Brown Widows for Breakfast? As I contemplated the hunger pangs in my stomach yearning for a late breakfast, and armed with encouragement from online gardeners +Learn to Grow, +CragfireGardening, +Double Dog Farm +Cheryl Krause and others, and a can of Raid®, I ventured out to face the enemy, a spider.
Late yesterday, my new, young garden helper Dylan spotted what he thought was a Black Widow and its egg sac in the hidden part of my fence gate hinge. I’d seen the cobweb for a while, but had been ignoring it. Generally, you want spiders in your garden. But, all agree, not Black Widows!
I shot a photo in the waning light and then it was time for research. UC Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research says one way to distinguish between a black and brown widow is “the egg sac of a brown widow has multiple silk spicules projecting out from the surface. The egg sac has been described as looking like a large pollen grain or a World War II harbor mine designed to blow up ships.” This is exactly what my egg sac looked like, so I went to bed convinced the terrorist threat was “Elevated,” but not “High.”
Since Brown Widows are taking over Southern California according to the LA Times, gardeners here can expect to see them. I found one inside a cauliflower last year, and I wasn’t wearing gloves at the time.
Brown Widow venom is just as toxic as a Black Widow, but they can’t deliver as much in a single bite, therefore a bite is not as dangerous. Naturally, this morning, I consulted with my gardeners on the Google+ group vegetable gardening.
+Kyle Thompson said hose it and stomp on it, but +Wendi Phan said they move fast when provoked, Joe said shove a stick in it and stomp it. +Rainbow Gardens said, “Kill it fast,” but, what I did…..was grab my occasional helper, gardener Rene who fortuitously was working two houses down. Standing eight feet up a ladder sawing the limb of a dead birch tree, he immediately came to my rescue. I’m brave, but not necessarily with black widows and snakes (thankfully, we don’t have alligators and scorpions here).
He sprayed with Raid, which only stunned them. Did I say “them?” YES, he discovered two more spiders in the fence with a total of 12 egg sacs!! They all came in contact with the sole of his boot.
Heaven knows how many spiders would have exploded from those clusters of evil. They lay about 120-150 eggs per sac and can make 20 egg sacs over a lifetime. Sometimes harsh chemicals come in handy. The egg sacs all looked like harbor mines, but Rene was sure they were black widows. After studying the detailed photos at the UCR website, I am convinced they were all dark brown widow females.
Another piece of advice I got from +Rainbow Gardens, check your gloves and boots if you store them outside, before you put them on! This is our fence where the spiders love to hide.
Anyone have any widow spider stories to share? Thanks for reading! This grisly business did not detract from my breakfast of homemade biscuits, eggs and fresh homegrown tomatoes! – Kaye
