Brown Widow Spider
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Written by Jim on June 17th, 2007 with
379 comments.
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My daughter found this spider–apparently a brown widow–in our tangelo tree. It doesn’t have an hourglass on its abdomen, but the markings on its back look just like some of the other brown widow spiders I’ve seen on this site and others. The markings on the underside of its abdomen look more like a fiddle, but I don’t think it’s an arizona fiddle spider since the pictures I’ve seen of them seem to not have the large abdomen like this one. The large abdomen is more characteristic of the “widows” family. It was more docile than the black widows I’ve encountered and we were able to pretty easily knock it off the tree and into a plastic container. Unfortunately, it looks like we knocked off one of its legs, but it crawled off into the desert when we set it free, seemingly none worse for the wear.
I have lived in North Port, FL for the past twenty-three years and have seen a few black widows growing up since I like to spend a lot of time outdoors, but over the last year I have noticed brown widows everywhere.
I just preasure washed my parents house and front porch plastic furniture about two weeks ago. I go over there the other day and killed over twenty spiders and about the same amount ofegg sacks in their four chairs and small table. At my house, I killed ten of them today: two under the slide with about 7 or 8 sacks, one in my two year old’s truck wheel, one on a gas can out by the house, one under the nozzle for the hose, one under an exterior outlet box, four out by my a/c condensor, and these were just today. The whole last year I have been real careful about where I stick my hands and my feet and I make sure my children(10yrs,5yrs,and 3yrs) do the same.
I personally have never seen anything like this before and I know for a fact that if they were like this for years I definently would have been aware. I can’t imagine the brown widow has been this prevalent since I have lived here. Are conditions perfect for them to multiply to this extreme? I sure would like to know and I would also like to know how to get rid of them.
My wife read a lot of these comments and is just a little freaked out now. She kept thinking they were crawling all over her and is waiting for me to go to bed so she can fall asleep( like I can protect her in the dark from lurking brown widows). She might have to sleep with the lights on.
Anyway I would really like to feel safe when my kids are out playing in the yard and I don’t think I will until I find a way to eradict them from my home. I do have some good pics of a few and will send them soon.
‘
Yeah I live in Azusa Ca, and over the past couple months have seen numerous of the brown widows. Found about 4 eggsacks in my front yard under some patio chairs, and just found one earlier today in the entertainment center cuboard next to our babys crib. I have sprayed all of them with raid and they die within minutes. Never have seen this species in Ca before though.
I live in Pasadena, I have never heard of this type of spider. I do purchase alot of plants from Home Depot, not sure if that is where I picked up a sack. My husband was recently bitten by a spider and became very very ill – 102 feaver, chills, shallow breathing, let swelling – it took about 3 -4 weeks for him to recover. The Dr. said maybe Black Widow… I searched our back yard and found about 30 or more egg sacks with the pricky outer shell. Started to see little tan babies with white stipes on the butt and yellow hour glass on the belly. Medium black could be very dark brown babies with white stripes on the butt with red/orange hour glass. My son got a small bites with white center and red outer edge. I called Pest Control but they basically said I was crazy – never heard of it (along with my husband until he got bit). OH DEAR GOD, I HATE SPIDERS!, so bear with me as I try to get pictures.
Our second round of spraying. Now! I found 3 about 1 to 1 1/2 inch brown widow spiders – I tried to catch one but the web attached to the container and it started to move up VERY QUICKLY – I had to kill it. Here is some pictures of my husbands leg. NOTE: to #95 – take your beautiful spider home with you, it may get someone very sick or perhaps kill them, so get rid of “big mama” – pictures to follow.
We live in Cypress, near the Orange County/LA border, and I keep finding and spraying these guys around our home. Now I’ve found my school has them all over as well – today I was folding up lunch tables, and found several nests and widows right under where kids have been sitting! This was after an exterminator had visited our school! You do have to be vigilant, as they seem to be reproducing much quicker.
I live in Columbus, GA and moved just this year into a new apartment complex. Outside in the corrider, I began to notice alot of spiders that looked like black widows but were brown. I thought this looked like a black widow but had no idea there were brown widows. They are all over the place and I have killed many of them now. They havethese egg sacs that look like white balls with pointy stuff coming out of them. It is terrifying to see so many. I have to move out when my lease is up because the place has so many. I kill one at least every day but since I kill them so often now, I have see less than at first.
I will say this. If you see one of these spiders, keep looking because you are probably going to see many more.
I live in the central GA. area and I am being over run with the brown widow. About a month ago, I saw something moving in my mailbox when I reached in to grab my mail. After I bent down to look, I realized that it was a black widow.
2 days later I found a brown spider in my car wash bucket but didn’t think too much about it – just figured it would drown when I put the water in. I poured the water out when I was finished and saw the spider with the bright orange spot. I hadn’t heard of the brown widow so I wasn’t too alarmed.
Then, last week I was going to sit on my chair on front porch saw these funny spiked eggs through the wire mesh of the seat bottom. Curious, I flipped the chair over and when I tried to remove them this HUGE spider dropped out and rolled up in a ball. After searching the internet, I discovered that I had a brown widow. Since then I have killed about a dozen egg sacs and about a half dozen spiders. I am sending pictures of the eggs and spider I found under the seat of my Schwinn – and the spider I manged to put in a jar to take pics.
My daughter suffers from an auto immune disorder and receives Remicade infusions every 8 weeks to keep her in remission. A bite from one of these could put her in the hospital – at the very least.
I think these suckers are cross breeding too- found a black widow with the spikey egg sacs. I know it not only looked like one but came out of the web looking for a fight!! The brown ones I find always curl up in a ball – playing possum. I can not spray heavy pesticides as they make my daughter sick – is there a natural predator for these spiders? Since they are not from this country and take a defensive position when disturbed, I wondered if they had a natural predator in the country they are from and since they have none here they are breeding out of control… my neighbors on either side have also discovered the egg sacs but had no idea they were widow spiders.
Today I found another brown widow in my mailbox. I am doing all I can to reduce the numbers of these things but feel I fighting a losing battle. I will continue to kill them as I find them but I think I am only making a small dent in the population.
I would appreciate any information as to how to rid myself of these spiders… I am pressure washing the house this weekend and hope to disturb/destroy any that have set up house on my house.
Hi all, I posted #69 and just wanted to come back with an update from San Diego.
The good news is that my relentless search-and-destroy missions (with Raid spray and a big stick) seem to finally be working, because I am finding fewer widows and webs (only two last weekend). So I think there is hope for all of us. I’m being careful to not kill other spiders that hopefully are competition for the widows and maybe they can catch and eat the baby widows.
Four weeks ago, after spraying two mid-size browns and one black widow, I decided to put them in a pint-size mason jar so I could show people what I’ve been dealing with. (Sorry I don’t have a good camera). Well, I guess one of the browns didn’t get a strong dose of spray, and the darn thing is still alive in there! It sucked the two carcasses dry and built a web in the jar. A very hardy creature apparently.
Another odd thing, I did find two that were a much darker brown than I was finding earlier. Previously, the brown ones were always a light tan, like the pictures here on #19, 38, and 57. But now these ones were like cross-breeds with black widows — very dark brown, red-orange hourglass on the belly, and the striped legs.
Found my first Brown Widow a few weeks ago while moving stuff indoors for Hurricane Gustav. Now my house is over run with them!! They are all over the inside and outside of my house. If you see one , start spraying ASAP!
I am keeping one in a large jar to study..so far I have determined that : 1. they are fast 2. they will play possum at slightest touch 3. very agressive toward prey 4. get quite large 5. they seem to run off (or eat) all other spiders. 6. they have very strong webs
I live north of Pasadena California and discovered the egg sac of one of these critters this summer. I was puzzled because the web looked and sounded (when you tug it) like a black widow but the spider sure wasn’t black – a lovely brown with white spots. The egg sac reminded me of the Death Star – apparently, those critters are just as potent.
They love our patio furniture more than anything. Since we have a youngen who walks under the table regularly, I have been monitoring the situation and tearing the webs and killing when I spot them. Last weekend, though, I decided to take on the table full time. I stuck it on the grass, turned it over, and gave it quite the bath with full hose. After about a minute or two they abandoned ship – like about a dozen or two. They were hiding out very well but didn’t like the flood. It’s interesting that there was ONLY one black widow in the whole mix.
I squished them as they emerged and it was really creepy to know that many were hiding out. It is even creepier now knowing they could have given our 18 month old a really hard time.
Finally, today I noticed a few more webs on the table so I reluctantly brought out the chemicals (I like to suffocate, squish or otherwise naturally wipe them out). I used Grants Ant Killer and a few sprays send them out of hiding – two or three and a youngen. The sac is still there so I’ll get that later.
In terms of aggresiveness, they don’t seem much different than their black counterparts since they could have dropped on our legs a zillion times this summer but didn’t do anything. This morning, though, when I was attempting to squish a fellow before the chemicals, he dropped and bounced off of my finger. I was not too pleased with that but haven’t noticed anything yet…
I found a couple more under another redwood chair today and under a play basketball hoop. Based on these events, I think they are a bit different than black widows in that they seem a bit more eager to run and not just hide out. A big moma was hiding in a nest and just bursted out without provocation. At that point, I got the Grants Ant Killer and gave her a dusting. With the black widows, I could use a simple stick and they’d pretty much crawl on and I could take them away without incident. These fellas move a lot faster.
I have some photos that I’ll upload soon. My son has seen these at his kindergarten and his preschool – both in this area. Not sure what brought these guys here but they appear to like it!
I hate these ugly creatures! I live in Yorba Linda, CA. the first time I noticed one of these brown widows was about 9 months ago. I was taking the large brown “yard waste” trash can down to the curb, and when I put my fingers under the handle I felt the strong fibers of this little buggers web. I immediately recoiled in disgust and fear, and after getting the chills up my spine and doing the “sissy dance” (and probably sqealing like a school girl), I decided to swipe the handle area with a stick. low and behold…a strange looking brown “black” widow! I wasn’t sure if it was poisonous but I killed it because I didn’t want to take any chances.
2 months ago while I was getting the mail out of my mailbox, I felt the same kind of web fibers under the handle. I looked under the handle…another brown widow! There were about 3 adolescent brown widows living all over the inside and outside of the mailbox. I tried to kill them all (and I thought I did), but now there’s another web under the handle again!
Yesterday I was cleaning out my patio furniture because I’m expecting guests this weekend…while hosing down the chairs I saw no less than 6 brown widows drop out of the metal tube framing. I killed them all. I hate finding these little guys, but I love killing them! I used to consider myself a “black widow hunter”, but now I’m going to change my title to just “widow hunter”.
I have a 1 year old baby girl and all I want to do is completely exterminate all bugs in or near my house – poisonous or not! But one question I have is do Daddy Long Legs kill brown and black widows as they do other types of spiders? if so, maybe I’ll just keep the daddy’s around and kill all the other kinds I find.
I’m in St. Augustine Fl, (native for 47 years) I’ve only ever noticed Brown widows in the past 3 or so years and this year I’m seeing them all over the place. I know of 2 at my house and 3 at my shop. The first time I saw one I did research to see if a “brown widow” actually existed. I was actually surprised to find out they did. Now I can walk around most any building in the area and point out 2 or 3.
I too am wondering if this in fact a population explosion for this spider. I used to consider myself very well versed in the critters of Florida, now I’m beginning to wonder how good I am.
I typically leave spiders alone, since 2 times while little I messed with then and ended up with a bite each time. Once was a Yellow garden spider, and the other was a baby bearing large wolf spider. Both bites were quite painful. In Both cases resulted in redness and swelling at the site lasting 1-3 days, but no lasting effects.
Lesson learned.. Do NOT try to pet a spider, they don’t like it.
Hello, I Live in Georgia with my mother, My grandmother lives right next door to my mother and I. I am homeschooled so I am home during the day with my grandmother. About a week ago, my grandmother discovered some bizarre looking eggs in a plant of hers that made out to look like over sized balls of pollen. We were soon to discover that these eggs were Brown widow eggs. We started turning over tables and chairs inside and outside of her house looking for Widow spiders and eggs. We found enough spiders and eggs to be what I would consider and infestation. Its amazing how these spiders reproduce and manifest a certain areas. We have been clearing out furniture for around three days and are still finding them constantly.
I am finding the experience very interesting and I would like to know if anyone knew where I could find more information about te shape of Brown widow’s egg.
These things are all over here in El Cajon calif. Its crazy! I killed about 30 in one corner of the house alone. There were brown windows & black widows in the same corner .There all over my kids school too… why are they just everywhere when last year they wern’t here?
We had to bring the kids toys inside due to everytime the toy is still for 24 hours or so theres a brown widow making it there home.
Ugg I HATE spiders.
My neighbor was bit in his sleep, I’m pretty sure I know what bite him.
Heather
I live in Middle Georgia and have never seen brown widows until this year. We are in the process of rstoring a mustang for my son so the car has been sitting stationary for about 6 months. We jacked it up and were crawling undernieth to change the brake lines and all seemed well. WELL, we needed to go to the parts store and got back just as it was getting dark. When I hooked up the light so we could see what we were doing… we saw literaly a dozen or more brown widows under the car and one black widow. So I can confirm. Yes, going at at dusk with a flash light is a good time to hunt them.
During the day, under the car, we didnt see even one of them. But as soon as it got a little dark… they came out all over the place.
I live in south Mississippi & I saw a Brown Widow & the male of the species in my wash room a couple days ago. The male was doing the “mating dance” & she must not have been impressed with him beccause she pounced on him & he was going to be her lunch. This irregular web was between my dryer & our shop vac. I went & got my trusty Raid Wasp & Hornet spray & killed them both. A lot of people are asking what to use to kill them. Raid Wasp & Hornet spray will kill anything! It is what I take with me when I go on mission trips to Nicaragua every summer with my church. We have seen Black Widows under the carport before. I have severe arachniphobia & I kill every spider that I see, with the exception of a little house spider in my sunroom. He has earned his keep because I saw where he caught 2 big Violins & ate them. Anything that kills Violins that are in my house is my friend.
I live in Warner Robins Ga and just found a large brown widow spider. After coming to this site, I confirmed that it was indeed a brown widow. It looks exactly like the pic Haha, old lady, I’m right and you’re wrong! I didn’t see an egg sack though, so maybe that’s the only one.
We live in costa mesa, ca. tonight i went out into the garage and found 2 brown widow spiders trying to make a web on the rim of a bicycle. killed both right away. we found 9 empty prickly egg sacks in the rim of a storage container about 6 months ago. never saw any spiders around them though. i will be spider hunting possibly tomorrow night with some spray.
since we killed them, i’ve been researching these scary spiders and found this great website. we got a lot of very good information on them, their webs, and how to combat them. thanks.
Attached is a pic of a brown widow spider that I took a few months ago. I’ve also taken Video of another Brown Widow that has set up shop at my house. The one in the picture is at my workshop. They are very shy spiders, if I move too much around them they run and hide. Although they have been nice enough to come out and pose for pictures from time to time.
The one at my house I see her down hunting at night, she builds a second web about 3′ below her nest to hunt. Her normal catch has been small lizards and wolf spiders. Currently she has laid about 10 egg sacks.
Alan
I h-a-t-e SPIDERS!
i live in south alabama
and i have seen a few brown widows myslef.
YUCKKK!
anyways. they should leave EARTH!
[:
My house is being infested by many Brown Widow Spiders which which i was recently forced to learn about. Cant believe the three of us along with the pets have not been bit. I found a huge female guarding a huge spiny egg-sac outside and a lot of smaller brown ones all over the house. So-Cal looks like their newly found home. Curious on the best way to get rid of them. i can take care of the ones i see. I am worried about the ones that may be in the walls. Any clues?
Thanks for all the 411. Great site!
Devin
Orange County Ca.
We live in Chas, SC and discovered brown widows this past summer. We were coming in the front door and saw one to the left of the door. We have 2 young children so I began the internet search. There was the brown widow with the egg sacs. My husband made a mission out of seeking them out at our house and my mom’s. He found so many we lost count. If bitten by one can it looked like a bruise with a white slightly puffy center with red lines through the bruise? Thanks.
In the recent months, I’ve found several of their eggs throughout Monterey Park, CA. I first noticed two eggs at a friends in late April 08′, I assumed they belonged to a black widow so we torched em. Recently in the past 2 months or so, I’ve noticed a significant increase of spiders around the house. Up until about 2 weeks ago I assumed they were still black widows and had routinely killed egg/spider on our trashcan handles. Last night while cleaning the car in the garage, I happened to notice large quarter sized brown widows scattered everywhere in my yard. I immediately got to work torching them. I racked up a total of about 15 last night and an excess of 30 tonight. I’ve only seen their eggs on my trashcans but have routinely killed them as well. I have a dog about 60lbs and fear she will be bit as she has been in the previous months (by an another unknown spider). Does anyone have any information on dogs/cats/other large family pets being bitten? If so, please state weight and symptoms…
Thanks!
I live in Brownsville, Texas and had just gotten back from dance. We let our four dogs outside for a much needed bathroom break. I had just put our basset hound in her cage and our black lab was already in his. So I started closing the cage door when I saw a brown thing with spider like legs. The light was off so I couldn’t tell what it was.
I’m arachnophobic so I turned on the light and bent down do look. I ended up having what I thought was a Brown Recluse very close to my right eye. After screaming for my mother I pulled the dog out of the cage and put a leash on him so he wouldn’t go back in. When my mom and younger sister went to look at it it started moving and I freaked and ran screaming into another room dragging the dog with me. My mom caught it in a bug vacuum and we were going to show it my dads friend who is a veterinarian like my dad and is here working at his office while my dad is out of town. After calling my dad to make sure the dog was not bitten I realized I had heard of a brown widow and seen one ate the local zoo. I looked at it with a flashlight in the container
(The bug vacuum puts themm in a small container so you can study them if you wish) and saw what looked like a yellowish hourglass on the underside of its abdomen also it is a light brown and almost transparent. It doesn’t look like the dog was bitten but now I’m worried about more brown widows appearing. After hearing about how many can be together and how many egg sacs can be found per spider I would really like to know how to kill them all!!! I cannot deal with harmless spiders and the poisonous ones make me even more worried.
In Pacific Beach San Diego….Just noticed two female Brown Widows on my front steps, then found two Egg Sacs. Going to destroy them now, will keep you updated on our progress. Good Luck to All!!!
PS. While I am posting this, I figure I should also mention that my yard is infested with million/billions of little tiny ants, is any one else noticing this too in Southern California?
hi I’m Shaggy, i live in Raytown,mo i have noticed an increase in brown spiders that kind of looked like orb spiders, until i took a closer look and found that these were infact widow spiders. At first i just thought it was an immature black widow until i found that they never changed in color and spun messy webs not unlike those of its oh so common cousin the black widow, i will try to get some pics of these spiders to further the proof of their existance here
Live in Long Beach, CA and this summer noticed for the first time these brown widows everywhere! They really like to spin webs and hang out under the patio furniture tables and chairs, also in pool deck box and just about anywhere you look…they sure love to multiply with their Sputnik eggs
hi,
I have never heard of the brown widow before….we have had black widows but nothing else…however, today I found a spider outside my window… I looked it up and found that it was a brown widow…. I’ve been reading some of the stories above and am worried because of the numbers people have found around their house…..I’m scared to death of spiders and certainly don’t want to see anymore of these things.
We live in Central Alabama and for the past two years have seen more and more brown widows around our homes. We had several black widows also. But the brown widows are always visible under the over hang of the house where their webs come from the bushes down below and unlike the black widow that we saw more at night, you see these brown widows throughout the day.
Even though I felt that they were always some sort of widows and just never knew the real truth, my husband swears up and down there is no such thing as a brown widow. “I’ve never heard of such a thing – maybe a brown recluse but not a widow” he says. Him and his bad butt military attitude. HA! I have my proof now – this site and several others I have just researched.
This info about them multipling so rapidly makes me want to send the info out to everyone I know so they will be on the alert around their own homes with their kids.
Bobbi #96 I live here in Charleston, SC to and today I have made my first Brown Widow discovery on one of my childrens outdoor toys. Since your husband is in pest control what are they using to kill these spiders and is it effective? I use a pest control co. who come out to srpay quarterly but i am wondering if it will be a wasted trip to have them come out and treat the house and yard before my next scheduled treatment (they just sprayed a month ago)? What are your husbands expert opinions on the matter of what sprays work best to kill the spiders and how often is treatment needed? The one I found I sprayed with Clorox and well it worked seemingly instantly to kill it and the 2 egg sacs as well.
I am over run with brown widows. I see a lot of people ask the question of how to get rid of them but I don’t see the answer. Is there an answer?
My daughter was bitten by a spider about 2 months ago
She began to act irradically
She had dreams of spiders forming words in formations
They told her to kill daddy
she had a collection of kitchen knives under her bed
i took her to the hospital and they found a spider bite
a well known physician down here in slidell lousiana said these
spiders are becoming more common as well as the symptoms
he’s been advised not to tell this to anyone by a man in a dark suit
just thought i spread the word these things are dangerous
We have an infestation of brown widow spiders in Merritt BC Canada. My back yard alone you can kill 100 or more in a 10′ x 10′ area. They dont look like any of the pictures on this page. More like a cross of two or three of the pictures. They range from almost black with a brown hourglass, to almost white with a brown hourglass, to brown with a white hourglass. They are starting to come out inbred, having 5 or seven legs, or flat abdomens like the Crab spider. They usually hide under boards or in tires or tool boxes. They are rarely alone, there are usually 5 or 6 on a small area of 5 to 6 sqare inches. We have seen them all over Merritt at almost every house we have worked on. The oddest part of the infestation is they are staying pretty much outdoors only. We rarely find them indoors.
I live in the Northwest panhandle of Florida 15 miles NE of Pensacola and our area is polluted with the Brown Widow spiders. So far this year I have killed close to 15 of them and destroyed all their egg sacks in the process. I have also purchased special Widow Spider insecticide to spray around the house, regular type insecticides will not kill them unless you spray them directly but this stuff sprays on wet and drys into a fine power that sticks to their web and then when they eat their web to recycle it they ingest the power and die. By the way I was bitten last year by one of these poor little timid Brown Widow spiders in my bed and let me tell you this the bites were very painful and swelled up to the size of tennis balls and then oozed a clear liquid along with pus, I had to get them lanced by a Doctor so they would drain, it took almost 2 months for them to heal and I still have bad scars. By the way these Brown Widows are native to Africa and it is believed that they arrived here aboard ships that unloaded in Tampa, Florida and Southern California.
Everything I read says these are a tropical spider, but I have them in my basement, in Wyoming. Weird.
hello, just thought i would post my own experience. I have in on the Big Island Hawaii. My husband and I live in a yurt, which is not at all sealed or sealable. These little brown widows have started infesting our yurt. We didn’t know what they were (or cared for that matter) since they were eating the flies here, we just lived and let live. Last week we decided to move our bed to the opposite side of the yurt. We killed all the spiders that were visible, including the hatching egg sacs (yucky!!).
The first night I got bit on my stomach which resulted in vomiting, excessive sweating, muscle cramps, dizziness and fatigue. The symptoms were all gone (except for the sweating) by mid afternoon. Then four days later I have been bit on the calf. Both bites were red with a black dot in the center and filled with fluid. The second bite resulted in fatigue, sweating, nausea, shortness of breath and tremors. But four hours later and I’m completely fine (hot flashes, but those are tolerable).
The medical journals say that my reactions were severe and that most people don’t have that much of a problem with it. I’m wondering if I could bug bomb the yurt to get rid of these, or if it won’t be worth it, since we live in the wilderness and all. Any advise on getting rid of these things in a tropical rural area?
I live in Northern California (Beale AFB to be exact), and I have just encountered my first Brown Widow.
I am in the process of moving, and have found a ton of Blck Widows just hanging around the outside of the house at night, so when I saw the familiar widow silhouette, I figured it was just another Black Widow. When I went to kill it, it ran back up it’s web into the small grill that I own. I figured I’d just kill it the next day, no harm, no foul. The next morning before I headed to work I opened the grill to make sure it was still there, expecting to see the usual glossy black, I was suprised to see some light colored markings on the back.
So I let it be until I got home from work so that I could get a better look and maybe do some research. Just a few minutes ago, I grabbed a clear plastic container and caught it so that I could take some pictures.
I had no clue that there were any other widow spiders until I found this site. Thank you for the information, and I hope you like the pics.
I would like to answer the question about eradication of these spiders: The best way to kill them is to smash them, carry a heavy-duty fly swatter, knock them down–don’t be fooled by the ‘possum-play-step on it! You can purchase a flexible nozzled lighter (8-12 inches) to burn the egg sacs. Again, don’t be fooled, if you do not get rid of the egg sacs the population will GROW! We will not be able to eradicate them totally (they do serve a purpose) but I would be vigilant to keep the numbers under control.
Yes, one species can take over an area and push out other species–it happens with all kinds of species.
One of the simple things about identifiying the widow spiders is that they don’t look like most other spiders. The large round abdomen is a tell-tale sign that you need to kill it.
to #80–you are confusing two different spiders. Brown recluse and brown widow are totally different.
Corey (#134) and Grant (#136) I would love to see pictures–they would represent a serious expansion of the known range
Thanks for this site
Hi! I am in Orange County CA as well (Costa Mesa) and am so relieved to finally find out I’m not the only one with these little buggers! I had only been reading they were an east coast thing. The spikey egg saks are unmistakeable and I’ve found the spiders in all sizes. Raid seems to be fine as long as you get a direct spray. They build crazy webs and lay eggs on the underside of my backyard plant leaves. Keeping up on the yard maintenance and wearing gloves for reaching into the plants is key! Has anyone found any longer lasting sprays?
San Jose, Ca
Found a female brown widow today. Was in a cardboard box that had been put on the patio two days ago. I was about to kill it thinking it was another kind of spider then i saw the hourglass which was yellow almost orange not red, like I though all widows to be. It was a tiny bit larger than a quarter. Went online, text book description of a brown widow. It is true she is very docile, i nudged her with a q-tip for a minute and could never get her to rear up at me, only to run. I had no idea brown widows were on the west coast. Even most places online say they are only found in the southern and some eastern states. But im in the Bay Area.
I feel like spiders are all over me after reading all these posts!
Just sprayed 4 brown widows and found an egg sack. I found them every 3 feet or so in messy webs right near the ground, up against the side of the house.
After reading what some of you have said about them being nocturnal, I’m going to go look for more. Now that I know the kinds of places they live, I have some ideas as to where more may be.
My dad is older and not in the greatest health…I’m not risking one of these evil little things biting him.
I got bit by a widow 5 years ago (now who knows if it was black or brown!) and it was quite painful and frightening.
I live on Tybee Island outside of Savannah. My 4 year old daughter is crazy about bugs, she loves collecting grasshoppers, butterflies, cicadias, beetles, whatever she can find. Today she went to pull a butterfly out of what looked like a cobweb underneath a porch chair. Since I used to do high voltage electrical work, I remembered that Black Widow webs were always a mess – nothing like what you think spider webs should like, and yelled at her to stop! Good thing. I took a stick – not too smart on my part either – and started pulling out the web. Out dropped Mommy Brown Widow. I quickly popped her into my daughter’s bug jar. I also pulled out four of the egg sacs with the points all over them. I saved them all to show my wife so she can be on the look out for more.
I have no idea what a bite would do to a 30 pound four year old, but I immediately began checking and vaccumming up any webs I can find. So far no more Brown Widows, and no more egg sacs. I went to your web site to do some research. My recollection of Black Widows was they like to be warm and dry and alone – that’s why we found lots of them around electrical equipment. But people need to know that Brown Widows live around people, and apparently don’t care about dry places.
Thanks for the info.
IMPORTANT! NEED HELP! I am an undergraduate student doing a senior research project on brown widows at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA. I am in desperate desperate need of specimens from all over the country. Egg sacs of adult spiders are needed. Use much caution when catching (gloves and a small paint brush-something to probe with). If any would be so kind as to help me, please email me! Your help would be sooooo greatly appreciated! MSummer6@
GeorgiaSouthern.edu
Wow, I am really surprised to see how many other people have posted in So Cal. I’m in Anaheim Hills and have killed over 70 of these over that last year or so.
The best way to kill these is to go out after 11pm (when it’s been dark for a few hours). Get a flashlight that you wear on your head and look for low ugly webs. Spray up and under everything (these things are almost impossible to find in the daytime.
(San Diego, CA) All summer I have noticed an increase in the number of black widows. Have been killing them off as I find them. Was moving an outdoor table and flipped it over expecting a couple black widows to kill and found a family of brown spiders with white spots and the distinctive hourglass. Didn’t know about the brown widow until I researched them. I killed all the widows I found and smashed the spiny egg sacs. Found another brown widow with 4 egg sacs and waited until evening. Took the photos at around 9:30pm (after Monday Night Football). Noticed that during the day, the spider hides in the funnel shaped web enclosure.
I believe this is a Brown Widow spider with its egg sack…nested in our wood gate in Southern California.
I’m glad your site is up – good info.
i found over 20 brown widows where i live in sandiego.they can get huge. me and my friends look at them at school but not tell the teachers they kill them.did you know there venom is twice as venemas as black widows but dont us as much of it.
West Los Angeles – Vigilant next door neighbor alerted me to his black and brown widow infestation. He’s killed over 100 in recent days. On next block is my kids’ elementary school where we found a large black widow, over 1″ long including legs. Body was size of garbanzo bean. I grew up in shrubby hills in Monterey Park where blacks were found but rarely. I’ve heard of another infestation in nearby Beverly Hills. It sounds like our region is experiencing a widespread infestation. I have a baby and 2 young kids. I hate spiders but I’m going to have to go on my first nighttime hunt and will spray and burn all suspect spiders and sacs. I’m calling Orkin in for extra visits but I won’t expect them to eradicate them completely. I’m calling my pediatrician and local hospital to make sure they have antivenom ready.
What’s really bothering me is that they don’t seem to be living exclusively in dark, enclosed spaces as I expected. They are above ground in partial or no coverage. We have to be extra careful with the kids and their bikes, scooters, playing in the yard! Are they behaving differently? Is this somehow linked to global warming?
Okay, so I have see the Brown Widow in my yard for the past 2 years. It likes
to hang out on my trash cans. I have witnessed at least 4 egg sacs on the trash can
and this morning I went to put the trash cans out and there was a spider
on the handle….I live in southern California..I don’t remember them here when I was
a kid.
We live in Orange County, CA (Fullerton) and we have seen a lot of brown widows. They are difficult to find during the day but at night they can easily be found with a flashlight. I just recently noticed them. I’ve lived in Southern CA for most of my 59 years and I don’t recall seeing the spikey egg sacs before, but I wasn’t looking for them either. I originally thought they were juvenile black widows, but when I took pictures of them and posted them over at bug guide one guy noticed that some of them were brown widows, when I did a little more research it looks like they were almost all brown widows. The weird thing about these spiders is that there colorization is extremely diverse. Specimens seem to range in color from light where the specimens have the striking dorsal side patterns to black.
I was thinking that they gradually darkened with age, which seems to be true but some of them start out very dark. I believe one strong indicator that the spider is a brown widow and not a black is that the brown widow hour glass has a yellow stripe near the head end, although sometimes there is only a little hint of yellow and not a full stripe. I also don’t think they grow as large as black widows.
As a nature person in South Alabama I have always been aware of black widow spiders. I would often find them under the rocks that line my driveway. However, since Hurricane Ivan we are inundated with Brown Widow Spiders. Last week I was moving my grandchildren’s small hard plastic pool and found 8 of them with their white prickly egg sacs under the curled edge of the pool. Help!!! Is there a way to get rid of them and where did they come from. I know they were not in this area 2 years ago.
I live in Moyock, NC and this past summer we were overiden with all kinds of spiders which included 4 black widows. What it sounds like to me is that once you get those for one season, the next season you get the brown ones! I can’t wait to have to deal with that crap! I don’t have a phobia of spiders, I actually think they are cool and they do get rid of most of my unwelcome bugs, but once they are in the house, they get smushed!I used 7-dust and all insects, except the widows perished in the wake of it. I also continued to see the “banana” garden spider and others (that I thought were brown recluse or simple “charlotte’s web” spiders! Love this site! Can’t wait to update you all after I go spider hunting tomorrow!
I live in Orange County CA and while I was putting my trash out tonight I noticed 10 brown widow spiders and 1 black widow in my relatively clean side yard. I was only able to kill 7 of these spiders with my blowtorch ( the rest where next to my house). This is getting out of hand with how many brown widows are around my home.
I live in Costa Mesa, CA just found 5 brown widows that I thought were juvenile black widow. I’m concerned now as we have 2 dogs and garden a lot. I inspect every bug and spider I find and have NEVER seen these before!!! I have only found about 4 black widows (only!) in 13 years living here but then found 5 brown widows in a week – what’s going on?!?
While out in our backyard I found 5 of them under a old bench cushion. At first i thought they might be a brown relcluse. But i searched the internet and found that they were brown widows. I have them in a jar and they seem very agressive and attacking each other.
I’ve also noticed a large bump on our dogs leg. Could this be a spider bite?
I have found these “Brown Widows” in my garage in Hawaii for about a month now. At first I seen a standard “Black Widow” black with a red hour-glass. Then after killing it I started to see these brown and tan legged spiders with gray or brown abdomens, and a near perfect hour-glass on the under side showing up all over the garage.
At first I tried to live and let live but they were taking over my work space, (also giving me the creeps). They are so far just in the garage at least thats the only place I’ve seen them.
I thought that I hade a brought the black widow from Washington State as a stowaway in my stuff, and it matted with the spiders here, so I was in a way relieved to find that they are not that uncommon.
I also have been using wasp and hornet killer, as I had some on hand too. I will try to upload some photos, but in case I can’t they do look like the pics from Orange County, CA. Egg sacks and all!
Jacob in Oahu, HI.
Try fresh bay leaves. We have been having trouble with brown widows lately (I’m in northeast Florida). We hadn’t had this problem until the past few months, mostly in the garage. Someone told me to put out bay leaves, and I have a bottle of dried leaves, but I just saw on a website that they need to be fresh bay leaves, and cut (or torn) in half — I guess to release the odor or whatever that the spiders don’t like. The site said this works. So now I’m hoping I can find fresh bay leaves somewhere!
brown widow found alongside my parents house this morning in Englewood, Florida.
Have a good day,
Brent
#112’s post made me laugh so hard even though I also got goosebumps reading it. I can relate because I live in nearby Anaheim Hills and have had the same things happen to me. For those of you who are disgusted by finding these spiders, I can tell you that you will have an enlightening experience if you go outdoors at night with your flashlight. I thought I was good at locating the spiders and killing them during the daytime when I did my gardening. Then for some reason I decided to look around at night. I walked the perimeter of my house and planters with my flashlight. It was like a horror movie. I found approximately 200 widow spiders the first night. They make a web from a vertical surface or plant to the ground- very low. There were about 8 large spiders just around my BBQ. The scary thing is, my dogs patrol the yard at night and probably come into contact with them all of the time. I even found a bunch of spiders in the planter along my front walkway. That means any night time visitors were probably brushing them with their legs as they walked up to my house. I wouldn’t doubt that is how the spiders get inside my house sometimes. They probably get on the pant legs of people and they carry them inside. Now I go out every couple of nights and spray any new spiders I find. I just wish my neighbors would do the same. The only downfall is that I have a lot of crickets now but it’s worth it because I think I have arachnaphobia.
Wow…I’m so glad I found this site. I thought I was the only one battling with the brown widows on the lanai. I ask my neighbors if they see them, and they all reply with a “no”.
I noticed my first one 3 years ago on a bicycle pedal. A few months later I started seeing them on our lanai. Ever since, I’ve been killing them with weekly spider hunts. I can’t believe I STILL have them! I’m a clean fanatic now…Everything is turned upsidedown, inspected and cleaned. I hope to one day be completely rid of these spiders in my yard. I wonder why they seem to prefer my clean porch rather than the creek and woodsy area beyond our yard. By the way I’m in Tampa, Florida.
I live in Lomita, California and now seem to have an infestation of brown widows at my house and I am hoping not inside of it. A few months ago I had found a black widow in my garage so I killed it with some ant killer, then a month ago I was watering the yard and the hose got caught. I walked over to the nice hose reel “box” that we purchased and lifted the lid to find about 10 brown spiders in it. I did not know what they were, but noticed this nice orange hourglass, which caught my attention then.
I figured I had black widows in the middle of molting, which now I read is not the case at all. Looking back I had noticed that we did have the spikey egg sacs around outside our house and I had squashed a few already. The other night I go out to feed my dog and what appears to be a spider is about an inch away from his bowl, so I get a flashlight and shine it on him and he looks like a black widow. He takes off up his web and goes straight for the lip on the trash can, a great place they love to hide-wear gloves people. Now last night I got out and the one I had seen is no longer there, but an inch to the other side is a brown spider that has a nice orange hourglass on it, bamm time to do some research about this molting black widow problem I have. I find that they are brown widows
I need to know how to kill them, how to prevent them at best, and what I can do to prevent them from coming in the house? Do they like to be indoors? Do they like warm or cold, and will they come in the house now that it is getting colder outside? Should I look for them in the attic-a huge job by the way? So many questions and so little time. You can publish my e-mail if you want as maybe some of these other people can help from experience. Thank you.
We have seen photos throughout this site and we know for certain we have just located and captured a live brown widow. Orange hourglass -marbly brown butt-curled up into a ball.I HATE SPIDERS THAT BITE!!!
hello was cleaning my kitchen today and i swept under the counter and find a huge female brown widow and we started finding the babies as well.
i think i found a brown widow spider beside my front door underneath the siding of my house, i’m not quiet sure if it is… i’m trying to get a good picture of it. It’s a light brown, almost grey color and has an orange colored spot on it’s underside.
I’m in north east ohio, there is a large spider on the ceiling near the door of my back entrance. It’s abdomen is about one inch, i’m not sure about it’s leg length because it’s keeping them close to it’s body. It’s brown or dark tan with lighter brown bands around it’s legs. It’s in/on a web because when I saw it, it was happily descending in front of my face. It looks almost fuzzy and is much larger/thicker than any other spider I’ve found in my home.
I’m in San Diego (clairemont). In the last 6 mo. I’ve killed aprox. 75 browns, and countless egg sacs. THESE THINGS LOVE PLASTIC TRASH CANS, black, blue or green, it doesn”t matter. A few days ago all the containers were out in our alley after “pick up day”, so just being curious I walked down the alley to check for eggs.
THEY WERE LOADED !!! One container had 8 sacs under the outer rim. If there is web on the lower part of the container, there is probably going to be one or more sacs up under the top rim area somewhere. I used a stick to mash them (I hope no one saw me. If I had to explain myself, they would think I was a nut) Channel 8 news finally did a news report on brown widows in san diego three weeks ago. I’m glad because people need to know they are here and they are all over . I also took pictures of these egg sacs on the trash cans
Pete in SD
Hello their I’m from Colorado and I’v noticed these brown spider’s was unsure of what they were until I was at wal-mart looking threw some kid book’s and saw a pic.They lived in my house for a while now in my closet’s and the weird thing on my cieling by my vent’s thier web’s are strong and freak me out when Ive touched them not knowing they were their,I’v killed so many and they’ll return same spot’s and everything fill’s like deja vu. but since it’s been getting colder out here they’v seemed to dissapear which is a good thing. I hope not to see them for awhile.
Fountain Valley, Orange County, CA: Today, my husband and I dismantled a sofa that had been in our home office. We put the debris in our garage, awaiting trash day. I went out to the garage this evening and found an unusual-looking spider on one of the couch parts. I captured the spider, put it in a plastic container, took it inside, and looked up “hour-glass brown spider” on the Internet. I have now been reading about the “brown widow spider” for over an hour! I had no idea they existed! I don’t know if the spider was living in the sofa or in the garage and just crawled onto the sofa debris. We were thinking of putting the spider outside on the lawn, but, after reading all of the cautionary comments listed in this website, I will be flushing the critter down the toilet. We have two small dogs to worry about and I also don’t want the spider to reproduce. This website has been very helpful.
My parents live in Whittier California and a few months ago my mom and I found a whole bunch of spikey egg sacks under the lawn chairs in their yard. We squished them all (there were A LOT)! I just learned that these spiders are making a home in southern Ca. and it seems to be getting more prevalant according to what I’m reading on this site. It’s pretty creepy!
can you get these things in WA?
About ten years ago, I found a couple of these along the railroad tracks by the
San Pablo Bay in Contra Costa County, CA. At the time I thought they were a
variation of the Black Widow, but this is what they were. I have not seen the
San Francisco Bay Area listed as a place they are established, and it is quite
possible the one’s I saw were from So Cal that hitched a ride up on the trains,
but I thought it worth mention (despite lack of voucher photos/specimens) that
they have been spotted in the Bay Area. Whether they are established or not, I
don’t know – it may be too cool in the winter to sustain a population, but maybe
not.
I was helping a freind work on his boat and I felt somthing on my neck, went to wipe it off and a brown widow falls to the deck, after about 2-3 minets I felt a stinging sensation on my neck on my right juguler vein. Over the next few hours the site of the bite swoll up and had a itchy,stinging sensation and I was slightly dizzy. I havent noticed any other effects from the bite other than the bite site being red and stinging,thank God.
I,m in sandiego ca Me and a friend were working on a truck we pulled the transmission when we went to put it back under it that night there were hundreds of webs we got more light and noticed about a hundred spiders most of them smaller than a pencil eracer we got a can of raid and sprayed the whole can under the truck then washed it with with highpressure we found one big one still hanging in the front and put it in a jar I heard about brown widows on the news. after looking at this web site it confirms what I thought it is a brown widow. I still have him in the jar I guess I will kill it and hope they just came to visit with the truck.
I am adding myself to the growing number of Southern Californians who have encountered the Brown Widow for the first time. I live in San Diego (Allied Gardens area), and I probably came justthisclose to being bitten by a Brown Widow several hours ago.
I was in the process of reconfiguring a metal storage shelf which had been standing outside since August. (I had brushed the shelf for Black Widow spiders before bringing it into the house last night.) While the shelf was tipped upside down, I saw what appeared to be two spider egg sacs suspended in a small, messy web located in the topmost (the bottom) shelf’s underside corner. I didn’t see a spider, so I wasn’t sure if the two small, beige, spiky balls were, in fact, spider egg sacs. I jumped on the Web (no pun intended), searched for “Black Widow egg sac” images, and discovered that the spiky egg sacs were those of the Brown Widow. I went back to the shelf for another look at the egg sacs, which were now being closely guarded by their nickel-sized mother. I figured it would be best to immobilize the spider before killing and removing her (and her egg sacs), so–having no insecticide spray handy–I squirted the web with thick shampoo. (I’ve used this method before.) The spider quickly escaped into one of the shelf’s nearby crevices, leading to crawlspaces running throughout the shelving unit. I waited to see if the spider would emerge again to check on her egg sacs, but she remained hidden. I scraped the egg sacs out with a serving spoon (exceptionally tough web, by the way) and flushed them down the toilet. I put on work gloves and carried the shelf unit back outside, where I thoroughly blasted it with water from the backyard hose. The shelf has been outside since then; the spider might very well still be inside it.
My fingers were near those egg sacs a number of times over the past twenty-four hours, and if I hadn’t spotted the egg sacs before unscrewing that portion of the shelf, I very likely would have been bitten.
Fortunately, I’m in good health, but my husband isn’t, and that’s the reason I’m posting. The house into which we moved in August had been unattended for more than four years. The yard, garage, and the house itself are filled with places where Brown Widows can lurk. My husband often works in the yard (at night) and in the garage, where he is likely to blunder into Brown Widows while they are guarding their egg sacs. My husband suffers from high blood pressure and high cholesterol, for which he takes several prescription medications, including a beta blocker. I’ve searched the Web to see if people like him are at greater risk of having an extreme reaction to a Brown Widow bite, but I can’t find that information. (If my husband were to get bitten, I would advise him seek medical treatment before exhibiting symptoms.)
I would be interested in knowing how those who suffer from high blood pressure, and who are taking prescription medications for high blood pressure, have reacted to a Brown Widow bite. Thank you.
No photo yet because they seem to be discovered at night time. Almost put my hand on a brown widow tonight. The window sill next to our back door has a small birdhouse hanging on a nail, and that’s where I’m assuming the spiders are hiding out during the day. Before tonight, over the summer, there had been an ENORMOUS black widow nestled there – I’d seen it several times when coming back at night through the back door but no one believed me it was there. Then in the morning as my dad was exiting the door, the black widow had made its way onto the handle of the door. No one was bitten but my dad out of fright killed it. Now this new spider I recognized as a brown widow because of it’s brownish color and orange hourglass. It is also ENORMOUS. I had seen the egg sack before ever seeing a spider so that’s how I figured what spider it was. But man my heart skipped like 500 beats when I saw that thing.
Hi my name is Tina and i live in West Virginia do we have brown widow spiders, We do have the black ones and i am not for sure but i think i have seen the brown widow spiders here but i am not for sure because i am very afraid of spiders and i won’t go around them or anything…Also i think that my husband may have been bitten by a spider not a brown widow spider but some kind of a spider. It happened like 3 days ago and he went to the ER but the Dr. said that he really couldn’t tell if it was a spider bite or not that it could be and gave him a shoot of something it looks a little better. When it first happened it look liked two small puncture wounds on his right hand and then it keep getting redder and more swelled and then he got a big red mark up his arm and in the center there is a whitish yellowish core like thing i am so scared that it is going to get worse because he is a diabetic and he don’t heal all that good no way let ago long getting bite by a spider…When he got bite he was a sleep in the bed and didn’t feel a thing… I am thinking that he may have gotten bit by a house spider or something like that….. Please respond back sorry no pic at this time…
Hello- My husband found white spiky egg sacks in our patio. We left them until tonight when he went outside to spray them. After killing them, he was very interested in finding out what kind of spiders were inside the egg sacks. Well we are sure glad we found this blog. We are happy to know what kind of spiders are living in and around our home. But now we are officially freaked out. Does anyone know what would happen if a brown spider bit a toddler of 20 lbs? or even an 8 year old girl 50 lbs.?. We are mostly concerned about our childrens’ safety. thanks.
Also, how can we kill them for good? besides spraying regular bug sprays.
I live in San Diego and found a bunch of eggs when cleaning out garage. I’m worried how many I missed, and how many Brown Widows are still hanging around in there. I took a photo of a spider and eggs because I thought it was impressive looking and wondered if it was a Black Widow (I’m from Australia where we have common run-ins with the similar looking Redback spider).
A few weeks later I read there was a full article spread in the local paper about Brown Widows and how common they are now in San Diego county. The give-away was the spiky white eggs, although the spider looked black to me.
I may have to call landlord to bomb the 5 garage spaces that are adjacent. I already warned all my neighbors. I don’t like the sound of their bites from some of these posts!
Just to post how far the little buggers’ve managed to spread, we found them in our backyard in Oahu Hawaii. Definitely same spiky egg sacks, four of them under our backyard bench, and a 1.7 inch mom. Really did play dead when we destroyed the webbing, then popped up and scurried away. We chased her down and now have her bottled up as a pet in a glass airtight jar. However my 6 year old daughter poked at the egg sack and hundreds poured out all over the patio!!! We’re going to have an infestation!!!
The San Diego newspaper did a story last week. It doesn’t really say much more than what has been discussed in all the great posts here. But if you’re interested to read what a scientist says, here’s the link:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/12/1c12widowsm19122-widows-peek/?zIndex=35578
Also, on that page about halfway down is a link to a video.
SCARY, i JUST FOUND A BROWN WIDOW IN A PAIR OF RUBBER BOOTS. I LIVE IN SOUTHERN OREGON. I ALSO FOUND TWO BLACK WIDOWS ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO. I THOUGHT THESE WERE NO WHERE CLOSE TO BEING AROUND US. WHAT’S GOING ON, AND HOW ARE THEY GETTING HERE?
Here are my pictures.
I live in Westminster, CA, on the border of Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach in Orange County.
I’m very familiar with both the Western Black Widow and Southern Black Widow, but had never seen the Brown Widow with my own eyes until today.
It was an enormous specimen, almost 2″ long front-to-back, brown with tan striped legs and the most amazing “traffic cone orange” colored hourglass on its abdomen. I’m almost certain it was a female, due to its size, with an abdomen larger than a peanut M&M.
Sure enough, I found the unmistakable spiky, yellowish egg sacs. She had been nesting inside the breaker panel outside the house and immediately played possum when I knocked her from her web.
I didn’t get a chance to snap any photos, but plan on going on an evening hunt tonight. (Since reading these postings, I just checked the rim of my trash cans and found at least one more, so I’ll have my work cut out for me.)
We live in Golden Hill – San Diego, CA.
For about a year I’ve been finding those spiky ivory colored egg sacks sitting in our sago palms and the mail box. I took a long lighter and burned the eggs and the spiders, then I smashed them just to make sure they were dead.
Today I cut our rose bushes and trees back because it’s as cold as it’s going to get in San Diego. Three or four Brown Widows came running out from the clumps of the dead rose leaves at the center of the rose plants. I smashed them first and then I smashed their egg sacks that I could see. Then I sprayed the rose plants with water.
It seems like these spiders keep coming back and I don’t know what to do. I’m worried because I have two miniature dachshunds who think they’re really tough running around the yard all day. My 8 lb. puppy got bit by a bee on her lip, it swelled up really big and it was $300 to take her to the emergency vet. So if she swelled up that much from a little bee, I’d hate to see what a Brown Widow would do to her! We plan on having a baby in a couple years. So I want these spiders gone ASAP!
We have tons of brown widows is South Carolina, near the coast. We constantly find them in or on the mailbox and trash can and all over the outside of the house. We have not found any indoors yet. I have been told that if you’ve seen one or two of them, it is “indicative of wide spread infestation that, given available control methods, is nearly impossible to eradicate.” Still, nobody has been bitten at my house yet.
Bangkok, Thailand.
There has been recently the surprising news about the discovery of the brown widow spider in Thailand. It has never been known to us before. There is a kid who found them in the bottle containers. He decided to keep them and feed them with worms. See the photos. People suspect that they arrive here by the shipping fleets.
Two nights ago we found a small brown spider that had the hourglass markings of a black widow (which we see far too often here in So. California) but something was off – the colors were different. It was dark, so we weren’t sure. Last night my 10-year-old and I spotted a brownish spider with similar features to a black widow, with an orange-ish hourglass on it’s abdomen. It had built a long, thick web from my son’s scooter to the light in the patio awning above. I have a toddler who plays out there, so we had to get rid of it.
At that time my son said it was a brown widow, I told him I’d never heard of such a thing. This afternoon I noticed something hanging out of the bottom of one of our wind chimes, also in the patio and took a (somewhat) closer look. Imagine my surprise/disgust/horror when I found about 7 – 10 spiky sacs tucked up inside the chime! (I didn’t get close enough to determine exactly how many are in there.) Thanks to this site, I now know what they are – my son thought the spikes meant that they had hatched, which was a more frightening idea to me. He was disappointed (!) to know that he was wrong, they had not hatched, but feels vindicated that his original identification of the spider was correct.
My dad lives in Columbus georgia and his carport and car were infested with brown widows. I sprayed several times but they kept coming back, especially in the wheel wells of the car. One day my dad walked past the car and noticed something hanging down from under the car. He got his walking stick and knocked it loose from the back bumper of the car, It was a SNAKE. The brown widows had killed it and had hoisted it up into their nest under the bumper. The whole back half of the little snake was wrapped round and round in spider silk! I would not have believed it had I not seen it for myself.
We live in Northern Calif. by Eureka. I have never seen a brown widow before and have lived many spider filled places. I found these brown spiders with the orange hour glass underneath. Found out on the internet they are definitely brown widow spiders. I found 2 in my kitchen and more outside by the doors to the house. So I sprayed insecticide outside the doors and found more that died from the spray the next day. Now this winter I have not seen any but do they come back in the spring? I’m keeping it sprayed around the house!
I live in Orlando, FL, and I found a brown widow in my pool area. I didn’t know she was a widow at first because she was such a light brown color. I caught her in a container and did some research, found out she was a brown widow. The same day I caught her, I went back to her old web and found the male brown widow in a web just below her. He was a LOT smaller than her, so much so that at first I didn’t even think he was a widow. I put him in the container with Sheila (what I named her
). I have kept her in captivity for 6 months now, feeding her live insects (two huge live dragon flies that she took down, and even a small dead frog!!). She is very docile and usually only comes out at night, unless I feed her. She just laid her first egg sack, so it’s pretty exciting. Now, I don’t know if I should keep her anymore though, because of the egg sac… 
Hi all,
I live in Rancho Santa Margarita, South Orange County, Ca. Today about 1pm (full sun) I opened the door to my large Chevy diesel truck I don’t drive all the time but because I’m moving & prepping a new house I’ve been driving every day for about 1 1/2 weeks. There was a brown spider which looked like a garden spider on the door jamb inside the truck. Well, I usually ’save’ all but Black Widows (I’ve been bitten in the neck by one hiding in my horse helmet–I was sick for 3 mos no fun). I got a stick & was ready to move the spider, and when I returned it had run off. I started breaking apart the web, and immediately noticed it was quite sticky just like a Black Widow. I had read about (but forgotten) Brown Widows when I was bitten 7+ years ago. I looked & saw a dead male carcass, & knew I was dealing with some kind of Widow.
I grabbed the Hornet Spray & sprayed the entire truck door & jamb, and out it fell. Despite spraying it directly, it continued to move it’s legs in the typical Black Widow attack mode & then tried to run away. I kept spraying, cornered it with a stick, and saved it in a baby food jar thinking I needed to show it to someone. I knew it was a Brown Widow.
Research on the internet, other than this site, seems to indicate this spider is in the Gulf and FL. Clearly, it’s all over. I am typically not freaked out about spiders, even though my Black Widow bite was awful (our local ER, Mission Hospital, unbelievably does not carry anti-venom. I can only imagine as sick as I got-besides my entire right side going numb I had horrible stomach cramps, and then had trouble breathing which took me to the ER…. Anyway, I am about 120 lbs, cannot imagine how a child would react.) But, reading how prolific these guys seem to be has got me concerned that I may be dealing with something more. Oh, and my kids and I were coming in and out of that door multiple times including at dark. I’m not sure if I picked the spider up here, or at my new home in Trabuco Canyon which is more rural. But, I have continued battling spider webs on that wheel well for a while so I suspect it’s been there (and I’m wondering what lies beneath that truck!)
I like the Diatamaceous (?sp) Earth suggestion, I will try it since it’s non toxic. But, I am also going to invest in more bug spray. I have had periodic Black Widows here (1-2 per year), and I’m familiar with their pattern so anything dark gets checked carefully with gloves. I’ve even seen them hang from the garage door spring. (One just a couple months ago which my 6 YO son identified.) But, now I realize the spider outside my front door is a Brown Widow–I thought it was a male Black Widow which I had no problem with since I figured he’d be gone soon enough. And, I have seen what I thought where other “hybrid” Black Widows before, starting a couple years ago.
What is scary about these spiders is so many of them just look like garden spiders from the top. Until she turned over and I saw the orange hourglass…she didn’t even have a large abdomen. Hard to identify. But, I notice something and I would love to have a bug person comment on it. Brown Recluse, Black Widows, and Brown Widows seem to have one thing in common-their legs DO NOT have hair or spines on them & they are all long and thin. I wonder if this might be a clue to a poisonous spider? Snakes have a certain shaped head when they are poisonous. If this is a common theme, may make it easier to identify at least. May not be 100% but could help differentiate from a typical garden spider from the top.
Thanks for providing this site. I sent a “tweet” in Twitter to Channel 7 ABC News, I sure hope they do a story on this. If everyone starts battling them then we may make a dent.
Warmly,
Pam
Oh, I forgot to add… this summer my dog got really sick and almost died. He is a 50 lb. Icelandic Sheepdog (rare in the US.) It started with him limping on one leg, then both his back legs were weak. I thought my son had held him and hurt his legs. Then he got diarrhea & vomited, and would not eat. It finally kicked in that his symptoms were very similar to mine when I was bitten by the Black Widow–neurological, plus stomach like flu.
I have a healing gift I do with people and sometimes animals I call Thought Shifting (TM). So far if an animal was dying I have a 100% success rate at saving them, and I can even remove drug/substance withdrawals. As soon I did this same “cleaning out” process on him (more like a hybrid of what I usually do for animals and the detox part for substance addictions), he immediately started getting better. This convinced me it was some kind of poison, as I had cleared it out of his system, and I stil l suspected a Black Widow bite.
Then, he started chewing on his leg (the first one he was limping on) & pretty soon he took all the hair off and a bite mark was clearly visible. This convinced me he was absolutely bitten by a Widow. Oddly, even though that leg has white fur (he is tri-colored), the round spot he chewed came in black forever marking the spot.
I’m not sure if it was a Black Widow or Brown Widow (I found widow webs under the patio chair he usually sleeps under later on & sprayed it but no spider)–but someone was asking about the pet symptoms so thought I would share. And, he is a decent sized dog.
Also, if your pet happens to get bitten, also thought I’d share I have successfully helped with this. I am convinced he would have died if I had not helped him. I had not even taken him to the vet, because I didn’t know what to tell the vet or how he could help him at first. If you need this help not sure if I can post my website here so Google my name, you will find me all over.
Warmly,
Pam Ragland
I live in Hayward California which is about 30 mins South of San Francisco and the Brown widow is deffinantly here. This is not the first time I noticed them though. At one point last year, around this same time, I was living in Mateca California and that is where I found them for the first time. My experience with them has been that they are on lawn furntature and on the side of the house. I have seen many sizes, none that dark though, all that I have seen have been what seems to be the text book tanish brown with orange hourglass. I too thought they were a mutated Black Widow when I first saw them, then did research online and found out what they where. If some one can email me with the best guess(since no one seems to know the answer) as to which is more dangeroues Black or Brown, and what is the threat to dogs? We have three, and there are Browns deffinantly in out backyard. Thanks so much.
They also do seem very dossile
I was bitten by a small spider about an hour ago. I didn’t think anything at first but it started to hurt. Now i am in deep pain and its been 1 1/2. About a week ago i found a baby brown recluse. I just smashed it and bagged it, then threw it away. 2 days later i found another, and i repeated the process. Next day [now im irritated] again another heading from the same direction. So i killed it and grabbed the windex. I moved the coach and saw a very tiny hole in the corner. I grabbed gloves and pulled back the carpet. I saw a very tiny spikey-looking egg sack. I was scared, i sprayed it and 2 crawled out slowly and died. I went around and i sprayed every corner with the windex. I went outside and saw a crack in the wall. I grabbed a lighter and my axe and sprayed the hell out of it. The house im in turns out have been setting empty for 4 years!!! I was mad, and 3 big orange capsuled-looking spiders ran out, all eventually to turn to a crisp. Now back to my bite. On a scale of 1-10 1 being a paper cut, 10 being hit by a car, mine is a 4. I don’t know what to do, but i will update and tell what happens. Wish me luck!!!
Is that what that is? Or, was? Thank you, Google, for helping me identify a Brown Widow Spider. I’ve never seen one before. A rather healthy specimen made it’s home in the handle of my grandmother’s barbecue grill. Sorry spider lovers, but I had to kill it for my grandmother’s sake. I was surprised to see one here, in central California, Tulare County, since I hear they’re from Florida? Glad we didn’t get bit when we moved the grill…
I live in South-Western Missouri, and yesterday found a spider in my shower. It was brown in color and on its back it had like a swiggely line that was light brown to tan in color, and its legs where kinda striped. I noticed it when it was coming down from the shower head with the silk web stuff coming out the back while its coming down, don’t really know what to call it, but thats the best way i can explain it.
We live in central Florida and bought a new home only to find our patio and the underside of our gutters infested with brown widows. They have pointy egg sacs everywhere. We have been told that this area and many other areas across the country are being over run with them. They also told us that unless you are allergic to them that they are not deadly. Just like bees and other insects. Immediate care is important because you don’t know how your body will respond. We have had an exterminator out a few times and we have regular spider hunts and flush the mother out and then destroy the egg sacs. It is scary not knowing how our bodies would react to a bite. We too have children and it had kept our back yard cook outs to a min. Benadryl is good to keep on hand for the possible bad reaction. But just in case seek medical advice right away.
I just recently moved into my apartment in Wesley Chapel FL, and I have just noticed 3 fairly small brownish spiders with large white backs…I’m not sure if it is a brown widow but after about 4hrs of research and reading all these blogs I’m pretty sure it is. It looks almost identical to #57 and #83. I finally got the courage to scoop one up into a plastic bag after killing it….well lol…i didn’t have bug spray so i used extra firm hold hairspray and sprayed about 3/4 of the can…so hes either dead or stuck!! Anyways, i cant really see an hourglass on his stomach…but he looks basically identical to the photos. Im really concerned because i have a one month old baby boy, and a 4yr old daughter and a min pin. The 3 that i drowned in hairspray were right above my apartment door. I have searched the hallway outside and saw about 2 more, but i haven’t found any eggs or sacks. I also have not noticed any inside my house and my fear of spiders…well lets just say if they are brown widows, i will probably be moving!!! Im really freaked out and am worried that they will either