combination of bugs the stuff kills to be odd like: termites and spiders, or, spiders and ants or something.  I think what I use is made by Spectracide?

The stuff works ok, but your genuine best protection against black widows [in particular] is to not leave clothing and [especially] shoes lying around in areas widows prefer like areas under the eave of the house, next to a wall, grass, or other cover...just the place where folks like to leave their yard-work-shoes.  Widows like semi-well-lighted areas, but dry areas, like the areas around your garage door.  Widows think that the cracks around a garage door provide wonderful, dry cover with easy access to prey.  

The industry makes a "bomb" [fogger] that works very-very well in enclosed areas, like rooms in a house, but fogging a room with poison?...I dunno.

Black Widows are amazing spiders.  Have you ever tested the strength of her silk?  I dare say it's the strongest.  AAMOF, I judge a web--where no spider can be seen--to be black widow or not simply by shape (a widow makes a random web) and by the strength of the silk.  One can hear a single strand of black widow spider silk break.  No sh*t.  

I had a bunch in the garage and the wife made me killem . When down to homebox store and got some luiqid that had a piture of a black widow on it and mites,fleas,ant and it wiped every thing out. I mixed it with water and sprayed it around. ALL GONE says the wife


I think the Orb spider has the strongest web per weight ?
If you dont like spiders ,what better way get them than to sick some other creepy thing on em


Natural Enemies. A dipterous egg predator of black widows, Pseudogaurax signatus (Loew) (Chloropidae), has a sparse distribution. The most common hymenopterous parasite is a scelionid, Baeus latrodecti Dozier, reported from egg sacs by Pierce (1942). Other hymenopterous egg parasites are a eulophid and a Eurytoma.

Another spider, Steatoda grossa (C. L. Koch) (figure 212), in the same family (Theridiidae) as the black widow, has been observed feeding on the latter. This species is mentioned in chapter 6 as one of the predators of cockroaches. Other black widow predators are species of Mimetus, the pirate spider. The most widespread and possibly the most effective predator is the blue burglar wasp, Chalybion californicum (Saussure). It will provision its cells with black widows in preference to other spiders. The San Diego alligator lizard has also been found to be an effective predator (Kaston, 1970).

here spider [smash]

Black Widows are very resilient too.  I kept one in a candy jar in my office for a little over a month before it was murdered.  I fed it grasshoppers and crickets.  Makes a great conversation piece.

12ga #8 shot works well.
[:)]

Even though I personally catch and play with the little things I'll teach you how to kill em anyway. Don't bother going out and buying expensive stuff. Go to wal-mart and buy a can of super-tech carb cleaner for 79 cents. I have wolf spiders about the size of my hand in my shop. I don't go out of my way to kill them but if I see one I do. One good shot of the carb cleaner and they start acting all drunk and then just stop moving(die). Make sure to burn all the eggs too. Don't want those hatching. Theres about 50 spiders in each one.

Just wanted to add that carb cleaner works good on other pests as well such as wasps and the neiborhood cat. JK[:D] And don't spray it on paint unless you feel like repainting the walls.

Why don't you just vacuum them up.  All those chemicals are good for no one.

Or do this... Sprinkle McDonald's french fries where the spiders hang out.  The spiders will eat the fries, develop high cholesterol, and die of heart disease.

Another option... Do you have a trap shooting rig?  Catch all the spiders.  Add a drop of superglue to a clay and plop on a spider.  Yell "Pull!"

Carb cleaner...interesting.

All I know is the little suckers are tough and fearless. I tried to kill one with WD40 (no lighter) and it just sat there. Then I poked at it with a stick and it attacked the stick. Finally I knocked it to the ground and stomped on it.

Thank god they aren't more common around here.

Hair spray. White Rain was specifically recommended. It clogs their spiracles. They suffocate in a matter of minutes. And (if you have ever been a Lactrodectus victim) it is very rewarding to watch them PAINFULLY die of oxygen starvation....

The most common are:

Latrodectus mactans (Southern Balck Widow)
Latodectus hesperus (Western Black Widow)
Latrodectus variolus (Nothern Black Widow)
Latrodectus geometricus (Brown Widow)
Latrodectus bishopi (Red Widow)

Southern and Western Widows both have black bodies with the hourglass on the abdomen. Northern Widows (who live as far south and inland as Texas) have several red dots on their abdomen. Brown Widows are, well, brown. They have darker brown spots and bars forming several rings around their abdomen. Red Widows Have red legs and head/thorax, but black abdomens with many red spots....


Scott

You forgot the white widow, which is commonly found in households around the country where a white male has died.  In some cases the white male died from the bite of a black widow, which is why most white widows hate black widows. [:D]

Besides those lil black miss' have you seen the brownish/red, or the white/black swirl miss' yet?

Use the shop vac on them for starters.  Or for fun try the house-hold cleaner 409 on them.

I found one in the office when I worked in williston ND. Nothing to kill it with, but I remberered reading somewhere that if you invert a can of compressed air, the kind you clean keyboards with, freon will shoot out of the spray nozzle. It worked. Froze the sucker.

I have found Raid Wasp spray does a pretty good job of dispatching them.
We have a large black wasp that is native here that eats them and their egg sacs.  If you see them, don't kill them (wasps).  They are not aggressive at all and good to have around.
The "daring jumping spider" also kills and eats black widows. They are smart and fun to play with and, while quite venomous also, they won't bite unless you hurt them.  Don't hurt them. They look like a small tarantula.

marsh

take a lighter,  and a can of spray paint. light flame and spray paint through flame toward spider infested direction!   [pyro]

KILL ALL SPIDERS I  THEM!!!

PROFESSIONAL RESPONDS:

Stand back there!  I am a professional exterminator. Hey, I kill shit like this for a livin' (at least until I am done with school).  There is a lot of stuff out there that will kill black widows.  Last summer we had a crawlspace full of them up here and we fogged the hell out of it and that took care of the problem.  Get yourself a one gallon sprayer and go to your local agricultural supply and buy the strongest stuff they have and mix it in the tank.  Then go around your house and fan spray the foundation, under decks, around landscaping, anywhere that looks like a likely hiding place.  The strong Raid stuff should also work for spot treating inside the house.  Just make sure to follow the label.  If you have a crawl or basement I would buy some foggers and use them, just be sure to leave the premises for at least 4 hours.  Buy good name brand stuff.  If this fails I strongly reccommend calling a company.  Go with the big names though, they may not be cheaper, but the training their people get is above par.  A good source for bug info is [url]www.terminix.com[/url]  Go to the pest library.  You can also use the "Ask an entomologist" link for specifics.

The hair spray trick sounds very good, especially if paired with a Bic butane lighter. he he

I want some kind of chem I can spray or leave around the base of the house, all the way around, that is persistent for at least a few months. I know there is some stuff like that, but I don't remember the name.

SOB! I swear to God, last night I had a dream about the damn things. This evening I killed another on the porch and I'm going out in a few minutes to look again.

So far, none inside the house. That would probably freak me out even more.

If you have an infestation... look for egg sacks!!!

They are perfectly round balls of silk, usually in the center of a web. About the size of a marble. If you find them, take some motor oil and soak the ball.

Nothing worse than having those little buggers hatch. You get a billion little pin head white dot spiders floating all over the place. And when they bite... Shit! They hurt!

Biggest black widow I ran across was about 1/2-3/4" in diamater WITHOUT THE LEGS!! I only found it when I tripped over her silk. I didn't break it, but I fell down. Got up thinking it was some cassette tape some kid had strung up, looked and found that black bitch. I just jumped 2 feet up and ran like hell!

MORE PROFESSIONAL WISDOM:

Look on the active ingedient list for chemicals like pyrethrins (non-residual, good for kids rooms/inside when you actually see one), chlorpyriphos (harder and harder to find since it got banned last year but there is still some out there), permethrin, esfenzelerate (this is my current favorite), cyfluthrin (another fave), orthene/acephate.  These come under different trade names so look at the little list usually near the bottom of the can. Of course a lot of the stuff I use come under "restricted use" but many of these same chemicals are availiable to the public in albeit less concentrated formulations.  They will still work though.  If you have time and want to save yourself a ton of money get certified.  Call your ag department and find out when they are testing and order the study book.  For about $50 to $75 you can get your card and buy any restricted use chemical you want.  If the problem is out of I I would go this route.  Compare it with spending $500 to $1000 a year hiring a guy like me to come out and do it fo you.  Good luck!

Anybody seen the commercials for "Eight Legged Freaks"? Tarantulas about three feet long (BODIES!) Science experiment goes wrong. They take over a town and start webbing it up...

Scott

P.S. My bad. They get MUCH bigger than three feet long....

JackBurton, that's what I was looking for. Something called pyrethrins. But you said it's non-residual? Does that mean I need to spray it outside the house once a week? I don't really have a problem inside. The problem is the garage and near doors outside the house. Thanks for the info!

Guzzler is right, I almost forgot.  If you have an infestation there are some non-chemical control methods you can use.  Get yourself one of those long-handled brushes and go around your house and knock down any webs you find, especially if they contain egg sacks. The brush I use on the job is called a "webbster" and they carry them at Menard's and Home Depot, it extends to 25'.  Another thing you want to do is make sure the grass around you house is cut, the shorter the better and on a regular basis.  You should also cut back any shrubbery, bushes, ivy (if you have got ivy, especially the kind that grows up the side of the house, get rid of it!) trees etc... to at least 16 inches away from the house.  Good huntin!

Mattja, please do NOT click this link:


[url]http://us.imdb.com/EGallery?source=ss&group=0271367&photo=ELF-FX-5.jpg&path=group[/url]

It's a still from "Eight Legged Freaks" of a HUGE tarantula....


Scott

[img]http://gallery.yimg.com/c/256wm/10552771.jpg[/img]

More info:


[url]http://www.desertusa.com/july97/du_bwindow.html[/url]


Scott

The best RX for Black Widows is to cut off their welfare checks and the food stamps.

Use the old trusted method, a flashlight and a fly swatter. They come out at night, and are easy victims of an assault fly swatter.

I'm backing the carb cleaner method. I use Berrymans B-12 Chemtool carb cleaner. No residual effects but it's kinda' neat to watch those suckers smoke while they dissolve.

I hate black widows.