The bad garden guest

by Debbie
(Beattyville,Ky)

This a little bit scary. I knew I had Spider that had taken up residence in my Daylilies,I figured, well, thats ok,I'll let it maybe kill some grubs that had been living in my flowerbed last year. So I left it alone,for awhile.

I decide to clean around my daylilies and took a paint paddle to use to get the web. I discovered a large Black Widow!! I nearly had a heart attack.!!I'll ALWAYS wear gloves now.

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The bad garden guest

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Re: Black Widow defense by Ferne from Kamloops
by: Nori

Very cool, Ferne. Thanks for both the Black Widow information and the point about the cars.

Black Widow Spiders
by: Ferne, Kamloops, B.C.

Well, I guess it's time to defend this famous spider. So many of our critters have undeservedly fierce reputations.

Black Widows I do know a bit about from personal experience. Kamloops has more black widows than most places in B.C. or Canada for that matter. (More rattlesnakes too, but that is another story.) Black widows like hot dry climates and dark sheltered places to hide. For six years I worked full time with my hands often extended into dark cubbyholes for in an old retail store that was shared with black widows...no one was bitten...but I did see the odd black widow. I have also seen black widows inside both of the two houses in which I have resided. Don't ever see them outside (they usually hide in dark places, like leaf or wood piles) but I know they are there. I am one of those gardener's who does a daily round of weeding by hand all through the gardening season and have for a few seasons now...I like having my hands in the soil so I rarely use gloves in the garden.

I also know a local worker who often has to check the city's below ground plumbing...He says it is common to find them there but has never been bitten. I think he has been doing that for 25 or 30 years now.

The biggest problem is that black widows are slow to get out of the way, unlike most spiders, who leave instantly when disturbed...Not black widows though...they are very slow moving when disturbed, so I suppose there is some risk that you might threaten one unknowingly just enough to make it bite back. But like I said, despite everything, I know of no one who has been bitten, so I think there venom is reserved for food almost all the time.

My past research tells me that if you should get bitten, but some remote chance, black widow bites are never fatal, because they get painful and people go for treatment long before they are at risk.....but the chances of that happening are oh, so slim, in my opinion.

Wish I could say the same thing about getting in a car on the highway....Now there is something truly scary...Who doesn't know someone who's life has been changed forever by an traffic accident.

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Doug Green