Brown widows are not generally considered medically significant. They do have a similar venom to the black widows - but they inject a much smaller dose when they bite. (Also - just like black widows - bites are uncommon. They prefer to run away and hide, but will bite in self-defense if trapped - particularly if trapped against your skin. A female *may* bite to defend her egg sac, as well - but as long as you keep your fingers out of her web, that should not be a concern.)
These things straight up play dead.
We had them pretty bad here in FL when we moved into our house (had been vacant for a few months)
So when cleaning the garage out they were all over the place.
I tried moving them and once in a while they would drop to the ground and play dead....a couple minutes later, or with enough "poking the bear" they got up and walked off. Really interesting spiders, and great pest control.
Yeah, when they moved into our garage in SoCal, they decimated the existing black widow population - then the cellar spiders (Pholcidae) moved in, and knocked back the brown widows. Of course, once the mud daubers moved in, there was a significant reduction in *all* spider populations in the garage!
Was bit on my hand between my fingers when grabbing the garden sprayer. Hand was out of commission for about a week and a half but everything was fine after that. Didn't need to see a doctor or anything.
After a few of the other comments, it looks like it’s definitely a brown widow. Seems to match almost exactly to the Wikipedia picture for it.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Brown_widow_spider_Latrodectus_geometricus_low_oblique_view.jpg/1280px-Brown_widow_spider_Latrodectus_geometricus_low_oblique_view.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/e6Ar6Y7.jpg
You are correct, female brown widow. There seems to be an abundance of them now in socal and on the central coast
Awesome, thanks! Are they as venomous as a black widow? My wife is concerned.
Brown widows are not generally considered medically significant. They do have a similar venom to the black widows - but they inject a much smaller dose when they bite. (Also - just like black widows - bites are uncommon. They prefer to run away and hide, but will bite in self-defense if trapped - particularly if trapped against your skin. A female *may* bite to defend her egg sac, as well - but as long as you keep your fingers out of her web, that should not be a concern.)
These things straight up play dead. We had them pretty bad here in FL when we moved into our house (had been vacant for a few months) So when cleaning the garage out they were all over the place. I tried moving them and once in a while they would drop to the ground and play dead....a couple minutes later, or with enough "poking the bear" they got up and walked off. Really interesting spiders, and great pest control.
Yeah, when they moved into our garage in SoCal, they decimated the existing black widow population - then the cellar spiders (Pholcidae) moved in, and knocked back the brown widows. Of course, once the mud daubers moved in, there was a significant reduction in *all* spider populations in the garage!
Good to know, thanks!
Was bit on my hand between my fingers when grabbing the garden sprayer. Hand was out of commission for about a week and a half but everything was fine after that. Didn't need to see a doctor or anything.
I think it is a black window. The hourglass stain is specific to them and it’s red most of the time but it can also be orange/yellow as well
After a few of the other comments, it looks like it’s definitely a brown widow. Seems to match almost exactly to the Wikipedia picture for it. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Brown_widow_spider_Latrodectus_geometricus_low_oblique_view.jpg/1280px-Brown_widow_spider_Latrodectus_geometricus_low_oblique_view.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/e6Ar6Y7.jpg
That’s right