I found this voluptuous long legged beauty hiding in some of my garden materials along with another Black Widow and what looked like a Brown Recluse.

I immediately smashed the Recluse and the other Widow but managed to catch this one and get a few good pics of it. It’s wild how bright red the hourglass and tip of the abdomen are...definitely nature’s way of saying keep away from this nasty thing.

We have dozens of those in our barn. I’m past the point of appreciating anything about them. I’ve gotten pretty good about quickly reacting when my hand encounters their unusually strong web someplace I can’t see. The best part is when their spiderlings hatch and disperse in a breeze on little strings of web hanging out their hind ends. Bastards.

Would have been nice if nature had put the hourglass on her back, instead of her belly.

But really, if you've seen a couple, you can recognize them pretty easily. I can spot the browns 20 feet away. I hate those little bastards.

That is true. It would have been a lot easier to get some decent pics and serve as a much more effective warning if the glass was on its back.

Found two in the battery compartment while getting ready for crappie season. Grandson was helping me and so they were dispatched quickly

Black Widows are even more dangerous for pets than to us. They are one of those venomous creatures that do not get a pass. I don’t care how many bugs they eat- there are plenty of other spiders about.

During the summer I go out at night with a road flare to look for Black Widows and Scorpions. The lighted flare doesn't cause them to run and hide. Then I ignite them...

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
During the summer I go out at night with a road flare to look for Black Widows and Scorpions. The lighted flare doesn't cause them to run and hide. Then I ignite them...

Next time you’re in the neighborhood, drop by and show me how that works. For the last 30 years the forested tract next door has been supplying me all the spiders and copper heads a man could want.

It’s interesting to me that evolution has produced that particular prominent hour glass marking on this poisonous arachnid. Do other creatures recognize it as a “beware, keep away” signal?

Ehhh, I had an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake in my yard yesterday, on my front stoop, kids almost stepped on it. I'll trade you that for a piddly spider any day of the week.

Maybe it is because they are down under, but Australia’s version of the black widow has a red stripe on the back and is in fact, call the redback spider.

When we catch them, we relocate them. Spiders, scorpions, snakes.

When the kids were at home, the policy was always to catch and identify it, then release it. Always a good time to let them get familiar with how the critter behaved, the hazards, and also what not to be afraid of. It taught them to respect the danger, but also to understand it.

When releasing a snake, for example, it was useful to do so at night and to turn off the light, and move 90 degrees in an arc around the snake, and reilluminate: the snake was facing them and they learned that it followed them in the dark using their heat signature. They learned how to approach, how to move away, distances, and just as importantly, by staying still, it solved nearly all their potential problems.

Widows present a unique problem because often they're harder to catch, and they tend to accumulate in multiples in crevices and cracks and dark spaces.

Posted by pipe smoker:

quote:

It’s interesting to me that evolution has produced that particular prominent hour glass marking on this poisonous arachnid. Do other creatures recognize it as a “beware, keep away” signal?

You are not alone in pondering that. It’s something that’s been on my mind since I caught the little bugger. Surely there is some reason nature selected that little hour glass. Right?

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Posted by pipe smoker:

quote:

It’s interesting to me that evolution has produced that particular prominent hour glass marking on this poisonous arachnid. Do other creatures recognize it as a “beware, keep away” signal?

You are not alone in pondering that. It’s something that’s been on my mind since I caught the little bugger. Surely there is some reason nature selected that little hour glass. Right?

I believe the color red is a universal keep away warning sign in the animal world. Perhaps most applicable to birds. It certainly works on me.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Posted by pipe smoker:

quote:

It’s interesting to me that evolution has produced that particular prominent hour glass marking on this poisonous arachnid. Do other creatures recognize it as a “beware, keep away” signal?

You are not alone in pondering that. It’s something that’s been on my mind since I caught the little bugger. Surely there is some reason nature selected that little hour glass. Right?

I believe the color red is a universal keep away warning sign in the animal world. Perhaps most applicable to birds. It certainly works on me.

Those cardinals sure are mean.