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A Visit With a Widow

Will I ever get used to the bugs and snakes and Texas vermin?   There are some weird beetles around here.

That one is probably pretty normal . . some kind of black beetle.  There was one in the garden that was huge and it was kinda zebra striped.  I wish I’d had my camera with me but somehow I’m guessing he wasn’t the only one around and I’ll eventually see another one.

But look at this one.  Doesn’t he look like someone painted green icing on his back?  Please tell me they don’t eat tomatoes.

Then . . there are the black widow spiders!

Every evening when I’m out working in the flower bed, I encounter at least one and they don’t usually live to blog about their encounter with me.  Yesterday I decided I was going to catch one to prove to you how big they are.  I had just emptied a jar of tomatoes for some okra & tomatoes (thanks mom for the frozen okra) so I ran in the house, got  the jar, dried it out and caught this one.

I had the hardest time getting her on her back so you could see the red hourglass.  I could do without black widow spiders and rattlesnakes but . . no one asked me!

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  1. When I lived up north, the only thing I did not miss about the south was the heat and the bugs! My husband wasn’t too happy when I told him I dumped my laptop on the floor when a spider ran across my lap table, I jumped up pretty fast. It was black and a spider-I don’t care whether it was poisonous or not! LOL

  2. three words: smash, smash, and smash.
    that pretty green male Japanese beetle will definitely go after your tomato vines. I saw a great many of those as a child in CA, and the black widow spiders too.

    yep, smash, smash, and smash.

  3. I hate some bugs – here in Arkansas you occasional see a big wolf spider that looks like a tarantula – they are a little smaller than them, but too big I think – the kids never let me forget the time I beat one with a rake until you could no longer see it – did I say I hate spiders LOL
    Karen

  5. One word: hairspray. When I lived in GA as a kid, all the ladies carried a bottle of super-high-hold-turn-your-hair-into-a-crust hairspray. Aquanet super-duper-highest-ever-hold style hairspray. See a spider or other creepy crawlie? Spray with hairspray liberally. When it hardens, creepy crawlie can’t move, making it easier (if creepier) to kill.

    Seriously – every lady I knew had a bottle in her purse. At least, everyone I remember…

  6. Growing up in Ohio, we had Japanese beetles something awful. Dad would use an old glass jar, half full of gasoline and tie it to a stick in the ground. It caught an awful lot of them.
    Did you know that black widows don’t have to be black? We had them up north that were tan colored. Hair spray does really well in killing them.

  7. You are very brave to put up with all those bugs. I am still sorts creepped out you caught a black widow spider. It gives be the shivers! All creatures great and small, God loves them one and all.
    🙂

  9. Do you think the chickens eventually will help with the bugs???
    We just watch them. I think the green one is pretty!!!!
    Hugs!!!

  10. Nw Judy – I could have gone ALL day without seeing a picture of a spider, let alone a black widow spider! At least though I’m not as bad as I used to be when even a picture would send me into either screaming hysterics or a dead faint! Serious!

    Snakes – those I don’t mind as much – although my daughter was responsible for one of the largest/longest copperheads in IL being caught (trust me, you DON’T want to know – will give you major shudders!!!!!!! and she is petrified of snakes to this day!)

  11. I don’t think we ever get used to certain bugs, snakes and other assorted vermin. We just have a natural aversion to them. I can’t say I’m afraid of any of them, just don’t like them. Keep on smashing those black widows. The world will be a better place without them.

  12. I LOVE the pacific NorthWest…..No poisonous snakes, no black widows in Western WA !!! For a gal from So Cal….It is a breath of fresh air, a relief and a truely wonderful thing 🙂 No tarantulas either. We have snakes and spiders but not poisonous ones They do have poisonous stuff in Eastern WA, but not here. I nominate Florida for the most bugs in the country. I swear they have species there that haven’t been identified yet. We loaded citrus for CA there once. Had to drop our trailers (after loading) and they have these stations where they pump poisonous gas through the trailer for 24 hrs. The back doors of the trailer are open. When I went in to pick up my trailer, they told me to leave the vents open for 24 hrs, while running down the highway. I went in to close the reefer doors and no kidding …a fly flew about 6 inches into the trailer and dropped dead! Don’t know what gas they used but I think it was powerul!! Then we take the fruit to CA where they eat it?? yuk….is there something wrong with that picture? It’s true. So I’m pretty sure FL wins for having the most bugs in the US!!!!

    • I had always heard you can’t transport fruit into California. Maybe it’s the other way around? Anyway, thinking of the gas is pretty scarey!

    • Vickie,
      You may not have seen any black widows or poisonous snakes but they are in Western WA too. Just Googled it and you have those and others. Preditors in the insect world live everywhere !
      Article I read said black widows in Seattle and that is far West!

  14. Don’t forget about the brown recluse – I assume you have them in TX. Just be careful about leaving your garden gloves and shoes outside. If I do leave anything outside overnight, I’ll shake them out.

    Trees, bushes and wood mulch next to buildings is also a no-no I’ve heard about. Makes it easier for spiders to get into buildings by providing cover for them.

    • Yep! I keep my garden gloves in a closed ziplock if i leave them in the shed… The brown recluse bite is a very nasty thing. However, i do love working in the yard & gardening! B

    • Yup – I always tip my rubber boots and bang them to knock any potential spiders out. The brown recluse is a nasty bite! Keeping your gloves in a big zip lock is an excellent idea!
      -Evelyn

  15. We have black widows here, too. I always hear that they’re actually small, and was going to question yours until I saw the second picture. I guess things really do grow bigger in Texas!

  16. Normally, I am fairly quiet, however, spiders, mice and snakes make me scream.. I’m all itchy just looking at the spider picture! One day, I picked up a cardboard box and didn’t realized my hand was on a spider and it was tickling my hand with those legs. The kids still laugh about me screaming!

  17. My husband’s great grandfather died from a black widow spider bite and I remember my dad was bitten and got pretty sick. They are really only deadly if you are very young or frail.
    Be careful. I am certain you are aware that spiders are really very beneficial animals – especially in a garden.

  18. We call them red-back spiders in Australia but they’re just as nasty. They grow as big as that here, and I never pick up a pot plant without checking under the rim first. My neice was bitten by one, and it’s not pleasant that’s for sure. Even though the huge huntsman and wolf spiders fill me with revulsion I’m not at all scared of these, even though they’re poisonous. I’m with Liz above, never leave shoes or gloves lying around and don’t have trees overhanging buidings, it’s like an invitation to them.

  19. We get an occasional black widow here (I’ve seen two in my 22 years in this house), but they are tiny compared to that. The green bug almost looks like a stink bug. Those can be really nasty. Our biggest spider around here is just a garden spider, but they get HUGE. I used to have a boxwood on either side of my front porch. Each night the spiders would spin a web across. I would tease my brother that they were like Gary Larson’s spiders at the bottom of the slide, waiting for the chubby kid, saying, “if we pull this off, we’ll eat like kings!” Well, one day, when I was trimming the boxwoods, one of those buggers got down the back of my shirt. I had a trail of welts the size of a quarter all the way down my back. It was NOT fun. Ewwwww!

  20. If I didn’t know better I would say she was one of our Australian Red Back Spiders, which are one of our most venomous. I like spiders as they keep down the little bugs n stuff here, but I agree with another comment… Squash, Squish, Smash

  21. No snakes or poisenious insects in the Anchorage area of Alaska…just brown and black bears. 🙂 When we lived in San Antonio there were just too many critters that were scary: Rattlesnakes, Coral snakes, brown recluse spiders, black widow spiders, fire ants, killer bees, tarantulas, scorpions…then the other pests…rats, feral hogs, cows that got out of the neighbors pasture…there was always something to look out for. So far the bears are pretty noisy so I see them before they see me.

  22. No snakes or poisonous insects in the Anchorage area of Alaska…just brown and black bears. 🙂 When we lived in San Antonio there were just too many critters that were scary: Rattlesnakes, Coral snakes, brown recluse spiders, black widow spiders, fire ants, killer bees, tarantulas, scorpions…then the other pests…rats, feral hogs, cows that got out of the neighbors pasture…there was always something to look out for. So far the bears are pretty noisy so I see them before they see me.

  23. I could have gone all day without seeing that spider. They FREAK me out!!!!!!! If I am home alone and have to kill one, I spray them liberally with hairspray. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.

  24. You might want to invest in a couple of gallons of Home Defense Spray. I spray all around my door facings and window facings . I’ve even sprayed the baseboards before I put the quarter round down. So far so good. I use Spectracide on the yard. Either the kind you attach to the hose or the granules. It kill lots of bugs, fleas, ticks, etc.

    Keep your eyes open and be careful, please. Oh and watch for scorpions also, especially around old rotted limbs and boards and rocks.

  25. We get the black widows here, in the garage and around outdoor stuff under the patio and around the house, or where we have larger rocks piled up to level the front yard. Even more than seeing them, what creeps me out is touching their webbing. It’s thicker and stronger than other spiders’ webs. I usually leave them be until I start seeing ‘too many’, then we go out after dark on patrol with a flashlight and spider spray. Then tend to come out of hiding after dark. We’ve had many that are really, really big!

  26. You all are really grossing me out. I can handle a lot of things (love snakes and bats!) but BUGS, I have a hard time with. We have dock spiders, which might be the same as wolf spiders, and they grow large here, (northern MN.) quarter size, at least. But I think beetles are the worst for me, and double if they FLY. Flying things seem more sneaky to me. My mother got me afraid of bees, or maybe I am just afraid of pain, and most of those bugs CAUSE IT. I do have a rule, if it is outside, it can live, but if it is inside, it dies. YUCK! Good luck Judy. One reason I don’t like being home alone all day…emergencies. Or I am just getting old…

  27. The only good snake or spider are the dead kind that you see in a museum or history book. We have copperheads where I live in WV= and they don’t like my min pins. Had to kill a young copperhead last night. Tried to strike at Nelli – completely wrong attitude for a snake. Beat it to death & into the dirt (well probably 2″ deep into the yard) with the back of a shovel. My husband came around the corner of the house & asked “what are you mad about?” He quickly figured it out. He just laughed – he’s not so afraid of snakes. Not like I am.

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