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pepperchuck

not do friendly garden friend

pepperchuck
9 years ago

Whelp, looks like I'm burning down my greenhouse

Comments (19)

  • judo_and_peppers
    9 years ago

    get a BB gun.

  • kclost
    9 years ago

    Black Widow?

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    9 years ago

    I never worry about them. There's tons out here in SoCal and I'm always pulling up old wood piles, bricks, and the such and discovering them or a multitude of egg sacs.... , in short sleeves and shorts, barefoot, and no gloves. 50 years and have never been bit by one. She's there for a reason -- to feed.

    Kevin

  • aurorawa
    9 years ago

    No need to worry or do anything drastic. She will feed on bugs you don't want on your plants. BWs are actually quite docile and won't bite unless provoked heavily or stepped on/mishandled.

  • eibren
    9 years ago

    You can see all the bugs she's been catching to the top right of your photo.

    Spiders are predators, but we are too big to be prey. Don't threaten or frighten them, and they can be quite reasonable.

    Tip: to keep them going in bugless seasons, they like a very shallow, tiny saucer of milk.

  • lucillle
    9 years ago

    I think it's always a good idea to check out the inside of boots you haven't worn for a while. Almost any critter will bite if you step on them hard enough.
    If they are outside, (or in a greenhouse) and you can see them, they are working hard for you catching bugs.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    They are everywhere around my garden, weaving their webs waiting to catch things like mosquito. I also have a few frogs around. Together they are fighting insects. They are friends.

  • judo_and_peppers
    9 years ago

    my problem isn't the spiders off in corners, it's the ones that run their web in between my rows, and connected to my clothesline. they always seem to be right at face level. and I always find them the old fashioned way (with my face). other than that they don't bother me. but lord have mercy if my wife sees one.

  • Mecdave Zone 8/HZ 9
    9 years ago

    Also smash your garden gloves all the way to the fingertips before putting them on, just in case.

    Spiders are cool. Some, like this jumping spider, even eat other spiders. Shortly after taking this photo it jumped to another branch. It wasn't until looking at the other photos that I noticed he was after a tiny crab spider, which I assume he consumed.

  • pepperchuck
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yeah I left her be, she's outside of the GH.

    That's a really cool pic dave!

  • tomt226
    9 years ago

    LOL. Black Widows and Brown Recluse's are regulars around here. So are big tarantulas. We used to have a tarantula migration in early fall when hundreds would be seen walking across yards and fields headed someplace.
    First rule is never put yer hand where you can't see...

  • kuvaszlvr
    9 years ago

    Nice photo. Yeah, we have a ton of black widow and recluse's. I haven't been bitten, but a friend's son got bitten by a recluse years ago, he almost died, spent days in the hospital. I don't kill spiders, not even in the house, but sorry guys, I will kill the poisonous ones, I don't need myself or my dogs bitten. my SIL threatened to kill one of my zipper spiders that made a web on the pergola (no where near her), I informed her she would NOT kill my spider, just keep your fat a** away from her. ;-)

    Pam

  • toolstack
    9 years ago

    I got bit by a tan colored spider July 1st. I was cleaning up brush and putting it into a front end loader bucket at home and felt a sting on my ankle. Turned out the spider got between my shoe and my ankle and when I stepped I guess it pressed it to my skin, I had a large bruise with a bump for 2 weeks then it started fading.
    Randal

  • jean001a
    9 years ago

    Difficult to determine if she's a black widow. More likely one of her relatives. Perhaps a "false widow," a near look-alike.

  • tomt226
    9 years ago

    Toolsack,
    One day at work I was walking across an old fill area carrying a transit & tripod, and my left leg went into a void, and I went down on my butt. Tried to pull my foot out but it stuck in some cedar branches under the fill. Then the fire ants started stinging my whole leg, the whole thing was full of fire ants. Finally got my foot out along with about a pound of ants. Got stung over 200 times on one leg.
    Went to the house and had a few beers...

  • Mecdave Zone 8/HZ 9
    9 years ago

    You're lucky you didn't die from all that poison Tom. But then beer cures all. ;-)

  • pepperchuck
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I know the hour glass didn't show through very well in the pic, but definitely a widow. I've got tons of different orb weaver species down here in south MS, but I can spot one of those pretties from across the yard.

    I've been lucky enough to have never been bitten by any spider that I know of, but I don't always see what tags me while I'm playing in the garden.

  • toolstack
    9 years ago

    There are alot of black widows around the building I work in. Makes things interesting when I have to work on some of the pumps and motors in the out buildings.
    Tom
    I'm from Alabama and been stung by those damn fire ants before never that many though.
    Randal

  • tomt226
    9 years ago

    toolstack,
    Ever run into any Africanized bees? Guy over in Elgin got stung to death out mowing his lawn last year. I had a bunch get after me, but I hid in my truck but they killed my hat deader'n'hell... ;-)

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