Why so many Black Widows in Lemoore, CA

[maxrandb]

Just saw one here in my backyard on the SE coast. Been here in VA for 18 years and never saw one, but spent two years stationed at NAS Lemoore CA and they were everywhere.

First day I was there, I was out on my deck for a smoke, looked over and saw this shiny black Spider. Looked closer and saw the red hourglass.

After that, I discovered that I could walk out of the house and find multiple black Widows everywhere. Along the fence. Anywhere leaves collected on the streets. Hanging from the handle of my lawn mower. In the spokes of my daughters bike.

Seriously, they were everywhere. In our storeroom at the hangar. In the grates between the hangar door and the aircraft ramp. I think our maintenance folks even found them in the intakes of the F18s that were being serviced.

Never seen anything like it and never really got a good night's sleep for the 2 years I was there.

Anyway, if you've spent your whole life and have never seen a Black Widow, take a trip to Lemoore.

[samnsara]

1. i found one crawling in my grass. I kidnapped it and relocated it to the giant dumpster....

...cpl days later i opened the lid on the dumpster and the darned thing had already crawled to the top of the dumpster and set up housekeeping. i closed the lid and figured trash day was tomorrow and they can deal with it.

[maxrandb]

5. There was one hanging on a web

Between the handlebars and front tire fender of my daughters bike.

I sprayed it and killed it, but my daughter thought it was so cool she left it hanging in place. Took weeks for it to fall off.

Of course, she's kinda wierd like that.

[procon]

2. They've invaded my garage and it looks like the set from "Alien" with egg sacks

everywhere. I live in the desert and we have always had a problem with Black Widows, and they're big, too! There are so many spiders I don't even want to go in the garage because they hang in their nasty webs, right at eye level, invisible unless a bright light spotlights their shiny black body. It gives me the creeps and I worry that one of them will get in my hair or inside my shirt... eek!

In August the egg sacks open and all those teeny spider launch into the wind, so small they can pass through window screens and get into the house if I dare open a window.

[zanana1]

3. Oh hell

I'll have nightmares tonight.

[forgotmylogin]

4. I think it may have to do with climate?

And whether they roam outside or not. Similarly, I've never personally seen a brown recluse, which is extremely venomous, but have read that it's likely everyone has at least a couple living in the house. They're just that good at hiding.

I have seen centipedes in my apartment twice, which terrifies me (they're weird, and bites are nasty) but was comforted to know that they are solitary and do not infest a location - if you see one, they don't group up and that's probably the only one. Unlike cockroaches, where if you see one, you know there are hundreds more.