A Sea Of Red

Does anybody else in this area have a problem with these horrifying creatures? I had never seen one in real life until last August. I found two of them under my deck. And last month I found another one in my back yard, and today I found another one. Are these things a known problem around here? My kids play back there.



They're way bigger in real life than I thought they'd be.

I've lived in Lynchburg for almost 25 years now. I've only ever seen one black widow in my entire life.

I've seen a few, including one GIANT one that had spun a web in my friend Jill's room and had a nice egg sac to go with it. Needless to say it died QUICKLY!

They tend to hang out around wood, typically old and/or moist/damp wood, usually in the shade (i.e. on the bottom) where they wont be disturbed.

I'd suggest killing all those little buggers you can find. Yeah spiders are important, but I'm pretty darn sure we can do without black widows and brown recluses.

When we first built our house we saw them all around. As a matter of fact they ended up taking residence in the floor joists in the unfinished basement. The 2nd summer we were there, I had killed 2 or 3 in the basement. I looked around and saw webs all over. I cleared almost everything out and put on a mask an goggles and armed myself with Spider spray. I killed like 15. That is when we hired and exterminator and he killed 10 or so outside.

One of the lasies at work, her husband was bitten by one last year and became very ill. He was in LGH and wasnt right for weeks.

So, yes they are a problem around here.

Yep. I've seen way more here than I ever saw in North Carolina.

I've lived in VA for the majority of my life and I've never seen any around. Nasty little creatures.

I've had them around my house, and I hear that Russell Springs has them real bad (probably because it was a farm before they developed it). With the prevalance of black widows and now what seems like a sudden resurgence of brown recluses to the region, going outside is scary.

ALUmnus wrote:a sudden resurgence of brown recluses to the region,

where have you heard this? That's terrifying. I thought they lived West.

I'm gonna throw up.

I have a major issue with these horrendous things.

Maybe HMO can fly a crop duster around and gas the friggin things.

then fly up here and take care of my place.

LUconn wrote:

ALUmnus wrote:a sudden resurgence of brown recluses to the region,

where have you heard this? That's terrifying. I thought they lived West.

Actually, from what I've heard from members of the Brookneal Rescue Squad, they've been an issue down in NC and are slowly moving up here.

ALUmnus wrote:I've had them around my house, and I hear that Russell Springs has them real bad (probably because it was a farm before they developed it). With the prevalance of black widows and now what seems like a sudden resurgence of brown recluses to the region, going outside is scary.

that's what happend with me. It was farm land before we built.

related google search of brown recluse




(I'll spare you the bite pictures.)

LUconn wrote:

ALUmnus wrote:a sudden resurgence of brown recluses to the region,

where have you heard this? That's terrifying. I thought they lived West.

moorman and his brother used to have to check their beds every night for brown recluses *shudder* and his brother has a black spot on his thigh about the size of a softball where he got bit.

no thanks..

I got bit by a brown recluse when I lived up in Maryland, very painful bite and it does actually eat away at your skin right before your eyes. I got bit twice on the leg, most likely by the same spider. That was about 8 yrs ago and still have the nasty scars. Doctors said if I would have waited about 3 more days the results could have been a lot worse

RubberMallet wrote:

LUconn wrote:

ALUmnus wrote:a sudden resurgence of brown recluses to the region,

where have you heard this? That's terrifying. I thought they lived West.

moorman and his brother used to have to check their beds every night for brown recluses *shudder* and his brother has a black spot on his thigh about the size of a softball where he got bit.

no thanks..

Thanks for the visual.

LUconn wrote:related google search of brown recluse




(I'll spare you the bite pictures.)

The dude at church, a LU student, got bit by one late last year and was in the hospital for weeks. My brother-in-law got bit by one up in Dayton Ohio. They're everywhere, that google map is outdated.

ALUmnus wrote:

LUconn wrote:related google search of brown recluse




(I'll spare you the bite pictures.)

The dude at church, a LU student, got bit by one late last year and was in the hospital for weeks. My brother-in-law got bit by one up in Dayton Ohio. They're everywhere, that google map is outdated.

yeah, friend of mine's dad got bit by one back in like 2000 and died from it. (lived out towards wildwood) that map is DEF outdated.

I live in Russell Springs and they are everywhere. I probably saw 5 today while I was cutting the grass.

hurricane fan wrote:I live in Russell Springs and they are everywhere. I probably saw 5 today while I was cutting the grass.

I forgot we were "almost" neighbors. It must be this area as opposed to where ever shuck lives, who has lived here his whole life and never seen one.

I have one of those deals on the side of my house where the water hose winds up and is stored. A hose holder or something. I'm tired.

Anyway. Last year spring rolled around, I took the hose off for the first time and had a widow walk about halfway up my forearm from the inside of the hose.

I knocked it off before I even realized what I'd seen, but I watched it crawl back up the brick trying to get back to the hose holder thingy.

It died shortly thereafter.

The end.

Holy crap! Spiders don't normally bother me, but after seeing that dude's thumb, I might be a little more cautious out there.
I am usually only freaked out by snakes that surprise me...especially the ones with the copper colored heads and the ones that swim and have nasty looking fangs. Oh, the ones with rattly tails bother me too.

El Scorcho wrote:I have one of those deals on the side of my house where the water hose winds up and is stored. A hose holder or something. I'm tired.

Anyway. Last year spring rolled around, I took the hose off for the first time and had a widow walk about halfway up my forearm from the inside of the hose.

I knocked it off before I even realized what I'd seen, but I watched it crawl back up the brick trying to get back to the hose holder thingy.

It died shortly thereafter.

The end.

If one ever touched me, I don't think I'd ever sleep again.

i can't sleep right now because of this thread

I live behind the N&A and have killed several in my yard the past few summers, some like the pic above (a southern black widow I believe). Killed several under a large rock in a mulch bed, several babies that were inside of a towel on my patio and some in a tarp sitting in the grass. I looked at hiring one of the companies to spray monthly but they normally spray around the base of the house.

krh44 wrote:I live behind the N&A and have killed several in my yard the past few summers, some like the pic above (a southern black widow I believe). Killed several under a large rock in a mulch bed, several babies that were inside of a towel on my patio and some in a tarp sitting in the grass. I looked at hiring one of the companies to spray monthly but they normally spray around the base of the house.

Get the lawn insect killer at Lowe's (granules) & spread it around. Works very well for keeping them out of your yard.