Black Widows EVERYWHERE!! How do I get rid of them?

ome people swear that spread diatomateous earth around the yard will take care of everything that creeps and crawl.

I used to work with a guy , that when crawling under houses, would just reach up with his thump and pop them.

When I was a kid in Hawaii, they used to live in the eaves of the house, each rafter tail had a web and a big widow in the web. Each morning we would sweep them off the porch floor where they fell out of their webs and smeared themselves.

I use the good old flash light and starting fluid, which freezes them instanteously, Of course they are never intact enough after I smoosh them when they are frozen.

There is a company that sells brown recluse spider bite treatment which I guess you all should have. A clay you smear on the bit, that seems to stop the poision in it's tracks. Said to work on all spider bites.



tradejack

 

As a note of caution, they are shockingly good jumpers.

Turns out that I am a shockingly good jumper too, given the right motivation.
So, from experience, keep an eye out for low overhangs while sorting your spider problems.

 

Ahahaha I'll take the cold of Minnesota blah blah. Hows that summer going right now? And those mosquitos? I left that hell hole and you can keep it right where it is at. You will get older some day and then you come and see me for a few weeks of our winter then we'll talk.


Exterminator buddy says hey use 90% spray bottle of rubbing alchohol. Lighter if you want more fun but remember you can't see alky flames too well. Drops em dead fast and easy. As well preserves them so you can send to freinds in MN for Christmas and such.

Tarp and bomb works good on new stuff to you.

But another secret weapon is the little geckos and lizards around here. Put car in enclosed trailer and let the little 4 legged wonders go to work for two or three days open trailer and let the little guys and gals out no more spidys. Geckos are best though they hate spiders in their hood. Lizards look for the easy meal.

 

At night, they show up with a flashlight, small spritz of starting fluid and a lighter works for me. Even if they are up under the fender, the starting fluid is a VERY quick fireball and they drop.

 

Around here the old guys swear that keeping a radio on in the shop/car will keep the spiders away. Don't know if it will chase them away or not though.
Ol Blue

 

The shop vac sounds like a good idea. It seems that under my Rambler is THE place to go for Black widows. I usually sweep the webs out with a broom then Hose it with the high pressure water nozzle but they usually come back within a few days. I've always been a bit hesitant about using poison (I'm a closet Eco-freak) but we have a couple of projects that are quickly turning in to a resort and spa for spiders that really needs to be dealt with.

 

Ever since them damned English Beatles first got here back in '64 the country's been goin' to hell in a hand-basket!

I'm an old guy who never turns off the radio in the shop. All I can say is that the spiders in my garage must all be country music fans, they ain't left yet.

 

always found that wd-40 never gave a complete combustion, berrymans burns a lot better with a greater range and it sparks really purty.

 

post pics of them kool to look at but dont get bit

 

I posted this about a year ago...try it, it's fun!


..."Here's the thing about blackwidows. Their webs are strong, shiny, randomly woven, and the little Bitches come out when it's dark, to hang in 'em. I've gone out and touched the web and lightly shaken it to mimick a bug stuck in it, and have had the spider run out of her hiding place, across her web, to attack my finger. You gotta be quicker than she is! When I know I'm going to be working on something, I'll go out the night before, when it's been dark for a few hours, with my flashlight and my trusty can of Chemtool B-12 carb cleaner, and I swear you'll see more blackwidows hanging around than you knew were there, sometimes right in the same area you were just working in that day. I like one post here about using 3M spray addhesive, that's cool - can't move! Then you can light 'em on fire if you're in the mood. I've used every thing from WD40, to various colors of spray paint. Gold blackwidows look awesome! Any way, the carb spray works great and kills 'em after they've only crawled a short distance. If you want to be sure, before moving on to her sisters, you can step on 'em, or my favorite, light 'em on fire! If the carb spray has evaporated, just shoot some more on her firey carcass. If you listen, you can some times hear them pop, especially the bigger ones! Some of the posts here have mentioned that spiders are hard to kill with bug bombs. That's true. Don't even waste them on blackwidows. I've captured them before and dropped them into a jar full of rubbing alcohol, and even after 20 minutes, you can shake the jar a little bit, and they'll start moving again! I was bitten by a blackwidow when I was little, and it hurt right away. I just managed to walk down the driveway, into the house to tell my mom, before becoming delerious"...

..."It's true too, that the venom from a daddy-long-leg spider is stronger than a blackwidow, but their fangs are too small to bite humans, so I let a few of 'em hang around the garage to take care of some of the black widows.
Sweet dreams..."<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

Safety note on using any kind of fogger: Turn off any lit pilot lights in your garage (water heater, etc) otherwise the explosion should take care of whatever the fogger doesn't

 

go on line n order cynoffwp. or demon. professional spray. u can order it at. copperseeds.com it runs about 50 bucks, u can't let kids or pets touch it, leaves a powdery residue. good luck. glad we don't have that problem around here.

 

Most the time my spidies had about by the entrance to the garage door...rarely get the black widows though...they still end up dead...

O/T spider story, I was hauling ass headed to a call (policia here) and this big ass wolf spider waltzed through my cracked window (musta notta liked the wind) and started marching across the dash right across me radar unit (that I never use). I was following my Sgt and just about wrecked my car, locked the car up and bailed in the middle of the road....just about shot it....

Did I mention I dont like spiders?

 

Everytime I work on a new project car, I drop a few bombs in that bitch the day before. Under the hood, in the trunk, inside the car, and under the chassis. Usually a 4pk will cover it. I have a huge fear of spiders, and being in the Texas Hill Country, they seem to find their way into everything. I got bit by a Black Widow about a year ago, and didn't even know it til the redness and target-like spot appeared. Didn't hurt, just felt weird.

I spray liquid killer from WalMart in my shop and apartment once every two weeks (I think it's called Bugstop), granules sprinkled outside the shop once a month, and a bi-monthly spray bomb. It took a while to get them to realize they weren't welcome here...I think they've figured it out because I don't see spiders, or any bugs in here anymore.

Maybe I'm overdoing it, but my fear of them is something I don't even like talking about.

Matter of fact, this thread is giving me the heebie-jeebies, I'm gonna go think about something else.

 

To kill ants, we use something that should also work on small spiders: pulverized fossil shells that the tiny pests eat, which then kills them by slicing up their guts. It looks like talcum powder. Here it is:

Perma-Guard Diatomaceous Earth Fossil Shell Flour
http://www.shadowridgedonkeys.com/perma_guard_products_with_pyrethrum.htm

The stuff is safe around animals. Some farmers add it to the food of their livestock as a treatment for worms. We like it because it's an odorless, organic method of keeping our dog and yard free of ants, tics, and fleas.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

Dude, if all your seeing is bugs and spiders, it's time to be stop smokin that shit.

 

UPDATE: After numerous attempts at fogging which didn't work, I decided to try what is likely the most obvious method. I grabbed an old dried up pine needle off the ground and stuck the end in the web. Tugged at it slightly as if I were a trapped fly. YEP, the little blood suckers came running out, one for each web I tried (in broad daylight nonetheless). Man I HATE these things...and yes..they're FAST...first one kinda caught me by surprise. As soon as each one was far enough away from it's hiding place I swatted it down with a broom and stepped on it.

I find it surprising that the foggers/bombs didn't work, but maybe it's just not strong enough. Anyway, I've killed 3 Black Widows so far and each time I see a new tell-tale web I'll do the same thing. At the point where I don't see widow webs anymore I'll probably try a stronger spray bomb and then just HOPE that that's good enough.

 

check this out...

The strength of Black Widow Silk is amazing. It has TONS of uses.

for example...

it was once used as crosshairs for sighting lots of equipment- including Scopes for rifles, bombsites, and Microscopes.

The synthetic equivalent of it is called Kevlar- and is only about 60 percent as strong as the Silk!

it has been succesfully been used as sutures for stitching up facial injuries- it will eventually dissolve into the bloodstream.


as far as the critters themselves...Fire, Holmes. Fire.

 

Not only do they know where you live, but now they know what you look like.

 

i have found 3 here in kansas in the last 3 years,but i find tons of brown recluses but not as many this year ,but they will be back!!!

 

WD40 works great. Any kind of insects, bugs, spiders, ants, wasps, they all disappear when you hit their nests/area with WD40. Plus it lasts for quite a while and keeps them out.

 

I gotta start off by saying BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU PUT YER HANDS! I know, I know... ha ha ha. No REALLY... think before you go reachin where you can't see.

These threads always make me feel better about my extreme fear of spiders. I always thought I was such a wuss, but now I know I'm not alone.

As mentioned earlier, I'm the guy that posted up about using 3M Spray Adhesive to get the job done. (Super 77 works the best) A few years ago I mentioned this was my weapon of choice due to the lack of mobility for the rotten bastards after gettin sprayed by it. Pretty much as soon as it hits em, they stop moving. The best part about it is that if you can't get to em (tight spot) they can't go anywhere and end up dying since the can't eat or breath or whatever they do to make my life hell. Works out great... If I can't smash em, I know they'll get theirs sooner or later. My g/f thinks it funny as hell every time I get one cuz I always say they are about to go to "SPIDER HELL". I know it's weird, but it makes me feel good.

Why do I hate em so damn much you ask? I have always hated spiders, they creep me out and scare me. Even reading this thread has me itchin my legs cuz I think I'm feelin something.

Anyway... I was workin on my 66 Chevy truck about 5 years ago and had to hold a spinning nut still so I could remove a bolt holding the battery tray to the radiator core support. I put my finger under he support and suddenly it was ON FIRE!! Holy crap! It was like someone was holding a Bic lighter on my finger. I started dancin around so much Patrick Swayze woulda been shamed. The swellin took over immediately and I started sweatin like crazy. I knew something bad had happened cuz I started gettin dizzy. The intense pain lasted for over 7 hours before it started to subside. I felt sick as hell and no painkillers in the house did a damn thing for me.

My finger ended up swellin so big around I couldn't put my other thumb and forefinger (you know, like yer makin the Buckwheat "OTAY" sign) around my bit finger at all. It was huge!

I had to go to the junkyard the next day to pull the front clip off a 65 truck cuz the owner said he would hold from the crusher for one more day... so I didn't go to the doctor. Hell, the pain was less and I had to get that front clip! You guys understand, I'm sure. That day in the hot Florida sun had me reelin. I was sweatin like crazy and I had blurred vision and shit. It sucked... But I got the front clip.

Came home from there and my g/f says "You ARE goin to the doctor!" I called up and told em what happened. They asked if I thought I could make it till the morning and cleared appointments for me to THE first one in.

When I woke up the next morning I got really scared. I couldn't feel my arm below my elbow and all the veins in my arm had turned bright purple and bulged out overnight!!!! You wanna talk about scared?? UGH!! Normally when you hurt yerself you don't really have time to think about how bad it might be. I had 2 days and that drive to the docs office to worry.

Anywho... The doc said I got bit by a BROWN WIDOW and a BIG one too. She ran, not walked, ran out of the room and came back with a HUGE needle. She said the venom was killing my arm and causing all the swelling. After three different shots and perscriptions of antibodies and painkillers she sent me home and said if the feeling in my arm didn't return in 24 hours that emergency amputation would have to be done to stop the venom from reaching much farther!!!!

THAT really scared the hell outa me. Luckily, feeling started to come back around 3pm and by bedtime, my veins started to go back to normal size. It still took over a week to get all the feeling back and a few more days before the swelling was down.

So... Moral of the story : BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU PUT YER HANDS!!!!

 

They are back in force in my shop, I killed 4 huge (for a spider) ones today, Carburetor cleaner works great on em, but I think I'm gonna call in a pro to spray. They give me the creeps!

 

Just stepped out for a smoke and went hunting in the dark. Saw a web on the kids car so I went to investigate. Ohh baby a nice big un. She had one of my prized gecko's in here web. Shot her with a quick shot of Johnsen's brake clean and she flipped over dead like a Suzuki Samuri. Got my gecko out and sent him on the way to go sell more insurance.

I will try to post a pic in the morning for y'all. They really do come out of hiding at night and you need to be mindful of your actions and where you put your hands and feet.

Happy hunting!

 

I saw a small 12 inch garden snake caught in a Widows web once...kinda creeped me out thinking about that. It caught a snake and killed it...yep, I killed the little s.o.b.

 

Just take it to a show as is, do the guy with pinstripped spiders and webs next to you one better

 

Right now I'm trying to figure out why in the hell i decided to read this thread.

Spiders were put on this earth to creep me out, and make my wife have to slap me because I jump up in the middle of the night slapping the sheets because I'm dreaming about a spider in the bed.

Can't wait for tonight....

 

That is a load of crap. Daddy Longlegs are not venomous at all, just an old wives tale.