Black Widow

swimmin_back_4_life

We just purchased our first house and it was a foreclosure. We're not really sure how long its been vacant but we're guessing at least more than 6months! We were cleaning the garage out today and we found a black widow! (First one I've ever seen!) My question is... If there is one, does that mean there is a lot more on the property, hidden? Where are their normal spots to be? How do you kill them? THANKS!!!!!!

Inkful

Black Widows are pretty common in CA. They tend to like dark spaces, so you may have more than average with a foreclosure. Just squash them with something big and heavy. For preventing them in the future, the best thing you can do is basic exclusion; this, of course, doesn't help with the ones living (and possibly laying eggs) where you don't want them to be. FYI- For something like this, you're probably better off posting on your local board as folks in your area will likely have similar pest problems.

~NB~

I see more black widows (by far) than any other type of spider. During the warm months, I find them constantly in my garden, every time I disturb an "undisturbed" area (like moving rocks, fetching a tool from under the deck, etc.) I have never seen one inside my house. I NEVER kill them. They are very shy and quickly move away to hide somewhere else. They don't bother me, they don't hurt me; I leave them alone. I like spiders.

MrsZP2B

This fall we had them in our garage. We found a bug smogger at ACE that kills them, plus the orthro product that kills them. (read the labels carefully). We sprayed all the areas where we saw them then set the dogger off. 2 weeks later we set off another fogger, and we haven't seen any since the initial bug bomb.