2009 - CA - THE GREAT BLACK WIDOW HUNT

Every so often, I find myself staring down a giant, female Black Widow spider.


For the most part, I don't mind bugs, insects, critters, spiders, etc.
I can say, however, that I am not a fan of the Potato Bug mini-aliens, mosquitors or ants.

(Potato bug)

As for Black Widows, my feelings are locked and unchangable...they gotta GO! I will admit they are fascinating to observe, and in my experience, BW's are reclusive and skittish and not aggressive. Statistically, the BW bites are very rarely fatal to human adults. Although painful, the bite usually heals...usually, you don't lose a limb or digit.

(Pic pulled from the Net - suspected BW bite - day 6)

Black Widows have a bad reputation because they've been seen killing their little, harmless, brown, male, counterpart after courtship...oh yeah, and they inject a toxic venom that attacks the nervous system and is one of the most potent venoms secreted by a living creature. Woohoo!

I hadn't seen a Black Widow around the house for a few months, until last night. I pulled into the driveway after a late movie and there she was, hanging fully spread out in the middle of a messy web. She was a big-old-beast and had threaded a couple of lines from the bumper of my perma-parked jeep to the ground. I could see her in the headlights from 20 feet away.
I learned a while back that where there is one BW, there are many BWs...and so the hunt is immediately on. The Black Widow Hunter in me comes alive!

BWH - JOIN my BLACK WIDOW HUNTER CLUB - It's EASY! Simply head on down to your local tattoo parlor and have them scratch this ugly BWH mark on your inner right forearm, take a pic and send me $100 bucks. and then BAM! YOU'RE IN! Happy hunting!


Anyway...
I went to the garage, put on a headlamp, grabbed my gloves and a shovel, and went straight for the Jeep. I found three new, smaller BW's immediately. BAM BAM BAM! I had already named the big one in front of the jeep Isabella and decided to capture her in a 5-gallon bucket for further study.

(ISABELLA IN A BUCKET)
This hunting/killing/squishing process may sound cruel, premeditated and unnecessary to the dedicated critter lover out there, but, If you own a small dog (like Charlie) and you like him alive (like I do), you need to hunt the females down. Charlie is a curious, furry little moron and he likes to bat bugs around, put them in his mouth, spit them out, pounce on them, lick them...you get the idea.

(Charlie is not afraid of Black Widows and that is not an evolutionary advantage!)

A Black Widow bite does have the potential to kill or severely cripple a small dog (or child!)



With Isabella in her bucket, I continued hunting around the house.

99.8% of the time, at night, the female will be hanging in the middle of her web, less than a foot from the ground. The good news with that fact is that you will rarely walk face first into one, the bad news, in California, we like to walk around in shorts and barefoot.

(The following BW pics were taken post-squish!)

Found one here.


BW's love the garage and they love stuff on the ground, crates, cardboard boxes, wood piles, holes, bricks - generally, heaps of stuff..on the ground. The BW web looks very chaotic, there is no pattern, just loose, thin fibers.

Found one!

One here.



One here next to the cornhole boards...


When the hunt was done, I gathered the little toxic, squished spider carcasses, boiled them in vinegar and drank the mixture from an old boot. Not really, but I thought about the power that might have given me!

The HUNT was a success!! 7 BW's squished.

But, I will need to have another hunt soon. Tonight, I saw a new, gigantic BW in the garage that scurried away before I was able to gather my tools and wits to go into her dark corner.

She was as fat as i have ever seen, so I need to find her before she lays a billion eggs.


Remember to get your tattoo and send me $$$$!



THE GREAT ISABELLA (pre-squish)