I am with you Rick stomp, mash, etc. They are poisonous, and can cause death in some people, and although the bite is hardly painful, the resulting pain from the poison is excruciating. The stomach muscles go rigid, and there are very painful cramps. I kill every one of them. We have them down here, naturally, and some big ones. The hour glass is not necessarily on the abdomen. It is the general shape of the spider that will Identify it for sure. It is the only one I know of, of that particular shape body, and legs. In fla. we have the northern, and southern variety of black widow. The southern has the classic hour glass on the bottom side of the abdomen, and the northern has the hour glass on or near the upper part of the abdomen. They also vary in color, there is a grayish, brown, to a rust colored to reddish brown, and of course the glossy black. All have the charistic shape, and an hour glass, or hour glass like marking or markings on it. I saw quite a few of them when I worked as a rent a cop during college, when I was at construction sites, and condos on the beach. They don't have a well defined web, like the orb weaver, or star spiders, but just a sort of mish mash of web strands, and usually a round spikey looking egg sac. I used to see a lot of them in the window ledges here during the summer, but we have a lot of lizards, and it seems to keep them down a bit, plus, I do my part also.
They are not as aggressive as some spiders, but usually bite if they are picked up, intentionally, or unintentionally, or are in clothing, bedding,or they get mashed. been bit by the black jumping spiders, the kind with the smiley face on the back, and big green fangs. It ain't pleasant, like a hot wire being jammed into you. I was fishing, and one crawled up my neck, and I thought it was a bug, and I slapped, and it bit the snot out of me.
I don't bother the wolf spiders you find in the grass, and some smaller spiders, and orbweavers, and such, but the big long legged and big what we call brown roach spiders, I try to run out of the house, or just spray them, or swat them, and then toss them out. They like to get under bedding, and in closets, and under beds etc. 'They will attack if cornered.
I had one run me around the kitchen table, and into the living room, when I was about six years old, and it was in a coke bottle and I blew down into it. I think it was about then I learned my little girlley scream, and just how fast I could run on two feet, and how fast a spider could run on eight. I don't know about the spider, but I was close to hitting a time warp speed.
I had them jump on me before, once while getting a can of dog food in the garage, and I almost threw my hand off!!
Black widows....stomp!
I have had the gray funnel type spiders crawl up my legs, while geting hay out of a barn in Zolfo Springs, and never got bit, just dropped my pants, and let the spider crawl out, and go somewhere else! Then checked to see if I could pull my pants back up, without another spider in in them, or if I needed to change them.
Wayne
