Last night as I was getting ready to go to bed I noticed a spiderweb under the counter. It was a really sticky web.
The kind of web that black widows spin. (I’ve had reason to do some research on this in the past as I mentioned here.)
I destroyed the web, something that if done repeatedly is supposed to get the widow to move on, but then I figured that she’d just move on to another spot in my house. And I can’t have that. It took a few minutes before I spotted the spider. The light wasn’t great and at first I was sure it was a black widow, the shape was dead on (if you’ll pardon the pun).
Because it’s necessary to have witnesses to our most harrowing episodes I didn’t kill it. I caught it. In the light however I noticed that the spider isn’t black. It’s brown.
Sean looked at it today and said, “it’s a daddy long legs.”
“No way! The body’s too big and the legs are too thick.”
Sean says the legs are too thin and too long to be a widow.
I disagree. I’m willing to concede that it’s not a black widow. I mean, it’s not black.
It’s a brown widow.
What do you think?
Oh, and I didn’t have nightmares last night, but I did this afternoon.
jealous jealous jealous that your kids are back in school.
I hate spiders. I think that they are gross and i don’t like that you post it on your blog to freak me out. I get all itchy and spooked. You are not the only one who posted a pic of a spider today. It is summer and they are everywher-but ewww gross!
I don’t know what it is but I HATE spiders. We had a problem last summer in our basement and Will got bit! I was sure that he was poisoned and that at any time he would start feeling sick and need to go to the hospital. (over-reactor, YES!!)
But my friend’s husband got bit by a brown-recluse and has had serious health issues from it!!! scary!
Looks like a Brown Recluse to me… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse
It’s not a widow. They jump and are fast and very very hard to catch. Which frankly, if you’re out of xanax and need to borrow some of mine, I understand. How else could you have been able to do it???
It kind of looks like a vinegaroon. Eeeeck. They really hurt when they bite!
Thanks for the nightmares. Not a black widow, but a daddy long legs–puh! You’re husband’s smokin’ it.
If it is/was a brown recluse, they are bad news, very bad news. Read: deadly.
Black widows will run from you and try to hide; or they will freeze until the last moment before they strike. But seriously, they would rather you just walk away.
I hate to disagree with my sis, because she is usually right, but I don’t think this is a vinegaroon. The legs are too thin and the body needs to be more scorpion (without a tail) like. She is correct though, they are very aggressive, they will run towards you and wave their front legs, actually chase you around if you confront them. Their bite is NASTY, and lasting.
Perhaps you can get a few more angles of it and send it into whatsthatbug.com and they can tell you exactly what it is. Good luck!
eeeek! I just went to whatsthatbug.com to check out brown recluse. WARNING!!! There are some serious photos there. I am not positive, but I think your little fellow is not one. If you don’t get the heebeegeebees too badly you can just scan all the gross vermin you want! Trust me when I say it is not for the weak or faint of heart, small children or women of delicate circumstance! Holy COW!
I don’t know what that is but yuck. I am not a spider fan so I’ll thank you very much to not post any more pictures. (shudder)
i hate spiders soooooooo much I have a hard time killing them in the house… I don’t know what it is but it’s a little thick for daddy long leg we are planning on visiting this fall…. can’t wait to see you guys.
Who are all these amazing spider savvy people? Totally informative, thank you very much. And you know your boys won’t let you kill it now, it’s gonna need a name and a home and a husband to play house with. Congratulations on your new pet.
I don’t know what that is! But I’ll tell ya this much…it sure isn’t a daddy-long-legs!
That’s a big spider. I’m not arachnophobic but that one would have made me back away quickly.
I don’t know what that is, but I found one of them today in my garage.
It doesn’t look like a brown widow to me, nor a brown recluse. I have had tons of widows and a couple recluses this summer — your picture looks just like the guy in the tupperware in front of me, and my guy is definitely unlike any widow or recluse I’ve seen so far.
His (probably her) web was very much like a widow web though, and when I was catching her, that’s what I was expecting to find.
Still searching. Will return if I can ID.
Andrew
Savannah GA
BTW, it’s definitely not a daddy long legs either. Other than that I agree with Sean — legs are too long and thin to be a brown widow. Brown widows usually have orange markings (sometimes hourglass-shaped) too. I have a ton of them. This one is different.
There are brown widows.
http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/IPM/BrownWidow.htm
Here’s an article I Googled to get you pics of them.