I do not like spiders. AT ALL. One of the really positive things about being here is that there are few bugs. We have ants and flies (a lot of flies - actually, that is not so positive) and I have heard of people who have encountered scorpions (both the poisonous and non-poisonous kind), but there are no other insects or arachnids to speak of. It's great!
Except when people bring in bugs from other parts of the world.
Last fall, our neighbors next door, the Welsh ones, you know, they had a small infestation of brown widow spiders. I had never heard of brown widow spiders. I knew black widows, but I had to go look up brown widows on google. Apparently they are just like black widows, but they are brown with an orange hourglass, rather than black with a red hourglass. They also have very distinctive egg sacs, which are large, round, and have spikes all over them.
AAAAAHHH YUCK EWWWW I can barely even look at those two spider pictures. NOT MY THING. This sort of thing is definitely not my bag, baby.
Our neighbors had several of these spiders outside and then 3 inside, so they called Pest Control and had them come out to spray their house. That seemed to take care of it.
Then our other friends, who do not live near enough so that a spider could walk that far, came back from a vacation and discovered that their ENTIRE backyard was COMPLETELY INFESTED with brown widow spiders. She posted it on facebook, and the next thing you know, everyone else on camp is saying, oh yeah, I have those too. Agh!
They are not native here, of course. They come in with people's shipments. Please notice that neither Charlotte nor Knoxville is in the range, so don't look at us!
Still, I didn't worry about it too much. I had not seen any in our house or garage or outside.
Then late this spring, I started seeing them in our backyard. I guess I knew they would eventually be there...so I wasn't too upset. I sprayed them with Windex until they died (no bug spray available here) and moved on. Sometimes I got Mike to squash them for me. We didn't want to call Pest Control because God Only Knows what they are spraying with, and I've got three kids and an elderly cat - we just weren't willing to take the risk on some questionable chemical all over the house.
Instead, I went out during morning nap time and did my daily inspection of the back porch. At first it was one, then three, then five a day. Then I noticed that some didn't actually die when submerged in Windex. Then it was 10, then 14, then 25 a day. Then I found one inside. UGH. On the day I found about 20 outside, I texted Mike, "I am about done with this." Then I found another inside. After a few more days, I found more than 100 outside on one single day, and also a third one inside. Then I googled "brown widow spider bite." Enough.
(I dare you to do that google search, by the way. Imagine that on your 14 month old baby and you will see why the dangerous chemicals did not seem so bad anymore.)
Mike called the head guy in charge of pest control to see if he could get some info on the chemicals they use. Luckily, HE IS AMERICAN!!! WOW!!! He gave us the scoop: the chemical they use for this is, in fact, banned in the States. Great. But it was used up until the 70s or 80s and was only banned for overuse, not for the harm it caused people. It is not carcinogenic, and it breaks down by itself in 48 hours, and faster in the sun. SOLD. I can keep my kids out of the yard for 48 hours if it will make the spider nightmare end.
So we called and they sprayed. It worked great. We didn't see any more brown widows until September (this was in May). Unfortunately, it also killed our local geckos, which was very sad for the kids, and all of us really, so now that we are currently seeing a few more spiders and egg sacs, we are again hesitant to call right away. We'll wait until it gets bad again.
So I am back out on patrol every day again...just one more hat I get to wear. Mama: chef, chauffeur (well, around camp, anyway), laundress, maid, policeman, seamstress, doctor, personal assistant, personal stylist, diaper changer, and SPIDER HUNTER. Dunh, Dunh, Dunh. Watch out, spiders. I don't like you. If I see you, you are DEAD. (Unless you are in an awkward place, in which case you will be temporarily incarcerated under an upside down glass, where you will be inspected with fascination by three small children before you are squooshed by their father when he comes home from work. Enjoy!)
Yikes!
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