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Message started by justin_o_guy2 on 09/15/14 at 08:53:26

Title: baby black widows
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/15/14 at 08:53:26

Ever wondered what they look like? I have. I found a big fat female out by the shop. I hunted around the grass and weeds close to where I found and killed her. I found an egg sack,but couldn't be sure it was hers. I put it in a tin can with a threaded lid that came with pellets in it. I've been keeping it to put cool bugs in for a few years. It has air holes and I use it to show the grandson interesting critters. Any way,it hatched and a Bunch of little spider babies came out. They were not black. Kinda tan,with a black dot on the very top of the rear end. BUT,I wasn't sure if they had been the babies of that black widow... So,I watched them. I have a magnifying lens from a copier.. I never saw them change,because I found another black widow sitting on 3egg sacks,so,I killed all the babies I had,cleaned the can up,and put them in and waited..  Well,Lo and Behold,out came a Ton of baby black widows,,and they are tan, with a dot on the rear end. I'm certain that these are black widows because I have had them long enough to see a couple of them develop the hourglass on the abdomen. It's hard to see,but I can just barely see it on a couple of them. I squirt a little water through an airhole when they need it,but I'm not gonna open it up and try to feed them. They are eating each other and I will wait until there is ONE left. I wanna see how big it is when the rest have all been eaten. Maybe the last 2 will kill each other..
Just guessing,I'd say that by finding those egg sacks I avoided having a couple of hundred really nasty spiders around.
People should know what they look like,even as babies.

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by prechermike on 09/15/14 at 09:01:04

Pretty cool experiement

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by Dave on 09/15/14 at 09:52:07

Our surveying crew often finds Black Widows when they take the lids off manholes to get invert elevations.  One year we gave one to a friend that takes photos for insect magazines.  He had that Black Widow for a long time and photographed it a lot.  He would feed it, and take it out to photograph.

I have never found one myself....but when you see one there is no mistaking it for another spider.  Shiny black almost like chrome, and a very distinct red hourglass.


Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/15/14 at 12:51:03

Apparently there are some in the "widow" family that arent black/.  And Ive never seen a black widows web that was symmetrical and neat looking. So, I am alert to webs that are junky looking.. That danged brown recluse is a resident of the area, but so far I havent seen one. THATS a mean bite to fight,, What ya need is some IV vitamin C, but its hard to get a Dr. to do that.

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by Kris01 on 09/15/14 at 20:15:51

Ooh, the Brown Recluse is a mean sucker! My dad was bitten by one when I was a kid. It caused the skin to die around the bite. I think they call it necrosis. Pretty ugly stuff! I tend to stomp 'em flat when I see 'em!

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by verslagen1 on 09/15/14 at 20:22:56

new to so cal... brown widows
http://www.countynewscenter.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/news_featured/news/brown-widow-spider1.jpg
http://www.countynewscenter.com/news/brown-widows-what-you-need-know

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/15/14 at 20:51:42

I kinda like the paint job,but not enough to not stomp on it.
I used to play with tarantulas out in the oil field. I have a few Garden spiders around. Big dudes,pretty colorful,critter gettin dudes. Plenty of Wolf spiders,too. Heck,black widows are pretty,but,they gotta die..

The babies are thinning out. The 2 bigger ones are doing fine.

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by Serowbot on 09/15/14 at 23:21:20

When I was a young man,... I ended up with a job cleaning a long dead swimming pool/garbage dump... 10ft deep garbage,with thousands of black widows...
I was spooked... but fear only lasts so long...
Never got bit... not once...

However,... Brown Recluse, scare the tar out of me...
...(Ive seen too many pics)... :o...

...and I'm not sure I could recognize one if it bit me...
... and I didn't know they existed... before the interweb...

Maybe,... they didn't.... :-?...

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by kimchris1 on 09/16/14 at 19:18:59

No experiences with baby Black Widow's yet had one
with a full grown one.
1993 I was a Produce Mgr and had a shipment from
Chile arrive at the store.
The Black Widow was in the grapes and as I was placing
the grapes in the display case, I felt something go across
my hand. I saw it was a Black Spider.
I grabbed a plastic produce bag and placed the spider inside
it. Then I went and asked an older worker if she thought it may
be a Black Widow?
We turned it over and sure enuf their was the red hour glass design
on the belly.
I was questioned by several if it bit me?
I was sure it hadn't and so glad I saw it and was able to capture it.
I took it over to the extension office and surrendered it to them.
Turns out our store wasn't the only store that had gotten shipments
of grapes from Chile with Black Widow Spiders.

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by stinger on 09/17/14 at 01:11:01

I,m never ever going to go outside again!

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by Dave on 09/17/14 at 03:39:35


77706D6A636176040 wrote:
I,m never ever going to go outside again!


Well......I hate to tell you this - but scary stuff can be inside too! :o

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by Pine on 09/17/14 at 10:44:05

pffffff spiders... you can run from them

dabnab  yellow jackets.. evil incarnate! ALWAYS wear a hat!

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by Dave on 09/18/14 at 05:16:20


635A5D56475C41330 wrote:
pffffff spiders... you can run from them

dabnab  yellow jackets.. evil incarnate! ALWAYS wear a hat!


Seems every couple of years I hit a nest of them in the ground while I am mowing the fields with a bush hog.....and they come after me in large numbers.  In the time it takes me to shut the tractor off, jump off the tractor and run for safety.....I always get 3-4 stings.  I come back for my tractor after they have settled down for the night.  Within a day or two the skunks....or whatever it is that raids the hive will find them and dig up the hive and wipe them out.  If not.....a railroad flair lit and stuffed in the hole will kill them. ;D

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/21/14 at 07:36:30

If you have that kind of history and reasonable expectation of an encounter,, dont ya think a can of "KNock 'em outta the air" spray would be a good idea?

AAAAAnd Now,, I guess, unless something unusual happens, I wont have reason to post an update. Heres where the experiment stands as of this morning.


Well, I missed it, nagdabbit,, I missed the big battle. The other day I noticed the 2 biggest were on opposite sides of the tin.. I was hoping they would put off the fight until theyd eaten the smaller ones, even tho the way they had been going about choosing the next in line to kill didnt make me think thats how it would go. I went out & banged it on the counter to get them moving and could only see one of the bigguns, finally spotted the other, emaciated, dangling in a web.. so now its just one
"Big" one, & by big I mean not yet black really and the hourglass can only be seen with a magnifying glass.. These things grow slow, at least in captivity with only each other for lunch. So, Ive got 6 or 8 really tiny ones and one that , were it not confined & general location known, would be for all practical purposes, invisible. On a walk by, in even a well lit place, if it wasnt moving I could walk Right by it and never have a clue it was there.. how comforting. I have no idea how big one would have to be before it could hurt a grown man..I do wonder about the difference between the force required to inject a kid versus an adult. Ohh, well,,  Im gonna go ahead and let them fight it out. The plastic "lens" is getting hard to see thru. Theyve made a mess of it with web attachment points & stomping around with all those dirty feet. I have to kick in the 250 watt work lamp thats mounted over one end of the bench to see in there worth a crap. I have one hole in it thats big enough to squirt stuff thru, taped over for security, that Ill use to squirt some ether or brake cleaner in before I open it to wipe it out. Been a fun, interesting project. I DO wonder how many of all those babies would have survived to adulthood had I not intercepted them..


Over and( lets not let any of them get) OUt..

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by stinger on 09/25/14 at 21:15:47

How would you like to wake up some morning and find this in your bed?

http://static.lolyard.com/lol/monster-spider.jpg

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/26/14 at 07:10:21

If that's in your bed,you're not gonna wake up and have a good day. Noo,you gonna Die,,

Title: Re: baby black widows
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/27/14 at 07:32:37

Welp,, Didnt see that comin,, Went out this AM & grabbed the magnifying glass,, The bigger spider was lookin pretty slow, very sluggish. The last small one was moving around, looking okay. I gave the tin a few good raps on the bench, to see if anything else moved,,The biggun was looking less and less normal.. Dang thing just Up & DIED on me,, so, I opened it up and Mayshed the last one. Took 2 pair O Needle nose pliers & pulled the ehg sacks open. One was filled with a grayish/brown fluff. One had a tuft of whitish, web lookin stuff with tiny , irregular bumps, I dont think it was eggs, just lumpy webby stuff, the third had a lot less stuff in it,, IDK if I ever mentioned it, but before there were spiders, there were some black bugs, I never did figure out what they were , unless "Mom" steals un-hatched bug babies and includes them in her egg sack to have food for her sweet little babies when they pop out..I found one spider that had been so sucked dry it was almost completely transparent, just a slight darkness in the legs. All in all, pretty cool expirement. Spelled Expire-ement, cuz I was waiting to see when theyd expire,,

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