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Black Widow Spiders In Ohio?


Wease

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I work some high school football games, at the away concession stand. The woman who runs concessions told me this past week at the stand I work in, her son saw a "black spider with an red hourglass shape on it". That can only be one type of spider. :eek:

 

From what I just read online, I guess Black Widows are found in Ohio, just not the northern part. I've never seen one here. I don't have a big fear of spiders and I don't care about working in a place where they might be, I was just surprised to read that. Not to mention, have an eye witness sighting of one! :eek:

 

So has anyone ever seen one in Ohio before? :confused:

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When I worked at Berge Ford In Mesa, AZ, one of my duties was to once a month move all the pody barts in the dealership and use brake cleaner to kill them, they were everywhere. The parts guys were getting bit by the babies and would get a sores on their skin about the size of a half dollar. I hate spiders.....
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Haven't seen them in Ohio, but when I was in Florida they were all over my storage shed. I think I counted 6 of them one time.

 

http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/reference/spiders/banana_spider.asp

 

Friend of mine had one of these in his back yard too, scary looking bastard! I almost ran into one running through the forrest during a training exercise.

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Haven't seen them in Ohio, but when I was in Florida they were all over my storage shed. I think I counted 6 of them one time.

 

http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/reference/spiders/banana_spider.asp

 

Friend of mine had one of these in his back yard too, scary looking bastard! I almost ran into one running through the forrest during a training exercise.

 

We had a banana Spider in our backyard a year ago, I think I have pics of it at home. They get freakin huge!

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Haven't seen them in Ohio, but when I was in Florida they were all over my storage shed. I think I counted 6 of them one time.

 

http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/reference/spiders/banana_spider.asp

 

Friend of mine had one of these in his back yard too, scary looking bastard! I almost ran into one running through the forrest during a training exercise.

 

I've never heard those called Banana Spiders before. Those are usually Garden Spiders or Golden Orb Weavers. I have some outside my house right now.

 

To me, this is a Banana Spider:

 

http://davidmichaelkennedy.com/blog/media/heather-banana-spider.jpg

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I've never heard those called Banana Spiders before. Those are usually Garden Spiders or Golden Orb Weavers. I have some outside my house right now.

 

To me, this is a Banana Spider:

 

http://davidmichaelkennedy.com/blog/media/heather-banana-spider.jpg

 

Dude I would scream like a girl if one of those was crawling on me.....

I may have a nightmare tonight.....

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when i lives in Florida, i had a Banana Spider(at least i think it was, kinda thought it was a St. Andrews Cross spider though)..anywho much like the picture above living in my side yard...it had a web between a tree and shrub, prolly a good 4-5 ft. in diameter...it had a couple of those annoying little Anole lizards in it's web.

 

i discovered it mowing the lawn one day...i grabbed a stick and coaxed him off, handled him a bit, he had some good weight. i've never really been scared of spiders that aren't deadly.

 

edit. almost forgot the whole point of the thread...yes i've seen Widows before down in southern Ohio in outhouses and such....they creep me out, not because their poisonous, but because they're that orb-weaver shape...like i said spiders dont scare me...but those orb-spinners make me say yuck!

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I've never heard those called Banana Spiders before. Those are usually Garden Spiders or Golden Orb Weavers. I have some outside my house right now.

 

To me, this is a Banana Spider:

 

http://davidmichaelkennedy.com/blog/media/heather-banana-spider.jpg

 

When I was looking up the link they called those Golden Orb Spiders/Garden Spiders/Banana Spiders. They have a similar venom to the Black Widow just not a strong. However there is another species also called a Banana Spider that is far more dangerous from South America, aka Brazilian Wandering Spider.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Phoneutria_nigriventer.jpg

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Mark and I went to ship off some rims 2 years ago and inside the box we were shipping was a black widow spider. The box was in his garage for a couple years too. While I don't think they are very common at all, I think they are around. Most likely hitch hiker baby spiders that make there way here and grow up.
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I prefer black widows in my house/garage to any number of other recluses, sac spiders, etc and their relatives since they tend to be a bit more mobile, aggressive, and the bites they leave can become necrotic. And alot more common up here. Cali and Nevada have them everywhere that's dark and hidden. You wear gloves or you check before you jam your hand somewhere.

What'll really get you is laying down with the lights off watching some tv and have a scorpion crawl right by your face. Had them seemingly overun my house one summer. (Not here, of course.) Had to check my shoes, bed, anything left on the floor all the time for awhile.

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Black Widow

 

Both the black widow spider and northern widow spider are present in Ohio. The black widow spider is found primarily in the southern Ohio counties whereas the northern widow spider is found in the northern Ohio counties. Most occur outdoors and are not aggressive unless confined or disturbed. Females are more likely to bite when guarding an egg sac. Reports indicate that mortality from bites is the result of 1% or less of the cases, usually occurring in very young or very old individuals. With healthy people, recovery is usually complete in 2-5 days. However, this spider is considered the most venomous spider in North America.

 

Adult black widow spiders have shiny, jet black, rounded, globular abdomens with 2 reddish or yellowish triangles on the underside that form a characteristic hourglass marking. Adult female northern widow spiders are shiny black or brown-black with 2 reddish triangles on the underside, resembling a split hourglass. These spiders are about 1/2 inch long, not including the legs (about 1-1/2 inches when legs are spread). Adult males are harmless, about half the female's size, with smaller bodies, longer legs and usually have yellow and red bands and spots over the back as do the immature stages. Newly hatched spiderlings are predominately white or yellowish-white, gradually acquiring more black and varying amounts of red and white with each molt. Juveniles of both sexes resemble the male and are harmless.

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I've seen them here in my garage twice. Once when our fireplace was a wood burner and I brought a stack of wood in the garage in the fall. My garage is heated and think it kept them going longer. I took a pic but who knows where that's at.

 

The other time was last summer. She was on the underside of my work bench. I only found her because I moved it out to clean the 8 years of dust and leaves from under it :)

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