Queen of the Black Widows

[Viore]

So yesterday my wife spotted a black widow outside our sliding glass door on the back patio. She's terrified of spiders and refused to go outside. I thought, "That's silly. The spider is up in the corner of the patio awning, about a foot away from the doorway, and it's not moving. Nothing to be afraid of." Nevertheless, she refused to go outside unless I killed the spider.

I grabbed a can of insecticide (I'm not a big fan of spiders either) and went outside to "do the deed." Holy hell, that's a huge black widow! And it's moving all around, building a web, and there's a male black widow spider in the corner also. I steeled my nerves and pushed the button on the top of the spray can. A fine mist of spidery death emerged, only to be blown away by the wind before it could reach the spiders. I had to think of some other way to reach the spiders.

Luckily for me, the female black widow crawled closer and the wind died down at the same time. I sprayed the spiders for a good ten seconds. Then the female dropped down, down, down, on a thin line of webbing right in front of my face. My wife happened to look out the (closed) sliding door as the spider was descending and she started freaking out that the spider was going to crawl over and get her in the house. I waited calmly for the spider to drop all the way to the floor before I stepped on her soundly with my boot. The male black widow got away before I could get a stepladder to finish spraying him with insecticide.

And that's how I became the Queen of the Black Widows.

Do you have any fun pest stories?

 

[lenarenee]

I'm also in S. California and hate those black widows. I've found it more effective to hunt them down at night with a flashlight, stick and old shoe. It's so difficult to kill them with chemicals because they have to be gotten just like you did - directly and profusely with spray.

Don't forget to get the egg sacs - spray doesn't work - you must smash the heck out of them!

As for a fun pest story: as a kid in the Midwest during long snowy winters the possums used to visit our basement. I thought those white faces with dark eyes were adorable. Used to feed them cat food and bananas. That is...until one day my mom opened the kitchen/basement door and one possum just waltzed inside and expected a nice snack! I was forbidden to feed them and more, and of course I obeyed. Right? :think:

My former cat Ralph the Stupid - known for sleeping in dripping utility sinks and tops of telephone poles for days at a time, once caught a nice big mouse and tried to play with it until Mousey the Smart found the best hiding spot of all....under the tummy of Ralph the Stupid.

 

[toxikon]

Eek, scary! I'm not usually too squeamish around spiders because none of the ones around here are venomous. I like having a few around the house to eat up any other pests, like ants. They don't do any harm.

We had a fun mouse experience recently though. Background: I am a total softy when it comes to rodents because I've had many pet rats growing up and they are unbelievably sweet and intelligent creatures. I could never hurt one!

Over the winter, we bought in two big boxes of Christmas decorations from the garage and plopped them upstairs. Well, we must have brought in some guests because I started noticing tiny mouse poops around the upstairs. I went out and bought some live-traps and low-and-behold, caught myself 2 deer mice.

Sidenote: Deer mice are freaking adorable! But they carry diseases, so we wanted them out ASAP.

So we took our two live-traps out to a meadow area far away from our house and let them go.

Well, a week later, little baby field mice started tumbling down our stairs looking for mommy and daddy. Sadly our dog killed one, but we managed to catch another. We figured since its eyes were open, we should let it go. We brought it outside to plop it under our front deck, thinking it would be a safe spot. My fiance felt guilty a few hours later and went outside to check... and the damn baby was just sitting right where we left him, out in the open. Totally clueless.

So we brought the little fellow back inside and made him a nice house inside an aquarium with some degu food, water and paper bedding (I have a pet degu that was willing to share her food).

Sure enough, more babies came tumbling down the stairs and bumbling around downstairs. We even found one sitting on the staircase, completely clueless. We scooped them all up and added them to the aquarium.

We ended up with five and fed and watered them for a couple weeks until they were bigger and (hopefully) a bit smarter. We ended up making a nice home out of a shoebox and putting them back in the garage where they came from.

That was a few months ago. I hope they're doing well!

 

[Rusti]

A few. We've got widows and recluses here (and did you know that centipedes bite?)

I tried to catch and relocate a widow once, but her web was so thick I wasn't going to be able to do that without risking her crawling onto me, so she got nuked with the bug spray. I've nearly plopped my hand down onto a recluse once uncovering our vinyl printer/cutter. it was just sitting there, like 'hay!'

The best though was when the centipede got me. Most of our bugs reside in the basement amongst all the junk, but this one came upstairs to the kitchen where I had never seen a centipede before. I didn't even notice it until something latched onto my toe and my immediate thought was that one of the recluses finally got me - until I couldn't shake it off. You know how you pick up your foot and flick it to dislodge things? I had a brief freak out then turned my foot over to see what the heck had a hold of me. I had to pull the centipede off with a kleenex because it was NOT letting go. My mother had just come back into the house because she'd forgotten something (I was getting around for work that morning) and said I was shaking head to toe. Mostly from the adrenaline of the thought 'there goes that toe, thanks recluse' and surprise. I showed her the centipede.

It was like a nasty bee sting for several hours. Not itchy, but really painful and it made me glad that the thing was only about an inch long and not bigger!

 

[Nao]

Once, I was cleaning one of the rooms in the house. I was down on my hands and knees and reaching in under the couch to pick up whatever things that had made their way in under the couch. And what do you think I get a hand full of if not a big hairy mouse butt.

Luckily it was dead, caught in the mousetrap.

 

[earlene]

Yes, indeed. Black widow stories and a hairy tarantula story. The Tarantula story is quite like your Black widow story.

My second husband (later deceased but not from spiders, it was his heart) and I lived in the Santa Cruz mountains at the time and our house was built into the side of a mountain. The front door was up 2 flights of stairs, but the back door was right onto the mountain at the back of the house. I opened the back door one day and there was a (to me) humungous hairy spider just under the overhang/roof. I shreaked and ran and got a can of Raid spray, then promptly emptied the entire can onto the hairy spider. But my husband was the one to dispose of the carcass, thankfully. Not that I am beyond disposing of carcasses when need be, but I am not fond of large hairy spiders.

A couple years later, still living in that same house, my younger son came home one day to tell me he had just bought a used Mazda XZ that had not been running and was kind of overgrown by vegetation (in the mountains). He went on to tell me that when he opened the hood there were loads of black widows under the hood. I freaked out over that and told him I wasn't going for a ride in a car that had a spider infestation, let alone allow him to take his baby daughter in that car (another story.)

Many years later, still living in the Santa Cruz mountains, but a different town and a different house and a different husband... My husband and I were packing up our household preparing for a move across country, when I pulled one of my photos off the windowsill in our office to find a female black widow on the backside of the photo frame. Again, slight freakout, but by then I'd become quite adept at catching, killing and disposing of roof rats, so I was much better at containing this freakout. I carried the photo to the nearest outside door and knocked the spider off onto the outdoors, closing the door behind me. Let it live. Of course I thoroughly cleaned the picture frame before packing it up.

After moving here, probably within the first couple of months, I had another freakout moment when I put my hand on the garage light switch and discovered a black widow not 5 inches away from my hand once the lights came on! Don't think I don't think of that every time I enter the garage in the dark for the past 12 years! I also had pest control come out and spray our house on a regular basis for a couple of years until I decided it wasn't worth the money anymore.

The dead bat inside one of our lamps was a little disconcerting. I never knew we had a live bat in the house until I found it dead when I went to change a light bulb.

We had a ladybug infestation in our attic one year. I actually thought that was kind of neat, except they all seemed to come up there to die and I had to sweep up lots of dead lady bugs. It's never happened since, though. I have seen millions of live lady bugs, again that was in the Santa Cruz mountains in the Lime Kilns area. That was spectacular. I was out hiking. Can't remember if I was alone or if my second husband was still alive. I think he was and we were hiking together. We used to do a lot of hiking.

 

[navigator9]

I do not mind snakes, lizards or frogs, but spiders, even tiny ones, freak me out big time. I don't think it's funny, but my friends do, when I use my vacuum method of spider disposal. I get the longest extension tube on the vacuum, so I can stay as far as possible from the critter, suck it up, and while the vacuum is still running, spray bug spray (lots of it) down the tube. Then I turn the vacuum off and cover the end securely with duct tape, just in case the thing isn't dead yet. I've never had one crawl back out, so I guess it works, but it always gives me the heebie jeebies when I take the duct tape off, because I think it's in there, mad, and waiting to spring at me. Eeeeek!

 

[dibbles]

So...I hate mice. I can't really even deal with a dead one in a trap. We have lived in our house for over 25 years. It is on a wooded lot and we do have mice get into the basement, especially in the fall. Only once have I ever seen one on the main floor, and never on the second floor where the bedrooms are. One night last fall after my husband and the dog had gone up to bed, a mouse ran across the family room (where I was), and behind the sofa. Of course I bolted up the stairs to get the mouse catcher. He searched the room and I was cringing in the kitchen - nothing. So he went and gathered up every mouse trap we have, put fresh peanut butter in them and set them around the room. Fine, no mouse could resist that banquet and he will be gone by morning.

We went up to bed. We were talking and DH was rubbing my arm. Then I felt him tapping his fingers (like running) across my head. I told him he wasn't funny and to not do that. He had no clue what I was talking about. Yup - mouse in the bed. DH managed to get him. And there is still a mouse trap in our bedroom 9 months later.

 

[Steve85569]

Insects get a dose of penetrating blaster - yes that's spray oil. It costs less and greatly reduces the number of hornets and wasps we have on the deck and hummingbird feeders.
We had a big widow in a window well. Hit her from 8 or 10 feet away and she was DRT ( dead right there). No movement at all. It's quick and I assume rather painless.
The hornets will not come back to the nest. Ever. Not even the next year to rebuild.

It does have a rather pungent odor for a few days though... We used to call it something not very child friendly or usable in mixed company.

 

[IrishLass]

I live in an area where scorpions prowl about, as well as black widows and cockroaches, etc.... We've even had a plague of locusts blow through town a couple of times, which was actually pretty impressive to observe in person, but eventually turns pretty gross as the streets and parking lots become littered with carpets of dead locusts- it makes for some pretty crunchy walking here and there for a few days. Not to mention all of the locust-splatter on cars/windshields that needs to be cleaned off.

For all the potentially dangerous/deadly critters out here, I thankfully have only had one personal run-in with any of them- a bark scorpion. It happened back in the 90's as I opened up my kitchen door that leads out to the garage to toss something into my recycle bin. I was barefooted (as usual), and as I stepped just one step into the garage, I felt something nip me right below my left pinkie toe. I reflexively lifted my foot up and looked down just in time to see the scorpion crawling away. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to exact my revenge upon it before it scurried off. :twisted: Thankfully, though, I knew what to do because I've had a few friends stung by scorpions- clean the area and ice it down as often as possible throughout the day, which is what I did and my foot was back to normal in a day or two.

Probably the funniest story I have to relate revolves around cockroaches. Well....it wasn't exactly so funny then, but I can laugh about it now. Our son was about 5 at the time, and Hubby and I took him to one of those touristy 'Old West' towns where they have cowboy shootouts and panning for gold, etc... Anyway, around dusk/nightfall, we finally made our way over to place where you could pan for gold in this stream of water. Unbeknownst to us at the time, a bunch of cockroaches felt it was a good time to make their way over there, too. .....and somehow a few of them were able to make it up my legs and onto my torso without me noticing. Hubby & son noticed before I did, and right after telling me, 'Hey- you have roaches on your shirt!" my son (who was totally scared of bugs at that time) freaks out and runs off, and my hubby runs off after him to make sure that he didn't end up getting lost, while I'm left flailing about and squealing, "Get them off me, get them off me!" to no avail (all my helpers had run away). Somehow one of them got underneath my clothes and I had no option but to run like the wind to the nearest Ladies Room and take all my clothes off to rid myself of it and the rest of its friends. Ah, memories!

Here's a cool trick for all ladies out there confronted by a bee in the house (or a fly or a spider or cockroach, etc...) who don't have any Raid on hand and who's normal 'bug killer' is away at work. Run to the bathroom and grab your hairspray and spray it with that. It stuns them so that they can't move normally or get away as quick, giving you time to step in and end them.


IrishLass

 

[Millie]

Eeek! I always dreamed of living in a warmer climate, now I'm happy for the long winters!

My impressive critter story happened when I was a kid. I slid down a steep hillside in search of adventure - and found a nest of groundwasps. I tried to run back up the hill (impassable briar patch at the bottom), only to have the dirt slide out from under me. Over and over again. Eventually I made it up the hill, covered head to toe in fat red stings. I got prompt medical attention and spent the afternoon hallucinating :shark: :dancingsanta::bunny:
On the plus side, getting stung ever since is equivalent to an itchy mosquito bite for me. I can be fearless now 8)

 

[Luviesmom]

You should have gotten a picture of the spider! You saved the males life!

Once, sitting out on porch, my husband had me in hysteria. I was laughing with my mouth wide open. A yellow jacket flew into my mouth and I blew it out very quickly. He said I looked like the guy from the Green Mile. Glad it didn't sting my throat!

 

[dixiedragon]

Reminds me of the internet meme...If you see a spider in your house, get a tissue...then carefully set the house on fire.

Spiders actually don't bug me, except black widows. I leave along any spider I find in the house because several types of house spiders eat brown recluses.

 

[jules92207]

This thread is giving me the heebie geebies. Last weekend I was out at lunch with the hubby and kids and the restaurant has a self serve ice cream maker. So I went over to make my son a cone and while I was fidgeting with the machine my husband comes over and smashes a black widow that had apparently just descended from the ceiling. My hubby had watched it come down between him and me and luckily saved me before it got me.

 

[earlene]

Wonderful Mr. jules92207! That gives me the heebie-jeebies way worse than this thread. I doubt I would ever set foot in that restaurant again!

 

[CaraBou]

I'm with dixie... spiders are mostly good. Well okay, I can agree black widows don't belong inside. But underneath, I figure that's their domain.

 

[Saipan]

Just some advice, don't squash a spider. When you do that, you release all of their mating pheromones and as a result, it attracts spiders.

 

[Retropixie]

When my husband and I first moved in together, we lived in a very old house. One day, I was in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet and I see a baby spider drop down, then another, and another. I look up and start screaming. The ceiling was full of baby spiders dropping down It was like a horror movie! My husband runs in and starts laughing at me.....I still get the heeby jeebies thinking about it.