It is that time again for another blog. Since Halloween is almost upon us, I thought I would write about some kind of "creepy crawly." So I am going to write about the Black Widow Spider, one of the 2 spiders considered to be dangerous to people.
So, the Black Widow Spider, most people recognize the female by the classic red hour class located on the abdomen. You may be surprised to know that they do not always have that red hour glass. As you can see in the picture below, some may just have small, red blotches.
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| Black Widow. Photo by ME. |
So of course, female black widow spiders are a solid black coloration, and like other spiders, have eight legs and are arachnids. As far as the males go, they are quite different from the females. According to Jessie Szalay's article "Black Widows: Facts and Information" in the Livescience website at livescience.com. "The male is about half the size of the female. He is lighter in color with red or pink spots on his back."
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| Male Black Widow Spider. Photo from Internet. |
Looking at the photo you may be thinking that the male is a big critter. Do not be fooled, males are much smaller than the females, I mean they are little fellas.
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| Black Widow Spider. Photo by ME. |
As you may already know, these spiders get their name from the females eating their own mates, thus she is a widow! In fact after the mating occurs, the female usually will eat the dude, but, he has such a short life span anyway, it is not a major tragedy in the grand scheme of things. He would not live much longer after mating if he was not eaten. One thing to note is that other female spiders eat their mates on occasions to; Black Widows are not the only ones that do it.
When she is not eating her man, the black widow generally eats insects and sometimes, other spiders that gets trapped in her cob webs! Of course she kills her prey with her venom.
A really neat thing about black widows is that they have a way of not getting stuck in their own webs and that is due to their "legs are coated in an oily substance... (Szalay)
In regards to habitat and where Black Widows like to live, well they are found all over the place, geographical wise. "Black widows are found in temperate regions throughout the world, including the United States, Southern Europe and Asia, Australia, Africa, and much of South America." (Szalay)
Black Widows can be found in various habitats that yield some kind of damp and dark hiding places; including people's garages and basements. I have encountered them under logs that I rolled on many occasions, They also seem to like to hide under piles of undisturbed leaves and branches too. Or from what I learned from when I was bitten back in 2005, but I will write more about it shortly.
Now that I have wrote about some of the general information about black widow spiders and before I write about their venom, I would like to say that I am not trying to put fear of these animals into people, They are neat critters and can be enjoyed and observed safely. They help us people out by eating insects and other spiders, which helps keep populations in check.
That being said, black widow spiders, like all spiders, are venomous. They and Brown Recluse Spiders are the two species in the United States that can be harmful to people. They have neurotoxin venom, which attacks the nervous system. A bite can be serious but is rarely fatal, Also, it is important to remember that it is only the female black widow spider that can give a nasty bite. The males are not considered harmful to people, though a bite may still hurt.
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| Photo from Internet |
Back in the fall of 2005, I was bitten by a black widow spider while playing in a large pile of decomposing leaves. They were damp towards the bottom of the pile, which I suppose made for a nice hiding place for these spiders. The thing about a black widow bite is you usually cannot feel the actual bite ( though I have read that there have been some cases that the person has felt it), I did not feel it when my bite occurred, though the next day after being bit ( I did not realize it at this point) I started feeling cramping around my right leg ( I was bitten on my right ankle) and abdomen. I did not think much of it that this point as I had though I was feeling sore from playing various sports with friends on the day of the bite. Then on Monday,two days after being bitten, I began feeling some pain on my ankle. so I checked it and found a bite mark on my ankle that was swollen and was purple. I immediately suspected It was caused by a black widow, but was not entirely sure. In addition, I was still having cramping in my leg and abdomen. Finally, Tuesday came around and when I woke up and got out of bed that next morning, I immediately felt VERY sick. It basically felt like a stomach virus, and I then knew I had likely been bitten by a black widow. I ended up going to the doctor and he confirmed that I did in fact get bit by a black widow spider, but he gave me some medication ( I guess it what some sort of antivenom, but I do not remember what he exactly gave me). It took me over a week to fully recover, but recover I did. Therefore, a bite from these ladies can be serious, but if you seek medical help, it is very unlikely to be fatal.
Again, my hope and goal is not to scare you, but give you a better understanding of these creatures. Sure, they can give a nasty bite, but they have a place in our ecosystem too, helping to keep insect and other spider populations in check.
Again, feel free to ask me any questions you may have :)
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