of the same dosage than an adult.

The black widow spider builds an irregular web with no distinct pattern. If you run into one you will notice how strong it is in comparison to most spider webs. In fact, it is so strong and elastic that telescopic cross hairs were manufactured from the web strands during World War II.

The female black widow is glossy black with a globe-like abdomen. She has a deep red hourglass marking on her stomach. She usually crawls upside down on her web and if you look down at her the red hourglass will appear to shine. She is called a widow because sometimes she eats the male after they mate. Sometimes she allows the male to hang around the web and share her food. But if he gets in her way or makes the wrong move . . . well, she really doesn't require his services anymore.

Following mating, she makes an egg sack, kind of a dirty cream color, and deposits two to four hundred eggs in it. She hangs the sack in her web where she can protect it. It takes only 10 days to a few weeks for the spiderlings to hatch.

The spiderlings are cannibalistic and eat each other so usually less than one hundred actually emerge. They climb to a high place, spin a piece of web, throw it out in the breeze and float away (this is called ballooning). These spiderlings are so small they could crawl right through the eye of a needle. Where they land and build their web is their fate, or yours. Pilots at forty thousand feet have observed spiderlings on their windshield. This is how they have moved from continent to continent. When you leave your garage door open, they just float right in on the air current where the breeze drops them to the floor. Then they crawl to the nearest shadows for safety. This is why we find them mostly around the garage door springs, or inside the vents under the house. The black widow spider is the most prevalent spider encountered by our service technicians year round.

Life Cycle

Two to four hundred eggs deposited in an egg sack of dirty cream color. It takes from 10 days to a few weeks for the spiderlings to hatch. Development from egg to adult may take from two and one-half months to nearly eleven months. A female may live for one or more years after maturity.