My sister rescued a black widow from the cats, many years ago. I arrived home for Thanksgiving to find a 2x2 acrylic box, with this spider inside. I scrounged up an old critter keeper from the basement, and Ophelia was moved in to a new home. She lived for a quite a while, and was replaced with Ophelia's II - IX. We learned a lot about keeping them!

For example, they don't get the large, round abdomen unless they've mated. If they have mated, they will produce egg sac after egg sac when well fed. Unmated, too good of feeding and they grow too fast and split their chitin.

They are not at all aggressive, but most people are terrified of them.

I'm told that bull frogs eat black widows. A nicer solution than spraying poisons around and pissing off the deadly things!

One should make sure friends and relatives know about the black widows. Someone bitten can stump an emergency room.

really interesting read!

i've got an infestation of these bastards running around my house:



i've only seen one black widow. she was really beautiful. knowing the difference now, i would much rather have an infestation of widows than hobos.

When it comes to spiders in the house, the only good spider is a dead spider as far as I'm concerned. We get brown recluse and black widows here, and they like our basement. I'm not going to chance getting bitten, sorry.

What are the chances of eating a spider while you're asleep? (This made me physically recoil when I saw it. I may never sleep again...)