The Poisonous Black Widow Spider

The female black widow spider is easily identified by the distinctive red hour glass marking. The bite of the female black widow spider can be very painful and in rare cases even fatal. If you think there is any chance you have been bitten by a black widow spider seek medical attention as soon as possible. Don't wait seek medical help.

Quite often the female Black Widow Spider will kill the male when she mates and eat him. The male Black Widow Spider is much smaller than the female. The Black Widow Spider builds tangled webs near its hiding place. She hangs her egg sac in her web and guards it. The spiders have oil on their legs to prevent them being tangled or caught up in their webs.

The Black Widow Spider will usually attempt to escape unless it is guarding its egg sac or unless you mash it. If you know there are Black Widow Spiders around shake your shoes out before you put them on. Keep in mind that Black Widow Spiders love wood piles and quite often the Black Widow Spider is encountered when people carry wood into the house.

Spray your wood with a citrus oil mixture that is one tablespoon of citrus oil to a quart of water to keep Black Widows and other spiders away. If you spray your wood pile every couple of weeks you won't have near as many spider problems.

Another place people unfortunately encounter the Black Widow Spider is the out door mail box. If you suspect your mail box has become a home to black widow spiders spray your mail box inside and out with a citrus oil spray. Be sure to spray under the mail box also. This will kill the spider if the spray hits it and it will discourage other black widow spiders from making a home in your mail box.

Always wear gloves if you suspect there may be black widow spiders in the area. Tuck your pants legs into your shoes or tie each pants leg closed with a shoe string. You want to eliminate as much clutter as possible. Don't provide a heavily cluttered area because this will be the perfect home for black widow spiders.Keep clutter to a absolute minimum.

The female Black Widow Spider rarely leaves her nest and she can be quite aggressive guarding her egg sac. Some Black Widow Spider females have been known to live as long as five years in captivity. They usually live three years in the wild. 

Black Widow spiders have more potent venom than most other poisonous spiders and prior to a Black Widow anti-venom being developed at least 5 percent of all reported Black Widow Spider Bites resulted in death. So yes its very important to seek medical care as soon as possible if you suspect you have been bitten by a Black Widow Spider. Most Black Widow Spider bites will be small red and may have a circle of white around it. See the Black Widow Spider bite photo below.

It is claimed by many researchers that the bite of the female black widow spider is 15 times more deadly than that of your average rattle snake. The bite of the Black Widow Spider especially female Black Widow Spiders can be fatal to children , the elderly and those already sick with another illness.

It is the venom of the Black Widow Spider that contains poisonous chemicals that make people sick. The first symptom of a Black Widow Spider bite is usually pain similar to a pin prick. There may be minor swelling , redness , and a target shaped lesion. If the spider bites you on the upper part of the body you will feel the pain in your chest. If the bite is on the lower part of the body you will feel most of the pain in the abdomen.

The above spider bite chart can be very helpful in helping you to learn everything you can about spider bites. Again I can not stress enough. If you think you or a family member has been bitten by a black widow spider seek medical help as soon as possible. And be sure to tell the medical professionals that you suspect a black widow spider bite.