[BC] Spiders

[Glen Kippel]

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 6:12 AM, D. Wayne Woollard CPBE <woollard at inreach.com> wrote:

>I don't know if this is the correct venue for this epistle or not, but here goes anyway.  Last night an 18 year old in our small town passed away from complications brought about because of a spider bite!  Just 4 days after the diagnosis was handed down.  So, my friends be careful!! As the days warm the females will be spinning the little cotton ball egg sacks, and they remain close by to protect these nests.  I have seen but a few transmitter sites that were not hatching nests for the infamous Black Widow.  "Let's be careful out there!"
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Yeah, we are getting into the spider season alright.  A few years ago I was looking for something in the garage and unfortunately was wearing shorts instead of long pants and got stung on the leg by a black widow.  I didn't know I was stung for awhile, and by the time I got to the ER I had stomach cramps, my blood pressure was 200-something over 100-something and they had to put me on an IV to get the blood pressure and pain under control.  And I've been on Lisinopril ever since. 
 
One of my sons was stung by a brown recluse, and wound up getting a hole in his leg you could drop a half-stack of quarters into.  Nasty stuff.  Look for light brown spiders with a purple violin-shaped figure on the abdomen and don't get involved with them except to kill them.
 
I found that at transmitter sites where webs appear along with egg sacs, just burn up the spiders, webs and egg sacs with a propane torch (being careful to not burn the building down!) -- that will keep the eggs from hatching out.  Raid Wasp & Hornet Spray allows you to kill spiders from a distance, but won't stop the eggs from hatching.