Re: Is this normal?

 

On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:58:33 -0700 (PDT), eva shovelful


<snip>

I have found three black widow spiders in 17 years.  They are common
in this area, scorpions too.  I'm in east TN, zone 7.  Always watch
wear you put your hands and feet.  You can quickly find a zone map
using Google.

 


that's not too many.  But I have found three in less than two weeks.
I lived for awhile in east TN, and never saw scorpions, but that's not
to say they weren't there.  And I saw black widow spiders more than
usual before we moved in the early spring.  Maybe the damp has
encouraged them to be more prolific?  I am now resigned to wear thin
goat garden gloves which are the best I can find for now until I can
do better. I don't like heavy gloves unless I plan on working with
spines and thorns.  But I understand there is a good garden glove
company called Woman's Work?  I am looking that up later.  I am now
into socks and sneakers as the weather has turned seasonal.  Sandals
and bare feet are my usual unless I find good thick flip flops, which
are out of fashion.  But with this raised bed I am gardening in, and
the new found spider, I have decided to be more weary of them as I
slow down and take more notice of what I am reaching my hands and
fingers into (my husband too).  Having lived in TN for awhile, I've
noticed that the zones have warmed up a bit.  someone sent me a map
that showed how much the whole country has warmed up lately. and I'm
not talking global warming.  I just remember TN being more zone 6 a or
6b.  But I am eager to learn about what does well here. The locals all
warned us that it wasn't nearly as hot and humid as it normally is
during the late spring and summer. My poor husband suffered more with
the massive attacks of mosquito's.  They adored him.  we quickly found
that not deep woods but cutters was the best to lather on him to keep
him from looking like a minor leprosy victim.  He loves this weather
now. No "skeeters" !   thanks for the feedback.
eva shovelful

 

On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:08:18 -0700 (PDT), against all advice,
say:


Damp does it for me.






--

Howdya like that... we started playing guitar to impress the chicks and wind
up talkin' fingernails with old men.

    Ray Boyce - 9.27.09

 

On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:58:33 -0700 (PDT), eva shovelful


They can be very common, certainly are where I am in Los Angeles, but
they cause minimal problems.  They have no interest in you, they can't
eat you while you can squash them on purpose or accidentally.  Actual
bites are quite rare and not usually fatal unless you're allergic or
have other serious conditions - you can google for symptoms and
treatment.  If I see some of their uneven corner webs I will usually
remove the web, just to encourage them to move on.  But other styles
of spiders also make corner webs - we seem to be having an abundance
of long-legged spiders with corner webs this year, which seem to have
longer, less random patterns.  But I remove those too, just in case,
even though AFAIK they don't have a hazardous bite for humans.

J.

 


Good point, J.  All three times we happened across them, they were in
their "homes" surrounded by their webs, and had I taken the time to
get a really good look, I'd have noticed the irregular corner webs.
Each place we uncovered them (the key phrase here is UNCOVERED) the
first was she was tucked up against the side of the bricks where there
was plenty of food in the form of crickets and other such insects in a
raised bed that was overgrown with crabgrass,  the second was dumping
out the five gallon nursery pot that was holding the day lilies and
there she was...... and the third was dumping out a split open three
gallon pot I'd used to toss dug up clumps of iris roots that had sat
undisturbed in one spot for two months. Knowing those places, will
make me more alert. (especially when the deck off the back of the
house is high enough for an adult woman to bend over and rake all the
way up to the house to get the leaves out from underneath it. So
finding another black widow isn't out of the question.   that second
one was buried, and unless she died under ground being unable to dig
herself out, she's out there still........time will tell. thanks for
alerting me, though. and I will check out more information regarding
their bites.  I know their bite mimics heart attacks, and since I have
a slight touch of asthma, I have to be wary.  I don't go around all
overly careful, I just get on with life.  great imput though.
eva