So, I have black widows in my kitchen.

They aren't going to kill you unless you're allergic or otherwise profoundly compromised. I consider that benign.

Still creepy.

mix 1/2 oz coconut oil with one qt. vinegar.
spray lawn.

babies hatch in late Sept. or Oct.

I don't see the ruby spot until they're dead. The shiny black gives them away... like black laquer.

I've been around black widows for several decades... I've never seen a black widow in a web. Spiders can change habits when they migrate. A local wildlife exchange could probably give one the scoop.

The web is sticky-ish. I am 99% sure I recognize the nests and the spider.

What is new is that the neighbor couple - long may they put up with their place that they don't like (but I doubt it) - and want to help. They both have new mexico landscape backgrounds (did I mention they found them in their telephone/electric meter spot?), and plan to come over and spray and help me move the double hutch ----- which I still have to empty; have made progress, emptying the cabinet beside it.


My association goes way back.

My mother gave me a ring from my grandmother, probably when I turned thirteen. I remember it well, a ruby, about 5/8th inch long and 3/16th wide, set in gold. I dropped it on the wood steps to the back of her house, probably after hitting tennis balls. No one would look for it, because of the potential black widows.
There is now a three story condo complex over that site.

Arjuna, sorry I disappeared last night. Apparently I flooded the thread..

I'm not personally worried about the brown recluse, I have enough aggravation, and the woman at the store's problem happened at least an hour away from here..

but .. info always useful.

That was my first experience with spiders, except daddy long legs, the california kind. The not well regarded husband of my mother and aunt's cousin brought a tarantula in a jar to her house on a visit, when we were staying there when I was seven. I was very frightened. And then there was black widow talk, probably reasonable.

That was by whatshername, Joyce Carol Oates..


Ok, Roger, you've removed any doubt I've had re the widows.

Caramba!

lawn? smiling.
I live with a sand yard.

I suppose I will have to read up, but I'm a person with, as it happens, some spider nightmares, or phantasms or whatever they are. I don't have nightmares otherwise. I hate to feed that mechanism...

Yeh, shiny, and the legs look like connected knives.

Why are these spiders inside your house? We have all kinds of creepy things here in TX Hill Country but haven't seen black widows. This house had been vacant for awhile when we bought it, following a flood in June and a drought in fall that year. So, ooo, first thing was a big TX half-dead roach climbing up the side of the patio wall. I had never seen those things before. They live outdoors, but...you know, some have them inside. We have Pestmaster come out 5 times year and that takes care of those. Plus, I am a spraying maniac so I keep the Home Depot huge size family sprayer handy.

We don't get any bugs in the house because they spray 4 ft. out and 4ft. up outside and in attic, or anywhere else I ask them to. Under the oaks where we've had to coax a ton of boulders out of the ground. This is also for fire ants, any kind of ants. We won't get anything long as we spray 5x year, all around house. Hope these people will do this for you.

Tell you something funny. Last October it had been raining hard, when I went out on the front porch I (always d0) looked behind my pots sitting there and there was this HUGE spider, as big as a man's fist. God. So, took a broom and pushed gently. He was dead? I shoved him in a jar, kept him for an hour and threw the thing out. It wasn't until just last month that, for some reason, I just realized this could not have been alive. I think it was one of those fake rubber, or whatever, spiders from the kids at Halloween. I remembered that he didn't smash, sorta gently sprung up again. Rubber spider made in China.

Gosh, I'm sorry you have spiders inside the house. If I was there I would come over with my new bug spray. You get about an ounce ($8 premetherin) and it makes a gallon or two. Deadly. I think we mixed it too strong couple months ago. All the ants climbed the trees and got into my bird house, five of them. So, that is what happened to my little house wrens. But, we have NO bugs. Well, one scorpion. I think you are very brave.

You just need a 2 gal. sprayer (cheap) but I think the Home Depot 2 gal. sprayer (it's already filled) would suffice for inside, maybe outside too but I don't know.

Sleep well, Osso, nothing will ever bother a nice person like you. Scheese, what a long post.

I have a sprayer in my garage. Haven't used it in a long time. What is going on is that the cabinet is very close but not right at the wall. (Filled with cast iron stuff, baking glass dishes, on and on, plus, baking goods.)
No way the sprayer works at 5/8ths inch deep space.

I suppose I have to re-weatherproof my back door. Unless they get in via the small opening we here in swamp cooler land have to leave at the screened window - but it seems to be the door.

I can't afford or even approve of a lot of spraying.. not to sound snotty, and I'd relent in a second, thus my killing a widow with a sponge. I figure I need to seal openings better. But, given I clean and then seal the space, I'll try to be spare with spraying.

I suppose torching the house and moving on is out of the question?

You're playing into a possible fantasy for me.

Actuallyk, i am getting a torch kit for gardening for next year. Much better for edging and weed control. Farms use torching all the time for weed control.

I'm looking at the Weed Dragon.

Probably, all bug sprays don't act the same, but I would hope they would. What we use is sprayed around the parameter of something like a deck, windows, cupboards, whatever. It dries almost instantly and performs a (magic, as far as I can see) barrier. Should the bugs crawl through it, it gets on them and most all of them lick their legs or other parts. It dries very quickly to a fine dust and (after it's dry) is harmless to the pets. It works to spray outside of doors and windows. Doesn't really take much spray. I just made a batch too strong.

I don't like spraying but not spraying is horrifying. We've screened around bottom of deck so nothing can get under there. Kitties love, just love their under-the-deck thru small doorway but I've heard some strange tales of animals (skunks, possums, etc.) that crawl under and have babies. Expensive, tearing up the deck. Little nutty dashound got under there chasing a toad and it was tough getting him outta there.

Haven't seen any black widow spiders here. I think you could spray behind the cupboard, even in a crack. You don't have to hit them with it. Ha.
Good luck.

Consider using food grade DIATOMACEOUS EARTH, sprinkling it in the area where the spiders are and/or are likely to establish themselves.
Use it as per instructions. It is long lasting and will kill spiders and other insects naturally. It is not harmful to humans when handled correctly. (ie. use a face- mask so as not to inhale the talcum-like dust) http://www.ehow.com/how_2105298_kill-spiders-natural-methods.html

That's true that I could do that in the meantime. I do have some good/appropriate (seemingly) spray that does just that. I'll do it in the morning. I was thinking I had to get back into that narrow space with it, not just the edge, but I'd misremembered how one uses it.
The neighbor folk have something other than that, that I'll have to ask them about. Meantime, I'm still rearranging stuff so I can move the great heavy hutch, since I'm now very interested having spaces cleanable.
I'm moving these things from there to there so I can move those from there to there, and so on.

We had a possum that lived under our house, or so we thought it did, back in Venice. I saw him or her up in the liquidambar tree one evening.. I sort of like them, but then I never had to crawl under that house (shudder). Black widows in that garage too. Raccoons in the attic over our studio area, up north. Um, baby rattlesnakes on a property we were garden designing.. luckily I wasn't there the day they were found.

I have small (as opposed to huge) roaches here once in a while too, and I tend to use a sugar/borax/cocoa mix to get them, and avoid leaving any standing water out, but resorted to traps earlier this year.

Anyway, thanks.

Oh, JJorge, that's like my borax mix for the roaches. I'll double check the ehow for the recipe.

I'll still move the damned hutch. It'll be uglier positioned mid wall space, and I already moved a big painting that I liked where it was, but I'll rest easier if I expose that corner area.

Thanks for mentioning that. At this point, I'll probably spray and use the borax/diatomaceous earth goodies.

Um, I can't remember the details re diatomaceous earth and borax, so if I need diatomaceous earth specifically, where does one purchase food grade?

[from the link I posted above]

"...You can find DE in the garden section of your home improvement stores. Do not use the DE commonly used in pool filters. DE intended for pools contain chemicals that you do not want sprinkled around you home.
Do not inhale diatomaceous earth. Wear a mask. One of DE's properties is to adhere to anything moist. Breathing it in will cause it to stick to your nasal cavity and lungs
Dogs like to sniff, so be sure to sprinkle the DE under furniture or in areas where your pets cannot breathe it in.

Read more: How to Kill Spiders With Natural Methods | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2105298_kill-spiders-natural-methods.html#ixzz10nSiigFj

Oh, thanks, that makes sense. And where the hell did I put my masks? Close by the garage door, I think.

You're a peach, George.