The Widow's

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GEV83

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Jun 19, 2002
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Gabriel (Gabe)
So my sister has always been into Tarantula's and well me when I was a kid (about 3-7yrs of age) I use to catch random spider's. I didn't know back then that spider's will eat other spider's. So when they were all placed in a 1 gallon ice cream bucket you could just imagine what happened.

I now know better and have kept some spider's short term for observation then released them like the Daring Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax). Well I never wanted to mess with some of the more scarey or dangerous spider's. One which is red another being black and velvety or one that is like solid white. This also included the common black widow.

One day I was outside messing with my plants and I saw a widow but noticed it wasn't solid black. Infact it wasn't black at all but brownish. So I looked online for brown widow's. I remember thinking it's probably just a rare color mutation of the black widow. Well I learned that it's actually a different species of widow. It's common name actually being a brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus).

One thing I noticed though was that they were in large numbers in my garden. I never found any black widows (Latrodectus hesperus). Well it seems the new widow species which in debate whether it originates from africa or south america has out done the black widow for food and space. BrW's can be found living in close proximity to each other in relative peace. BlkW's on the other hand live solitary and won't tolerate another BlkW living close by.

Well one day I went to go wash my clothes for work and when I looked on the washing room door I found a nice sized BlkW just chillin'. So I went inside and got a mason jar and went back to the door and caught her. She now lives in a 1 gallon plastic container which we sell at my job (Walmart) for like 4-5 bucks. Well I decided to go ahead and get myself a BrW as well. First one I found was really small so I was like cool I could watch it grow. Well when I took a closer look it turned out to be a male. So I got rid of that one and found a female on an empty pot which was small to medium in size. It also lives in a 1 gallon container.

They are being fed a diet of flies (the one that come inside the house become lunch) and crickets. I'm tempted on trying to feed them some june bugs. We also got crane flies which would be neat to see them catch. Well here are 3 pictures I took of them. Two are of the BrW and one is of the BlkW husk. She shed her exskelleton. She has been hidding in a ball so haven't been able to get good pictures of her yet.

Brown Widow - Latrodectus geometricus




Black Widow Husk - Latrodectus hesperus


Container there in. I'll take an actuall photo of there inclosure tomorrow. If I remember.


 
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SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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I collected a Latrodectus mactans many years back on a haz mat site in SC. I was fetching an empty drum which was sitting upside down on a pallet, and when I tilted it and put my hand under it I felt the web. I carefully turned it over and found a large female guarding an egg case, which is about the best way to get bitten. I kept her and the eggs, but she died shortly before the eggs hatched. The babies fed on each other until they got big enough to take fruit flies and I ended up releasing a few nice sized individuals.
 

stormywendyann

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Apr 21, 2012
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You guys are sick. I smush spiders that are poisonous. I actually had the same experience, I was cleaning up my yard and started to find what looked like a widow, but it was brown. A little surfing the web and I learned that California had imported them probably from truckers crossing the country. I also learne, that thaere are more shades than just black and brown. Long story short, that is when I sprayed and KILLED them all, I hope.
 

GEV83

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Jun 19, 2002
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I sleep just fine knowing I got widows in my room. They are contained in a plastic jar with no escape. The great thing about these jars is I could get one and toss it full force into a wall and it will just bounce off and onto the floor without breaking. So if they fall say during an earth quake they will simply tumble onto my carpet with the widow still safe inside.

I feed them flies mostly. Some crickets to that I bought from the pet store.

Keep in mind that spiders although seen as dangerous foul creatures that should be killed on site are extremely beneficial to have. They keep other bugs in check like flies, crickets, grasshoppers, mosquito's, moths, ect. Yea they will also grab some beneficial insects like butterflies, bee's, ladbugs but they do way more good then bad. You just got to be respectful of them. I see widows just like I see my collection of knives. They need to be treated with care and respect or else your gonna get yourself hurt.

You still in SC SubRosa?
 

SubRosa

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Nope I'm in PA now. If you want a cool spider story, I moved into a summer rental at the Jersey shore that had been a section 8 property before it was sold. It had been abandoned for a year when we moved in, and the owner straight up admitted that he couldn't afford to fix up the inside, and it was rough. But it was waterfront, and the rent was less per month than it would bring per week in season if fixed up. In the initial cleaning I found half a dozen Brown Recluse Spiders. Imagine sleeping there! I take the position of the lambic brewers in Belgium. Killing a spider is just not done.
 

GEV83

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Yea I haven't seen any brown recluse's here. I know they like quiet undesturbed places like attics or garages usually dust has built up to the point where it becomes like dirt. Here at my grandma's house and my house it's kept clean for the most part so widows are only really found amongst my plants. I've been lucky enough to see a Lynx Spider twice but didn't bother to catch it. I would like to get ahold of different types of widows but out here its only the black and brown.
 

stormywendyann

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I don't kill the non-poisonous spiders... but I have kids roaming my yards and that is the last thing I need is a kid with a poisonous spider bite. But I do like Red Back Jumping Spiders. We have plenty of those around here and I leave them alone.
 

GEV83

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Jun 19, 2002
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Spiders are venomous not poisonous. Remember venom is injected poison is consumed. You ever try showing the spiders to your kids? Let them know they bite and it hurts alot. That's what we were told and we all left them alone. Well except for 2 of my uncles. One would always smash them on site the other would flood them with Raid. I always left them alone unless they were gaurding something I needed. Like a hammer or axe or shovel. They loved our garage back then.

If you find any female black widows gaurding an egg sac put it in a mason jar and let me know. Ill take it off your hands lol
 

livebearerfreak

you are hypnotized! LOL
May 31, 2005
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douglas harvey
uhg... i see a spider in my apt, i wont sleep tell its dead... and even then i wont sleep knowing there may be more... GRR.
 
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