Last Friday, while trimming the grass around the fence, I discovered what looks to be a black widow spider. At first, I just thought it to be another large size spider. I see many of them living out here in the woods. But what caught my eye was the very bright, sharp, red hourglass figure emanating from the shiny, jet black, skin of this arachnid.
My hair stood on end and goose bumps were all over me. No, these things shouldn't be from around here is what I had always believed. I turned off the weed eater and took a closer look. Sure enough, this thing looks a lot like a black widow.
I ran inside and grabbed my digital camera to get a picture. No one's gonna believe me. By the time I got back, it/she was long gone. I checked back from time to time and could never find it.
Yesterday, I'm cutting the grass again. Same situation. This time a find a small wolf spider in the web that was there. That wasn't what I saw last week. But on the other side of the fence pole, there it was again.
It climbed up into the railing of the gate and that's where it's been hiding all along. I got down on the ground to try to look up. I couldn't see much, but could plainly see the large egg sack this black widow has been protecting. Great, we're gonna have more of these things?!
I knew I have to take this thing out. But I'd like to capture it to verify it is a black widow. What to do... hmmmm... so I tried using the hose. If I spray this thing with a bunch of water, it will bog it down so I can catch it. Great idea! Nope. It ran up further into the railing.
Later that day I tell Beth about it. She's feeling sorry for the spider. I said "Hey, this thing is poisonous. I don't want Trixie or the Muffin dog sniffing around there." She was forced to agree with me.
This morning I found it again. I looks to have formed some webs way up in the railing. My options at the moment is to try to take the top cap off the fence gate and shoot water or something downward, or I could try shooting a couple of bottle rockets in there and blast the damn thing out. I feel like I'm Bill Murrey in Caddyshack trying to get the gophers. Arachnid poontang!!
Last night I kept thinking something was crawling on me. This spider is FREAKING me out!!
Update: 7/1/06 - The spider is dead! I went outside with Trixie this morning so she could play with her rock (yes, but a whole other story). From a distance, I could see the Black Widow had come out of it's protective fence railing. I sprinted into the garage to get the Ortho Home Defense spray I had purchased the other day. I used this yesterday spraying all around the area.
I stood back a ways so not to scare it and started shooting. It didn't move. It was already dead, caught up in it's own web.
