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Dealing with black widow spider on cache (newbie)


JMMN

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Just out of curiosity, do wasps and hornets perform any useful biological function? I ask because I have a deep seated fear/hatred of them and never hesitate to obliterate them in a diabolical fashion. Bees I'm cool with- except carpenter bees as they are chewing holes in the house, but otherwise I've been known to pet a bee while it was gathering pollen.
I've been at beehives, among a cloud of millions of bees, and without fear, just watching and enjoying the sound.

 

But it's different if you get a wasp on yourself -- that never ends well. If theres a nest at an urban cache, I have no qualms about killing them all, not because I get stung (I rarely do), but other people seem to attract wasps, and if I can prevent someone else from getting stung, that's a good thing. And I am also sick & tired of carpenter bees.

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Yes, many wasps and hornets prey on flies or other pesty insects, and most are quite calm, especially away from their nests.

 

I know that there are a limited number of beneficial hornets with a very specific diet of crop-eating larvae and other pests.

 

What I'm talking about are your average red hornet, yellow jacket, and whatever that is that is building a papier-mâché duplex in the corner of the roof. Those big, nasty, will sting you for no freaking reason kinds of wasps.

 

What sort of happy-fuzzy good deed are they performing when they aren't out causing general mayhem?

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Yes, many wasps and hornets prey on flies or other pesty insects, and most are quite calm, especially away from their nests.

 

I know that there are a limited number of beneficial hornets with a very specific diet of crop-eating larvae and other pests.

 

What I'm talking about are your average red hornet, yellow jacket, and whatever that is that is building a papier-mâché duplex in the corner of the roof. Those big, nasty, will sting you for no freaking reason kinds of wasps.

 

What sort of happy-fuzzy good deed are they performing when they aren't out causing general mayhem?

 

They give you something to hate.

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Just out of curiosity, do wasps and hornets perform any useful biological function? I ask because I have a deep seated fear/hatred of them and never hesitate to obliterate them in a diabolical fashion. Bees I'm cool with- except carpenter bees as they are chewing holes in the house, but otherwise I've been known to pet a bee while it was gathering pollen.

 

Yep, wasps and hornets are beneficial as well. In fact, there is a group of wasps known as pompilids or spider wasps, that parasitize spiders, place them into a small hole, lay an egg on the spider and then seal it in. When the wasp larvae emerges from the egg it feeds on the paralyzed but still living spider!

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On a side note. Here in the PNW a lot of people and even Physicians diagnose any necrotizing spider bite as a Brown recluse bite. In actuality they are hobo spider bites. I have a 3 centimeter scar on my right hip from a brown recluse per my MD 20 yrs a go. Problem is we don't have brown recluse spiders up here.

 

As far as the cache goes you have four options.

 

1. Move the cache

2. Move the spider

3. Warn people of said spider

4. Smoosh said spider.

 

P.S. After almost a week of intense pain where I could hardly walk, sleep, or even move I would choose number 4.

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3. Warn people of said spider

4. Smoosh said spider.

 

P.S. After almost a week of intense pain where I could hardly walk, sleep, or even move I would choose number 4.

Then do both 3 and 4, not overlooking egg sacs. With number 4 being a regular maintenance thing. The cache is in spider habitat.
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...Just out of curiosity, do wasps and hornets perform any useful biological function?...

I don't know about their function, but hornets can be entertaining.

 

Collecting active hornet nests is common amongst the hunters and fishermen I know.

 

Look for a hornet nest on a tree branch, preferably one hanging out over the water so you can approach by boat and if you screw up you can take a dive to escape their wrath.

 

Slowly raise a paper or plastic garbage bag up around the nest. Don't touch the nest or things will get real interesting real fast. Once the nest is surrounded by the bag quickly close off the mouth of the bag and break the nest off the branch.

 

Lay the bag out in the sun for a few hours and give it a poke now and then. When it no longer buzzes when you poke it you can open the bag and remove the nest.

 

I've collected a dozen or so over the years and haven't gotten stung yet. Some of my friends haven't been so lucky!

 

Pabst Blue Ribbon and/or George Dickel were usually involved in such endeavors. B):unsure:

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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I would think that just a warning would do fine. If the cache is moved another Black Widow may be waiting to make their new home there.

 

I personally ignore Black Widows. My work exposes me to them (and thier bites) almost daily. The first time I got bit I thought I had come down with a bad flu. The next day I saw a doctor who spotted the bite. It took a long time for that bite to heal. Slowly over the years the effects of the bite (excpet for the healing) has improved until now I will feel a little quezzy for 5 or 10 minutes. That beats the 2 days of my first bite!

 

Black Widows are all over my yard, in the garage, workshop and toolsheds. This was one of them:

 

99819b80-ef2a-4898-8d84-b1d19b3546b3.jpg

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Two days ago, I lifted up a rock that was sitting on cache and saw a black widow spider sitting dead center on the cache. The little bugger was easy to brush off. To date, that spider has NOT logged his/her find.

Found a scorpion IN a lidless cache I found once.

I don't think he logs online, but he made me drop the cache and shout :santa:

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Two days ago, I lifted up a rock that was sitting on cache and saw a black widow spider sitting dead center on the cache. The little bugger was easy to brush off. To date, that spider has NOT logged his/her find.

 

Now you see that is just not right. What makes her think she can get away with that, isn't there some kind of rule against geo-squatting ?

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Usually if you give the spider some trama it will leave the spot and set up house elsewhere - they are use to rebulding their home due to weather and wind and animals tromping on their environment. If you have many of them - I would move the cache elsewhere. Those bites are nasty. I feel any CO should place a cache in a harmless area initially and not be surprized if travelers stop by later! All cachers should respect the woods when it comes to creatures of all kinds. It really is their home and they ARE where they are supposed to be. We are visiting and should leave no trace.

 

With that said if they come to my home it is BYE BYE Buggie!

 

Take pictures of it and post them right on the cache page - that will wake the dead!

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Cats are good at spider-removal. Bring one to your cache and bribe with tuna.

 

My last year at Iowa State University, my apartment complex apparently had a brown recluse infestation. I came home from visiting family for Christmas to find a note on the door that the complex was being sprayed for brown recluse. It dawned on me that must be the spider the cat kept finding and eating in my spare bedroom.

 

A brown recluse in Iowa? No way... that'd be extremely rare if true.

Edited by bramasoleiowa
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Here is Southern California we have encountered many Black Widows while geocaching. If it is a dark space, expect to see one!! I will mention it in my log and move on. We do not reach blindly anymore, a quick check with a flashlight does wonders!

 

At home, I usually squish them to bits. I did catch a HUGE one and keep it in a sealed jar, it took her a couple weeks to die!!

 

Tina

Cachekidz!

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Could it have been something else? Sure. Maybe it was a black widow :huh:

 

Black widows' venom is neurotoxic which causes much different effects than the necrotoxins in the venom of brown recluses. Plus I couldn't imagine a black widow being up in a tree. They usually tuck away in a corner or crevice and hardly move. I didn't think brown recluses climbed trees either though, so I do suspect something else, though I can't guess as to what.

 

Whatever it was it was a poisonous insect of some sort.

 

Being pedantic, but brown recluses are neither poisonous nor insects. They're venomous arachnids.

 

After killing her keep in mind she may have been a slut & could receive many male visitors so periodic visits should be in order here.

 

Male black widows aren't venomous and look nothing like the female black widows you picture when you hear the term. They're not even black. They're nothing to worry about.

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..."We're staunch vegetarians and wouldn't blame you for killing it."

 

I thought I knew my place in life and I never pictured vegetarians as being any better or worse than myself.

Then why your comment? I understood what they said. Which is to say they are vegitarian because of the ethics of eating animals raised for slaughter.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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We're staunch vegetarians and wouldn't blame you for killing it.

I'd probably try to find some goofy looking but safe way to move her, but its probably not really worth the risk.

 

What does vegetarianism have to do with pest removal? Just curious. Your statement implied to me that vegetarianism somehow put you on a different level that allows you to look down on the meat eaters of the world.

 

"We're staunch vegetarians and wouldn't blame you for killing it."

 

I thought I knew my place in life and I never pictured vegetarians as being any better or worse than myself.

 

I disagree with the vegetarian. I'm vegan (16 years) and wouldn't kill a spider in it's habitat. I would blame you for killing it. :huh:

 

Move the cache and let it be.

Edited by SeekerOfTheWay
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For the record, I'm not a vegetarian and I'd blame you for killing it too. Killing one in your own house is one thing, but killing an organism that has developed a defense against humans solely so you can play a game is uncalled for. I'm guessing it'll move on or die within a couple of months anyway. I'd just temporarily disable the cache until such time, then reenable it. That or move one or the other if possible.

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For the record, I'm not a vegetarian and I'd blame you for killing it too. Killing one in your own house is one thing, but killing an organism that has developed a defense against humans solely so you can play a game is uncalled for. I'm guessing it'll move on or die within a couple of months anyway. I'd just temporarily disable the cache until such time, then reenable it. That or move one or the other if possible.

Never walk in grass or leaves then, as you likely squish various living organisms all the time, solely so you can get off of the sidewalk. :rolleyes:

 

Please, save the insects! Do not walk in the woods! ;)

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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WAY OFF TOPIC here but I contend that humans are God's creatures too and that the spider has infringed on our territory and should therefore move.

 

Further off topic, but spiders predate humans by several million years.

 

Does not make spiders any more important than humans though, does it.

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WAY OFF TOPIC here but I contend that humans are God's creatures too and that the spider has infringed on our territory and should therefore move.

 

Further off topic, but spiders predate humans by several million years.

 

Does not make spiders any more important than humans though, does it.

 

You, sir, have obviously never known the love of a good spider. I pity you. :rolleyes:

 

I'm back in the "step on it" camp for now. Even a black widow would have killed another black widow so obviously there's no great abundance of compassion among the species.

 

Oh look, I just read that "mud dauber" wasps (dirt daubers?) prey on black widows.

 

Adults of both sexes frequently drink flower nectar, but they stock their nests with spiders, which serve as food for the mud-daubers’ offspring. Like connoisseurs, they prefer particular kinds of spiders, and particular sizes of spiders for their larders. Instead of stocking a nest cell with one or two large spiders, mud-daubers cram as many as two dozen small spiders into a nest cell. They appear to know exactly what they are hunting for, and where to find it.

 

The muddy nests of mud-daubers are an occasional nuisance to some homeowners, but the wasps themselves are not aggressive or dangerous.

 

I guess I have to like dirt daubers now.

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For the record, I'm not a vegetarian and I'd blame you for killing it too. Killing one in your own house is one thing, but killing an organism that has developed a defense against humans solely so you can play a game is uncalled for. I'm guessing it'll move on or die within a couple of months anyway. I'd just temporarily disable the cache until such time, then reenable it. That or move one or the other if possible.

Never walk in grass or leaves then, as you likely squish various living organisms all the time, solely so you can get off of the sidewalk. :rolleyes:

 

Please, save the insects! Do not walk in the woods! ;)

 

You know that that statment is just silly (to me). All I can say is that at least I make an effort to try and not kill things unnecessarily.

 

I've heard ALL the anti-vegetarian slogans, arguments, jokes and debates by the way. You'll have nothing new for me.

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WAY OFF TOPIC here but I contend that humans are God's creatures too and that the spider has infringed on our territory and should therefore move.

 

Further off topic, but spiders predate humans by several million years.

 

Does not make spiders any more important than humans though, does it.

 

You, sir, have obviously never known the love of a good spider. I pity you. :rolleyes:

 

I'm back in the "step on it" camp for now. Even a black widow would have killed another black widow so obviously there's no great abundance of compassion among the species.

 

Oh look, I just read that "mud dauber" wasps (dirt daubers?) prey on black widows.

 

Adults of both sexes frequently drink flower nectar, but they stock their nests with spiders, which serve as food for the mud-daubers’ offspring. Like connoisseurs, they prefer particular kinds of spiders, and particular sizes of spiders for their larders. Instead of stocking a nest cell with one or two large spiders, mud-daubers cram as many as two dozen small spiders into a nest cell. They appear to know exactly what they are hunting for, and where to find it.

 

The muddy nests of mud-daubers are an occasional nuisance to some homeowners, but the wasps themselves are not aggressive or dangerous.

 

I guess I have to like dirt daubers now.

 

However, we have the ability to feel and choose compassion. Animals mostly do not. That's the difference. Not saying we're better or worse than other animals...just have some differences and more ability to make aware choices.

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Never walk in grass or leaves then, as you likely squish various living organisms all the time, solely so you can get off of the sidewalk. :rolleyes:

 

Please, save the insects! Do not walk in the woods! ;)

 

Did you really just say that? I guess it was too much to assume that people would understand I meant intentionally kill... I'm not a Jainist.

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