plain jane Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 With legs it was larger than a dime. Abdomen was bulbous and tear dropped shaped but no obvious red. Tried to get a decent picture but was not about to let it get away while I ran for a better camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Can't see the attachment. Want to try linking it again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 Can't see the attachment. Want to try linking it again? I'm trying. Does this one work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 It looks brown rather than black. Were you thinking black widow? They're super shiny, like black patent leather. I've seen black widows that had no red on them. (Male v. female? IDK.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 It looks brown rather than black. Were you thinking black widow? They're super shiny, like black patent leather. I've seen black widows that had no red on them. (Male v. female? IDK.)I thought maybe as I know they don't have to have red. But yes. This one was more brown than black. But it was more dull than shiny. *shudder* Please tell me it's not a widow. Please tell me it's not a widow. Please tell me it's not a widow. :willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 It does look a bit like a black widow, but this was my second thought: http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Triangulate-Cob-Web-Spider That abdomen shape makes me think of some variety of orb weaver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 What state are you in, if I may ask? That could help us narrow it down. Near water or more chaparral or desert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsofpumpkins Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 We have "brown widows" where I live. They look just like a black widow except they are brown. Your picture does look like a widow, but I'm not a spider expert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 It looks like this Cobweb spider to me. In the article they call it the false black widow. Wendy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Looks like a black widow to me. I would assume it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Sorry, dp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Looks like a black widow to me. I would assume it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 It looks like the kind of spider that can have the house. I will find somewhere else to live. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 It looks like the kind of spider that can have the house. I will find somewhere ekse to live. My thoughts exactly. I need to burn my house down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Looks like a steatoda/ false black widow to me: http://utahpests.usu.edu/uppdl/htm/top-20-arachnids#cobweb_ Could be the angle of the photo, but black widows have a sharper angle on the thorax. Steatoda are rounder in the caboose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy in FL. Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 We find black widows at our house frequently. The ones we find have very distinct red markings. At first it really freaked me out, but I researched them and found that they were scarier in my mind than they are in reality. We just dispatch them and go about our business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 It looks a lot like a widow but nowhere near as shiny. We had them in the garden and DH's work had 100's of them outside (when we lived in NC) and now I'm going to have nightmares about spiders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El... Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 It does look a lot like the black widows we had in AZ, but their red hourglass was on the underside, not the back. Do you have the carcass? (I assume there was a carcass?) Can you look underneath? If somebody got bit, I think they need a check-in with a Dr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 It does look a lot like the black widows we had in AZ, but their red hourglass was on the underside, not the back. Do you have the carcass? (I assume there was a carcass?) Can you look underneath? If somebody got bit, I think they need a check-in with a Dr. Nobody was bit, thank goodness. I did flip it over when it was alive and there were no obvious red markings though spots did seem to shine red, if that makes sense. No carcass left. I ground that thing into the carpet until it was a fine powder before vacuuming it up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El... Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 You know, I read something about black widows which said they tended to be reclusive, not super aggressive. I'll try to find it so we can verify my understanding! That probably wasn't one, though. I'm glad! A friend and I sat on our AZ porch one morning two summers ago and found THREE black widows while we watched the kids play. The fourth one was found by my DD, 5yo, who said, "Oh, look, another spider!", and immediately kicked it and killed it with her little shoe!!! My friend's husband brought his pump sprayer over the very next day and saturated the porch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 There are quite a few varieties of widow spiders other than just the black widow, and from what I've read, there can be color variations even within the same species. It looks like some kind of female widow spider to me, but beyond that, I couldn't hazard a guess. I had a black widow crawl out of an air conditioner once and proceeded to lose my damn mind, so I feel your pain. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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