black widows ?

[tjm]

So, on reading this I did a web search or three, starting with whether males and females look alike and possible reasons for die off ect. and one of the notable things I found is that most "widows" do not kill their mates. (the species that does is in S. America) but that it is common for the newly hatched spiders to eat their siblings as they hatch. Neat, huh? Also it is said that these spiders sometimes trap and kill snakes, that's something I never expected.

[Flysmallie]

23 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

                        Telling @fishinwrench he has a bazillion spiders that have eight eyes each watching him in the shop will freak him out. I highly doubt they are dropping from the rafters but think they are hiding in every outboard cowling he opens up and they are ready to pounce on him :). 

Well if he would get a pet monkey every thing would be better. 

[fishinwrench]

I radically bombed the place last night and fully expected to see several dead ones laying around this morning......but nope, none.  

[jdmidwest]

You were too late for the party.

You could not be a bee keeper.  Spiders love the equipment you keep around.  Wish I had a pic of the big wolf spider  that was sitting in a box the other night when I picked it up.  About the size of a full grown field mouse with long legs.  Widows and Recluses and other brown spiders are feeding on the ants I guess.

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

You were too late for the party.

You could not be a bee keeper.  Spiders love the equipment you keep around.  Wish I had a pic of the big wolf spider  that was sitting in a box the other night when I picked it up.  About the size of a full grown field mouse with long legs.  Widows and Recluses and other brown spiders are feeding on the ants I guess.

Spiders that size are more threatening to me than a grizzly bear. I hate them.

[tjm]

I think that when you find several dead females it simply means that they have died of age after placing all  their eggs, next generation will hatch soon. I've seen brown spiders in mass die off like that and there has always been more after some time.

[jdmidwest]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

I think that when you find several dead females it simply means that they have died of age after placing all  their eggs, next generation will hatch soon. I've seen brown spiders in mass die off like that and there has always been more after some time.

If you see any spiders, there are hundreds more that are hiding in the darkness.....

 

[tjm]

As long as they stay hidden I won't step on them, and the sprays/bombs that I've seen used in the past didn't seem to bother those hidden spiders either. I think they have to squashed one by one. 

[jdmidwest]

I never had much faith in foggers.  Used one to get rid of fleas when neighbor across hall moved out with dog and left them to move into our apartment.

Good spray liquid does the trick, the have to walk across it.

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

I never had much faith in foggers.  Used one to get rid of fleas when neighbor across hall moved out with dog and left them to move into our apartment.

Good spray liquid does the trick, the have to walk across it.

Yeah you're probably right.   I mean, in all seriousness I run a 2-stroke business, so my shop gets heavily FOGGED on a daily basis.