Black Widows

[Coach]

My Mother-in-law has a sweet setup in Punkin Center. Up on top where the dome houses are, she's got a nice 1/2 acre lot. Well, she hurt her heel really bad doing the Clay Spring mud run, and has been on crutches for about 3 months, and her lot got a little overrun with weeds so Carrie and the boys and I went up there to get it under control. She's got a good sized metal building that she keeps her ranger and boat in.

 

It's super clean inside there, but the black widows have really gotten out of control. There are huge webs in every corner, I've got pictures of the biggest one we saw catching and eating a lizard, the webs have huge wolf spiders, even small mice and horned toads in them.

 

So, it's easy enough to go eradicate them once by stomping and burning them out, but how do you keep them from coming back? Moth balls and lime are what we are thinking, but I've seen these kinds of infestations around Tucson and it's really hard to keep them out.

 

Hoping some desert dwellers have figured out how to get rid of these guys.

[naturegirl]

I suggest spraying for bugs to get rid of them and their food source. You will always have occasional ones, but it helps getting rid of their food source. It's helped me around my place a lot.

 

Curious to see what other answers people have.

[1denogean]

i use a spray called suspend you mix it yourself it works amazing

[pwrguy]

I know spiders are difficult to control, I would also be interested to hear if there are any effective answers. There has to be some pest control people on CWT.

[ctafoya]

Death by fire.

[CouesPursuit]

+1 for eliminate their food source.

[missedagain]

diatomaceous earth

[carpcody]

Chickens!

[kazpilot25]

+1 for suspend (Suspend SC), stuff is like a chemical weapon for all kinds of bugs including spiders, scorpions, etc.

[catfish campbell]

I would use the Raid Max 3 Deep Reach Concentrated Foggers (this one can get at Ace Hardware or Walmart and seems to work better on spiders)... Retreat every 2-3 weeks till you notice them gone.....

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

I know on my property regular treatment schedule is the way to go. I still have a few bugs here and there but hardly noticeable. I do weed control myself 2 times a year and we just have terminex come out every other month and do the whole property. We never spray in the house and we never have anything alive inside. Luckily we talked the few owners around us to do something similar and that makes a difference as well. If no one around you does anything they will migrate. Birds are an underutilized asset too I throw a lot of seed out in the summer and always have tons of birds and I see a difference in fly's and critters.

[rcdinaz]

Chickens! That may be the best answer ever. Not what comes to mind but those suckers eat a lot of bugs and do it quickly.

 

My suggestion to the growing list is DE (diatomaceous earth). It is cheap from the pool supply place and will kill most bugs if they get it on them. Humans and other animals can eat the stuff with no danger so you can spread the stuff everywhere. My dad had it all over his backyard for scorpions in places he could not spray because of his dogs. You will have to apply it regulary since it will just turn into additional soil after awhile. You would use it along with the fire, poison, and chickens.

[ctafoya]

DE is fairly harmless to us/pets as long as you don't inhale it.

[Coues assassin]

I would love to see the pictures of one eating a lizard!

[POB]

I found one at work that had a 12" rattlesnake in it's web. the snake was near dead and the spider was crawling all over it biting it. I never would have guessed that.