Brown Widow Spider
Did you know that there are four types of Widow Spiders in Florida? They are the Northern Black Widow Spider, the Southern Widow Spider, the Red Widow Spider, and the Brown Widow Spider which will discuss in more detail below.
Although the venom of these spiders is not as toxic as the Black Widow, they are still very painful and can cause serious injury if not treated.
Because brown widow spiders (Latrodectus Geometricus) can vary from light tan to dark brown or almost black and may have different markings such as white, black, yellow, brown, and even orange on the back of their abdomen, they are tough to recognize! The picture below is of the red widow spider.
Brown Widow Egg Sac
You’ll notice the hourglass marking on the bottom of the abdomen, colored yellow or orange. The Egg Sac of the brown widow spider is not the same as other widows and has pointed projections, much like the old sea mines.
If you have pictures of this spider or believe a Brown Widow has bitten you, please post your comments below and send the photos to the email address at the bottom of this page.
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.
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?
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.
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.
(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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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?
Everything I read says these are a tropical spider, but I have them in my basement, in Wyoming. Weird.
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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’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
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?
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 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!
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.
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.
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!
[:
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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. :)
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 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 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…
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
‘
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.