3 ms·

I don't know about my attic and garage. I have a zero tolerance policy for widow spiders in/on the house, although I leave their predators alone to have a natur

by jehb 4y ago

I don't know about my attic and garage. I have a zero tolerance policy for widow spiders in/on the house, although I leave their predators alone to have a natural deterrent. But living in the south, I have noticed brown widows winning the battle for my wood piles. I'm not sure I realized they were a different species until recently. I just assumed they were a natural variation in color, perhaps related to age. Now that I've realized the difference, I'm definitely realizing most of the widows I encounter are the brown variety.

harshreality 4y ago
They have a distinct hourglass of some color on the underside of their abdomens, while their abdomens are mostly brown or patterned (and not pretty much solid black aside from the hourglass)?
- jehb 4y ago
  The hourglass is not always as clear as pictures would have you believe. Once you get to know the body shape, true widows pretty distinctive among spiders around here. (The false widow to me isn't a real lookalike because of the leg shape, but there are other bulbous dark spiders.) The distinction I see most commonly here is the leg banding. True black widows almost always have solid, glossy black legs, without any coloration along them along them. Brown widows do seem to have a lot of difference in coloration along the abdomen, but sometimes look rather plain with abdomens more like some other species, which is why I'd look to the leg colors and body shape as well. I'd welcome advice from an actual arachnologist on this, though!
  - pitaj 4y ago
    Not an archnologist, but I've found one each tell if that their webs are way stretchier than most other spiders. You'll pull one and it will just keep going like a rubber band.
legohead 4y ago
When I lived in the south there were black widows everywhere, some browns. Now in CA, it's mostly browns. They both have extremely predictable hiding spots, so I've never really feared them. It's not like they jump out at you, they retreat first into their hidey holes.

by jehb 4y ago

harshreality 4y ago

They have a distinct hourglass of some color on the underside of their abdomens, while their abdomens are mostly brown or patterned (and not pretty much solid black aside from the hourglass)?

jehb 4y ago
The hourglass is not always as clear as pictures would have you believe. Once you get to know the body shape, true widows pretty distinctive among spiders around here. (The false widow to me isn't a real lookalike because of the leg shape, but there are other bulbous dark spiders.) The distinction I see most commonly here is the leg banding. True black widows almost always have solid, glossy black legs, without any coloration along them along them. Brown widows do seem to have a lot of difference in coloration along the abdomen, but sometimes look rather plain with abdomens more like some other species, which is why I'd look to the leg colors and body shape as well. I'd welcome advice from an actual arachnologist on this, though!
- pitaj 4y ago
  Not an archnologist, but I've found one each tell if that their webs are way stretchier than most other spiders. You'll pull one and it will just keep going like a rubber band.

legohead 4y ago

When I lived in the south there were black widows everywhere, some browns. Now in CA, it's mostly browns. They both have extremely predictable hiding spots, so I've never really feared them. It's not like they jump out at you, they retreat first into their hidey holes.