I have killed 4 already.

I have never seen this many around in all of the years I have lived here.

Strange indeed.

Nope, haven't seen one. Lucky aren't I .
Andy

Here, let me help you

No black widows here - just a few redbacks - none under the dunny seat thank goodnes!!!!

Brian

As proof of the global economy some guy is in the news here in the UK for spotting a Funnel Web spider near his garden shed! Talk about migrations...

Tom

I'll buy the lady a drink!
Rick

No poisonous spiders in England.

Here's a whole bunch.....











Bob



Seriously, no black widow spiders up here. Be careful when you put your shoes on.

Nae black widaes in the sodden north but the venomous summer Haggis flys are roaming the muirs. Don't let them get up yer kilt.

JP, is that anything like roamin' in the gloamin' ???

I've known grown men cry when attacked by the midge hoarde..

Hey Jeff, All these other jokers aside, I have never seen so many. I've taken to wearing gloves all the time in the garage after a couple of "Holy" moments (Def: Holy Moment = Holy S#!@! That thing just ran across my finger!). The defining (pants-wetting) moment was when I picked up a 2x4 right outside the garage and a Black Widow with a 2 1/2" span ran across my wrist! I have these Black Wasps that don't sting all over my garage and figured that I was going to spray the whole thing down. Then I started seeing dead Black Widows all over the floor. These things kill them and they're my best friends right now. I wasn't this wierded out in my 2 years in Central America!

My informal YTD estimate: 17 kills for me, 8 for my Son, 1 for my Daughter, 58 for the Wasps. I'm still finding them though. Saw a couple of Brown Recluses too. How bad did yours get?

Scary Halloween had a totally different meaning this year.
Charlie

Well, I knew "Black Widows" would bring Damian running.

As for the 8 legged variety, I haven't seen any up here in the soggy N'west. Plenty of other 8 legged pests up here....I've seen my Pug attack and eat a few????

Jeff,
We have been seeing tons of them this year as well. Of course our pest control company stopped spraying earlier this year so that's why we thought they were coming back in droves. I must have killed a dozen this summer.

Jim

Well, in San Diego we're being overrun by the black widow's kissin' cousin from South Africa, the brown widow. Supposedly, the bite's even worse, and unlike the gentrified black widow, the newcomer is just as happy living in the rushes outside as under the eaves and doorways.

Since they breed like rabbits, they are displacing the black widow in these parts. You can find the distinctive spiked egg sacks almost everywhere (they look like cottony sea mines).

However, I have noticed they have street smarts and react to the presence of people much sooner than the black widow and scramble out of the way. So, I have adapted the tactic of making my presence very obvious before going into potential danger zones and so far, no scivvy changing encounters!

--Karl