Black Widow Spider questions

[matt gilbert]

Keep in mind though that the two men who died from the spider bites were elderly. I don' think there are many cases of healthy people (without allergies) who have died from black widows.

[sherileeaz]

Sure does! Thanks for confirming that black widows are nothing to mess with.
I wonder if the dought here is what is causing so many of them.
Be careful on the trails too, we did Horton Creek and I saw alot of black widow spider webs.

Thanks Colin for sharing this article.

Sherileeaz

[Leva]

Black widows are easily dealt with by the "shoe" method, plus a bug bomb in enclosed areas that are safe to bomb. (Enclosed crawl spaces, attics.) Read bomb label. Or if you're squeamish about shoes, I reccomend just spraying the spider with the insecticide of your choice. Wholesale spraying is not something I can suggest; you will end up with more pests in the long runs, and ones that you CAN'T kill with pesticide, like white flies and scorpions and aphids.

Guinea fowl also work well on getting rid of black widows (and ticks and scorpions and grasshoppers and anything else the guineas can catch) but they're not reccomended for small properties or city life, unfortunately. They need a couple of acres to roam ... and the guinea hens could make a parrot want ear plugs!

Leva