our back yard.
{UPDATE: A reader just commented on this. Her
daughter said this is actually a brown widow
(mostly found in Florida??) and they aren't as
poisonous as a black widow. Smart kiddo.}
He had to kill it but was leery of making contact. (I didn't blame
him!) So, he sprayed the spider and it's baby sac with acid to kill
it, and then he burned them to make sure they weren't going to
come back to life. It was interesting to see this side of him! He
wasn't taking any chances. I didn't think that was particularly
humane, but hey, I'm glad he made sure they were dead.
I stepped in to take a macro half way through the massacre,
getting closer then I really anticipated. I actually touched it
to flip it over to get the underside. *Shudder*
We had to look it up online to confirm that this was, in fact, a
black widow. Females have the red hour glass on their bellies,
and they're fatal to cats and small dogs. They can make larger
dogs (like ours!) and humans (like us!) very ill.
Now I'd like to know what we've been paying pest control $60
every other month for.
5 comments:
OOOOOOOOOOOOH my GOSH! thats NASTY! I can not believe you got that close! AHH! I hate spiders. HATE THEM. Hate bugs anything creepy crawly! Youre crazy yo. Glad that thing is DEAD, inhumane and all!!!!!
(PS- i know this is mean, but we used to go scorpion hunting with a black light and a blow torch when Becky and Kent were first married....)
yucky -- but my kids are fascinated!!!!
I don't think I've ever seen one with an abdomen that big before. I'd call the pest control company and have them come back out - usually they won't charge if you find something like that after a visit. Yuck.
hey Sam - it's Susan...just checking out the ol' blog when my daughter walked by and said "cool - a brown widow"...
She's in FFA Entomology (that'd be bugs!!) and placed 3rd last year in AZ for the Ento competition!! (UGH! I know!) She sent me to this link: http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/reference/spiders/brown_widow.asp
She just didn't want you to go freaking out! However, she pointed out the Brown Widows are usually found in Florida. But then I remembered that you had just been on vacay - were you anywhere tropical??? Maybe you brought it home with you!!! ACK!!!
creepy all the same...but we have a big ol' black widow living on our front porch because she takes care of crickets and wasps better than ANY bug guy we know of!!!
:)
Suz
susankeuter@gmail.com
Ewe, yucky gross!
I just read Suz comment too. Shuttering like nobody's business!!!!!
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