Frightful facts about black widow spiders

Adult Female Black Widow

The Southern Black Widow, or Black Widow Spider, as she is more commonly known, is one of the most venomous spiders in North America. However, her bite is rarely fatal to healthy humans. It is not uncommon to come across these beautiful, yet dangerous spiders in the summer, as they like to hang out in dark places such as garages, basements,  under lawn furniture or under wood and rock piles, and in hollow tree stumps. 
​Knowing the black widow's characteristics and natural habitats will help prevent a nasty and painful encounter with them, while allowing you the opportunity to observe and appreciate their place in the ecosystem.

Adult Male Black Widow

 However, if you should find one in your home, or an area of your yard that is frequented by humans or pets, call King Exterminating to safely eradicate any threat of danger to you and your family. ​

Black Widow Spider Bite

To help you correctly identify the black widow spider, and learn more about them, here are some well known and NOT so well known "frightful facts" about these infamous arachnids:

• The female black widow, (who's bite is poisonous) is easily identified by the traditional hour-glass shape on its belly, and is very shiny in color, while the male black widow lacks this distinctive shape and only has red, yellow or white striped markings on its abdomen. The male is also quite smaller than the female.
• The black widow's web is often strong enough to catch animals as large as a field mouse or even a hummingbird!
• The female black widow typically eats the male after mating, thus earning the notorious nickname "Black Widow".
• The female Southern black widow typically lives an average of 1.5 years while the male survives between two to five months.
• The black widow is capable of living for several months without food.
• Although the black widow's web is messy and irregular, it is surprisingly strong and an architecturally planned structure of three different levels in which to catch and hold prey.
• Male black widows have a superior sense of smell, and use it to determine if a female has recently eaten, by "sniffing" their web with their feet! 
• Baby black widow spiderlings often eat other spiderlings after birth for nutrients.
• A black widow bite can cause muscle cramps and spasms near the site of the bite, fever, and nausea, but it is not usually fatal to healthy humans. 
• Black widows feed on common insects such as flies and mosquitoes, as well as other arachnids, and can help keep such backyard pests under control!

​If you suspect you have a black widow infestation in or around your home, don't take matters into your own hands - call King Exterminating to safely and quickly eradicate the problem without harm to you or your pets!