Black Widow Evicted

Picture it, it’s a cold day in December. You are in your garage taking out your Christmas decorations. You find your holiday flag that has to go out on the flag pole. You fiddle with it, not really paying attention, when all of a sudden you feel something crawl across your finger. You look down to find a Black Widow Spider making her way towards you. What do you do? Me, I screamed to the top of my lungs and ran outside with the flag. Then I of course gave her a small photo shoot. At which time I evicted her from my home as she was not paying me rent for the space she was taking up in my garage. I had a small conversation and told her that I was the only widow allowed in my house. Contrary to the advice of my friends and family, I did NOT burn down my house. Instead I let her go. I guided her away from my garage.

Black Widow spiders, also known as Latrodectus are very common in NJ. As scary as they are, they aren’t as dangerous to humans as we may think. While Black Widows are one of the most venomous spiders around, they will not usually cause a fatality in a human. If bit, you will most likely become very sick, chances are if you are a healthy person, you won’t die. Definitely seek medical attention right away though. According to National Geographic the average lifespan for a Black Widow is 1-3 years in the wild. In this case, it’s life may have been cut short if in fact I became a spider killer. Truth be told, I don’t like to kill spiders because they eat other bugs, but in this case, I really didn’t want to hear or feel a crunch and spatter!! GAGGING!!!!!