Black Widow Spider

Black Widow not your future ex-wife

Here at Beyond Pest Control, we believe as exterminators we should be knowledgeable about all different pests, this black widow spider being one of them. The correct name or should I say scientific name for these pests is Latrodectus mactans. Of course there is a male and female, the male’s abdomen being longer than that of the female, having white and red marking on its sides. The female is usually rounder and has the red hourglass mark with two transverse red marks separated by black. The male has longer legs in proportion to its body than the female. The female is usually easier to recognize because of her shiny black body contrasting the red hourglass marking on her round abdomen.

These pests usually inhabit anywhere from Massachusetts to Florida and even west to California, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Even though they can be found in almost every state even New York City. This pest is normally found in the Southern states of the U.S. The black widow spiders are found around wood piles and are usually discovered when homeowners bring firewood into the home.

These spiders are also found underneath leaves, boxes, unused construction materials, firewood boxes. Outdoor toilets, meter boxes, and other undisturbed places.

The female black widow spider very rarely leaves her web. This female pest constructs an irregular, almost tangled criss-cross web of very coarse silk. The middle of the web is funnel shaped, almost like a tunnel and the female spider spends most of her time in the daytime spinning this funnel. The web is usually altered and replaced daily, and is able to catch very large insects. The female catches her prey injecting them with venom and spinning a very coarse web of doom around it.

Out of all the spiders, the black widow spider is the most poisonous of all. The venom of the black widow spider contains poisonous chemicals that make people sick. The female black widow spider’s venom is especially venomous to people. Regardless what people may think as well as it’s reputation the black widow spider will try to run rather than bite, unless it is guarding its egg sac or cornered. The male will not bite you. After mating, of course I don’t need to explain what happens next, which is she kills the male. The female only has to mate once in her life, therefore earning the name “widow”.

The bite of the black widow spider is not necessarily felt at first but the side effects include slight local swelling, normally little evidence of a lesion. You will also see two tiny red spots in the middle of the swelling. The majority of the time you will feel some pain at the site and it becomes intense after about three hours. You will also have an achy body, especially in your legs, headache, elevated blood pressure, nausea and sweating. These symptoms disappear usually within two or three days and calcium gluconate is used in an IV to relieve muscle spasms that are the result of a black widow’s bite.

Inspect for sac spiders by looking for sacs in upper corners of rooms, ceilings, behind pictures, on window molding, blinds or curtains. During the day, sac spiders may be inside these sacs so vacuuming is an excellent method of control. Remove and discard vacuum cleaner bags to prevent reinfestation.

So, New York if you see one of these, unless you want a trip to the hospital stay away. Also visit our website at https://www.nypestpro.com/sacspider.html for more information on other spider pest control and pests.

If you ever have any bug related questions feel free to call us either at Beyond Pest Control. Once again, and I can’t stress this enough we are on call twenty four hours a day seven days a week to kill those bugs, we aren’t kidding whether you call us at 9 am or midnight we will be available to take your call and either get rid of the bug infestation, or answer any questions you may have concerning the bug issue. I can honestly guarantee that there will be someone to answer that call. We make it our business to make you bug free!

If you have any questions about spider pest control check out the rest of our website or go to our blog at http://nypestpro.blogspot.com.

Beyond Pest Control.

Our pest control specialists service all NYC boroughs, including Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Long Island (both Nassau & Suffolk counties), Staten Island and even both Westchester & Rockland counties.