So I have been noticing more and more a particular species of spider around my property and house. I am not scared of spiders and I do not really put them in the “pest” category where you would need to get an exterminator involved, but this particular spider is making me nervous… it has a red-ish/orange-ish hourglass on it, similar to a Black Widow! My spider is brown though and only comes out at night, so it is hard to take pictures of. Here are a few pictures I was able to capture of a few of these brown spiders:
I know the Black Widow spider is poisonous, so I wanted to make sure this particular spider was not dangerous to my young kids. In researching, I have identified it as the Brown Widow spider, but I would like to see if my friend @sultan-aceh can weigh in to confirm (he appears to be an expert in spiders!).
If it is indeed the Brown Widow, Wikipedia does say it is venomous, but with not nearly as potent a venom as the Black Widow. It also says it originates in South Africa, but is newly established in Southern California, which is where I reside! Here is the Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_geometricus
It appears that the venom and toxins from a Brown Widow bite is confined to the bite area and is minor compared to a Black Widow bite, as it cannot deliver the same amount of venom.
OK, now what do I do? Do I go through and kill them all to make sure my kids do not get bit or do I let them be if they are not bothering anybody? Any advice?
It looks like a local University was doing some extensive research on this particular spider, so maybe I will call them up to see if they want to turn my house into a research project as I seem to have quite a few of these spiders hanging around!
Take care,
Brian