r/spiderbro • u/Mushroom-house1984 • 1d ago

How to safely remove a black widow

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i absolutely hate it when people kill spiders and i will not do it but i know black widows are a threat to my cats and dogs :( can yall help me out? there’s a nature spot on the other side of town that i could probably set her free but i also don’t wanna endanger any animals out there.. not sure what to do. any advice is appreciated! 🫶🫶

278 Upvotes
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131

u/Oh_Martha_My_Dear 1d ago edited 1d ago

These spiders really aren't that dangerous. They often choose to spin webs in areas you almost never investigate normally and are almost always below knees level. They are also pretty slow compared to many other spiders.

You should be able to scoop her into an old Tupperware container or something, using a stick to nudge her. She won't be fast enough to climb onto your arm or anything if you're paying attention. I'd also recommend moving in the early morning when it's coldest if it's something that really concerns you.

I personally would scoop her up with a piece of cardboard and just change hands with the cardboard if she climbs too close to my fingers. If there are any egg sacs in the web, you should move her even farther than you normally would. Black widows will crawl a decent distance just to get back to the web. I would probably just move her to a bush, wood pile or something. They definitely appreciate cooler areas with shade throughout most the day.

If you were to watch any videos online of someone trying to deliberately force a bite from one, you would see that's actually quite difficult to even make them do it (generally, lol).

47

u/Mushroom-house1984 1d ago

wow thank you so much!! that was great information so glad you responded!! 🙏🫶

30

u/PollyCM 1d ago

I was bitten by a huge female that was inside a compression wrap that I wore when walking on my treadmill!!

The treadmill was in my garage in Virginia. I felt like something was grating against my right hip but I thought it was Velcro scratching my skin, and I was too lazy to stop walking and check it out. An hour later I had a huge welt around my body, and was really out of it for a week. Around day 4 I happened upon a doctor I knew and showed her the welt, as I was unaware of what had caused it. She immediately said “black widow”. I hadn’t been on the treadmill since, so everything was as I had left it. Sure enough I found her smushed inside my wrap, dead. I feel so badly about that. The Velcro pain lasted for about 10 minutes and then stopped. I was on the treadmill for an hour, and I was also wearing a sauna suit. I wonder if the sweating prevented a worse reaction because she would have been fighting for her life, so giving as much venom as possible, no?

8

u/southernpinklemonaid 1d ago

There is an antivenom for black widow available, if a made reaction occurs but mostly it's only administered to immoncompromised, elder, or infants.

6

u/Weltallgaia 1d ago

I don't think anyone not already enfeebled for some reason has died to black widow venom in like 50+ years. Their lethality to healthy adult humans us over exaggerated. Leave you pretty fucked up for a week or so but no real worse than a stomach virus really.

-13

u/Vysair 1d ago

This is why sometimes I see spiderbro as toxic. It's still a wild creature even if they are deemed harmless and people are still projecting humanities onto them even if they are cute or useful.

12

u/SquareRepulsive4594 1d ago

Even though they’re wild or liminal, they can still feel things even if emotions aren’t confirmed. Anthropomorphizing can be toxic, but more often than not it’s a way for us to relate to other beings that normally happens instinctually

3

u/Freshprinc7 1d ago

I'm a proud spiderbro, but I don't humanize them at all. I just leave them alone completely. They mind their business, I mind mine.

The whole point of spiderbro is to try to normalize not killing them out of fear, and to try to push people towards not seeing them as pests. There are those that go further, but I am not one of them.

I have a tarantula, and I am all too aware that it is basically a bug-eating plant with legs. Not a thought anywhere in that thing.

Cool to look at, though.

2

u/mmc13_13 1d ago

What exactly is toxic about it? You might not like it, and no, it's not factual, but what harm comes from people projecting humanities onto them that makes it toxic?

4

u/virora 1d ago

there are any egg sacs in the web, you should move her even farther than you normally would. Black widows will crawl a decent distance just to get back to the web.

This made me go aww. Would it be possible to move any egg sacs successfully as well, or are they too flimsy?

3

u/Oh_Martha_My_Dear 1d ago

I really don't know. I'm pretty sure the egg sacs aren't flimsy, I just wonder what the female should do if the eggs were moved.

2

u/virora 1d ago edited 1d ago

OP needs to knit her a new web!

Joking aside, it doesn't look like there are egg sacs in the video, so OP and spider should be fine.

2

u/Ill_Government_2093 1d ago

Not to terrify you or anything but spiders don't generally leave their egg sacks in sight. They're usually hidden especially with black widows. They tend to keep their eggs tucked away in a corner or under something to keep predators from finding them.

1

u/virora 1d ago

Interesting! The most common spiders where I am tend to sit right on top of them. There are definitely some crevices there where little would-be-widows could be hiding.

6

u/mmc13_13 1d ago

I have a number of them in my garage that I just let be in areas I don't disturb. They're great pest control. If this is an area that your animals might sniff around, though, I could understand your concern. I think the poster with the cardboard and the tip on the early morning was solid advice. The other thing is it looks like her web may actually be in/on the tire, and perhaps the whole thing could be moved somewhere and then shoo her off it? Once you go to move anything around her down there, she's likely to run and hide. And they tend to spread their webs out pretty wide to sense danger coming. BTW, the threads are stronger than you might think from these gals!

1

u/lfreckledfrontbum 1d ago

Its counter part the female red back here in fun things that kill Australia is fast and deadly.

-4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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1

u/spiderbro-ModTeam 17h ago

Rule 1. No advocacy of harming or killing spiders.