Black Widows
 

Having a dozen of my daughters friends over for a party.

Cleaning up my pergola firepit area.

Wife is all freaked out about the black widow she found and killed.

Should I tell her about the other two that I killed?

Creepy little f'rs and aggressive. I swear one of them charged me.

Better be careful...they carry rabies ...:D

I was surprised at how big their bodies can be.

The last one I saw was a massive one out at the shooting range.
Coincidentally, 9mm is incredibly effective in exterminating the little farkers

If you should get bitten, it is my understanding that you won't feel it but the toxin they have will make you violently ill with cramps and diarrhea for a while. I hope I never get to find out. One place they love to hide is under the front edge of toilet seats.... Yikes...:eek:

I guess scorpions and black widow spiders don't freak me out that much anymore because they seem to be everywhere here. And as a nurse, we don't see that many patients that got admitted for those things. More of a pain than anything else...

Now those brown recluse spiders, those are a different story. I see a ton of patients admitted for antibiotics and management of wounds because those boogers cause a lot of skin damage and infection. Those scare the heebie jeebies out of me.

A plumber's propane torch does the trick and spray it down with something a few days before the little guys get there.

got out after dark with a flashlight, a can of bug spray and a big rubber mallet. Their web reflects the light, and they like to sit on the edge of it after dark. Spray them with the bug spray it'll stun/confuse them then smash them with the mallet when they drop to the ground. Got 4 that way the last time I cleared the back patio.

What she said. Scorpions freaked me out when I first moved to AZ. Just part of the fun of living here now. We have black widows around my house too, but they're not as common as the scorpions. Plus, they just tend to sit on their web unless provoked.

The tail-less whip scorpions (last pic), though not really a scorpion, are harmless. They're freaky as they are super fast do a little challenge dance when you come across one.

AZ is not for whimps!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1345932778.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1345932949.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1345933035.jpg

night time with a flash light to find them, kill it with fire

Count correction.

Got another one so 3 for me.

I thought these things were territorial.

All 4 were within a couple if feet of each other.

I'm glad I live in Canada, winter is a small price to pay for normal, non-freaky, non-poisonous bugs and critters.

Just before they lay eggs.

We had lots of BWs when we lived in the desert. There favorite food is crickets, if you can get rid of the crickets the BWs will go away.

Scorpions. We moved from the SoCal desert to Prescott AZ and we had Bark scorpions everywhere. These are not your average scorpion that have a sting sort of like a wasp. These suckers can kill you. A child or small pet can die in a matter of minutes if stung by a Bark. We had one get into the house and my wife saw it just as our little doxie picked it up off the floor. My wife screamed at her to drop it which she did and I caught the scorpion in a glass. The dog was crying and we thought she had been stung. Wife called our Vet and she asked if there was any swelling around her mouth...there wasn't. The Vet stayed on the phone with my wife for about 10 minutes and the Vet said that our dog did not get stung.....If she had been stung, she would have been dead by now.

I killed the third scorpion in two yrs. in our bedroom last Fri. and have been killing about 1-2 per night in my yard with a black light and a torch. I have never seen a black widow. That would worry me. Where do they hide around around the house and yard?

Rick....they like dark corners and behind things, especially in a cluttered garage. Outside they can be just about anywhere but usually close to somewhere they can duck back into. Their web is different than most other spiders. Instead of the intricate typical web, BW webs look like they were on acid...all scrambled and crazy!

Oh, and here's a good link to Bark scorpions.....
Facts | Arizona Bark Scorpion

Thank god we don't have that crap here. I would probably uses this on a scorpion if I saw one here. http://soldiersystems.net/blog1/wp-c...nihilator2.jpg

none?

Low, webs are only a foot or so off the ground.

Typical is under chairs, loungers, out of the way places.

Like RKT says, webs are really easy to spot. Very erratic, haphazard, no pattern.

http://www.venombyte.com/images/veno.../widow_web.jpg

In the wood pile, in a stack of brick or rock and under anything where another bug might wander. In my experience they run from you in any way they can. Trap them with your hand while picking something up and they will bite. I've never been bitten because I assume a spider will be under most anything I intend to pick up out in the yard or under a table, bench or chair on a patio and in the garage. Never seen one in a house and I've been in 1000's of houses.

Under a house I expect a Brown Recluse and they ARE bad news. Fortunately, I've never seen one. I do have some Red Recluse spiders here and they are in the typical places they like to habit.