Halloween Spider

[carpsniperg2]

I hate them with a passion as well. I had one run up my arm when pulling weeds here at the house. I froze and yelled at my dad, he was able to knock her off me. Why in the hell she did not bite me is still unknown.

[buckcanyonlodge]

Pretty hard for the average blok to tell the immature female and male apart.   Ironically I would have called Travis's an immature male and the one you posted an immature female.  I usually tell "guess" by the pronounced thingamijiggers on their front end(males have them females don't).  Fortunately they usually get the stomp so it really doesn't matter.

I got the pic from a bug website and they called it a male. The females were all black. with no red on the top just the red hourglass on the belly. Grew up in Yakima and had blackies all the time. Even caught them and kept them in glass jars and fed them other spiders and bugs. Never saw any blackies with these type of markings until the 90's. I guess they came up from California with migrants.

[tlbradford]

Interesting on the male/female discussion.  I never knew the males got that colorful.  I ended up squishing a huge female that was behind a sheet of plywood in the same garage.  With legs she was the size of a 50 cent piece.  Probably this one's mate.  In Spokane we get the ones with the speckles on their back.  Wilson Creek would be the traditional hourglass.  Tonasket area has this type, pitch black, and speckles.  Pretty neat as long as they don't suprise you.

[Hillbilly270]

Saw a few when I lived in E-Burg, thank god we don't have those things on the west side. Love being able to root around in my garage without having to worry about them

I swore when i was at school in Eburg I saw one but everyone told me they dont exist in washington.  It was this time of year and i opened the driver door to my rig and it dropped down by my seat somewhere and disappeared.  I was freaked for weeks. 

[carpsniperg2]

They are for sure around here!!!

[shoot-em-dead]

We built a block wall in Tri-cities last summer and just about every other block had black ones with the hourglass on them. I didn't know what they were until the job was just about finished.

[RadSav]

THats how I got nailed.  Pulling down snowtire from the rafters.   Bit me in the hand.  I though I was going to lose it.  HORRIBLE HORRIBLE stomach cramps.  Man I was sick and my hand turned black.

I'm never going to use an out house or sanican on the eastside ever again
I've seen and killed plenty in Arizona, but never here.

Very cool pictures!

[csaaphill]

  freaky cool pic still hate em with a passion.
Makes my skin crawl lol.

[Todd_ID]

I see them quite often at my place in Clarkston.  But they only seem to survive at the low elevations (in town).  Good luck if you need to work on a sprinkler valve box or water meter box.  Ours are pretty much all the perfect black.  The males (as in your picture) can have a bit of brown when young and small, have the red hour glass on the top and bottom of the abdomen, and are smaller than the females; males are to be squished still, but they don't bite.  Females are all black on the top of the abdomen with a larger and more pronounced hour glass on the bottom; they are to be squished with something other than your bare hand as they are the aggressive ones.  From a foot away or more they will run and hide.  Get inside a foot and she will move at you; touch her and she will attack hard and quick.

Cool Pics.  Good job with the squishing.  But....a sheet of plywood?  Isn't that like using a .338 on grouse?

[tlbradford]

Lol, it was behind a sheet of plywood when I moved it.  I used a small block of wood for the kill.  You are exactly right on the sprinkler boxes and water meters, especially if you have some rigid insulation in them.  I was really clueless on the males.  I thought they were colorless for the most part. 

About a week ago, I killed one right at the entrance to the house.  Then the next morning at about 5:30 am I open the same entrance and walk right through some webbing.  I spaz out and throw my hat off and sweep my face and shoulders.  Luckily, it was just a house spider that dropped off of me, but I was close to needing a change of drawers.

[jtw]

I've run into a few in houses on the westside, rare but we do have them.
Anything that dangerous scares the *censored* out of me.

[boneaddict]

I got the pic from a bug website and they called it a male. The females were all black. with no red on the top just the red hourglass on the belly. Grew up in Yakima and had blackies all the time. Even caught them and kept them in glass jars and fed them other spiders and bugs. Never saw any blackies with these type of markings until the 90's. I guess they came up from California with migrants.

I think you are missing the immature part.   Yes, we all know about big blackies.  Thats a MATURE female.

[jaymark6655]

freaky cool pic still hate em with a passion.
Makes my skin crawl lol.

This whole thread makes my skin crawl.  Funny that someone mentioned plywood sheet being the same as using a .338, given the choice I would use that .338 on the spider.

[tlbradford]

So will the spider in my photo eventually lose most of its color and get a pale brown with very little markings?

[trophyhunt]

I work in kent and seatac, we have a guy a work that took a picture of a black widow in a water meter box. God I hate spiders, they should all die.