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.
me and my daughter looked at this site and the comments scared the hibbie jeebies out her (i told her we don’t have them and she was like HOORAY!)
I work at the plant in new Orleans la and came across my first brown widow today so then I really started to look for them and came across about 50 freaky pointed eggs and I’m parenoid as can be right now!
La Mirada, Ca. My 16 yr old son found a spider, He has it in a glass container. I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a brown widow until today. He is so killing it as soon as we get home.
In regards to post 316, that is actually just a garden spider not a brown widow.
It lacks the orange hourglass, and brown widows lack any type of “fur” or hairs on legs. I have plenty of both of those spiders, I now let the garden spiders live in hopes they may kill some of the brown widows.
I have had to rip out all of my shrubs and almost all my plants to combat these nasty browns, they love kid toys which is really scary.
Glendale, CA
Every year we get tons of Black Widows, but tonight I noticed a spider that was brown with striped legs and the same hour glass marking as a black widow. Luckily I found this website that helped me identify them as Brown Widows. My husband killed 5 of them and 1 got away. We also got a few good pics. I’m not sure if the big round one is a Brown Widow with an egg nest attached? It was in my kids’ playhouse that I just hosed down earlier in the afternoon, kind of freaked me out to see a web back up so quickly.
i just found what appears to be a brown widow spider in my uni room by the window, its being said off for examination as i type this becasue it is such serious thing. surely its too cold for them over here (UK) but then again it has been a really this warm summer. I’m not scared of spiders but this one really made me shiver. It just looked so out of place the colourings was so odd. it had the hourglass on its underbelly so i rekon it really was a brown widow. It’s kinda scary when you think out it (for me anyways).
This whole Brown Widow business is difficult because the facts vary and they are relatively “new” to the US.
I am very very frustrated! I have knocked down the numbers on my property radically. The key is hunting at night. I emailed a local entimologist informing him of my progress as requested. He wrote back , “You can knock back the population but the way the browns are reproducing they can be back in a few weeks.”
Crunching the numbers, and even using the reported lower end numbers of babies in sacs and sacs a female produces in a lifetime, if I have missed just 10 female adults, I’m screwed.
So, we need the facts. We all need to know how poisonous? At what size can they bite and inject venom? What is their lifespan? Do the males bite? (please look at male widows pics. as they need to be “removed” also. They help make the babies…)
For example if the experience of “T Turner post
#94. September 8th, 2008 at 1:26 am ” is accurate as a mainstream Brown Widow bite experience, symptom wise , I would be greatly relieved.
The words excruciating pain, hospital stay, and animals dying is not something I can just accept. If this is the reality, what choice do we have but pesticides and sterilizing our yards?
Allison
Live in Byron Ga. Found 9 egg sacs and several small brown widows around and about sprayed with Clorox and then bug and wasp spray. The week before killed two black widows in same area. Looked this morning and egg sacs were gone ,hope the ants took them off. Will def. be spider hunting now . Printing pictures to show my grandson and to educate him on the dangers. Calling county ext. agent tomorrow to see what exterminates these pests!
Hi I just found this I think is a brown widow you tell me it was in my window inside my room I wondering if there’s any more a round? I live in San Diego ca. Downtown area what should I do if I get bite for one of this brown widow?
Alot of folks on here commenting on brown widows and how dangerous they are… People some of you are getting hysterical! Yes, they are getting more common in the Southern U.S. states but if you care to read up on some of the facts: for example, YES they do have more toxic venom than black widows per mmg., BUT they deliver much less in a single bite. Some don’t even have fangs long enough to break the skin (though most black widows do). In general, they are safer to have around than black widows. One website even goes so far to say that they are competing with and replacing black widows in those environments they share, and it will be a god thing that less people will be showing up in emergency rooms because of it!
P.S.: For the lady who lost her dog, I’m so sorry to hear about that–but if the vet said it was old age.. just believe him/her, okay? Also, for the little girl bit outside on the picnic bench, remember she doesn’t have to be intentionally bothering a spider for it to react like its in danger.. they can’t tell the difference. The human race isn’t under attack, the brown widows just aren’t that aggressive.
can you die from a black widow bite or a brown widow bite can dose cal have anti-venom if you get bite from one
I live in San Diego (4S Ranch) and just found a smaller brown widow in my garage. It made a web right in a walkway. I’ve seen hundreds of black widows before, but this is the first time I have seen a brown widow. What is the best way to kill them?
My wife and 2 yr old son just moved in to our new home and on our lanai and front porch has black and brown widow spiders every were. We’ve been here now a week and on the lanai iv already killed 2 black widows and 6 brown widows and with my 2yr old who plays out back im very concerned i really would like to know what i could do to get rid of them? We’ve tried several different things and they still keep coming so please help me out
I have been finding brown widows all over my property in Greenville SC, at first I thought they were something like a window spider until I noticed one with a red hourglass after inspecting the others I realized they were all about the same. Also in my area I have found 14 black widow spiders under boards, railroad ties, and in low lying bushes. I haven’t ever seen this many and I’ve lived in this area my entire life I wonder if it has something to do with the warmer changing climate.
ok soo theres this spider outside of my house on my window and i have no idea what it is… i would like to know can a brown widows abdomen be smaller than a nickle but bigger than a penny and how big can its web get and what it looks like, the web here strecthes about one standard window of a standard home. the weird thing about this spider is that it has seven legs not eight… its realy really scary too haha any way thanks and please answer those questions!!!! asao if possible!
Are brown widows native to Alabama? I’m sitting here in my office staring out the window and was distracted by a really pretty brown spider with the most beautiful white/yellowish design on it’s back… I did some googling and the brown widow is the closest I could find…
I only took the time to look at it cause it’s on the other side of the glass :) Speaking of spiders and biting… I have bad allergic reactions when I get bit… don’t suggest it… I just moved out of my old apartment because between my cat and I, we were killing at least 2 big ugly brown ones a day… Beware of the ones that play dead and then scare the living day lights out of you, by jumping at you when you go to pick them up with a tissue…. My new apartment is spider free… so far….
I just caught a large female Brown widow spider its still alive in a jar. i live in southwest Va and I caught it an a porch outside during wet weather
i live in pico rivera, and this last year or so i have been finding them around the house mostly in the garden/ plants it seems that they don’t hide in places like black widows, and they tend to have more egg sacks as well . i have found them with 4 egg sacks in the same location. i think that is why they are harder to get rid of them. they can be from light brown to white and also they can be black and white. so what im trying to do is find the sacks, so they cant reproduce more. like i said they seem too like the outdoors, so be careful when gardening. FYI… show and tell your friends and neighbors and if you can catch one and show it to your local elementary school.
CRUZ
I need to find out if I what I have is brown widows. We have black widows here too, I killed 7-8 in the past couple months. I know these brown widows look exactly the same as all the photos of these on the internet but the weird thing is their hour glass is not orange or red… its black or greyish. Im not so sure ive been searching and searching but cant find anything about this. They are identical and there everywhere. Only come out at night and make webs right below my gutter near the security light. Been here for a long time… so many. They aren’t aggressive.. you can walk right past them and they take cover. I just dont know how to figure out if they are. Im almost certain but the whole hour glass thing is weird, they have one all right its just dark colored, they are so light with orange dots on there back and grey and ect.
Los Angeles, CA (Hollywood area)
In the space of a month, a couple weeks apart, I found 2 black widows inbetween the 2 sides of our big metal driveway gate to our backyard. Killed them as soon as I saw them. Around 3 weeks ago, as I opened the gate, I heard the crackling of a web breaking so I thought it was another black widow. When I saw it was light brown, with a red diamond my first thought was it must be no big deal because it wasn’t a black widow. But seeing the diamond made me a little concerned so I googled it. That’s when I discovered brown widows.
And like everyone else who has posted here, I’d never seen them before or heard of them before. And now it’s like we’re infested. I’ve killed 5 in the last 3 weeks in the exact same area of the gate. As soon as one goes, another takes its place. And just tonight alone, I saw 5 of them. 1 near our kitchen window and 4 in webs around my trash cans that were at the curb. The trash collectors just emptied them yesterday morning and already they set up camp a day and a half later.
I talked to an entymologyst last week who said they’re solitary and won’t build webs where there’s usual activity but the gate and the trash cans get pretty frequent use. He also said there’s not much you can do. Just keep an eye out. I have a 3 year old so these things are really concerning me.
Like everyone else, I haven’t had much luck with finding a solution online and I’m not about to spend hours searching my yard to kill them only to have them come back the next night. Nice to see we’re not alone but really troubling.
I just killed a very large brown widow that had made a nest under my office desk. I have only been gone two days but that was more than enough time for him to move in. Luckily, I had got under the desk to reset the cable modem and saw the spider. Had I not seen it I prob would have gotten bitten on the leg when I started working. I am going to inspect everything for these spiders now, since everyone here is saying that as soon as you have 1 you have a 100.
I’m from Los Angeles (Palms, to be exact) and I discovered their egg sacs (about 6) all over my bicycle the other day, and the spider itself hiding within a web behind the reflector. I’m so terrified of spiders but I managed to spray everything off with a hose while hyperventilating. I hope they don’t find their way into my apartment… my bike was sitting just outside our door.
*shivers*
OK, I have been battling Brown Widow infestation for a year an a half. I live in central San Diego. I emailed an etymologist with our Natural History Museum a couple weeks ago. I told him I have found and killed hundreds (I am NOT exaggerating.)and maybe have had a stretch of a week and a half of no BWs out in plain view. I went on to say that they are everywhere. In my trees, pots, rose blooms, wind chimes, bushes, rocks, eves, windows, rim of every pot, The etymologist said he talked with the county etymologist and here is what he wrote:
***”There are canned sprays available at home and garden stores that are formulated for spiders as well as other critters. These seem to be effective but the spiders need to be hit directly with the spray. Egg sacs can be gathered and drowned in alcohol. I had a chat with the County Entomologist about mass spraying by pest control companies. He said he wouldn’t recommend as they really do no better than you with can sprays and are a lot more expensive. Also, mass spraying will kill of beneficial creatures as well as those that go after spiders. There are no sprays that can be put down that will last to keep spiders away as there are for insects. One article I read suggested spraying webs and when the spiders eat the silk during web repair they ingest the poison. That’s fine but it seems that widows don’t do that as often as other spiders but may be worth a try. Most of the sprays commercially available are not long lasting and so don’t pose a great hazard to kids and pets.”***
So then went on to ask if I would drop him an email if I figure something out and it works. Grrreat!
He is what I have learned:
They do not hide like Black Widows. But they don’t like full sun on them.
I use a little soldering torch to kill them and burn up sacs. (I do not like doing this)
They will run up a stick towards you. Best not to use a stick.
I just found if you go out at night they are further out in their web and easier to fry. (fun fun) Plus they are upside down and easy to spot hour glass.
They are NOT aggressive. I have had 2 on me and they run off. (yeeeech!!)
They can have multiple sacs and they do hide them. They do not stay with sacs as a rule.
There web ais sticky and very strong and no pattern. They will make long “tag lines” away from where they are.
The hour glass varies in color from a pinkish orange to orange to almost red.
Even the very small baby ones have an hour glass.
The sacs have up to 35 babies in them. (at least it isn’t hundreds!?)
I found only 1 in my house right near a hole in screen door. (last straw for me. I am now obsessed with getting rid of them.)
They don’t care if they room right next other spiders or even Black Widows.
When you kill one try to get rid of web so you’ll know when a new one comes you see the new web.
I just did an hour and half night killing and got at least 60. Sadly only 3 egg sacs.
I think this night hunting is really going to knock them back. Wish me luck!
I really wish they would figure out a way to help. Who are “they”? I don’t know. lol
Last week we found a big brown spider @ the end of our driveway, it was in between a tree & ice plant, out in the open. It was there a couple weeks before I finally made my boyfriend spray it with raid. He likes things like spiders & lizards, so he decided 2 put it into a plastic baggie ( it was dead). We’ve looked @ some different web sites but didnt find anything it really looked like. The other night on the news they mentioned brown widow spiders,so now ive looked this site up. The spider resembled these ones, but the biggest difference is that it had spikes on its body. It had all the same markings + spikes…. not sure if it was a brown widow or something else. It looked like it was ready 4 war… I didn’t see any egg sacks.
Michael, Orange, CA
My first encounter with the brown widow was 5 years ago. I had noticed a spikey web sac, similar if not identical to the ones posted above, and ones circulating on the net. I killed a brown spider by smushing it, not noticing any markings, probably because I did not think it was a widow. Now, September 28, 2009. I noticed a bunch of messy webs outside when I went to bring in the trash cans from the street and also around my lawn mower and gate. Being the curious pre-vet student biologist that I am, I starting looking around for the owner of the web. I noticed a brown spider with neon orange hour-glass markings and a spikey/studded cream-colored egg sac. I sprayed it with raid and was resilient to the spray. So I smushed it with my shoe after using a stick to remove it from its web in the undernook of the trash can grip.
I went to google for my research. Lol. I found out that they are multiplying around other people’s homes. I went outside and started looking around for messy and STRONG webs. I found a total of 8 brown widow spiders without moving any objects. One of them had THREE egg sacs which was unusual, as the other 7 each had 1 egg sac. I have not found a brown widow without an egg sac yet, but it is September and maybe breeding season? I am going to hire an exterminator because winter will be rolling around and there is only room enough for 2 species in my house, humans and house centipedes.
These centipedes are my friends, they scurry about and ever since they infested our home, I have yet to see a spider in the house. These hunters gobble up all the spiders.
Hello,
Quick Question… I live in Northern California near Roseville, (Lincoln- Between Chico/Marysville and Sacramento, CA) and I was wondering if there is or has been any record of any other kind of “Widow’s” around these parts? ie. Brown Widow, Red Widow or any other kind for that matter? The reason I ask is because I think I was just bitten by a Brown Widow. It Doesn’t hurt at all, not one bit what-so-ever, Frankly I’m not quite sure I was bitten at all. I got up early this morning before it gets blistering hot here, (108 yesterday) anyways, we have a broken drip line sprinkler system that was shooting water 25-30′ in the air, around the broken line i have a fake boulder (fiberglass rock casting), while moving the boulder i came across 2 different kinds of Widow.
One of which i have never seen before today. One was a normal, well known Black Widow, the other was a tan widow, it still has the distinct red hourglass on its abdomen. Well, while I was very respectfully and gently moving them to another location along the perimeter of the yard, I was unaware that the Brown/Tan Widows web had become tangled with the stick I was using to move it, and I accidentally flung it directly at my leg and into my shoe without socks… After that, I never saw it again, which happened to be very embarrassing, I ended up stripping my clothes off, down to my boxers to try to find this thing! Which never happened!
I never found it! Which worries me, cause as I’m sure you know, they are sneaky little guys and don’t die real easy, you really have to try to kill them, if you want to kill them… you can’t just squish ’em, they’ll smile and crawl away, so I know I didn’t squish it in my shoe, so how long do I have before it starts to show symptoms, and How long do I have before I can relax if nothing happens? Thanks for your feedback in advance!!! If there is any at all.. Nobody has been on this site since November ’08 so hopefully somebody still checks it out and responds! Thanks again! sOCalKenG
P.S. I guess that wasn’t as ‘Quick’ of a question as I thought it would be!!!
We are infested in Encinitas, CA (north of San Diego) with both black widows and brown widows. I’ve killed 7 (brown and black) but there are so many more. You see their webs every where but do not see them. I thought I was crazy with the brown spider with an hour glass. I sprayed them and killed them and put them in a ziploc bag as proof.
Hello i just came across one of these brown widows. I have found and killed 5 big black widows in the past few weeks. This was the first brown i have come across. I didn’t think much of it but was sitting down to watch a recorded tv show when a news comment came on about the spiders being in San Diego. I will be spending most of my Saturday trying to find more.
I live in San Diego, CA and have noticed some strange looking spiders making their home on my front screen door and in my backyard. I am not a spider lover so I got the RAID out and sprayed them right away. When I sprayed the big spider it fell to the ground and that’s when I noticed a red dot on the belly. I have never seen these spiders in San Diego before and I have lived here all my life, 40 years. I have been extreamly freaked out by them and to make things worse they recently had something on our local news about them.
A family has been infested my them and they were telling their story. So I guess I’m not alone. I do have two dogs and two small children and am worried because I’m not reading anywhere on how to get rid of these pest. My main concern is to keep them out of the house! I do not want any of those things in here. I already feel like their everywhere!!! If anyone knows how to get rid of these spiders please… please let us know.
Although I am guessing if I can get rid of their food source they might leave… hopefully. If anyone wants to see the news cast it was on San Diego 10 news.
Thanks and hope we can all be rid of these eight legged pest.
Hello, I live in south Texas… This morning I found a brown widow spider next to my back door. Has two eggs in the nest and a large cricket to snack on.
We live in Savannah, Ga. Our neighbors just moved and the house was infested with brown widow spiders. Their house was treated along with ours yesterday. This morning I go out on the front porch and there was one on the railing of the steps.
I live in north central Florida. We have brown widows all over our yard. I found one in my garage and killed it. I later found egg sacks in another location in the garage. I got rid of those too but not before some had hatched. We have them in our bushes and on the kids swing set. I go out all the time knocking down webs, killing spiders and I have pest control come out every three months. I don’t know what to do. So far I am keeping them out of the house but it creeps me out. Good luck out there. I hate spiders!!!!
About 3 days ago found what appeared to be 5 full grown very large brown widow spiders. One in the door way of my families apartment home and 4 more behind the screens of our two front windows. I’m very concerned because we have a 3 year old child who loves to play outdoors, and our pest control man said that a broom is the best remedy for any spider. There must be some other solution to keep these dangers away from my child and us.
My son already has very bad upper respiratory problems and I sure don’t want any other problems. I am not fond of spiders my self at all and when I found these lurking on my porch I became very nervous to even go outside.
The pictures that I have seen posted look exactly like the ones I have found and I have also run across 1 black widow several months back. I was able to kill them using regular old roach spray, but there must be some other way to prevent them from coming back. Thank you,
Vanessa a concerned parent.
I work in a manufacturing plant in Alabama.
My desk is right where trucks come in to be unloaded.
While walking around last Friday i noticed a lot of the same spiders..
I found 27 brown widow spiders all in the same area and I’ve seen plenty more since then..
Is it normal for there to be so many in a single area????
I just found a brown widow in my backyard. I live in San Jose, CA. I have plenty of black widow but first time I have a brown widow.
Are they migrating?
I live in North Carolina and we have black widows but I had never heard of a brown widow. There was a spider outside of my boys’ bedroom window hanging from the roof. I left it alone but today I got to looking at it and it spooked me (I’m deathly afraid of spiders). So I took the spider spray and used what was left and as the spider was spinning around I noticed the markings on it’s belly. The first thing I thought was oh god, it’s a widow but I had never seen a brown one. Needless to say, I’ll be keeping a close eye out there, especially with the kids!
I live in LA and have been fighting those brown spiders since last year. unfortunately dry warm weather we had seem to work great for insects. I have frequent ant infestations and spiders as well.
I’m on a loosing side as every so often I find new webs and nests. In the past I would come across a black widow once in a while. From what I know they are cannibals and will eat each other. From 700 or so hatchlings only 7 will grow up to maturity.
Just yesterday I found 3 brown widows and 4 egg sacks under 1 solar garden light right next to each other (and at least 1 brown widow under every other garden light). I guess they are not as predatory and that’s why they multiply so quickly. I have 2 little kids and torn between using and not using pesticides around the house. Even if they are not aggressive eventually there will an encounter.
I walk around the house and yard during the daylight and note any webbing that looks like widow nest (it looks random and is very strong – you can hear it tearing ). At nightfall I revisit those spots – they are nocturnal – and spray them with “ant/roach kill” Raid.
Since training my eye to spot the webs I have also noticed the widow-style webs all over the city – from parking structures to children’s playgrounds – the let’s hope for a freezing chill this winter. I have no idea what else can curb their numbers.
I’m in San Diego County and about 2 years ago I took a specimen to the county entemologist and confirmed it was a brown widow. Now I see them everywhere around the city and they are in every little crack they can get into, I’ve seen them in fences in public, they love lawn furniture & kids toys, car fenders, rims of planters, and the hugest ones I see are in the metal electric support lines that come down horizontally with a half circle cap on top so they can hide underneath. Everyone thought I was neurotic and said there was no such thing as brown widows. Guess what, there are and they are everywhere! To date no one at my horse or my pets have been bit but we are more aware before we just sit or play with equipment that has been outside.
I am not an expert, obviously, but I am pretty sure that the reason that we see so many is that they have lots of little creatures to sustain their presence. We have been seeing a lot of crickets on our driveway at night, someone else here mentioned ants, it only makes sense that if there is something for them to eat, they will come and stay.
Found 2 adults and one baby today when moving patio equipment out here in San Diego , Ca.
Didn’t notice the spiders until taking table and chairs back out of my truck. Notice the thick sticky webs which had me thinking it was not your regular spider. Then saw the funny looking egg sacks..about four of them
decides to use a stick to take off the webs since I was going to set the furniture out in my patio. Found the spiders. Sorry no pictures, I killed them too fast. Pretty scary to think I just carried the table and chairs over my shoulders while the spiders came along for the ride.
Irvine, California.
We were away for most of the summer, and the tenants did not visit our backyard. Yesterday, my wife went out, and freaked out – she killed two of those, and saw a couple more run away. This night she was dreaming about brown widows, and freaking out even more.
Today we went outside again, equipped with spider killer from a home improvement store. Holy smokes – they were everywhere!!!!! There were several undernearth every piece of backyard furniture, more near the house walls, one even made a home right above the house door… Altogether, we must have killed about 15 of those, and squashed 10 or so of their sacks… Looks like the fight has just began.
I live in kentucky, and I think that i have two brown widows on my patio. I cant be sure though because I dont see any of the eggs around. This thing has a huge abdomen and its legs are light brown with the black strips on it. There is another one in the hedge bushes on my patio and it has a funnel web so when you go near it, it runs down the funnel into the bush. I sprayed this thing a week ago with scrubbing bubbles and thought i had killed it. I just saw it again in the same web rebuilding it after I knocked it down! Any advice? how do i kill these suckers?
All,
I have attached a picture of a Brown Widow spider that I found in my storage shed outside of my apartment. If you notice that is a water heater. I was looking for somethings in my shed when I saw her and nearly fell on the web! I have a 2 year old and this really scares me. I also found one behind my tv, within arms reach of her. I knew it was a Widow, but didn’t know Brown Widow spiders were real! But I do now!!!
Jana
I have found about 50 Brown Widows around my shop here in Navarre Florida… The egg sacs are everywhere also! I never knew of a brown widow until I started finding them and goggled them. All of the spiders around here are brown, with black bands on the legs, and an almost Fluorescent orange hourglass on the underside of the abdomen!
I started catching them, and putting them all in a clear glass jar – it was webbed in in no time! I am very surprised however, as the largest spider I found KILLED all the others and wrapped them in silk!! For a supposed “non-aggressive” spider, this was shocking to witness! It also seemed to spray, or secrete some sort of clear fluids on the inside of the container, looks like smeared dew drops…what is it?
Is there any way to irradiate them from my business? Will mass quantity bug-bombing work? Please let me know, as I am Self-Employed, and definitely cant afford the time off from a Widow Bite.
I left this on the first badspiderbites page but to you here- we use 3M spray glue to isolate the spiders in place , egg sacs and all. Seems cruel somehow, but then again, they end up dying right where you left them, not running off leaving you to wonder…….
Hi checking in from La Habra, CA. Just did a check after reading these posts and found a brown in the wheel well of my trailer. Sprayed it with Hot Shot spider killer-it dropped and did a dance, but I squished it anyway. A friend recently got bitten and has a dime sized swollen spot, red, raised and weeping pus-got an injection of antibiotics and a 10 day supply of antibiotic pills.
We like to toss karma at them and spray with 3M spray glue- holds them in place till they die? suffocate? Oh well works for me! If you can set fire to it all the better.
I got bit by some type of spider about a week ago just below my calf muscle on my left leg. It was tingly at night for a few days and then went away. Now my foot is sore but only when I walk on it or put pressure on it. It kind of feels like it is cramping up and needs to be stretched out. I am going to wait a few days, if it does not get better it will see the Dr. I am sure it was a sider bite, I could see the two puncture marks. I didn’t know what kind it was but I know I was working in the yard about the time it happened and we have seen an increase in brown widow spiders in the yard. Most people don’t know this, but brown widows spiders can live in bushes or plants, unlike black widows that prefer concrete or wood piles. You need to be careful working it your yard.
I live in Charlotte, NC. Never heard of the brown widow spider until about 5 minutes ago. I was at work and stepped outside for a smoke. Found two of them. One in the corner of each railing. I’m deathly afraid of spiders, so I srayed them with Raid. The biggest one died first and that was when I saw the orange hour glass. From what I’ve been reading, there have been no reports of a brown widow spider in North Carolina. Guess what? They are here!
I found a spider in my sun lounger whilst on holiday in the Dominican Republic. I suspected it was a black widow, but wasn’t sure (we don’t have such things at home in the UK!). My daughter thought it looked suspect and said I shouldn’t lie on the bed! Didn’t know if there were poisonous spiders in the Dominican. Just sent my photos to be identified and was told the spider was a brown widow; didn’t know there was such a thing. From all these posts it would seem this spider is quite widespread and a prolific breeder.
Anaheim, California – just killed 6 of these in my back patio area. Seems like they are spreading like crazy lately!
I just found out about the existence of brown widows the other day and about the spikes on their egg sacs. Then today I was at the pool and moved a pool chair and my hand brushed a web. I am not very fond of spiders and I pretty much freak out if I come into contact with any web. Low and behold, when I checked it out, it was a messy web (which usually means the spider is poisonous) with an egg sac with spikes all over it. The spider was close by and was only about a half inch big. I live in Southern California in Long Beach. Scary!