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Juvenile Black Widow Spider

I know there are quite a few out there who don’t like spiders….I can understand why since they’re almost always given a bad rap.  However, I am not one of those people.  I love spiders and have a huge respect for their force in the bug world.  I’ll admit, I don’t like them crawling on me, especially when I’m sleeping but I do love to watch them.

The other day, a turned over rock revealed this spider…

I used to think that this was  a male Black Widow since I knew the males were smaller.  But it’s not a male….

It’s a juvenile female.  And yes, she still has the “hour glass” on her underside.  This one was about the size of a pea – a small pea.  The coloration is beautiful!

Males are smaller, brown in color, and aren’t venomous to humans.

I’ve educated my children about Black Widows and unless the spiders are truly in the way, I’ve asked them not to kill them.

They are voracious eaters and they help to cut down the population of bad bugs in my gardens.

Here’s a link for more information on the Black Widow spider –

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/black-widow-spider.html

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This entry was posted on February 4, 2011 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Beneficial Insects, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Juvenile Black Widow Spider”

  1. Spider Pictures | Spider Pictures | Goliath Tarantula vs TV Guy Says:
    February 24, 2011 at 5:58 am | Reply

    […] Juvenile Black Widow Spider « Lazy B Farm's Blog […]

  2. terrybloom Says:
    June 5, 2011 at 3:15 am | Reply

    I too am fascinated with these amazing creatures, but i can never seem to be able to get my hands on one of them when i want to see them up close. Maybe we can meet and discuss spidertalk! Thanku! :))

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