[Daydream Believer]

Does anyone else have trouble with black widow spiders living under their water troughs? No joke. Tonight I drained and scrubbed out the trough and turned it over to get the last little bit of water out and there were several black widows underneath. Yuck! This is not the first time ever but it is the first time I've seen any this summer. I absolutely hate them (and fear them) and have had several close calls and was nearly bitten. Once one got in my brush box and I almost put my hand on it when I picked up my brush. Another time, one was in my helmet! Is there anything you can do to get rid of them? Any natural enemies I can buy to turn loose like fly predators? I appreciate any suggestions!

*The difference between commitment and involvement is like a ham and egg sandwich...the chicken was involved but the pig was committed!*

[Daydream Believer]

Does anyone else have trouble with black widow spiders living under their water troughs? No joke. Tonight I drained and scrubbed out the trough and turned it over to get the last little bit of water out and there were several black widows underneath. Yuck! This is not the first time ever but it is the first time I've seen any this summer. I absolutely hate them (and fear them) and have had several close calls and was nearly bitten. Once one got in my brush box and I almost put my hand on it when I picked up my brush. Another time, one was in my helmet! Is there anything you can do to get rid of them? Any natural enemies I can buy to turn loose like fly predators? I appreciate any suggestions!

*The difference between commitment and involvement is like a ham and egg sandwich...the chicken was involved but the pig was committed!*

[Blue Devil]

I think there are brown recluse spiders in the hay barn!! Anyone know what those look like?

Spiders can be scary. In our rolltop jump at the barn, I am CERTAIN there is a nice collection of assorted dangerous insects and spiders living in there. Luckily, we haven't moved THAT jump in a while [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Don't know what to tell you, other than
1) wear thick leather gloves (you know, utility/work suede type gloves) when working in these areas.

2) never work in any of these areas if you are the only person on the property! Let someone else on the property know you're doing something near the spiders in case you get bitten, etc.

My karma ran over your dogma.
Emily@catchride.com

[BostonBanker]

Well, thank you for making me appreciate Vermont a bit more. All this winter, I will be repeating to myself "At least there aren't deadly spiders in my tackbox...At least there aren't deadly spiders in my tackbox..."

Attitude is everything. You simply cannot be beaten if, at the end of the day, some tiny part of you can still whisper, "I will try again tomorrow." ~Unknown

[Charis]

For those of us in the south...
a FAVORITE hiding place of the brown recluse are
the jump cup pin holes in wooden standards!!
Learned this the hard way years ago when a trainer of mine got bitten adjusting the jump.

Always look first. (PVC standards do NOT seem to interest the critters)
The recluse is brown, slightly fuzzy and has a tan/white spot shaped like a fiddle.

One Nation under GOD>

[Robbierox]

.......move to Canada!!!!

[Tin]

and to think I was complaining about earwigs in my jump standards... I will NEVER complain about them again!! ick! stay safe guys

~ Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once ~

[barnie]

I find them everytime I turn the troughs over...I've made it a habit to take a stick with me to squish all of them. They are always more, and I always keep squishing them....nasty alien creatures!!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

[goobergurl21]

we get them around jumps here in Georgia!! eek! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

~Claire~
*********
"The more I study, the more I know. The more I know, the more I forget. The more I forget, the less I know. So why study?"

[MoReDQthanU]

AHHH the joys of Canada. Spiders are my biggest fear. I swear I have arachniphobia(sp?) If I see a large-ish spider, I practically cry!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

TERRI!!!!
Guess what guys!?!? Schools out! Guess what guys, IM SO HAPPY!!!!!

[Miriam]

I don't think you can do anything but squish them. Never pick up cinder blocks without looking very carefully. Water troughs, cinder blocks and tack compartments in my BP trailer seem to be the black widow condos in my area. GROSSES ME OUT!

*Sometimes I think the so-called expets actually ARE experts.*

[Sleepy]

where I try to never go in the summer. I saw one a few weeks ago when I opened a gate. When I got back with something to kill it, it was gone. A good enough reason to never wear sandals to the barn. I worry more about brown recluses. They are fatal while black widows generally aren't.

[HuntJumpSC]

Icky icky! Eww eww!

The same thing happened to me day before yesterday...I periodically have to scoop out my fishies and drain the troughs and put in fresh water (it just turns green after awhile)...Don't have to scrub, thank God! But one of my troughs have a stuck drain plug, so I have to bail it out by hand and then turn it over...I found 2 black widows living happily under there...squished em flat!
They love my jumps and love love love our airplane hangar! So look out where you put your hands~ they are everywhere this summer [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] SUZ

Proud member of the following:
***Rust TS Clique***SC'ers Clique***EBayers Anon Clique***Don't Give a Rats Ass about USAEq vs USET Clique***

~~~GELD EM!~~~

[horsemad!]

I wish there was a :shudder: graemilin! Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!

[Pixie Dust]

We have lots of black widows. I just am careful when picking stuff up. I only find them under rocks (or cinder blocks) they are pretty predictable and slow. I have not found any in my helmet YIKES though I did find a dead mouse there once [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] EW.

Superheroes of the universe, unite! http://www.allmightysenators.com/super.html

http://hometown.aol.com/bgoosewood/index.html

[arnika]

We have tons of black widows under our troughs. Though we have never seen a brown recluse. We live in Fl.

~Lauren


Have you ever noticed that people neverr fall off backwards?~Food for thought. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[wnqs]

Here in Alberta, Canada, we have black widow spiders...

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with catsup.

[buryinghill1]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BostonBanker:
All this winter, I will be repeating to myself "At least there aren't deadly spiders in my tackbox...At least there aren't deadly spiders in my tackbox..."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ah yuh, nothing toxic to bite ya in Vuhmont, but DaydreamBeliever doesn't have to dodge moose on the roads of NC. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

[Daydream Believer]

Thanks to all of you for the support and commiseration! I didn't know they lived in Canada too! I guess I'll just have to get braver and start squishing them. Yuck! God, I really hate all spiders and poisonous ones just are too much! I'd rather have to deal with a snake in the barn than a spider. My Jack Russells would take care of the snake, no problem.

It's funny but I've never found them in the holes in my jump standards yet. I'll be careful with those too. What is it about water troughs? One of their favorite places by the sound of it. My skin is crawling just writing this!

bgoosewood: a dead mouse in your helmet! Yuck. I had an absolutely disgusting thing happen a month or so ago like that, only a little worse maybe. One night I woke up because the JR's were growling at each other in the middle of the night in the bed (they sleep with us of course [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img])over what I thought in the dim light was their stuffed toy. You know how JRT's are...Well, I decided to take the toy and put it on the nightstand so I could get back to sleep. So I grab it and realize it is not "teddy" but something warm, furry, wet, limp, and the size of a rat! I squealed loudly (couldn't help it) and threw it across the room. My husband wakes up and we have quite a commotion until we get the lights on. Our cats bring all sorts of dead things in the house through the dog door. It turned out to be a dead baby bunny. I was so grossed out! I was just shuddering and a wreck after that. We had to change the entire bed clothes for all the mess. My husband was joking about me needing therapy after that! Thank God the Black Widows stay out in the barn and not in my bed!

You Vermonters can keep your Moose! We got enough obnoxious wildlife here! My horses would take off and never stop if they saw a moose. Whitetails everywhere are bad enough! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

*The difference between commitment and involvement is like a ham and egg sandwich...the chicken was involved but the pig was committed!*

[orange]

I live in fear of that scenario!!! I found one dead rat in the house (I think that was the work of the cats, though) and now I'm just waiting for the day my JRT, Abby the Vicious Slayer of Rodents, brings one on the bed. I will shriek and carry on like the worst sort of girly girl, I just know it.

And if she hides it under the covers, I may not survive it...

I've squished my fair share of black widows at the barn. The barn owner says, "no they eat flies!." Sorry, but poisonous spiders get the big thump, no matter how many flies they can eat!