Our Dear Mrs Reynolds

SPIDERS! May 9, 2007

I encountered my first northern black widow spider, they have red spots on their backs and a broken hourglass on the abdomen. I didn’t even realize there were a few varieties of the spider. I guess the commonly known black widow is in fact the southern black widow (there is also a western black widow, a brown widow, and a red widow). I have actually encountered her twice (at least I am pretty sure it was the same spider twice…I will continue to think this so I do not become paranoid).

The little one had a spider land on him and he brushed it away and told me it was shiny and black and he thinks he saw red, so I investigated caught the spider and said “I dunno what kind of spider that is, I will look it up later” and let it go outside. I didn’t think about it to much and as I put it outside I assumed it would find a place to live out there.

We encountered her again last night (2 days or so since the first time) in the garage. A pretty shiny black spider wandered in and over to some shelves and proceeded to begin web construction. My spikey suggested I capture her safely and look her up. I did and tada black widow! The poor thing was alternating between the defensive ball of spider, the please don’t eat me ball, and the scary spider dance. She was really cute and I caught her a moth….she was afraid of that too. The little one is a bit uneasy about the whole thing. Anywho….I relocated her far away from the house and in a nice big rock pile so hopefully she will not come back.

I am grateful for my encounter with her because I now know a little more then I did before.