black widow spiders in sister house HELP?

Question

Hi. I am SO afraid of spiders. Like even the really REALLY tiny harmless ones. Im staying at my sisters house for a few days in her room on an air matress. (in the basement) Her friend in the room across the hall found a black widow spider in her closet a few days ago! I am so scared! Can somebody tell me how to make sure none come in here? And if there already is one, how can i kill them without harming the new kitten? + How poisonus are they, and if I do get bitten, what should I do? (im 14) Will they often come out of hiding? 'Im really paranoid. In my house i have to check every bit of my ceiling before I go to sleep. Please help me!

Answer 1

Because you have a phobia of spiders it's going to be hard to live with black widows, considering their poor reputation. However, if this helps at all, they are typically very calm, timid creatures that prefer to keep out of sight. They don't move much and they are more likely to run than to bite if threatened (there are exceptions, such as when they're cornered and when they have eggs to protect). This means the chances of you getting bit are very slim, especially if you're being as careful as you say you are. That said, if you do end up bitten, don't panic too quickly. Everyone reacts differently to the bites and, contrary to popular belief, most people who are bitten DO NOT die. How severe your reaction is depends on your age, size, general health and whether or not you are allergic. If you are bitten and you start to have bad reactions, such as severe muscle cramps, pains around your stomach and chest area or you get shaky then you should have someone take you to a hospital. Otherwise, if you only have pain around the bite area or the pain is not severe, a hot bath or ibuprofen to ease the pain of the bite can sometimes work.

Answer 2

I understand that you have an irrational fear of spiders. As you say, even a harmless spider scares you. But here is some useful info:
Black widow spiders are almost harmless. They are not aggressive and hardly ever bite anybody. They only bite plumbers or other workers crawling around in dark places, and the spider accidentally gets under their shirt or something. They won't be coming into your bed.
Black widow bites are not fatal. Most people don't even need to go to the doctor.
Black widow spiders do not like being in the house. They don't like the warm temperatures.
To make sure you don't have any in your bedroom, you could sweep and clean behind and under things, squash any spiders, and destroy their webs. Black widows don't wander around a lot, so it's highly unlikely another one would move in while you are there.
Where I live, black widows are very common, but we don't see them often. They stay outside and in garages and woodpiles and they hide. As a child I spent many hours playing and climbing around in the garage; I saw many widows over the years, but nobody I knew ever got bitten. They just aren't interested in people.

Answer 3

I agree with "fnoigairre2", unless you plan on moving to Antarctica, spiders are going to be living along side of you. You should try to get rid of the arachnaphobia that you have.

But let me fill you in a little on Black Widow Spiders. Yes, they are venomous, and yes, their venom is one of the most toxic in the world. However, Black Widow's are not aggressive and need to be provoked in order to bite. Now this provoking could be completely unintentional but they will not actively seek you out and bite you. They prefer to be left completely alone, which is why they tend to build their webs and nests in dark, damp places, away from light and activities.

Now a little bit of information for you. Spiders do not have typical fangs like you would find, on say, a snake. They have a two part fang, called chelicerae, the upper part is muscle and the lower part is what they use to inject venom. Black Widow Spiders have very, very small, and weak chelicerae and have a difficult time even penetrating human skin. This is not to say that they cannot do it, but it is difficult for them and would rather not if possible. However, the Black Widow does have a very potent neurotoxic venom, in fact it is more powerful than a Cobra's venom, but it is incapable of injecting very much of it, due it's size and the aforementioned chelicerae. Therefore, a bite from this spider is rarely deadly. That is not to say that medical treatment should not be sought, as the side effects from this venom can be truly unpleasant.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I think that you should do some research and learn something about spiders and their behaviors. Spiders used to creep me out too, but I started studying them and photographing them and now I am fascinated by them. They are truly amazing creatures. You are going to have to live side by side with them, and that is a good thing, so you may as well be as informed as possible about the dangers associated with these inhabitants of our homes, yards, garages, etc. Ignorance is what is causing your fear. They are not dangerous as long as you do not provoke them, know where they might be, how they will react, and what to do should you encounter a deadly species. Look them up, it will open you eyes.

Here is a good start.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_widow_spider

Good Luck to you......I hope you can over-come your fear of arachnids.

Answer 4

First of all, you need to seek help about your arachnophobia (fear of spiders), secondly, black widows don't really come out of hiding very often, and like to just stay put.

Unless you're using your kitten to hit the spider, I don't think killing one will be too much of a problem as long as you don't use chemicals. Just squash it with something (not a bare hand). Good luck.

Answer 5

OK i read alot of wikipedia and according to them the venom is very serious and is even worse if your allergic to spider bites... and also don't kill the spider, plus what did the spider look like exactly? did have a red hourglass on it?also according to them it says that their chelicerae isnt very powerful and females inject a dangorus amount of venom while males don't

Answer 6

Tell your sis to bug bomb the house. Certain bombs are okay for pets as long as you wait to go back in.

Black widows are BAD. My friend got bit by one. His nervous system started going crazy. His muscles started stiffening and then, he couldn't breathe. Luckily he brought the spider with him (he had killed it) and they knew right away what anti-venom to give him. He's fine now.

Answer 7

They are the second most dangerous spider in the world, behind he Sydney funnel web spider. If you get bitten, call the poison control center or 911.

Answer 8

call an exterminator they are rerally dangerous