My wife just found a black widow spider in the house

[Squatch]

She's 4 months pregnant and we have a 2 1/2 year old. We are getting our house sprayed down every other month, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Any ideas on what to do to control these dangerous spiders?

[Tafiti]

1. Holy shit!

That would freak me out.

There are a few interesting ideas on this site - I'm sure you can find many more...

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010716a.cfm -

[laylah]

2. We found two in our garage

in Colorado. The ONLY spiders we ever killed. I cannot imagine having them in your home, especially with children AND a pregnant wife. While I have no advise, I do wish you well.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Ohhh man. I hope this gets resolved and fast! Frankly, this makes me

extra glad I live in Maine. I have never seen one up here.

[rug]

4. Tactical air strike.

[WileEcoyote]

5. Arachnids

Less affected by tradition pesticides which were designed for insects anyway. Seek professional help. In fact ask for support from local authorities. Maybe even Animal control, Sierra Club or some green solutions.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. Vacuum and clean like crazy.

After sealing the cracks where they enter, the next best thing to do is make your space a hostile place for webs. Vacuum the perimeter of each room at least once a week -- at the baseboards, the ceiling line, and up the inside wall joins. Vacuum behind any furniture that's close to the wall (dark, undisturbed places are favorites of black widows.)
Clean surfaces with scents seem to annoy spiders too.

on edit: vacuuming kills spiders, according to my books. I never tried to test that theory but no black widows or wolf spiders have crawled back out of the vac cleaner.

Black widows are fairly reclusive. If there's no place to hide they'll generally go some place else and they don't bite much unless their "nest" is threatened. If you didn't have a toddler managing the problem would be fairly easy because of this.

Other ideas here.
http://www.watoxics.org/files/spiders.pdf

[distantearlywarning]

7. Diatomaceous Earth - food grade.

Non-toxic to people and pets as long as you don't breath too much of it in. Completely deadly to bugs. It destroys their exoskeletons and makes them dehydrate to death. You could sprinkle it all around your baseboards and in corners.

[XemaSab]

9. Never seen a black widow on the floor....

They are usually on their webs.

The good news is only 1% of bites result in death. The bad news is that the poison is a neurotoxin that hurts like hell.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2061A.html

[Kali]

8. sprays don't work that well on spiders, although by reducing their prey

it can indirectly reduce their numbers. Personally I would be way more concerned about all that spray on my family than an occasional spider. Even a dangerous one.

This of course, is coming from someone who views spiders in the house as fly control and raised three kids with regular scorpion encounters. Squish it and don't freak out too much - it probably came in on a plant or some appliance or furniture, They prefer humidity and dry houses aren't the best environments for widows. Other spiders do much better indoors.

You can easily teach the 2 1/2 yr old about these animals and she will help watch and keep the new baby safe.

Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.