Brown Widow Spider
Did you know that there are four types of Widow Spiders in Florida? They are the Northern Black Widow Spider, the Southern Widow Spider, the Red Widow Spider, and the Brown Widow Spider which will discuss in more detail below.
Although the venom of these spiders is not as toxic as the Black Widow, they are still very painful and can cause serious injury if not treated.
Because brown widow spiders (Latrodectus Geometricus) can vary from light tan to dark brown or almost black and may have different markings such as white, black, yellow, brown, and even orange on the back of their abdomen, they are tough to recognize! The picture below is of the red widow spider.
Brown Widow Egg Sac
You’ll notice the hourglass marking on the bottom of the abdomen, colored yellow or orange. The Egg Sac of the brown widow spider is not the same as other widows and has pointed projections, much like the old sea mines.
If you have pictures of this spider or believe a Brown Widow has bitten you, please post your comments below and send the photos to the email address at the bottom of this page.
I live in Largo Florida, real close to the Seminole area. This evening I went out on my back porch to talk to a friend on the phone and I noticed our patio furniture was knocked over due to heavy rain. I went outside to fix the furniture and I saw my 2 year old sons picnic table knocked over with a spider about the size of a half dollar. I see house spiders from time to time and they dont worry me, but I knew immidiatly that this was not a house spider. I identifieied it as a brown widow. Before today I never knew that “brown” widows existed. This spider looks just like all the other pictures listed above of brown widows. My husband put lighter fluid on it and it died – we have it in a ziplock baggie right now. We also found an egg sack on the bottom of the table so we lit the bottom of the table on fire.
Im really nervous ~ my son plays and colors on that table all the time… I had no idea we had such poisonous spiders in our own backyard. Im terrified! Tomorrow I plan on treating the backyard and bombing the porch and the attic. Im guess Im just really nervous about any of us getting bit (especially my 30 pound son). I’ll write back tomorrow and let ya know if we find anymore hopefully I’ll be able to take a better picture tomorrow too.
Glendora California here again. I got curious as to the real number of brown widows I kill twice a week, so I counted the last time out. I stopped after 1 hour, the kill was: 59 brown widows, 1 black widow. That comes to at least 120 spiders a week. My main concern is the childrens play area and the community pool. I do spray street access areas in front of homes to and from the areas mentioned. I do not go into private yards. That is the concern, am I just wasting my time, being these spiders are in yards happily multiplying? I have mentioned this to residents who show no real concern whatsoever. These spiders are bolder, they hang out in daytime, they nest very close to one another, within inches of each other. I am afraid they will soon be moving into homes as available space outside dwindles.
I live in northern Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is a 50 degree morning and I saw a brown widow on my back door window. I have never heard of a brown widow and their range is not shown to be included in Colorado but I have no doubt that’s what it was. We have plenty of black widows but this was light brown in color with black nodes on the legs, had a distinct yellow brown abdomen and white stripes on the back of the abdomen with a widow shape. Anyway, it looked exactly like the brown widows shown in many pictures. I should have taken a picture but I was a chicken and killed it first.
about 2 days ago i was cleaning my garage. i believe i was bitten by a brown spider. The brown spider was a dark brown with no marking on it and it had a huge abdomen. i don’t know anything about it. Only when i was bit by it and it was a small red dot then later that night it got to almost a dime size, then went back down. Now it is just a small red dot, and once and a very while it will itch. I don’t know if it was a spider or something else. please someone get back to me on info if you got it at my email glennlucore@ Yahoo.com. Thanks!
I had never heard of the brown widow spider until I was bitten by one onThanksgiving of 2008. I was unpacking a large Christmas tree that had been in storage in a shed, and kept encountering those strange egg sacs. I brushed them away and kept working until I felt a sharp sting on my leg. At first I thought it was a needle from the tree,but soon realized that I had been bitten by something bad. It began to throb, but I continued working for the rest of the day, decorating for Christmas. By bedtime, my feet were aching terribly. I just figured that I had been on my feet too much. I was kept awake all night by sharp pains and fever in my feet. I survived the next couple of days with Benedryl and Aleve and thought I could tough it out. I ended up in the emergency room days later with a badly swollen leg and ankle and had to have a shot and and several antibiotics. THIS SPIDER IS NOTHING TO MESS WITH! IF YOU SEE THEM AND THEIR EGG SACS, KILL THEM! I don’t like to think about a child’s ability to fight off this type of injury!
Just killed several egg sacs and one such brown widow spider today. Good sized, too — at least 1.5″ across including legs. No photos, but I will be sure to look for more before bbq’ing! it was under the patio chair. Eggs sacks were noticed first. Am familiar with regular black widows, and this behaved similarly. funky shape sacs, but no doubt a brown widow. San Diego, CA
Forgot to add that I am in Chula Vista, CA (San Diego County).
I just came across one of these in my seldom used guest room bathroom in my condo today. It was probably 6 inches off the ground in a web. It was hanging upside down, which is how I saw the orange hourglass. That immediately made me think it was a black widow, but it was a light brown color so I thought maybe it wasn’t a black widow. I haaaaate spiders so I didn’t really take time to examine it and just crushed it with a paper towel.
Outside in my small patio I have had an issue with spider webs, but never saw the spiders during the day (only been here 7 months). Usually I just take ’em down with a stick whenever I see them pop up. This incident made me realize I hadn’t done that in a while and I went out this evening to do that and sure enough I saw a couple of the same spider I came across earlier in the day just outside my door in those same areas where I had been taking the webs down. I took a photo, but after doing a google search and coming across this site I’m 100% positive they are Brown Widows. They look the same as post #252 and others I saw during my search.
They are building the webs right under those small solar patio lights that you just shove into the ground. After identifying the type of spider and doing the research on this site and others, I’m guessing they like that spot because the patio lights probably attract other insects at night that end up getting caught in their web.
There’s really not much I can do since I live in a condo complex (can’t exactly go to all of my neighbors and start spraying all their crap, but best believe tomorrow I’ll be headed to Home Depot to pick up some insecticide and a blow torch and at least treat my immediate area. Also those solar lights are headed right into the trash. Man I hate spiders… and especially poisonous ones.
Labor Day 09 weekend cleanup chores were throwing out trash and cleaning up. Don’t need to send photos, they were Brown Widows! What a shock to see these “spiky white egg sacks” under outdoor shelving, under trash can handles and wood. I sprayed no less than 25 sacks on my side yard. A year ago they were not in Southern California.
Glendora, California here. I have been killing approx 50 to 60 brown widows weekly, with a couple of black widows thrown in. As assistant manager in a mobile home park, I have routinely sprayed for spiders around the pool and childrens play area. This year has been horrible, I have never had to spray this much. Is there any advice as to how to eradicate these creatures? I have noticed that these spiders don’t mind a dirty web and also hang in the web during the day. I can spray and kill one night, then the next night, new ones have moved in. I am getting discouraged.
I’m finding blacks and browns in my backyard here in Capistrano Beach, CA. Went hunting tonight and killed about 5 or 6. Under the BBQ side tray (big brown with 3 spiked egg sacks), under the pool slide (a real big black with 4 smooth egg sacks), under the leaves of a potted plant (a big brown with 2 spiked egg sacks), smallar ones in and around the base the walls and house. Looks like me and my boys have a new hobbie! We spray them with Ortho bug spray and that seems to get them drunk, then they drop and I get them with a pair of needle nose pliers and put them in a zip-lock to observe. Nasty little buggers!
This is to whom it concerns,
If you get bite by a widow spider what should you do?
I work at a car dealership in south Louisiana. We are having to clean webs and kill brown widows on new vehicles that sit on the lot. We may see 20-30 per vehicle. Under hood, in door jambs etc. I bought a new vehicle that has sat on the lot for 300-400 days and made the mistake of parking it inside my garage. I see that they can be controlled somewhat, but it does not appear they can be elimanted all together.
p.s. received a bite today and was looking for treament recommendations. Right now it is a small red puncture with burning sensation. Red swelling about the size of a quarter.
I live in Escondido, Ca (San Diego North County) and have seen several variations of widows over the past year. We still have plenty of Black Widows, but Browns and widows with various colorations have become much more prevalent. This is the best site I’ve found for photos to compare, as well as confirmation of existence in our area for some time. Thank you.
phenix city, ala started out as mailbox infestation and is now everywhere…immune to otc sprays…had my bugman repeat spray outside under carport….
Quite of few of these little buggers in Downey, and am now finding them in Lomita. There are plenty of other spiders to get the other bad bugs, but these are just scary, they had in places where you put your hands all the time, under garbage can edges, planter edges, in roses, etc…. Sorry, it’s now dead.
We live on Key Largo, Fla. and see brown and black widows all the time. My wife has an orchid house and our small dog and I , for the most part live outdoors. Our yard is sub-tropical jungly. My point is we live with them, (they DO catch mosquitoes in their webs) . Why do we need to kill anything which can harm us ? You are in more danger on the roadway that you live on!! Give the critters a break.
Found two brown widows nesting on my girl friends motorcycle, one behind the battery and one in a light bar. Identified by egg sacs.
I live in Bonaire, GA, a little town between Perry (where Lisa #65 is from) and Warner Robins. Earlier this week I pulled my lawn mower out of my shed and grabbed the gas can to fill it up, while I was filling the mower, what I thought was a black widow fell from the under the handle of the gas can, she must have been centimeters from my fingers!!! Well, I jumped when she fell and I spilled gasoline on her, seemed to kill her. Morbid curiosity kicked in and I grabbed a twig to poke, prod and investigate (its been years since I last saw a black widow, I generally avoid sheds and outbuildings out of fear of them). I noticed that her hour-glass wasn’t red, it was bright orange, still figured her for a black widow, then I found the spiky egg sack and smooched it.
I went online to research, just something I like to do, and found out she was actually an older brown widow. Well, this morning I couldn’t sleep so I decided to do my laundry, and I found another brown widow in a low web between my hot water heater and my washer. I wasn’t sure if she was a typical brown house spider or something else, so I grabbed a mason jar and a sheet of paper and caught her…..yup, bright orange hour glass on her belly. Didn’t want to risk her getting away from me if I tried to smoosh her, so I grabbed a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol and threw it in with her. Did notice that neither of them put up much of a fight. The one on the gas can could have easily bitten me, but didn’t, and the one in the utility room was very easy to catch, just lowered the glass, slid the paper underneath, she just stayed at the opening of the jar till I bumped her down and threw in the alcohol.
Sorry my cell doesn’t take good pictures or I would send them in, the ones I managed to take are very, very blurry. I REALLY don’t like spiders, and now to know I have them in my house!!! And all the horror stories about small dogs on here, and I have a cat that likes to kill and eat bugs, I’m worried about him as well as myself.
If anyone knows a pet-safe and effective way to kill them or get rid of them, please post.
Rescue, CA (El Dorado County)
My 5 year old daughter recently started collecting bugs with the help of her 3 and 2 year old brothers (and me of course) and caught a small brown widow in a little mesh bug catcher. The spider was under the Little Tikes slide in a play area in our yard. When seeking bugs I constantly warn the kids about black widows but had no idea about brown widows in this area and thought this was a garden spider. The spider it grew, changed color, devoured a few jumping spiders and is definitely a widow (I think it also consumed some mates that entered the poorly sealed cage).
Later I was disturbed by a thick large web that consumed the children’s playhouse so I hunted down a large brown widow. I confirmed after dark that numerous other smaller widow live along the lip of house and under the stairs adjacent to the patio the kids play. I killed about 6 or 7. I really thought these bulb spiders were harmless and helpful for catching mosquitoes and maybe hornets now I wonder is this a safe area?
San Diego, California
I just discovered a small infestation of Brown Widow spiders outsite the sunroom in my backyard. There were probably 2 dozen or more spiders and twice as many egg sacs!!!! Does anyone know where these little bastards came from(ORIGIN – State, Country….etc.)?? And what is the best way to eradicate them from my HOUSE!!!!!!
Ocala, Florida.
I have been finding egg sacs and adult brown widows all over the back of my house and on windows. I live in a brand new house in a very upscale neighborhood so it goes to show you can never be too careful. They will find a way to try and cohabitant no matter where you live. I have one photo through my glass door.. I will post better ones later tonight after I kill it. I have small dogs and a toddler that likes to be outside, little choice in the matter for me….I just have to show to wife before I put it out of its misery. Anyone reading from the same area? Wondering if you have any problems with bark scorpions as well. I’ve caught a few in my garage!
well the last couple of weeks we have noticed an outbreak of brown widow spiders in my sister in law and brothers yard.and i have sprayed and killed of about 10 to 30 of them. with no evil they are coming back and seem to be bigger. last night we killed another 7 more.and still we do not know where they are coming from none of our neighbors that live next to them have seen any,it is like they found there yard and have taken up residency around the chair b.b.q grill and the there jeep.and i am about to go in on there yard with some good bug killing juice to take care of the problem, it is a good idea to do so please let me know
I just killed 2 brown widows on my front porch….we live in Southwest Florida. I have 2 toddlers….any suggestions on how to get rid of these things?
Oops, I’m in Columbus, Georgia. This spider is well over three inches long!
Very large Brown Widow on my front door’s frame, holy crap! Two feet off the ground, *right* where my two year old son would see it and try to touch it, good God!!
I live in michigan and my cosins and i were watching tv when my cousin saw a brown spider with a red hour glass on it but it looked more like a black widow more i need awnsers now beacuase she has a small babythat plays there …..
I live in Oregon, and though I don’t discriminate the spiders I kill, (For those of you that complain about me killing, I am deathly afraid of spiders and ants. Leave me alone) I have never noticed a brown widow, or black one, for that matter, here. I lived in NM for a while and found black widows all over, I’m slightly alarmed to go outside and have a cigarette after reading about how fast the come in and spread….
I live in Corpus Christi, TX which has a similar environment and climate as Florida, being that it is a gulf coastal city. I am fixing up a house I just purchased and I moved most of my belongings into the garage during renovation, but have been living elsewhere. I hadn’t gone in the garage in a couple weeks, but just yesterday I noticed the garage door was slightly open about 1 inch. All along the bottom of garage door and about half way up the door I noticed messy spider web everywhere. I then found clusters of spikey egg sacks. There were at least two full grown brown widows spiders and another smaller one and at least a dozen spikey sacks spread out in three different areas. The spiders were plain brown with no spots or markings on the back but they had a bright red hourglass on the abdomen with skinny brown and black legs. They were also bigger than what others were stating ranging in size from 1-1/2″ – 2″ in leg span and a body bigger than a pea. I immediately searched for the insecticide spray and am hoping the infestation is over with. I have yet to inspect the rest of the garage and my furniture, etc… let’s just see if the bug spray works first. I pray they will just find a new home some place else. I would really like to know…Are brown widow spiders native to Texas or should I notify someone???
I discovered we are infested with Brown widow spiders here in Costa Mesa, CA. Just sprayed the around the house late last night. Collected and smashed at least 50 dead and half dead brown widows this morning. I’ve sent pics of a couple specimens.
It was for sure a brown widow. I found them last summer and now they have tripled. how do I get rid of them I have babys
I am a nineteen year old college student with a 2 year old and I was walking threw my babys room and notice this spider 2 ft away from where I put my baby to sleep. If it can kill a medium dog then it can kill my 30 pound baby.
Was bit today by a brown widow in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Picked up a towel that was left outside and draped it over my arm and felt a prick. When I picked it up and opened the towel, it was full of these white sacs and spider webs. After opening the towel, found a large brown widow. Wasn’t sure at first what kind of spider it was but it was clear it had a orange-red hour glass and was light brown. This happened at 9:30 am today and my arm is still burning. It hasn’t swollen much but my lower arm is hurting. I’ve taken anti-inflammatory pills and applied ice and benedryl gel but doesn’t seem to help.
I live in Spring Hill, FL and became aquainted with these Brown Widow Spiders shortly after renting a house there. In the course of living at that house I would periodically come across a web and spider. It was when I moved out I decided to go on a Brown Widow hunt!! I stopped counting after I killed 150 Brown Widow Spiders all varing in maturity.. Fortunately for me and my family we never once was bitten.. Happy hunting!!!!
I live in San Diego and was bitten by a brown widow spider (didn’t know it at the time), woke up with horrible swelling and a bright red rectangular “wound”. Within 24 hours I was feverish and nauseous and the area around the bite started turning dark purple in the center. I went to the doctor and was given antibiotics to stave off infection from the bite, but they didn’t have anything to treat the actual bite itself. The first picture is 48 hours after I was bitten and the second was 10 days later. I located the spider that bit me and found multiple egg sacs and probably 30 spiders in and around the eaves of my house in the back yard.
Help!
I live in south texas around the Houston area and I just killed a small spider in my sink. I have never seen anything like this in my house. I think it may be a black widow! It is black and on the top back butt it has a redish line mark. Ive done research and found that most black widows red marking is on there under belly bottom area. This one is on top of its bottom. I cant get a good enough picture for you all to see any help would be appreciated, I have a small dog and I am terrified!
To So Peachy:
I just grabbed 15 sacs and they are in a jar with water and WINDEX. Where you found the sacs the spider will be close by. FLUSH OUT THE SPIDER WITH WINDEX AND THEN SMOOSH IT. Ours were in the patio furniture. we sprayed the hollows of the furniture until some VERY LARGE brown widows came out. they did not try to protect the web, but every one we found was trying to protect the sac. One very large one behind a board leaning against the wall had 7 sacs and she stayed with them so she was easy to get. She did not drown right away so we squished her. WINDEX FLUSHES THEM OUT. It does not kill them, but makes them run and then you can squish them. CLEAN OFF THE STICKY WEBS to SEE WHERE THEY HAVE RETURNED, not IF they have returned. There are babies around if you have found any egg sacs. I had one egg sac in my room perched in the upper left corner of the sliding glass door a couple of weeks ago and removed it. GET A STICK OR WHATEVER AND DRAG IT IN THE MARGINS, UNDER THE DOOR, ETC. I am going to vacuum the hell out of my room next. i have two bites on my left thigh that hurt, swelled up, and had a large lump under the skin. They have not healed after two weeks, but don’t bother me now. I got another bite on my right breast about a week ago, which hurt like hell and made my chest feel heavy and throbbing. I have not touched it at all other than to see the mark and feel the developing lump about the size of a nickel. It did not get as bad as the ones on my leg got -larger than a quarter for about 10 days.
I just destroyed 6 brown widow spider eggs here at my home today. So here’s the thing..How do I actually kill the brown widow spider to make my home safer and play environment a little safer for my child to play in?
I am in Moultrie, Georgia
I caught three brown widows at a Hotel I worked at here in Naples Fl. While in a 2 gallon container one of the males kiiled the other. A few days later I saw the second male dead from the female. Soon the pointy egg was present. I was feeding her moths, crickets and other small insects. One night I did not close the lid and now she is gone. However, I now work at a car dealership and a co-worker had a beautiful brown widow in his desk drawer. I now have her. I did find what I think was a male before I introduced the new one. Within a day she killed the other and quadrupled in size. Her name is Henrietta, named after a guy Henry at the car dealership. I should expect another egg this time. Once I put a daddy long leg spider with the brown widow. The widow was triumphant. So although daddy long legs are considered very venomous( with fangs too small to harm humans), they do not win against a widow !
I live in Yorba Linda, Ca. During the summer and the fall is the worst! It’s hot and it seems to bring them out at night. The best thing to do is get a long sturdy stick, sweep out the webs because they wont make a web in the same spot and Constantly spray!! The pest control told me to spray the widow web because they eat their web every night to recycle and reuse it as they cant produce new web. So, they will eat the web and die. We have black and brown widows all over and it freaks me out due to my OCD.
They sure love the patio furniture and they wont make a web higher than like 2 feet. Their webs are irregular and SUPER strong. (shivers) Just make sure you keep clutter out of your closets, bathrooms and patios. I wish there was some way we could ward them off…….what’s something they hate???
Live in South Central Texas. Just killed up to 10 Brown Widow Spiders in a newly built BBQ Shed. Didn’t know they existed until I saw this site. Thanks.
My husband & I found 3 egg sacks about about 3 weeks ago spray them with break cleaner (no bug spray handy) it killed the wasp that was flying around, but evendently not the spider. We outside to check out where the spiders where coming from and found the mom spider and 2 more egg sacks got out the break cleaner killed her and bagged the spider & the sacks. Where are these coming from never heard of these until I stared to do recearch. Boy I hate spiders even more!!! Tommorrow my husband is going to spray the yard and anywhere else we see bugs.
Meta, Paramount, CA
june/july/aug 2009…Charleston SC my next door neighbors found SEVERAL brown widows under thier childrens outside toys and warned us to check our outside furnature etc. for them. I found about 9 brown and 1 black living happily underneath our plastic lawn chairs we use everyday. Killed them with weed be gone..{closest thing I could find.] Next checked wooden bench on front porch .. found a colony !!!!!at least 25 adult brown widows and hundreds of tiny babies!!! used a whole can of raid.. got them all..or so I thought. Colony reformed within a month and I just got done killing 5 adults and another 100 or so tiny babies under the same bench. Be aware and be safe everyone!!!
I work at a large plant all the outside structures have become infested with brown widow spiders. They reproduce so fast we cannot keep up with them, So far one person has been hospitalized due to the bite.
My husband just got bit or nipped by this brown widow, but like someone elses I read the hour glass was brown. Not yellow or orange. He has no sypmtoms yet, but it did say it could take up to 8 hours.
I would like to know what poisonous spiders there are in the u.k if any ??
are brown widow spiders in the state of washington? i found a dozen of similar spiders while helping my mother move out of her house in northern washington.
-crystal
Grandpa wanted me to clean off the webs off the patio furniture today and I ended up killing at least a dozen brown widows and about 4 black widows. Some are small and some are really big. They move pretty fast so make sure you spray them and stay back. I took some pictures but they were all blurry. About a month ago I had to take my Grandpa to the hospital because one day he just started shaking and he fell asleep and when he woke up all he would do was say “Tatatatatatatatatata” over and over again. The doctors at the hospital had no idea what happened but now I am thinking he may have been bitten by one of those.
I have seen at least 20 brown widow spiders outside of my house in clearwater fl. I’ve seen even more eggs than the spiders strangely enough, they seem to like to lay their eggs in the glass that covers my lights outside. They must be all over the place by now with the amount of eggs i have seen, really hoping they don’t find their way inside.
Please provide me with any information you may have.