Black Widow Spider
Prevention & Extermination
Latrodectus hesperus
Black Widow Spider: Overview | Spider Bites | Video
Health and Medical Disclaimer
Ways to Control Spiders in Your Home and Workplace
Outdoors
- Remove or reduce trash and rubbish from your home or workplace (eg. woodpiles, boxes, plywood, tires, empty containers, etc.)
- Keep the outside perimeter of the house free from tall grass, weeds or shrubs especially near the foundation.
- Wear protective clothing, including gloves and covered shoes, when working outdoors.
- Always check items that have been stored in the garage or in a shed or outdoors for spiders, webs or sacks before bringing item indoors. Keep items like gloves or shoes in zip lock bags or sealed containers.
Indoors
- Keep beds away from the walls.
- Don't store boxes or any items under your bed.
- Keep dust ruffles or bed skirts from touching the floor.
- Don't store shoes on the floor or any clothes, towels or other linens (always shake out shoes and clothes before using).
- Store sports equipment like roller-skates, gardening clothes, gloves, ski boots in plastic bags that are tightly sealed with no holes.
- Vacuum under furniture, closets, under heaters, around all baseboards and other areas of the house to eliminate habitat.
- Keep screens on windows and fix or replace screens with holes or that don't fit snuggly.
- Seal doors with weather stripping and door sweeps.
- Seal cracks and access holes for electrical conduits or plumbing.
- Remove spider webs and egg sags when found.
Pesticide control of spiders only works on direct contact. So if you see a spider and spray it you can terminate it. You can also spray any egg sacks and crush them to kill eggs. Spraying the baseboards will not keep spiders away or kill them when they crawl in an area that has been sprayed. Spiders do no absorb chemicals through their legs or feet as ants, roaches and other insects do.
Sticky traps placed along the baseboard of the house can help catch spiders and also help you determine their population. Pesticide control for other bugs or insects will help reduce the food source for the spiders and help reduce the spider population in your house.
Common Questions:
Are black widow spider bites fatal?
How to identify a black widow spider?
Do female black widows kill and eat the male after they mate?
Black Widow Spider: Overview | Spider Bites | Prevention
Black Widow: Answers To Frequently Asked Questions
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Black Widow Spider: Overview | Prevention | Video
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Curious Facts
Black Widow is considered the most venomous spider in North America.
The venom of the black widow spider is 15 times as toxic as the venom of the prairie rattlesnake.
Only the female Black Widow is dangerous to humans; males and juveniles are harmless.
The female Black Widow will, on occasion, kill and eat the male after they mate
More than 35,000 spider species of spiders occur in the World.
About 3,400 species in 64 families are found in North America.
Genus: Latrodectus
Phylum: Arthropoda
Sub Phylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Sub Order: Labidognatha
Family: Therididae
Species: 6
Weight: 1 gram.
Length: 1-1.5"
Span: 1-3"
Sexual Maturity: 70-90 days.
Mating Season: Spring
Incubation: 14-30 days
No. of Eggs: 250-700/sac
Birth Interval: 4 to 9 egg sacs/summer
Lifespan: up to 3 years
Typical diet: insects
View Video about The Black Widow Spider. The female black widow spider is the most venomous spider in North America, but it seldom causes death to humans, because it only injects a very small amount of poison when it bites. Click here to view video.
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