Black Widow Prevention?

[anchordown]

Any one have any tried and true black widow cures? I have found close to a dozen in the last 2 weeks around my garden and exterior of the home.

Thanks!
Donald

[JennyC]

Well, I squish 'em with a stick. Found one lying in wait in my mailbox last week.

Unfortunately, there's not going to be a chemical treatment that'll get widows without getting beneficial spiders/bugs as well. Hence my stick.

[cynthia_h]

Do chickens eat spiders? If you're zoned for 'em, maybe a pet chicken or two....

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[anchordown]

a chicken seems a bit of a back-handed way to solve the problem.

p.s. I have found 3 more since my last posting.

[dinker]

From wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_widow_spider

Natural enemies
There are various parasites and predators of widow spiders in North America, though apparently none of these have ever been evaluated in terms of augmentation programs for improved biocontrol. Parasites of the egg sacs include the flightless scelionid wasp Baeus latrodecti, and members of the chloropid fly genus Pseudogaurax. Predators of the adult spiders include a few wasps, most notably the blue mud dauber, Chalybion californicum, and the spider wasp Tastiotenia festiva. Other species will occasionally and opportunistically take widows as prey, but the preceding all exhibit some significant specific preference for Latrodectus.

<edited by admin>Added attribution and link to the source of the information</edited by admin>

[webmaster]

I'm not sure what you mean by backhanded, but chickens would be a good way if you're up to it. The idea is to encourage predation. A healthy yard is one that encourages predators. Even if you're not up to chickens, then even something like setting up a bird bath and a couple bird feeders is helpful.

Just took a look at Wikipedia and they report that there have only been sixty three reported deaths in the U.S. attributed to Black Widow Spiders in the forty years between 1950 and 1990.

[Toms92gp]

Guinea hens are better then chickens at insect eating. Chickens eat bugs, but they eat fruits and veggies too, the only damage a guinea my do is scratch a small plant up or too. I have Black widow problems big time this year, I've probably found 3 dozen or so in the past 3 month. I find 4 alone in toys in the kids sandbox, 3 under there slide, one on a toy baby stroller and 3 under the base of my basket ball goal. The don't bother me that much when I find them around the garden or under my stuff, but finding them in the kids toys freaks me out. I afriad my 3 yearold will run out there and pick up a toy oneday and get bit.

[8Mud]

My firewood pile used to be full of them, when I lived in So. Cal. My solution was to pile the wood so I could get to one end and fire up the old pressure washer. If you have a high pressure washer, it does a pretty good job of destroying them, the nest and eggs.
I'd stick the end into any likely hiding spots and repeat until the problem is manageable.
The lady across the street from me was bitten on the forehead, it didn't kill her, but you could tell she was messed up for a year or two afterwards.