# Female Black Widow



## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

We run into these little buggers relatively frequently in our equipment and sometimes in the Honey House. Always sends a chill up my spine. Excellent picture for identification, they are a unique looking spider. Maybe you could get a get a shot of the hour glass, asuming she isn't a flat spider at this point! Looks like many more on the way.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*One Black Widow sunny side down.*

They do not bother me as they can not move to fast.
I find them often because the bees are in the hills.
Last summer I was killing 12-25 per day as I worked the bees.
I placed one of those egg cases in a quart jar and let the spiders emerge. I lost counting them after 120!
I will post an image of the hour glaas later.
People should be informed obout the color markings of the jouvenile stage.
Ernie


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

Also beware of the brown widow. I have seen a few of these in my garage amongst the stored bee boxes. They are tan with a orangish looking hourglass. The egg sac is the same size and color as the black widow's but has a lot of "spikes" protruding from it. Apparently the brown widow venom is much more potent than the black widow's, but they don't inject as much of it. Supposedly all widow spiders are very shy and will only bite when mashed against the skin. Kill'em all I say.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*Kill'em all I say.*

Hair spray works real good.
Ernie


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

Would that be straight hair spray or hair spray sprayed over a lit cigarrette lighter -- blowtorch style.


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

steve the brown widow venom is not as bad as black widow venom but still painful, the one to watch out for in here in Ga is the Brown Recluse, it rarely kills but will rot the flesh away for a long time is some cases, look at some of these pictures. http://www.emedicinehealth.com/spider_bite_brown_recluse_spider_bite/page11_em.htm


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## comb (Jan 12, 2006)

whew so glad im still in the freezer


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## Scottie Bee (Mar 7, 2009)

We get those around here pretty frequently, I ran across one the other day when checking my hives. My son tells me that Greer Labs here in Lenoir, NC buys them from time to time when they are making Anti-venom. I've never tried to sell them any myself but I hear they pay decent money for them. As frequently as they show up in hives here maybe I ought too.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Joel said:


> We run into these little buggers relatively frequently in our equipment and sometimes in the Honey House.


Bought some nucs from Loris, SC once. Came back with Black Widows under the bottoms. I had an employee at the time who was "into" bugs. Anyway, he kept that spider in a mason jar for 2 years, feeding it flies and cleaning the jar out periodically.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*Would that be straight hair spray*

No frame.
Windex with ammonia works too.
Ernie


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

TwT, I checked out those pictures. All I could say the whole time was holy cow and oh my God. The spider itself is also kind of creepy looking and I don't mind spiders


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## sds888 (May 26, 2008)

All of a sudden we are finding a lot of them in yard the last few weeks before then I only seen one in the last five years here. The other day I was picking up a board in the yard with my bare hands and I looked down and there was one on my wedding ring. As I got it off my hand I noticed liquid on my ring. I think it bit me on my ring. It made about faint. It definitely made me start wearing gloves.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*I noticed liquid on my ring*

If the liquid was white, you got pooped upon.
Ernie


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## Fred Bee (May 5, 2007)

I love honey bees...but I have great disdain for spiders! Especially Black Widows. But then again, I never found a spider that I was fond of.  If I come across any around my hives when checking on the bees, I introduce them to the sharp end of my hive tool!


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I think spiders are quite incredible, and look forward to seeing them. They don't eat much, and really aren't much of a problem. The large brown Wood spiders we have are so beautiful. And the jumping spiders...do you know those? When I find one on a hive, I'll hold my hand out, and she'll jump right on board. Jump from hand to hand to hand, and back onto hive. They're my favorite. Look at their faces. Jumpers have their eyey facing forward so they have stereo vision and depth perception. Maybe the coolest spider I've ever found on/in my hives was a green toothed jumper from Florida. Quite a bit larger than our Vermont jumpers, and they have forest green fangs. Really a cool spider.


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