Brown Widow Spider
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Written by Jim on June 17th, 2007 with
420 comments.
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As to the subject of the venom of the Brown Widow spider, according to Dr. G.B. Edwards, an arachnologist with the Florida State Collection of Arthropods in Gainesville, the brown widow venom is twice as potent as black widow venom.
Patty there are special insecticides that will kill the Brown Widow along with any other type of spider, if you are interested you can place and order from this place which is located in Georgia and they will ship you the product along with a small pump sprayer, all you do is mix it with water and spray it directly on the spider of the web, the liquid then drys and stick to the web which the spider then eats which will result in her death, http://www.acepestcontrolproducts.com
is there any in Vancouver B.C.?
I live in Buena Park Ca. We have always had a problem with Black Widows, but this morning I found this ugly brown spider with an orange spot under the a patio chair. After going to this web site, I now know that it was a Brown Widow.. YUK ! She is now in Spider Heaven, and hopefully all the others that I got with the bug spray.
Im pretty sure that I have these spiders in my home. Last summer I found like 4 beside a window in my house INSIDE!! Now they have showed up again… The thing is is that they are small, and I am so scared that one will get to my little girl who is just 7 months old! There was one hanging above her crib like a week ago and I killed it! Im freaking out!! What can I do? I know that these are the ones because when I found them last year, and I saw the orange hourglass shape on their bellies, but these seem to be younger than the ones I saw last year… And I know its them because of the bulb like butt and their color… Somebody please give me some advice!! I hate to have this type of fear in my own home.. What kind of steps should I take to get them out of my house, then to prevent this from happening again?
i was riding a pedal kart that my friend gave me and it was sitting is his front yard for about 5 years and i was cleaning it and a big black widow (like 2 inches spread out) and i caught it so i thought ill wash it out with water. so i was walking it up a hill and i feel something on my hand. it was a spider and it was big and brown and had spots. it looks like one in the photo.
hey those widow spider photo were so awesome i vote 1,0000000000000
I just went outside and cleaned my grill today. When I opened up the bottom where my propane tank is I found a very large black spider with a red hour glass on it but the egg sack was spiky. In the middle of the grill where the oil drips into the pan I found another spider with a red hour glass marking but it had like a tannish belly and it was not as large as the other spider. I am sure I will see more as I believe that once I see one there will be more later so I will take pictures next time.
Just doing some spring cleaning for our annual Memorial Day party and ran across 6 egg sacks in a messy web under my bench on the front porch. Didn’t see a spider though, but the bench is dark brown outdoor wicker so maybe it was blending in – it was dusk when I found it. We’re in Orlando, FL. I didn’t think to take pictures before hitting them up with the propane torch. My 4 seasons pest control treatment was Friday :-p guess i’ll call them up and ask them to dig around.
My husband just got bit….a bit of swelling on the neck @ bite site. I will send pics…..help
Bonnie
Are there black widow spiders in Michigan?
How about having them in your cellar if you live in Pennsylvania? I keep seeing dead dried up brown spiders with red bellies down there. Am I in denial? I have a 55 gallon fish tank there-do I spray anyway? If I buy a plug in device I am afraid I’ll chase them upstairs to the living quarters of the house!
I live in largo Fl. out side of Tampa and I was out side today cleaning up my yard.When I was bring my kids toys up to the house when I saw spider webs with the sacs all over there toys. They are bikes and big wheels ect… We have a few of them.I took a stick and moved the web and sacs and that’s when I saw the hourglass shape.I knew it was a widow spider. I just didn’t know what kind it was.So I looked it up on my computer and I found it .It’s definitely brown widows. When I looked outside for more I found a lot more. They were every where. I can’t believe we haven’t been bit .My kids play with there toys almost every day. I think there more afraid of us then we are of them,but you never know what kids are going to pick up (mine are 2 1/2 and 5). I know it sounds mean but I killed them all with a stick. I would rather do that than have them( my kids) get bit or put poison down. People should know if there is one you can BET there is more.If I’m not mistaken it said on another site that the black widow can have 25 to 900 baby’s out of the sac and it’s probably about the same for a brown widow. I’m not sure if that’s right but even if it isn’t 25 is a lot.
We live on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southern California. We;ve been invaded by brown widow spiders too. It’s encouraging to know we’re not the only ones obsessed about these spiders. My husband and I recently came across the brown widow spider about two months ago. We didn’t know anything about them until they took over our backyard and now our front yard. Luckily they have not made their way into the house, yet. We routinely go out spider hunting every other night with flash lights in hand, can of bug spray, leather gloves and hard sole shoes to kill any suspecting brown widow out for her evening feedings. We’ve killed over a 100 spiders around the parameter of the yard. We’ve had the professional bug experts out to our home three times in the last 4 weeks. They even brought out the head Bug guy to see what was going on in our yard. I think they thought we were crazy. But all these blogs reassures us that we;re not. After the first trip out by the bug experts we killed 30 more, the second trip another 15 plus egg sacks, the bug guys just came out last week and we’re hoping we’ve got them under control. They told us to always destroy the webs and check the next day to see if another has formed, if so then they’re still more out there. In every case of the more then 75 encounters we weren’t sure until after dark with our flashlights and found them in their new webs in center stage. We sprayed them, they dropped onto the ground then we stepped on them. The only way to get rid of them is to keep killing them and their eggs. Kill….kill….kill. It’s an obsession. I think I’m going to my garage now to look for an invasion. We shall prevail, long live the human race.
There are many spiders in Louisiana and I have been biten by many(Luckly I never got hurt). There were also spider eggs in a flowerpot, and I was bitten by one of the spiderlings. The eggs were a light yellowish color. and they were connected with spider webbing. ( That’s how I knew thay were spider eggs. If you have any idea what the spider species were please e-mail me a stitchspace @yahoo.com.
I am in San Diego, CA. I have been finding lots of these brown widows outside the house. A few months ago, they were on the front page of the local paper. They are not native and were brought here within the last few years. They are THRIVING here and taking over. The experts here are telling people to kill them when they see them.
I think I was bit last summer. Two small bites on my back from gardening. They were very painful the next day, the lymph nodes in my leg were huge and painful. My back was very sore and I was achy all over. After two weeks, the bites turned black and they still hurt…lasted about 6 weeks!
I kill them!
This is a follow-up from my post last July. I’m an A/C contractor in Baton Rouge, LA., and have been coming across these spiders now in about 1/2 of the A/C units I open up to service. I’ve found that you will usually spot the unique “spikey” egg sacs before you ever see the spiders as they’re very shy.
I came upon a very troubling scene the other day when I found what I first believed to be a black widow. On closer examination I noticed that the spider was a very dark brown overall instead of black and the hourglass pattern on the abdomen was orange. I hope the black and brown widows aren’t interbreeding. I worry that the brown widow’s stronger toxin will merge with the black widow’s more potent venom delivery.
For those wondering about treatment there is a insecticide product called “Suspend SC” that you can find at some do-it-yourself pest control stores or order online. It comes in a concentrate and you spray it around the home inside and out. It dries to a fine crystalline powder and that residue will stick to the feet of spiders when other inscecticides won’t. The spiders actually ingest the poison while cleaning their legs. (from what I’ve read, spiders are usually immune to typical residual insecticides for that reason) I’ve used it and it kills the other household bugs as well.
I think with a little extra caution about where you stick your hands around the yard you can avoid getting bit. As shy as the spiders seem I believe that you’d have to almost grab one to get bitten.
I got stung 3 weeks ago. I didn’t even think I got stung. I was working on my car and felt this sharp prick. I thought it was a piece of metal. When I pulled the facia down I notice there was a brown widow in there. My hand started to swell slowly, the next day I knew I got stung. It was like a really bad FLu, for about a week. finger took 2 weeks to get better.
i Have recently spotted a spider in and around the outer window seal of my house it is about the size of a black widow with a larger than normal abdominal looks like a black widow but has 2 red lightning bolts on its back out stretch the legs and its about the size of your normal pocket watch dose anyone have a clue as to what this is it posses a possible threat to family dog and i am allergic to bees and my pose a problem to me.
As far as we know we haven’t been bitten yet but tonight when I was making chicken on the grill, I noticed a weird looking brownish spider with white spots on its’ back. I sprayed it with bug killer, then I came in the house and googled it, then found this site. I didn’t think it was a brown widow, as I live in Lodi, CA which is the northern part. Then I saw a comment from someone who’d lived in Manteca and had them there, so I got curious. I went back outside to look for it and couldn’t find it, but then I began looking all over my back patio.
I saw one attached to my garbage can. It had a sticky web that came from the can to the ground, and it was tan with white spots on its back, and something reddish orange on its abdomen. It was shaped like a black widow, but smaller. I’m pretty convinced it was a brown widow. As I have 2 kids aged 2 and 6, I didn’t stop to take pictures, I killed it. I didn’t see the spiky egg sac, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. During the day tomorrow, I’m going to check things out. I have a swing set outside that my kids love to play on, and I’m not looking forward to any bites!
After finishing that comment, I decided to look around my house. I think I found at least three of them, one between my refrigerator and cabinet, two underneath the door of the same cabinet. There’s also some webbing under my sink cabinet but i don’t see spiders or sacs.
I’m a little freaked out here because my kids are in the kitchen all the time. Now I’m worried they’re all over my house, inside and out.
I’ve seen these eggs around my back porch for a couple of years and didn’t think too much about it… I hate spiders but I figured they were eating bugs and whatnot so I let them be. The other day I came upon a brown spider with the hourglass shape and figured out from this website that it was a brown widow!! I had no idea they existed! It also turns out that the egg sacks I have been seeing were their sacks, they all have to go now that I know what they are!!!!! YIKES!
Yesterday i found a black widow on the outside of my window in a littly knook with 4 spiky little brown egg sacs i think i interrupted the consumption of her mate.
this morning i found what i think is a brown widow eating it’s mate i told my dad to kill them but he still hasn’t i have two small siblings so i’ll make sure he does it today.
Covina, California
Found one of these Brownies yesterday and googled brown widow found this blog and figured I would add another California find to it.
I live in Memphis, Tn. I found this spider on my wall near the ceiling in my den. No one was bitten. I just want to know what kind this is. I have never seen one like this and I am afraid of all spiders.
Irvine, CA
My wife found one on our patio last night. I had previously brushed away webs that were crackly like black widows webs (but never saw any black widows). Never heard of the brown widow before, but apparently they’ve taken over SoCal. Spread the word.
I just killed a very LARGE brown widow. I had no idea what it was until I called my boyfriend. I told him there was a light brown spider, with darker brown at the joints and it had a bright orange spot under its belly and asked if it should die or not. I blasted the crap out of it with Raid so I don’t think it will be giving me too much of a problem. Then I decided to do research. Come to find out, it was a brown widow. I think we might have an infestation because I’ve seen a lot of spiders that look like this. I baby sit in addition to having a toddler in the home…and not to mention my 8 nieces and nephews that are over on a regular basis. I’m proud of myself though! I have a slight phobia of spiders, by slight I mean I run way crying if I get too close to a jumping spider.. Its time for the boyfriend to go on spider detail again.
how much poison does it take for a brown widow to kill a grownup or a kid because I’ve never beenn bitten by one and there’s some in my parents yard and in her porch. PLEASE REPLY THANK YOU
i live in Marietta GA i found a brown widow in my window but there were no egg sacks do i have to worry is there a possibility that there is an infestation going on in my house
Old Town Florida: I saw one of the brown widows knowing what a black widow looked like i thought maybe it was a good spider looking like a bad one since it was brownish tan with an hour glass, well a friend of mine said it was bad so after looking here i went on a killing spree there was about ten diffrent big ones and about 40 sacks around the shop and thats just what i saw, no telling how many are really there i think the news sould tell people about these
Hello, My mother has recently ended a daycare center. and my father got some of the car seats from outside, And they were LOADED with brown widows and they have been inside of my house unnoticed for about 5 days. I think I have killed them all with bug spray but i keep seeing baby ones around the daycare room. What should I do leave it alone or keep trying?
I have found numerous types of spiders, I live in Ohio the worst I found is a brown recluse in the bed room and bathroom.
I live in Temecula,CA so I’m pretty familiar with black widows. Earlier today I found a black widow on my back porch and I killed it(they’re little buggers). So I kept looking around and found 10 more on the outside walls of my house. They were all full grown females, one was about 2 inches with legs. We got some poison spray and sprayed along the base of the walls to keep them away. However, I went outside today and found 3 more. 1 with an egg sac. Anyone know a good way to get rid of those pests?
Thanks!
We live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we just found a brown widow on our patio. While we’ve seen many black widows in this area, this is the first time in my 17 years here I have seen this particular species. I was surprised to read it is indiginous to such distant locales, but, due to the fact that Las Vegas is so transient, attracting people from all across the U.S., it’s isn’t as uncommon as one might think for varying species to have been brought in with new residents. We’ve seen this with the brown recluse, as well as certain types of scorpions not originally found here.
San Diego, CA
I just walked out on my back porch to take the trash out and encountered these! A total of 3 spiders, and it looks like to me there are 2 black widows and 1 brown widow. The research I found said the one’s legs are not completely black because she is immature. I’m really freaked out! I killed them, and I looked for egg sacks and couldn’t find any.
I was born and raised in FL, and had never seen a brown widow spider until about a month ago. I just moved into an appartment in Leesburg, FL, over looking Lake Harris. We live on the ground floor and have a large screened in porch. We had put a chaise and a few outdoor chairs out there to have a nice place to relax outside with no bugs. Wrong!!!!!! It seemed like over night we started haveing a mass exsplosion of spiders. So I was just killing them as I saw them, not really that freaked out until I looked closely at one and got a glimpse of the hour glass on its belly. Then I thought I was dealing with some odd colored black widows. At that moment I went on a hunt around our whole screened in porch, moveing everything and found 3 full sized and several medium sized widows, I killed them all and distroyed the 10 spikey egg sacks as well. We had informed our apartment company we had seen some bugs and the pest control come out and spray an extra time, between regular treatments. That was aproximently three weeks ago. I thought we were in the clear I had not seen any more till tonight. Out of nowhere yet again we had a sudden exsplosion, I was wlking out about 10:00 pm and saw one a large one with 2 new spikey egg sack and a smaller one in the same web, I distroyed all those. Then I turned around and saw several webs beside my chase looking closer I relized there was more than 20 babys all tiny with hour glasses on thier undersides. I killed them all, but I am very scared. I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don’t Know what to do. After doing a little research online I now realize I am dealing with brown widows, and how dangerous they are. I have two small children my daughter is 6 and my son is 4. I am scared to even let them walk on to our screened in porch.
Also on june 23rd we had went over to visit some family and the kids were running around outside they both came home with a couple of mosquito bites. That night my 4yr old woke up comlaining about his bite hurting him. But this was a new one on his arm on, taking a close look I realized he had been bit by a spider, so I put a meat tenderizer paste on it and wached him ever closely. By friday morning his arm had swollen to 3 times its nomal size and was on fire. I took him to the dr were they gave him antibiotics and steroids. I gave them to him religiously, and they seemed to be working. As we reached the end of his meds, he started haveing what looked like a few bumps on his body at first I thought he was haveing an allegic reaction to something but it was rather mild so I gave him benadryl and watched him he seemed to stop then yesterday he broke out in red splotches all over his body, and they seemto be getting worse,I am going to take him to the dr again today. I’m so worried about him I thought he was in the clear. The dr said it was hard telling what kind of spider had bit him, now I womder If it could have been one of the brown widows. I’m a very concerned mom, who feel like her family is in an aracnoid nightmare.
saw two today in an upside-down wheelbarrow. one got away, but i caught the lager one with a cup and paper plate. i watched it for a few hours. i’m led to beleive that it is a very smart spider, as it “played dead” several times. the web is EXTREMELY sticky
We have been noticing juvenile spiders all over the yard. I’ve been destroying them as I come across them in hopes we could avoid an encounter. Today my son was playing in the yard and grabbed onto a small patio table and immediately screamed – he was bit three times. I grabbed the spider and ID’ed as a baby brown widow. The bites swelled immediately to the size of large mosquito bites – we took the precautionary measure and went to the ER. Swelling was reduced in about two hours with no prolonged pain or swelling.
These are all over my yard – I tried reducing sites for them to hide and make webs, used a fly swatter and a vacuum – to no avail – these things are everywhere – all over his play equipment and now we have found one even on our side mirror of our car.
Time to call the pest control people I guess.
I live in carriere, ms. I’ve seen plenty of Black Widows, but never a brown widow till today. I was dumping my trash today and should’ve known better. Black widows do like to live under the lip(of all kinds of items) I felt the sticky web and turned the can over couldn’t find the spider, but found the egg sack. Sprayed w/ spider-not. Out came this large brown spider w/ striped legs and a red belly. I don’t think I was bit Luckily, but sure made me nervous. THE BROWN WIDOW IS IN MISSISSIPPI. Think I’ve seen a few down by the barn in the plant pots.
I found this black widow in our garage in Temecula, CA. It was very large. I’ve seen black widows before as they are pretty common in Southern California, but this one was huge. You’ll see the egg sac below it as well. We had to kill it. I just found a small..looked like a baby spider inside the house. It had red on the head, but looked kind of opaque on the abdomen. I’m not sure what that one was, but we have an exterminator come and spray now. I’m going to have to tell him about them.
Hello, I live in Gilbert, Az. Found this spider on our blow up slip n slide. First thing I thought was that it was shaped like a black widow, but not colored like it. Caught it and saw the abdomen, and became even more confused! The hour glass was orange instead of red. Got on the computer and found out about brown widows! Thanks for all the info and I will have to pay more attention to our patio furniture and such in the future!
I lived in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, from 1995 to 1997. We had a ton of these under our house. Of course, the internet wasn’t as useful (there weren’t as many websites, etc) as it is now, so I was never able to look up the spiders online, but I used to kill then when I’d see them because I figured any spider with an hourglass on its abdomen was probably dangerous. It’s helpful that the egg sacs are so distinct because that’s how I know, for sure they were brown widows. We probably had over 30 spiders at different times living under our house near our laundry area. So, the brown widows are in the Hawaiian islands, too!
We live in Hawaii and we have them too. Over the past month I have taken out about 15 of these guys. The population has increased over the last couple weeks so tomorrow I’m gonna spray around the house and see if that helps.
hello , i caught a spider today of what seems to be a brown widow. I live in SC. I cannot see an hour glass due to its small size. And since i saw this spider on my black widows web since we have tons in our garage. I just love them! do you know of and brown widows in SC? thank you
We have brown widows all the time on our lanai, which is completely screened in. EVERY week I go on the hunt and kill about 15 to 20. I think the best way to rid yourself of these nasties is to destroy the eggs before they hatch. Once they hatch, forget it. They are like rabbits.The small babies find little nooks to hide in and before long, your infested with them. And then THEY make more.And so on and so forth. I’ve never been bitten by any so far, but its only a matter of time I’m afraid. We live in S.W. Florida near Ft.Myers. So many creepy crawlies that can hurt ya or kill ya down here.
Response to #210. This is a wolf spider. I just found one in my yard last week and took pictures.
Brown Widows – El Cajon, CA: a coupled of weeks ago I bug sprayed a zillion babies that hatched on my plumeria plant. When I looked out my kitchen window I saw a reflection of a bunch of strings coming off of a leaf I went out to see what it was, I saw miniscule spiders sliding down their webs. The sack was a yellowish color, but they had the body of a widow and I got out my magnifying eye glasses and checked the underside and saw the hour-glass mark. Boy that freaked me out, as I thought of the potential for invasion to my yard!!! Just yesterday, I found a small one and tried to drown in in a glass of water to see what would happen. They can hold their breath… so either squish them or spray, unfortunately other bugs may pay the price. I need to try “windex”. You can tell a widows web from other webs as they are very strong and sticky. I go out regularly now with a flip-flop and check out my patio furniture, and BBQ. Also, I check where I found them in the past, as babies may have grown, and sure enough, yesterday I found another adult where I found my first on last year. PS: my brother-in-law shipped his car to Maui last November, and must of had an egg sack attached as my sister found one in her yard… So check out items being shipped to anywhere for those egg sacks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brown Widow – El Cajon (San Diego), CA: Just a few weeks ago I was doing dishes and notice the sun reflecting on what looked like strings of something coming off my plumeria plant. When I went out to take a closer look, I saw that an egg sack had hatched an a zillion miniscule spiders which were sliding down their webs. I got my magnifying glasses and took a closer look and saw the hour-glass. I went right in and got the bug spray and killed them off. I asked my sister if she’d ever see a brown widow, and she said yes. She said that her husband’s car, which was shipped to Maui last fall, brought them from San Diego had a spiked egg sack. So please check out items being shipped for BW’s egg sacks. I’m now checking my patio furniture and BBQ every weekend, and squishing them with my flip-flop. Their webs are very strong and sticky. Yesterday I checked a spot where I saw my first adult spider, and unfortunately their was another adult. So check where they have previously appeared, as little spiders grown into big ones. Also, they can hold their breath, so squish or spray!!!
I live in springhill,fl and i found my first brown widow spider( i know it was that b/c i had my bug guy check it out)it was on a outside chair that i had inside the porch. i figured it got inside because my dog broke the screen. i had my buy check the yard and he said he didn’t see any or anything to think i had any more. well yesterday and as well as today i was outside cleanining and i found two more( and we did kill them). my bug guy told me if theres one there is always more. yukie!!! what can i do,or spray or whatever to get rid of them???? i have three kids and a dog( the dog plays outside more) and i don’t want anyone to get bit. plus when we are out and about ( i always check or for the most part try and check) likeat the park,amusement park………etc…..should ibeextra wearyy athat im going to end up seeing one?
thank you
p.s.not a bug person and really very afarid of spidersbut will kill them if i see them b/c of the kids anddog
I have been killing what I thought to be black widows. I have gotten 5 so far, now I’m aware that they are the brown widow (after sending a pic to my dad) I’m going to call pest control tomorrow, I have a 6 month old son. I googled them and the egg sacs are exact. I took a photo from my phone, not the best quality and I blasted him with wasp killer prior to taking. I have been here 31 yrs and this is my 1st time seeing them. How do you get rid of these damn things permanantly?
Please provide me with any information you may have.
I have seen at least 20 brown widow spiders outside of my house in clearwater fl. I’ve seen even more eggs than the spiders strangely enough, they seem to like to lay their eggs in the glass that covers my lights outside. They must be all over the place by now with the amount of eggs i have seen, really hoping they don’t find their way inside.
Grandpa wanted me to clean off the webs off the patio furniture today and I ended up killing at least a dozen brown widows and about 4 black widows. Some are small and some are really big. They move pretty fast so make sure you spray them and stay back. I took some pictures but they were all blurry. About a month ago I had to take my Grandpa to the hospital because one day he just started shaking and he fell asleep and when he woke up all he would do was say “Tatatatatatatatatata” over and over again. The doctors at the hospital had no idea what happened but now I am thinking he may have been bitten by one of those.
are brown widow spiders in the state of washington? i found a dozen of similar spiders while helping my mother move out of her house in northern washington.
-crystal
I would like to know what poisonous spiders there are in the u.k if any ??
My husband just got bit or nipped by this brown widow, but like someone elses I read the hour glass was brown. Not yellow or orange. He has no sypmtoms yet, but it did say it could take up to 8 hours.
I work at a large plant all the outside structures have become infested with brown widow spiders. They reproduce so fast we cannot keep up with them, So far one person has been hospitalized due to the bite.
june/july/aug 2009…Charleston SC my next door neighbors found SEVERAL brown widows under thier childrens outside toys and warned us to check our outside furnature etc. for them. I found about 9 brown and 1 black living happily underneath our plastic lawn chairs we use everyday. Killed them with weed be gone..{closest thing I could find.] Next checked wooden bench on front porch .. found a colony !!!!!at least 25 adult brown widows and hundreds of tiny babies!!! used a whole can of raid.. got them all..or so I thought. Colony reformed within a month and I just got done killing 5 adults and another 100 or so tiny babies under the same bench. Be aware and be safe everyone!!!
My husband & I found 3 egg sacks about about 3 weeks ago spray them with break cleaner (no bug spray handy) it killed the wasp that was flying around, but evendently not the spider. We outside to check out where the spiders where coming from and found the mom spider and 2 more egg sacks got out the break cleaner killed her and bagged the spider & the sacks. Where are these coming from never heard of these until I stared to do recearch. Boy I hate spiders even more!!! Tommorrow my husband is going to spray the yard and anywhere else we see bugs.
Meta, Paramount, CA
Live in South Central Texas. Just killed up to 10 Brown Widow Spiders in a newly built BBQ Shed. Didn’t know they existed until I saw this site. Thanks.
I live in Yorba Linda, Ca. During the summer and the fall is the worst! It’s hot and it seems to bring them out at night. The best thing to do is get a long sturdy stick, sweep out the webs because they wont make a web in the same spot and Constantly spray!! The pest control told me to spray the widow web because they eat their web every night to recycle and reuse it as they cant produce new web. So, they will eat the web and die. We have black and brown widows all over and it freaks me out due to my OCD.
They sure love the patio furniture and they wont make a web higher than like 2 feet. Their webs are irregular and SUPER strong. (shivers) Just make sure you keep clutter out of your closets, bathrooms and patios. I wish there was some way we could ward them off…….what’s something they hate???
I caught three brown widows at a Hotel I worked at here in Naples Fl. While in a 2 gallon container one of the males kiiled the other. A few days later I saw the second male dead from the female. Soon the pointy egg was present. I was feeding her moths, crickets and other small insects. One night I did not close the lid and now she is gone. However, I now work at a car dealership and a co-worker had a beautiful brown widow in his desk drawer. I now have her. I did find what I think was a male before I introduced the new one. Within a day she killed the other and quadrupled in size. Her name is Henrietta, named after a guy Henry at the car dealership. I should expect another egg this time. Once I put a daddy long leg spider with the brown widow. The widow was triumphant. So although daddy long legs are considered very venomous( with fangs too small to harm humans), they do not win against a widow !
I just destroyed 6 brown widow spider eggs here at my home today. So here’s the thing..How do I actually kill the brown widow spider to make my home safer and play environment a little safer for my child to play in?
I am in Moultrie, Georgia
To So Peachy:
I just grabbed 15 sacs and they are in a jar with water and WINDEX. Where you found the sacs the spider will be close by. FLUSH OUT THE SPIDER WITH WINDEX AND THEN SMOOSH IT. Ours were in the patio furniture. we sprayed the hollows of the furniture until some VERY LARGE brown widows came out. they did not try to protect the web, but every one we found was trying to protect the sac. One very large one behind a board leaning against the wall had 7 sacs and she stayed with them so she was easy to get. She did not drown right away so we squished her. WINDEX FLUSHES THEM OUT. It does not kill them, but makes them run and then you can squish them. CLEAN OFF THE STICKY WEBS to SEE WHERE THEY HAVE RETURNED, not IF they have returned. There are babies around if you have found any egg sacs. I had one egg sac in my room perched in the upper left corner of the sliding glass door a couple of weeks ago and removed it. GET A STICK OR WHATEVER AND DRAG IT IN THE MARGINS, UNDER THE DOOR, ETC. I am going to vacuum the hell out of my room next. i have two bites on my left thigh that hurt, swelled up, and had a large lump under the skin. They have not healed after two weeks, but don’t bother me now. I got another bite on my right breast about a week ago, which hurt like hell and made my chest feel heavy and throbbing. I have not touched it at all other than to see the mark and feel the developing lump about the size of a nickel. It did not get as bad as the ones on my leg got -larger than a quarter for about 10 days.
Help!
I live in south texas around the Houston area and I just killed a small spider in my sink. I have never seen anything like this in my house. I think it may be a black widow! It is black and on the top back butt it has a redish line mark. Ive done research and found that most black widows red marking is on there under belly bottom area. This one is on top of its bottom. I cant get a good enough picture for you all to see any help would be appreciated, I have a small dog and I am terrified!
I live in San Diego and was bitten by a brown widow spider (didn’t know it at the time), woke up with horrible swelling and a bright red rectangular “wound”. Within 24 hours I was feverish and nauseous and the area around the bite started turning dark purple in the center. I went to the doctor and was given antibiotics to stave off infection from the bite, but they didn’t have anything to treat the actual bite itself. The first picture is 48 hours after I was bitten and the second was 10 days later. I located the spider that bit me and found multiple egg sacs and probably 30 spiders in and around the eaves of my house in the back yard.
I live in Spring Hill, FL and became aquainted with these Brown Widow Spiders shortly after renting a house there. In the course of living at that house I would periodically come across a web and spider. It was when I moved out I decided to go on a Brown Widow hunt!! I stopped counting after I killed 150 Brown Widow Spiders all varing in maturity.. Fortunately for me and my family we never once was bitten.. Happy hunting!!!!
Was bit today by a brown widow in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Picked up a towel that was left outside and draped it over my arm and felt a prick. When I picked it up and opened the towel, it was full of these white sacs and spider webs. After opening the towel, found a large brown widow. Wasn’t sure at first what kind of spider it was but it was clear it had a orange-red hour glass and was light brown. This happened at 9:30 am today and my arm is still burning. It hasn’t swollen much but my lower arm is hurting. I’ve taken anti-inflammatory pills and applied ice and benedryl gel but doesn’t seem to help.
I am a nineteen year old college student with a 2 year old and I was walking threw my babys room and notice this spider 2 ft away from where I put my baby to sleep. If it can kill a medium dog then it can kill my 30 pound baby.
It was for sure a brown widow. I found them last summer and now they have tripled. how do I get rid of them I have babys
I discovered we are infested with Brown widow spiders here in Costa Mesa, CA. Just sprayed the around the house late last night. Collected and smashed at least 50 dead and half dead brown widows this morning. I’ve sent pics of a couple specimens.
I live in Corpus Christi, TX which has a similar environment and climate as Florida, being that it is a gulf coastal city. I am fixing up a house I just purchased and I moved most of my belongings into the garage during renovation, but have been living elsewhere. I hadn’t gone in the garage in a couple weeks, but just yesterday I noticed the garage door was slightly open about 1 inch. All along the bottom of garage door and about half way up the door I noticed messy spider web everywhere. I then found clusters of spikey egg sacks. There were at least two full grown brown widows spiders and another smaller one and at least a dozen spikey sacks spread out in three different areas. The spiders were plain brown with no spots or markings on the back but they had a bright red hourglass on the abdomen with skinny brown and black legs. They were also bigger than what others were stating ranging in size from 1-1/2″ – 2″ in leg span and a body bigger than a pea. I immediately searched for the insecticide spray and am hoping the infestation is over with. I have yet to inspect the rest of the garage and my furniture, etc… let’s just see if the bug spray works first. I pray they will just find a new home some place else. I would really like to know…Are brown widow spiders native to Texas or should I notify someone???
I live in Oregon, and though I don’t discriminate the spiders I kill, (For those of you that complain about me killing, I am deathly afraid of spiders and ants. Leave me alone) I have never noticed a brown widow, or black one, for that matter, here. I lived in NM for a while and found black widows all over, I’m slightly alarmed to go outside and have a cigarette after reading about how fast the come in and spread….
I live in michigan and my cosins and i were watching tv when my cousin saw a brown spider with a red hour glass on it but it looked more like a black widow more i need awnsers now beacuase she has a small babythat plays there …..
Very large Brown Widow on my front door’s frame, holy crap! Two feet off the ground, *right* where my two year old son would see it and try to touch it, good God!!
Oops, I’m in Columbus, Georgia. This spider is well over three inches long!
I just killed 2 brown widows on my front porch….we live in Southwest Florida. I have 2 toddlers….any suggestions on how to get rid of these things?
well the last couple of weeks we have noticed an outbreak of brown widow spiders in my sister in law and brothers yard.and i have sprayed and killed of about 10 to 30 of them. with no evil they are coming back and seem to be bigger. last night we killed another 7 more.and still we do not know where they are coming from none of our neighbors that live next to them have seen any,it is like they found there yard and have taken up residency around the chair b.b.q grill and the there jeep.and i am about to go in on there yard with some good bug killing juice to take care of the problem, it is a good idea to do so please let me know
Ocala, Florida.
I have been finding egg sacs and adult brown widows all over the back of my house and on windows. I live in a brand new house in a very upscale neighborhood so it goes to show you can never be too careful. They will find a way to try and cohabitant no matter where you live. I have one photo through my glass door.. I will post better ones later tonight after I kill it. I have small dogs and a toddler that likes to be outside, little choice in the matter for me….I just have to show to wife before I put it out of its misery. Anyone reading from the same area? Wondering if you have any problems with bark scorpions as well. I’ve caught a few in my garage!
San Diego, California
I just discovered a small infestation of Brown Widow spiders outsite the sunroom in my backyard. There were probably 2 dozen or more spiders and twice as many egg sacs!!!! Does anyone know where these little bastards came from(ORIGIN – State, Country….etc.)?? And what is the best way to eradicate them from my HOUSE!!!!!!
Rescue, CA (El Dorado County)
My 5 year old daughter recently started collecting bugs with the help of her 3 and 2 year old brothers (and me of course) and caught a small brown widow in a little mesh bug catcher. The spider was under the Little Tikes slide in a play area in our yard. When seeking bugs I constantly warn the kids about black widows but had no idea about brown widows in this area and thought this was a garden spider. The spider it grew, changed color, devoured a few jumping spiders and is definitely a widow (I think it also consumed some mates that entered the poorly sealed cage).
Later I was disturbed by a thick large web that consumed the children’s playhouse so I hunted down a large brown widow. I confirmed after dark that numerous other smaller widow live along the lip of house and under the stairs adjacent to the patio the kids play. I killed about 6 or 7. I really thought these bulb spiders were harmless and helpful for catching mosquitoes and maybe hornets now I wonder is this a safe area?
I live in Bonaire, GA, a little town between Perry (where Lisa #65 is from) and Warner Robins. Earlier this week I pulled my lawn mower out of my shed and grabbed the gas can to fill it up, while I was filling the mower, what I thought was a black widow fell from the under the handle of the gas can, she must have been centimeters from my fingers!!! Well, I jumped when she fell and I spilled gasoline on her, seemed to kill her. Morbid curiosity kicked in and I grabbed a twig to poke, prod and investigate (its been years since I last saw a black widow, I generally avoid sheds and outbuildings out of fear of them). I noticed that her hour-glass wasn’t red, it was bright orange, still figured her for a black widow, then I found the spiky egg sack and smooched it.
I went online to research, just something I like to do, and found out she was actually an older brown widow. Well, this morning I couldn’t sleep so I decided to do my laundry, and I found another brown widow in a low web between my hot water heater and my washer. I wasn’t sure if she was a typical brown house spider or something else, so I grabbed a mason jar and a sheet of paper and caught her…..yup, bright orange hour glass on her belly. Didn’t want to risk her getting away from me if I tried to smoosh her, so I grabbed a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol and threw it in with her. Did notice that neither of them put up much of a fight. The one on the gas can could have easily bitten me, but didn’t, and the one in the utility room was very easy to catch, just lowered the glass, slid the paper underneath, she just stayed at the opening of the jar till I bumped her down and threw in the alcohol.
Sorry my cell doesn’t take good pictures or I would send them in, the ones I managed to take are very, very blurry. I REALLY don’t like spiders, and now to know I have them in my house!!! And all the horror stories about small dogs on here, and I have a cat that likes to kill and eat bugs, I’m worried about him as well as myself.
If anyone knows a pet-safe and effective way to kill them or get rid of them, please post.
Found two brown widows nesting on my girl friends motorcycle, one behind the battery and one in a light bar. Identified by egg sacs.
We live on Key Largo, Fla. and see brown and black widows all the time. My wife has an orchid house and our small dog and I , for the most part live outdoors. Our yard is sub-tropical jungly. My point is we live with them, (they DO catch mosquitoes in their webs) . Why do we need to kill anything which can harm us ? You are in more danger on the roadway that you live on!! Give the critters a break.
Quite of few of these little buggers in Downey, and am now finding them in Lomita. There are plenty of other spiders to get the other bad bugs, but these are just scary, they had in places where you put your hands all the time, under garbage can edges, planter edges, in roses, etc…. Sorry, it’s now dead.
phenix city, ala started out as mailbox infestation and is now everywhere…immune to otc sprays…had my bugman repeat spray outside under carport….
I live in Escondido, Ca (San Diego North County) and have seen several variations of widows over the past year. We still have plenty of Black Widows, but Browns and widows with various colorations have become much more prevalent. This is the best site I’ve found for photos to compare, as well as confirmation of existence in our area for some time. Thank you.
I work at a car dealership in south Louisiana. We are having to clean webs and kill brown widows on new vehicles that sit on the lot. We may see 20-30 per vehicle. Under hood, in door jambs etc. I bought a new vehicle that has sat on the lot for 300-400 days and made the mistake of parking it inside my garage. I see that they can be controlled somewhat, but it does not appear they can be elimanted all together.
p.s. received a bite today and was looking for treament recommendations. Right now it is a small red puncture with burning sensation. Red swelling about the size of a quarter.
This is to whom it concerns,
If you get bite by a widow spider what should you do?
I’m finding blacks and browns in my backyard here in Capistrano Beach, CA. Went hunting tonight and killed about 5 or 6. Under the BBQ side tray (big brown with 3 spiked egg sacks), under the pool slide (a real big black with 4 smooth egg sacks), under the leaves of a potted plant (a big brown with 2 spiked egg sacks), smallar ones in and around the base the walls and house. Looks like me and my boys have a new hobbie! We spray them with Ortho bug spray and that seems to get them drunk, then they drop and I get them with a pair of needle nose pliers and put them in a zip-lock to observe. Nasty little buggers!
Glendora, California here. I have been killing approx 50 to 60 brown widows weekly, with a couple of black widows thrown in. As assistant manager in a mobile home park, I have routinely sprayed for spiders around the pool and childrens play area. This year has been horrible, I have never had to spray this much. Is there any advice as to how to eradicate these creatures? I have noticed that these spiders don’t mind a dirty web and also hang in the web during the day. I can spray and kill one night, then the next night, new ones have moved in. I am getting discouraged.
Labor Day 09 weekend cleanup chores were throwing out trash and cleaning up. Don’t need to send photos, they were Brown Widows! What a shock to see these “spiky white egg sacks” under outdoor shelving, under trash can handles and wood. I sprayed no less than 25 sacks on my side yard. A year ago they were not in Southern California.
I just came across one of these in my seldom used guest room bathroom in my condo today. It was probably 6 inches off the ground in a web. It was hanging upside down, which is how I saw the orange hourglass. That immediately made me think it was a black widow, but it was a light brown color so I thought maybe it wasn’t a black widow. I haaaaate spiders so I didn’t really take time to examine it and just crushed it with a paper towel.
Outside in my small patio I have had an issue with spider webs, but never saw the spiders during the day (only been here 7 months). Usually I just take ‘em down with a stick whenever I see them pop up. This incident made me realize I hadn’t done that in a while and I went out this evening to do that and sure enough I saw a couple of the same spider I came across earlier in the day just outside my door in those same areas where I had been taking the webs down. I took a photo, but after doing a google search and coming across this site I’m 100% positive they are Brown Widows. They look the same as post #252 and others I saw during my search.
They are building the webs right under those small solar patio lights that you just shove into the ground. After identifying the type of spider and doing the research on this site and others, I’m guessing they like that spot because the patio lights probably attract other insects at night that end up getting caught in their web.
There’s really not much I can do since I live in a condo complex (can’t exactly go to all of my neighbors and start spraying all their crap, but best believe tomorrow I’ll be headed to Home Depot to pick up some insecticide and a blow torch and at least treat my immediate area. Also those solar lights are headed right into the trash. Man I hate spiders… and especially poisonous ones.
Forgot to add that I am in Chula Vista, CA (San Diego County).
Just killed several egg sacs and one such brown widow spider today. Good sized, too — at least 1.5″ across including legs. No photos, but I will be sure to look for more before bbq’ing! it was under the patio chair. Eggs sacks were noticed first. Am familiar with regular black widows, and this behaved similarly. funky shape sacs, but no doubt a brown widow. San Diego, CA
I had never heard of the brown widow spider until I was bitten by one onThanksgiving of 2008. I was unpacking a large Christmas tree that had been in storage in a shed, and kept encountering those strange egg sacs. I brushed them away and kept working until I felt a sharp sting on my leg. At first I thought it was a needle from the tree,but soon realized that I had been bitten by something bad. It began to throb, but I continued working for the rest of the day, decorating for Christmas. By bedtime, my feet were aching terribly. I just figured that I had been on my feet too much. I was kept awake all night by sharp pains and fever in my feet. I survived the next couple of days with Benedryl and Aleve and thought I could tough it out. I ended up in the emergency room days later with a badly swollen leg and ankle and had to have a shot and and several antibiotics. THIS SPIDER IS NOTHING TO MESS WITH! IF YOU SEE THEM AND THEIR EGG SACS, KILL THEM! I don’t like to think about a child’s ability to fight off this type of injury!
about 2 days ago i was cleaning my garage. i believe i was bitten by a brown spider. The brown spider was a dark brown with no marking on it and it had a huge abdomen. i don’t know anything about it. Only when i was bit by it and it was a small red dot then later that night it got to almost a dime size, then went back down. Now it is just a small red dot, and once and a very while it will itch. I don’t know if it was a spider or something else. please someone get back to me on info if you got it at my email glennlucore@ Yahoo.com. Thanks!
I live in northern Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is a 50 degree morning and I saw a brown widow on my back door window. I have never heard of a brown widow and their range is not shown to be included in Colorado but I have no doubt that’s what it was. We have plenty of black widows but this was light brown in color with black nodes on the legs, had a distinct yellow brown abdomen and white stripes on the back of the abdomen with a widow shape. Anyway, it looked exactly like the brown widows shown in many pictures. I should have taken a picture but I was a chicken and killed it first.
Glendora California here again. I got curious as to the real number of brown widows I kill twice a week, so I counted the last time out. I stopped after 1 hour, the kill was: 59 brown widows, 1 black widow. That comes to at least 120 spiders a week. My main concern is the childrens play area and the community pool. I do spray street access areas in front of homes to and from the areas mentioned. I do not go into private yards. That is the concern, am I just wasting my time, being these spiders are in yards happily multiplying? I have mentioned this to residents who show no real concern whatsoever. These spiders are bolder, they hang out in daytime, they nest very close to one another, within inches of each other. I am afraid they will soon be moving into homes as available space outside dwindles.
I live in Largo Florida, real close to the Seminole area. This evening I went out on my back porch to talk to a friend on the phone and I noticed our patio furniture was knocked over due to heavy rain. I went outside to fix the furniture and I saw my 2 year old sons picnic table knocked over with a spider about the size of a half dollar. I see house spiders from time to time and they dont worry me, but I knew immidiatly that this was not a house spider. I identifieied it as a brown widow. Before today I never knew that “brown” widows existed. This spider looks just like all the other pictures listed above of brown widows. My husband put lighter fluid on it and it died – we have it in a ziplock baggie right now. We also found an egg sack on the bottom of the table so we lit the bottom of the table on fire.
Im really nervous ~ my son plays and colors on that table all the time… I had no idea we had such poisonous spiders in our own backyard. Im terrified! Tomorrow I plan on treating the backyard and bombing the porch and the attic. Im guess Im just really nervous about any of us getting bit (especially my 30 pound son). I’ll write back tomorrow and let ya know if we find anymore hopefully I’ll be able to take a better picture tomorrow too.