Black Widow Spiders in Alabama: Where They Hide and What a Bite Actually Means
The black widow is the other medically significant spider in Alabama, and unlike the brown recluse it is easy to identify and easy to predict — it lives in exactly the places people reach into without looking. Here is where they are, how to recognize the web before you see the spider, and what to do about a bite.
Alabama has two spiders whose bites matter medically. The brown recluse gets the attention because it is hard to identify; the black widow gets less because it is easy — a glossy black spider with a red hourglass is not ambiguous. What people underestimate is how predictable the black widow is. It lives in the same six places on every property, and every one of them is a place a hand goes without looking.
Identifying it — and its web
The adult female southern black widow is about half an inch in the body, shiny jet black, with a red hourglass on the underside of the abdomen; some have a red spot on top as well. Males are small and harmless. You will often find the web before the spider: a messy, irregular, very strong tangle of silk close to the ground or in a corner, with no pattern to it. If you brush a web that feels tougher than it should and see that shape, back out. The egg sacs are tan, papery, and round, and each holds hundreds of spiderlings.
The six places
- Under the lip of things. Outdoor furniture, the grill cover, the rim of a flowerpot, the underside of a deck rail.
- The water meter box and the irrigation valve box. Dark, undisturbed, full of crickets. This is the classic bite location.
- Firewood and lumber piles.
- Garage and shed corners, behind stored items, inside a boot left on the floor.
- Crawlspace entries and vents.
- Boathouses, docks, and life-jacket bins on Lake Martin — anywhere dark that holds insects.
What a bite does
Black widow venom is a neurotoxin. The bite itself may feel like a pinprick, and the symptoms come over the next hour or two: muscle cramping that can spread to the abdomen or back, sweating, nausea, a rise in blood pressure. It is rarely life-threatening for a healthy adult, but it is painful and it is serious for children, the elderly, and anyone with heart problems. Wash the bite, apply a cold pack, and call a doctor or poison control; do not wait to see if it gets bad. Antivenom exists and is used in severe cases. We are pest control, not medicine, and that is the extent of what we will say about treatment.
Lowering the pressure
Black widows are where their food is. Reduce the crickets, roaches, and other insects around the foundation and the outbuildings and the spiders follow. Practically: gloves before reaching into a meter box, a valve box, a woodpile, or a stored boot; a flashlight before reaching under the deck; firewood off the ground and away from the house; garage and shed corners cleared and vacuumed a couple of times a year; and a treated perimeter that keeps the insect population down. The full picture, including the brown recluse, is in spider control in Alabama and brown recluse spiders in Alabama.
On the plan
Spiders are covered under EnviroCare's bi-monthly pest plan, and the exterior program is built around exactly the harborage above — the foundation, the garage, the outbuildings, the shaded corners. If you have found a widow in a spot the family uses, call and we will treat it that week.
Call the office nearest you — Birmingham (205) 991-2882, Alabaster (205) 940-6360, Lake Martin / Alex City (256) 234-6162, or Huntsville (256) 937-7676 — or request a free quote and we will take it from there.
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