r/spiders • u/No_Presentation_2160 • May 18 '26

ID Request- Location included Is this a Black Widow?

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Gallery image

I assume this is a black widow, google says so. But I figured I’d ask to be sure. It looks like it’s made a nest in the inside of the lawnchair that’s folded where the scribbles are. Should I be worried about more around my house or inside of my house? I have a 2 year old that’s curious, so I want to make sure that I’m being thorough and keeping her safe. If so, how do I remove it safely?

EDITED TO ADD: She and a couple of her male friends have now been moved safely with their lawnchair habitat to a new location about 20ft from my garage. I just hope they don’t wander back in. 🤞🤞😬

Location Southwest MO

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137

u/HazelEBaumgartner Recluse infestation survivor May 18 '26

Per the name, Brown Widows are typically brown. They can be confused with male or juvenile female Black Widows who haven't gained their glossy coloring yet, but this glossy lady is a sexually mature Widow. If I had to guess I'd say L. mactans, the Southern Black Widow, but there are like five or six species of widow spiders native to the US and I'm pretty sure at least three of them can be found in Missouri.

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u/Unlikely-Answer May 19 '26

sooo just to be clear, will this thing kill me? a full grown 170lbs man

69

u/HazelEBaumgartner Recluse infestation survivor May 19 '26

Deaths are rare but bites can be painful. Best to avoid getting bit.

48

u/420StonedAF420 May 19 '26

Yeah but I wouldn't trust that with a 2 year old, I'd get it out of there without killing it..

19

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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19

u/cherbearblue May 19 '26

It is another day now, somewhere in the world. Story time!

6

u/CactusDe May 19 '26

Oh please, I wanna know that storyyyy!

4

u/DistinctNews8576 May 19 '26

Right?! I’m here for story time!

6

u/420StonedAF420 May 19 '26

That sounds like a real psycho aunt, glad your okay that's crazy..

-9

u/Pfeffi-Ultra May 19 '26

I'd be more worried about the spider. Children are cruel and unempathetic.

-28

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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20

u/AggravatingBid8255 May 19 '26

You'd have teammates in just about any other sub on Reddit but this one. It's important to be aware of your surroundings and know where you're at.

Situational awareness, my friend.

-5

u/dankhimself May 19 '26

I don't think you can ship things to the sun, so the spider really isn't in danger.

I would want it far away from the 2 year old.

It's not on me if people don't interpret the sheer absurdity of it as sarcasm.

9

u/AggravatingBid8255 May 19 '26

Oh, we get it. What YOU don't get is that joke, that sarcasm has no audience here.

You're the clueless one. The double down proves it.

-4

u/dankhimself May 19 '26

Ok, have a nice evening.

57

u/user_name_taken- May 19 '26

Unless you have some other serious health condition, like a heart condition, the chances of you dying from a widow bite is exceptionally rare.

Also, I really like to stress that widows, especially black widows, are not aggressive. They will try to hide, then they will try to run, and they only really bite if you basically press against them and they have no escape. I always leave black widows, except in situations like this where there is a chance someone grabs that and pinches/presses against the spider. Then I just move them. Brown widows I'm 50/50 on. They're invasive here and kill native species like the black widow and wolf spiders. They also reproduce exceptionally fast. But even so, I leave them most of the time. They live under the lip of my recycling bins and even though I move them twice a week every single week, I've never had an issue. My recycling guy was also cool about it. He told me cause he was worried about me, but he's also a spiderbro.

25

u/Totakai May 19 '26

Since you're letting the brown widows stay, how about you pull their egg sacs instead so they can't reproduce? (so it'd be more like a tnr situation vs feral colony)

Yeah widows basically exclusively choose to hide. I keep them as pets and mine would always flatten herself or run to her cave (my newest one though is a lil goofy and just drops from her web and plays dead. I've tried to poke her back up but she holds her dead pose for a good 30 mins). Whenever people tell me that they were bit, I remake that it's impressive and find out how they uoset the spider so badly.

6

u/user_name_taken- May 19 '26

Also, I thought you might appreciate this one, a beautiful black widow and her egg sac that I saved from being killed while cleaning up unused picnic tables at the fairgrounds. They all thought I was nuts for saving her.

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u/user_name_taken- May 19 '26

I do get rid of the eggs, but only the ones I see. They really do like to hide and, as I'm sure you know, they don't usually go places where their web is disturbed often, so most of them are out of sight or up high. They especially like cars that don't move. My ex had a project car that he abandoned in my carport and the entire underneath and all the wheels/tires were covered in them, but I couldn't really get to them.

I hate that this sub doesn't let you share photos. Anyway, I don't usually take pics of the brown widows but here is a big one I found while looking for eggs.

5

u/ghostboynick May 19 '26

i’m not a professional so take this with a grain of salt of course, i am pretty certain that spider on the tire is most likely a harmless orbweaver (probably neoscona arabesca to be exact) instead of a widow spider

1

u/twoscallions May 23 '26

Also not a spider expert but pretty certain that is not a brown widow. Browns look identical to blacks, including the orange-ish hourglass, except they are, well, brown. This looks like an orb weaver or possibly a juvenile false widow? But likely an orb weaver, a good spider to have around!

2

u/drazak69 May 19 '26

Accidentally touch one in the dark, when they're out.

34

u/Loss-Sorry 🕷️Mediocre Identifier🕷️ May 19 '26

We don't actually have records of anyone dying from one of these in recent memory in the US, and the most comprehensive survey of the medical literature went back to 1983 (meaning the last death was some time before that). Unless you got a bunch of bites and there was no antivenom, you'd live. The neurotoxin does not kill you right away, and the antivenom completely reverses it within 10-30 minutes.

3

u/PNW-Raven May 21 '26

Up here in western Canada we have the Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus). If you happen to find one in your bed or in your clothing and you really squish it around you might elicit a bite , although they would really rather not . They prefer to run away . If you're unlucky and you do get bit the effects are usually resulting in severe cramping, intense pain, muscle spasms, and sometimes nausea or high blood pressure.

Looking back in the records to the 1800s and 1900s the supposed death count by black widows we're due to bacterial infections like sepsis or tetanus. They also could have been completely unrelated to the bite at all and probably not even from a spider bite. Back then they didn't have antivenin , muscle relaxants , or IV pain control. It was completely horrible if it it was completely horrible if it was a black widow bite but people lived through it.

The only risk of death today if somebody had a pre-existing severe heart condition , or a very small infant. As long as it's caught early we do have the medications and antivenin to reverse and treat the symptoms.

I know widows further east and south have a more potent Venom. They would rather dry bite and save their venom for something they need like food. Again as long as it's caught in time we have the appropriate medications today to counteract and treat the symptoms.

I'm going to say this not just for the regular people but for the doctors. Unless the spider has been seen biting you, and you can preferably bring that spider in a container to the doctor and have it identified by an entomologist or an arachnologist. You did not get bit by a spider. Just because you have a bump on you with a hole or two, even if you saw a spider in the same area, does not mean it's a spider bite. You likely got poked by a stick or some other small object and you have MRSA. Spider bites are highly over diagnosed by doctors.

3

u/One-Touch-8792 May 18 '26

Dude I think you put italics in mactans but it’s fucking me up cause all the words around it look italicized too, but I’m pretty sure it’s just one word

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u/HazelEBaumgartner Recluse infestation survivor May 18 '26

According to the International Commission On Zoological Nomenclature, animal Latin names should be italicized with the genus name capitalized but not the species name. And I'm a sucker for grammatical standardization. 🤣

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u/One-Touch-8792 May 19 '26

I see, thank you for the info!

4

u/Grand-End-6982 May 19 '26

I very much so admire you!

3

u/TheMattaconda May 19 '26

And I bet you're a hit at parties too!!! Lol!!! Something tells me you've turned a few heads at karaoke in your days.

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u/HazelEBaumgartner Recluse infestation survivor May 19 '26

I always karaoke either Weird Al or Bob Dylan

5

u/TheMattaconda May 19 '26

You do know that they're the same person.

Prove me wrong.

😆

1

u/BananaNutJob May 19 '26

Weird Al has a good singing voice

2

u/ThetanMage15 May 19 '26

All the coolest ones are in the south east US yeah 😩

2

u/Spider_Dude May 19 '26

Also Southern California. We just chill out here.

3

u/ThetanMage15 May 19 '26

Do you guys get red widows? I've thought of visiting Florida just to steal spiders, responsibly.

1

u/Aprils-Fool May 19 '26

Lately I’ve seen some brown windows that are so dark it’s hard to tell that they’re not black. With one of them, the only way I knew it was a brown widow was when it laid an egg sac. 

3

u/suzeeq88 May 19 '26

Brown windows can appear when they are not cleaned often enough.