I just spotted Black Widow spiders number six and seven in my laundry room. Numbers one through five appeared last summer. I managed to dispense with most of them, unfortunately six and seven eluded capture. This is not good. My laundry room is in the basement, I’m crossing my fingers that the black widows like my basement, and don’t get any ideas about coming upstairs.
Growing up in rural B.C. we were taught to be on the lookout for two things – rattlesnakes and black widow spiders. Not once did I encounter either; now here I am in the middle of the city with black widows everywhere. I can’t say that it’s so surprising – after all, I never saw a coyote, skunk, or raccoon either, and all of them are regular occurrences in my city yard.
This leads me to ponder all sorts of questions on evolution and adaptation of species. I don’t have any answers as to why my little house in the middle of a city is infested with spiders. Not just any spider, but black widows with the potential to deliver a very bad day. Spiders that are supposed to reside in a far different climate than rainy Vancouver. I guess my dry basement offers a warm little haven – small comfort in the face of a possible flesh eating bite.
It could be worse; the bite of a black widow won’t kill you, only melt your flesh. If my problem was the Brown Recluse spider, I would be packing my bags now. All the same, I’d like them to move out – seven black widows in less than a year doesn’t make me happy.
Being Australian i have a very healthy fear of spiders
At least in Australia you expect them. A basement full of black widows in Vancouver is rather unsettling.I must say, they are rather beautiful.I kept number four in a jar for a while just to look at her.
Gorgeous, yes… but safer by themselves. We had them everywhere as a kid, but i wasn’t worried by those. It was the huntsmans that freaked me out. Those suckers are fast!
Ugh…Spiders! I moved rented a house once and on the first day discovered about the same amount on my front porch. I was wildly beating them to death with a broom and just had that creepy crawly feeling all day. I couldn’t even sleep there.
A friend of mine is an exterminator and he came out and thoroughly sprayed house and yard. Good thing as they had webs all in the back yard as well. In spraying they need to try to get the underbelly (not easy to do) as their hard outer shell is resistive to chemical toxins. Thankfully it worked.
I didn’t realize Vancouver was Black Widow country.
I’m down in Arizona right now and found a scorpion in my bathroom. I think I would rather have them than black widow spiders, though really, I would prefer to have none of them!
I hate and loath spiders. Snakes I can deal with, but not a spider. I have a post I named “Spider Guy” on my blog that gives some idea of my typical reaction.
I’ll take a look at spider guy.
Normally I’m the opposite – I loathe snakes, and am the official spider killer in our house. Black widows are a little tricky though, not only are they extremely fast, they freak me out a bit as they have the potential to ruin a perfectly good day if you are bitten.
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I saw a cluster of black widow eggs once – I’ll never forget it – just the thought!
Nasty business! I wish I could find the eggs, and get rid of them. I’m on pins and needles every time I go downstairs. At the same time they fascinate me, when stacked up against most insects they win “best in show” they really are quite beautiful. Ugh – what am I saying….
LOL, believe me, the visitor to my basement would be the exterminator.
You’re right of course, I just worry about my dog getting sick from the pesticides. I guess watching my flesh melt away after a spider bite is not so great either. Hugs.
Take your dog for a walk or to a neighbor’s house. Once the pesticide dries, it should be harmless to pets. Good luck!
Thanks for a push in the right direction.
Almost forgot – read this post –
http://notestoponder.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/the-ants-go-marching-two-by-two/
You seem to be living in a rather insect infested area – aren’t you!?!
I live in the middle of Vancouver in a nice house – admittedly an old house, but most respectable. I grew up on a farm yet have seen more skunks, coyotes, raccoons, squirrels, rats, and bugs here than my 17 years on the homestead. Go figure.
Two great-aunts of mine lived there. Two spinsters originally from the British West Indies, spinsters that didn’t want any company.
Weird. Though I’m not sure what that says about Vancouver because I had a great-aunt who lived here before me – she too was a crabby spinster. Hugs