Spiders
SPIDERS -There are only a few dangerous spiders in the United States but spiders in general are probably more feared than any other insect. Spiders are actually beneficial to humans because they prey on other harmful insects such as mosquitoes, flies, and any others they catch. Now of course there are some that are dangerous, such as the Black Widow, Brown Widow, and the Brown Recluse (also called the fiddle back spider). These are venomous spiders and they like to live close to us and our surroundings. The widow bites can cause death in the very young or aged, whereas the recluse bite can cause a condition known as necrosis, where the skin at the bite is killed and falls off leaving a hole or crater. If a full venom bite is received then it can be more severe and require hospitalization.
BIOLOGY- Spiders belong to the order Araneida. They have eight legs, no wings, and no antennae. Unlike other insects they have an unsegmented abdomen attached to the cephalothorax (head and thorax) by a short pedicel or stalk. Widow webbing is also different than most spider webs, it is messy looking, no pattern really, looks like a cobweb, and very strong.
Black Widows are shiny black in color and their abdomen is bulbous, fat and plump and round, with the orange or red hourglass under its abdomen, and it is a good size spider usually about the size of a nickel to a quarter. Its egg sac is white and round like a ball about the size of a dime.
Brown Widows can be a variety of colors unfortunately. They can be gray to brown with a variety of markings such as red wavy lines, dots, or streaks running across the abdomen, their hourglass is usually a brighter orange color, their abdomen is also bulbous but usually not as big, their legs are tan and brown striped, but their distinguishing characteristic is their egg sac, it is white and round like the Black Widows but it is thorny looking, spiked if you will.
The Brown Recluse is a little smaller, light brown to cocoa brown in color with the characteristic fiddle shaped dark brown marking on its back.
The widows will produce several egg sacs with about 200 eggs in each and they hatch in about 2-4 weeks. The recluse will lay 1-5 egg sacs with about 135 eggs in each and they will hatch in about 2 weeks. Widows and recluses are usually found outdoors under things, in corners away from light and disturbances. Except the Brown Widow, they seem to like being around us and our things like outdoor furniture, toys, sand boxes, sheds, anything man made. But spiders can move indoors at any time to set up residence. Inside they like to be in boiler rooms, closets, and other areas not normally disturbed like under furniture. This is where most people get bit when they decide to rearrange their furniture and they reach underneath.
CONTROL - Controlling spiders can be difficult. Web building spiders do not have feet; they have claws, so they do not pick up chemicals that well. But they do recycle their web about once every 24 hours or so. So we can use that against them. Of course the best way to kill a spider is to smash it and be done with it, or to spray it directly. But if you can not then you can treat its webbing and let it kill it when it recycles its webbing. That is why it is better to clean and get rid of the webbing after you spray, just wait a day or two. Always make sure to destroy any egg sacs you find of course. For outdoor treatments, first try to remove anything that makes your area favorable for spiders. If not possible then inspect it often so they do not set up household. Treatments are the same for indoor and outdoor areas. Because of their feet/claw characteristic a great product to use is a wettable powder insecticide or dust such as Demon WP and Cynoff WP or Delta Dust and EcoPCO Dust. You can also use liquid concentrate residuals to spray around the house and eaves such as Onslaught and Demand which are microencapsulated for extra long residual, also Suspend SC, Talstar Pro, and Evercide or Conquer are good choices too. Some good aerosols are PT Cy-Kick, PT-221L, CB Invader, CB Intruder, CB D-Force HPX, and PT-565 Plus XLO. You can also use environmentally friendly and safer pesticides such as EcoPCO WP-X, the dust EcoEXEMPT D, and the aerosols EcoPCO AR-X and EcoPCO ACU.
Geographic Location(s): All over. Brown widows are mostly in the south.
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