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Yet another reason to hate New Mexico.

E

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
:Q

Fucking Christ! They're everywhere! I have literally killed two dozen of them on my back patio and front porch in the last few days.. including a monster momma with two giant egg sacks.

The worst part of it is that I've killed another 5-10 babies and adolescents inside the house! Ewwww... /twitch

Mostly I'm worried about my cat. It's pretty much the end if they try and eat one and get bitten. 🙁

I'm not one to run out and buy chemicals to spray all over, but fuck this business. This is unacceptable.

How do you fellow Southwesterners deal with this? I can't wait to move back to Oregon. Ick.
 
Originally posted by: xSauronx
we get em here in NC, too. ive never heard of anyone getting bitten by one *shrug*
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Yeah, I'm not worried about myself.. but my cat will just see it as any other bug, and try to eat it. If a cat gets bitten, its pretty much a death sentence unless you catch it early. That's what I'm worried about. 🙁
 
Hey, I miss Portland too 🙁

Though my parents are dealing with another pest... mice. I'd prefer mice to black widows though.
 
Move to a decent state. It never ceases to amaze me that someone could move to a desolate wasteland, and say "yep, this looks like home".
 
Avoid having dark warm nooks and crannies, which is tough in the summer, I know. If you have a garage or some other storage area, clean everything out of it. We had lots of guinea hens that ate them, but I don't think you can have them in Santa Fe. The blue mud dauber wasp eats BW spiders, but I am not sure if there are any around there.

I miss New Mexico a bunch. Visiting family in Ohio now and not sure when I'll make it back to northern New Mexico.
 
Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get some Hotshot, and pick up a gallon or two pressure spray canister with a long stem as well (make sure the stem is metal, usually better quality than some sh!tty plastic handle/stems.) Since I've been here this the best. The ortho stuff sucks and can take days to kill adult BW's.

And take note of all the messy spider webs, go out and check them at night where they are usually right in the middle upside down, showing their 'hourglass', and commence spraying. Go around the perimeter of the house, if its a house, and spray. And of course go around ALL the baseboards in the house (keep any animals away for a while), and spray any other nooks and crannies that could be sources or refuges. Do the garage too, and the front porch etc.

And don't keep things on the patio etc. if you don't need to.

I have to kill one every week, but all are relatively babies. I just killed one that had just made a web on my outdoor grill, and I use it every 4-5 days, so there really isn't anything you can do to avoid them altogether.


Pics, taken at night, from my first NM backyard bw encounter:

1
2
 
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: xSauronx
we get em here in NC, too. ive never heard of anyone getting bitten by one *shrug*
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i have never seen one in NC or SC :Q
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They're all over the country. You're more likely to find them in the south west though. I've seen one once in MD.
 
The stuff I have kills them quickly, within a minute or so. You actually have to hit them with it, though.. which I would assume would be the case with most pesticides.

It's called Bug Stop, the active ingredient being lambda-cyhalothrin 0.03%. Seems nasty, gives me coughing fits if I even get a hint of vapor. Should probably wear a respirator....

Our garage is full of stuff.. not much that can be done about that at the moment. But yeah.. that has been our strategy, hunting with a flashlight at night.

The bitch I just killed was cohorting with a male. :Q Made a home in the bellhousing of one of my Teledyne-Continental 4 cylinder engines I need to rebuild. Bastard.
 
They are some amazingly strong little creatures. I think they're pretty awesome looking spiders compared to others, and are such voracious and effective hunters to help rid areas of other bugs, but too bad they have such a nasty bite to humans (and animals).
 
Btw, ever been to the Santa fe farmers market? Read a blog or something recently, they rated it #9 in the country. I haven't made it there yet tho.
 
Originally posted by: jjsole
Btw, ever been to the Santa fe farmers market? Read a blog or something recently, they rated it #9 in the country. I haven't made it there yet tho.
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Yeah, I have. It was a few months ago though, before that type of venue was really in season.. It was pretty cool. Bought some yummy pastries from a vendor.. lol.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: jjsole
Btw, ever been to the Santa fe farmers market? Read a blog or something recently, they rated it #9 in the country. I haven't made it there yet tho.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have. It was a few months ago though, before that type of venue was really in season.. It was pretty cool. Bought some yummy pastries from a vendor.. lol.
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I hear its a bumper crop this year. 😀
 
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