Black Widow? What's the best way to control?...

I have done my " homework" to identify this spider and I am pretty sure it's black widow. There were two found in a garage of a suburban home, only 2 years old construction which used to be an open field. Having pets and a preschooler visit garage frequently had to take measures to eliminate the spiders. Otherwise I would have left them alone - if found in area where they can bring no harm to anyone.
Well, regular insect /spider control spray does not work. How should I say that - it did, but it took a week for the spiders to die. And the female on the photo was still alive today, that's about 7 days after spraying. Is there anything more effective than just hardware store spider spray? Has anyone faced this problem before and what was used to control them? I can't do organic or " move them someplace else" control as I mentioned earlier having kids and pets I am playing with fire if I keep those black widows in my garage.

Thank you for any assistace!
Lena.


This message was edited Sep 1, 2007 5:07 PM

Here is a photo from top.

Honestly I don't think spraying is a very effective way to control for spiders. The best thing to do is make the environment inhospitable for them--black widows like nice dark places to hide, so if you're using the garage as a storage area, that's where they'll end up, hiding in boxes and things like that. They are shy and scared of people and tend to hide, so unless the kids are going fishing around in boxes and things chances are they wouldn't run across them. So if the kids and the pets are just in the garage on the way to and from the car then you probably don't need to worry too much about them getting bit; however if they're playing out there for long periods of time, then you might want to consider finding a different place for them to hang out. Since you live in an area where they are found, the only real way to get rid of them is not to have any place that they like to live, otherwise you may get rid of the ones that are there now, but as long as there are hiding places for them, new ones will come.

I agree with ecrane, but this website does give you some pest control devices. However, it too says that removal of places where they can nest is critical. You can't afford to have boxes, etc in the garage. Or log piles, etc. Sandboxes, outdoor toys with lids, forts, etc - you'll need to check them out before the kids play in them. They often hide inside electrical boxes too, so be careful there. Hopefully, you'll just have a few, and after you eliminate them, you'll just have to keep watch, as we all do...

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/black_widow_spider.htm

This message was edited Sep 2, 2007 12:41 AM

I feel your pain. I was doing some cleaning in prep for babies visiting the house this past weekend and found several black widows. The part that was really disturbing was they were under my nice patio dining table and chairs - under the cushions. And one had made quite a home under a wooden planting box. I cleaned out the nests and did some smashing and spraying. Have been checking daily now for new nests to keep them from multiplying so much.

Thank you guys. Frankly, I got so carried away with my garden - I forgot all about my post... :)
Yes, there are some boxes in the garage up there....and x-mas tree box, shelves with various things on them, like bug killers and etc... They still managed to be happy there and got some webs going!

One was at the bottom shelf. Another on the garage door (inside). One was on the fence to the side of the house- in the corner where brick and fence meet. I have a virginia creeper vine there which is young - just a year old so it's not large at all.

And another one was by the front door, at the bottom, almost at the ground level - there is a gap between bricks and concrete. After I sprayed around front door - it must have gotten her as the next day she crawled out and remained near that gap. Many areas around that house that they could call " home" and there is not much I can do about it. I agree with the statement that if you kill one spider it won't be long before another takes it's place. So, the spraying is temporary method. But making habitat unsuitable practically impossible as there are areas I can't do anything about or don't wat to (like my flowerbeds).

I'll just keep a watch knowing that they are out there.

NY2CA - sorry to hear they're around your table/chairs outside! That's what I mean - there is no way to remove all of the possible habitat locations so I guess the best solution is to keep checking and spray as needed.

I have literally hundreds of these in the planter boxes, but they only seem to be active at night... never bother me, so I don't bother them, and they do eat a lot of bugs.

Palmbob is right-I have tons of them in the grhouses and no one has ever been bitten by one. When we first started to see them, I called a bug doctor at the university to ask him how poisonous they were, and he said that they really weren't-except to people that were allgeric to bees and had to carry that shot around in case they got stung-and even then it is not deadly. I got bit once by the house and it was like a bee sting and itched for a few days-that is all.
You will see their web long before you see them in the daytime. If you learn to recognize their web, then you will know that one is there and can look for it-usually underneath something dark near the web-but never in the web during the day. Their web is very strong and extremely disorganized-you can run your finger thru the web to see if it is strong ( that is how I tell), and it is fine to do that as they are not in the web.

Yes, this species of spider is definitely not know for making attractive webs.