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Help identify a scary looking spider we found
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torsoboy
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Sep 19, 2013, 07:02 PM
 
We had this spider crawling on our house today by our back door and we're trying to figure out what type of spider it is. It's pretty scary looking, so I didn't put anything up next to it to show its size when I took the picture, but it is roughly the size of a standard female black widow. Anyone know what it is?

     
andi*pandi
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Sep 19, 2013, 07:50 PM
 
Red is somewhat worrisome.
     
torsoboy  (op)
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Sep 19, 2013, 08:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
Red is somewhat worrisome.
Agreed! And having our two year old running in and out right next to it was kinda freaky too. The spider is dead now (smooshed all over the wall), but I would still like to know what kind of spider it was.
     
lpkmckenna
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Sep 19, 2013, 08:24 PM
 
Ask this question at Reddit. Someone there is guaranteed to know what it is.
     
subego
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Sep 19, 2013, 10:22 PM
 
So, you're telling us it's spider sized...
     
torsoboy  (op)
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Sep 19, 2013, 11:14 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
So, you're telling us it's spider sized...
Yeah, cause spiders only come in one size.
     
subego
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Sep 19, 2013, 11:58 PM
 
You're right. Let me walk over to my black widow farm for a refresher.
     
iMOTOR
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Sep 20, 2013, 12:52 AM
 
Black Widow Farm would be a sick name for a band.
     
reader50
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Sep 20, 2013, 01:52 AM
 
Looks like a Red Widow Spider. The only other one I found close is a juvenile Redback Spider (endemic to Australia).
     
turtle777
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Sep 20, 2013, 03:21 AM
 
Red Widow sounds like a winner.

It's harmless.

Latrodectus bishopi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-t
     
Cold Warrior
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Sep 20, 2013, 03:36 AM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
It's harmless.
Except for being ugly and creepy. So it must die.
     
BadKosh
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Sep 20, 2013, 07:53 AM
 
Let it live! It'll eat bugs through the early fall. While not as poisonous as the Black Widow, they are still poisonous like all spiders.
     
Laminar
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Sep 20, 2013, 09:17 AM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
Ask this question at Reddit. Someone there is guaranteed to know what it is.
/r/whatsthisbug
     
Mrjinglesusa
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Sep 20, 2013, 09:52 AM
 
Are you in Florida? The Red Widow is endemic to parts of Florida.

Also, it's a threatened species.

So, if you are in Florida and it is in fact a Red Widow, please don't kill it.

If you are not in Florida it's unlikely to be a Red Widow.

Looking at better pictures of Red Widows that does NOT look like one.

Red Widow - Latrodectus bishopi - BugGuide.Net

     
Laminar
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Sep 20, 2013, 12:12 PM
 
Does no one actually read the thread?

Originally Posted by torsoboy View Post
The spider is dead now (smooshed all over the wall)
     
torsoboy  (op)
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Sep 20, 2013, 12:15 PM
 
Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa View Post
Are you in Florida? The Red Widow is endemic to parts of Florida.

Also, it's a threatened species.

So, if you are in Florida and it is in fact a Red Widow, please don't kill it.

If you are not in Florida it's unlikely to be a Red Widow.

Looking at better pictures of Red Widows that does NOT look like one.

Red Widow - Latrodectus bishopi - BugGuide.Net

I am in Southern Utah, so I guess it can't be that one. That one is pretty dang scary looking too though!
     
olePigeon
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Sep 20, 2013, 03:07 PM
 
I think it looks pretty.
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reader50
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Sep 20, 2013, 03:24 PM
 
Hold it in your hand for a closer look.
     
Shaddim
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Sep 22, 2013, 03:59 AM
 
Also, it's a threatened species.
I'd threaten it alright, with my boot!
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Spheric Harlot
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Sep 22, 2013, 06:48 AM
 
Spiders have right of home here.

Anything that eats mosquitoes and leaves my shit alone can share my flat.

Of course, this isn't Australia, where it would likely try to kill you just because.
     
Face Ache
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Sep 22, 2013, 08:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Of course, this isn't Australia, where it would likely try to kill you just because.
I could probably point to ten redback spiders around my house right now, There's one who lives about 3 feet away from where I work on my patio. I generally leave them alone unless they make a web somewhere stupid.

Trying to kill everything poisonous in Australia is a fools game.

Here's one I shot in macro for you spider-fans.

     
subego
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Sep 22, 2013, 12:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Spiders have right of home here.

Anything that eats mosquitoes and leaves my shit alone can share my flat.

Of course, this isn't Australia, where it would likely try to kill you just because.
Same. I have spider buddies set who set up shop in my windows and my porch lights every year. The only ones who get messed with are the ones who try for the front door.

Even then, I'm good with a corner, it's the center which isn't practical.
     
davidflas
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Sep 23, 2013, 11:42 AM
 
Saw this fellow over the weekend, very brightly colored...not sure what it is though, about an inch in size.

Edit: Might be an Orchard Orb Weaver.


DSC_0096 by davidflas, on Flickr
2.7Ghz 15" Mid 2012 MBP 16GB RAM 7.2k 750GB HD anti-glare display|64GB iPad4 ATT LTE|
     
Spheric Harlot
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Sep 23, 2013, 06:34 PM
 
Gorgeous.
     
torsoboy  (op)
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Sep 24, 2013, 02:39 AM
 
I found what the spider was. It was a juvenile Western Black Widow. Here's a few links to pages talking about it:

Western Black Widow - Latrodectus hesperus - BugGuide.Net
Juvenile Western Black Widow - What's That Bug?
juvinille black widow? - Latrodectus hesperus - BugGuide.Net

Apparently as they get older, the markings on their backs disappear and they turn the shiny black that I am used to seeing on a black widow.

I'm glad I killed it. We have too many of Black Widows around here... one less is a good thing as far as I am concerned. Especially when it's right next to my back door where my kids play.

     
BadKosh
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Sep 24, 2013, 08:16 AM
 
Leave it alone, it will eat LOTS of bugs and provide a great show. Just don't reach into its web, which should be an irregular type, not an orb.
     
andi*pandi
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Sep 24, 2013, 09:05 AM
 


Except, lobster doesn't have poisonous bites... which to me makes it less skeevy to eat.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
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Sep 24, 2013, 10:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by BadKosh View Post
Leave it alone, it will eat LOTS of bugs and provide a great show. Just don't reach into its web, which should be an irregular type, not an orb.
WTF? A black widow next to a two-year-old's normal play path and you'd prefer to leave it alone? Are you insane?
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BadKosh
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Sep 24, 2013, 12:34 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
WTF? A black widow next to a two-year-old's normal play path and you'd prefer to leave it alone? Are you insane?
" Just don't reach into its web"
Widows are not aggressive until the WEB is entered, disturbed, damaged. Put something in the kids way so he CAN'T screw with the widow.

Do you have snakes in your neighborhood?
How about wasps and hornets?

Both are going crazy as fall/winter approaches.
Queen bee's kick out most of the bees from the hive for the winter,
same for wasps and hornets who have no place to go.
This drives them crazy.
     
subego
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Sep 24, 2013, 12:50 PM
 
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy...

STING! STING! STING!
     
finboy
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Sep 25, 2013, 07:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by davidflas View Post
Saw this fellow over the weekend, very brightly colored...not sure what it is though, about an inch in size.

Edit: Might be an Orchard Orb Weaver.


DSC_0096 by davidflas, on Flickr
I move one of these out of the doorway every morning. Otherwise, she is just about mouth height and too small to be noticed until it's too late. The wife and kids have been made aware.

She's too pretty to smoosh.
     
Face Ache
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Sep 25, 2013, 10:28 PM
 
My neighbour just knocked to say a black snake has slithered under her fence and into my garden. Not sure where it is, but if I find it, it's shovel time.
     
subego
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Sep 26, 2013, 04:51 AM
 
Racist!
     
Face Ache
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Sep 26, 2013, 05:05 AM
 
I've decided to let it live. All the snakes around here are venomous, but two of my neighbours have yappy dogs and one has cats that piss in my yard.

So now I have a pet snake.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
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Sep 26, 2013, 07:06 AM
 
In my area of the world we have just regular old non-poisonous smaller spiders, no snakes or reptiles, and yellowjacket wasps and bees that won't bother you unless you try to kill them....and black and red ants, I guess. That's the extent of our creepy-crawlies. Kind of nice, actually.
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BadKosh
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Sep 26, 2013, 08:39 AM
 
All spiders are poisonous. Some are just too small to stab their fangs through your skin.
     
subego
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Sep 26, 2013, 12:29 PM
 
Or enough poison to drop a big boy like me.
     
subego
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Sep 26, 2013, 12:31 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
and yellowjacket wasps and bees that won't bother you unless you try to kill them
This goes along with the bee is in the mail, and the bee won't fly in your mouth.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
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Sep 26, 2013, 01:12 PM
 
[Cary Elwes face]
"Don't follow"
[/Cary Elwes face]
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subego
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Sep 26, 2013, 01:39 PM
 
Well, shit...

Don't follow the bee.
     
   
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