The Black Widows Have To Go!

Okay, so I was walking our puppy, Josie, outside and around our house to her pen.  This is Josie.  She's an Australian Cattle Dog.

We were nearing the corner of the house where we would turn and then walk along the side of the house to the entrance to her pen.  Josie suddenly attacked a bug that was climbing down the side of the house.  (She likes to eat bugs, especially grasshoppers.)  I didn't think much about it until she jumped back away from the bug and there, plain as day, was a black spider with a bright red hourglass marking on its underside.  A black widow!

Now, if you've kept up with me here on Gather you know that we have had black widow problems since last summer, and they've been especially bad this summer.  I even killed one in my daughter Haley's bedroom about two weeks ago.

Back to the story: I didn't have my camera on me at the time, and I was afraid the spider would get away in the time it would take me to run back inside and grab it so instead I ran around the house, put Josie in her pen so she wouldn't go after the spider and get bitten, grabbed the pooper scooper, ran back to the spider, which by this time was nearing the ground, and smashed it with the pooper scooper.  Here's a shot of it all smashed.

You can't see the hourglass shape because it's insides are all smeared over it's underside, but I assure you it was indeed a black widow.  I know them now without even seeing the red shape.

After killing the spider, I immediately ran inside, grabbed the phone book, found a pest control company nearby, and called them.  They will spray for black widow spiders.  The spraying also covers everything else all in one - roaches, other spiders, ants, etc.  All for $125, which will cover six months of protection.  After the initial six months are up, they will set us up on a protection plan which will be $55 every quarter.  I hate to spend the money and hadn't planned on doing so, but I'm thinking we'll probably do so, because the black widow spiders really have to go.  With two small children around I cannot risk having black widows around, especially in the abundance we have had them this summer. 

Strangely enough my story doesn't end there.

Shortly after the above story happened, the kids, Josie, and I went outside to play until my husband got home from work.  (We always go outside to meet him.)  I was giving the kids piggy back rides across the backyard when I ran around an old tree stump we've got back there.  Lo and behold, there was yet another black widow with a grasshopper caught in it's web.  Here's a not very good shot of it and the grasshopper.

Add to that the fact that we still have the one out in our Bradford pear tree which I did an article on some time ago.  I keep forgetting to buy some spray to kill it with when I go to the store.  We thought it had gone away for a while, because it wasn't there.

So, on Monday, our local pest control company will be here spraying our home for black widow spiders.  For the moment we are leaving to go buy some killer spray for the two outside.  All black widows must go!!