My Lucky Black Widow Spider

Packed and ready to go!

Last night, after settling on the fact that I was going to have to take a bus, ferry and train with a black widow spider to bring her to an Animal Rescue place in Brooklyn that would be willing to take her if I brought her, I received a trip-saving facebook message.

One of my coworkers, Kelly (from the world of the science department, of course), informed me that she may be able to help! She had a friend who worked in the Staten Island Children's Museum and they had a "spider guy" who might be interested in my find. We wouldn't know until this morning, but that was OK, because the rescue place didn't open until 11 am anyway!

When I got the call this morning, it was awesome. This guy Frank was interested and he would come to me! I gave him a call right away, gave him my address and went to get the two jars. The new, second jar contained the "babies" we tried to capture yesterday evening. We only got about five of them, but they definitely were not calm like Portia was. I did not like them.

When the guy came he was impressed that we captured them and took a look at Portia. He said, "Wow... yeah, that's a northern black widow. No... wait," as he turned the jar at another angle, so he could see her even better, "that's a sourthern black widow." I am not a fan of my ability to surprise experts (I was getting flashbacks to my IIH diagnosis!).

I asked him what the difference was. He said that these black widows would typically start in Georgia and go down to Florida, not work their way up to New York. He said the difference was that southern black widows had a complete red hourglass on their abdomen while a northern black widow had two red triangles that didn't meet. And the final confirmation was the red markings where she spun her silk from. She was definitely a southern black widow spider and she had absolutely NO BUSINESS being in MY backyard in Staten Island, New York!

Frank then took a look at the "babies." He said they were not widows at all  as he took the lid off the jar. I nearly leaped to Polaris. He laughed, of course. He explained that they were normal house spiders. I explained that those guys love me.

After a cursory look around the exterior of the house and a look at the infamous red pot that black widow was found in, it was decided that she probably came from the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge that I live down the block from. I was pretty surprised by this, but Frank said that this was only the third black widow spider that he has been called in on in 30 years. He said that people often call saying they have a black widow, but when he gets there, they were wrong.


My husband has been completely freaked out by this and thinks we should play the lotto. I told Frank this. He said, "With odds like this, maybe you should!" So I am sure, at some point tonight, we will be going to buy some lotto tickets.

From my perspective, though, I think I've already been pretty lucky with my black widow spider find. Here's why:

• I don't ever have to worry about the impending doom of the day when I will finally be face-to-face, by myself with a black widow spider. I don't have to wonder how I will react, how it will react, whether or not I will survive, whether or not I will be able to warn others. I did it. It is over.
• I honestly don't feel as terrified of black widow spiders. Frank explained that they don't "go after" humans. You either have to get pretty physical with one (practically squeezing it), or end up hitting her web to get bit. The web situation is scarier, since that can happen accidentally, but otherwise I almost asked him to open the jar so I could hold Portia. (He said he had a couple at home and handled them all of the time.)
• No one got bit. None of the dogs (my two, or my cousin's two), or, more importantly, my cousin's one year old!
• I didn't kill Portia. I found a good home for her, with other black widows where she can build webs and go meet children at museums and in classrooms. That feels the best of all. She was so respectful of me and my life, why shouldn't I do the same for her?

I hope Portia has as much fun being a teacher as I did. I think she'll be really good at it. I know she taught me a lot in the three days I knew her.

Black Widow UPDATE

I have a new pet. Her name is Portia. She is a black widow spider. She lives in a jar in my shed. (Here's how I got her.)

It seems no one else wants to meet her, see her or deal with her.

After instructing me to keep her alive and not disturb the scene of where I found her, it seems the NYC Department of Health and Environmental Services doesn't know what to do with her. There will be no investigation. All calls today ended with pretty much the same response, "We don't deal with spiders."

One investigator sent me the following e-mail with the following information:

Here are some links with additional information about black widow spiders:

            http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/spiders/#widow

            http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1237.htm

            http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/black_widow_spider.pdf

           

            This link is for the American Museum of Natural History, where you can send a picture of the spider, for possible identification

http://research.amnh.org/iz/contact/what-bug

I decided to contact the Museum of Natural History in hopes that I will find a happy home for Portia. Here is the e-mail I sent earlier this morning:

Yesterday, while cleaning my backyard, I found a black widow spider in my backyard here in Staten Island. It is black, shiny and has a red hourglass on its abdomen. I have been in contact with NYC Department of Health and Environmental Investigations. They informed me that they do not deal with these spiders, but said that you may be able able to confirm the identification at the Museum of Natural History (my FAVORITE museum in ALL of the universe!!).

I have the spider in a jar in my shed, however, I am concerned that there are more because there are multiple small spiders (babies?) in the same large pot I found the original spider in. Does this seem feasible? We have two dogs that hang out in the backyard all of the time and my tenant (also my cousin) has a one year old child living upstairs! Needless to say, an exterminator is coming tonight.

I was wondering, would you like our spider? Since we were asked to keep her alive by the DOH, my husband and I became slightly attached and have named her Portia :) She is really quite beautiful even if I am terrified of her.

Thank you so much.

All the best,

Nicole Rivera :)

I am still awaiting a response, but in the meantime my exterminator will be here at 6pm tonight. I am wondering if I should call the Staten Island Zoo in the meantime...

For some truly backwards reason I would now be really sad if Portia died as a result of all of this.

See How It All Ends:  My Lucky Black Widow Spider 

Black Widow

I have two irrational fears

1. Aliens stemming from the time my parents took me to see E.T. in the movie theater, and
2. Spiders stemming from God knows where.

While there is an entire post that can be written about me and my relationship with aliens, alien movies and how my friends and family have tortured me over the years, the events of today insist that I write about spiders.

My house has always been a magnet for tons of spider activity. In particular, the bedroom that I grew up in seemed particularly popular. Although he deems my fear irrational, my brother can at least attest to these two facts. I have never imagined it. I have, however, imagined quite a few outrageous scenarios involving spiders and their obsession with me.

Sp.A.N.

I suppose it is best to begin with SpAN, more widely known as "Spiders Against Nicole." This has been a growing group of spiders thoroughly amused with my reaction toward them. They hold regular meetings and have their recruitment office in my basement (which is why there are always so many spiders in the basement). They work out who is going to sneak up on me, when they are going to do so and what kind of trick are they going to pull when I finally see them. Some popular moves that, I believe, have been planned in advanced over spider-committee include:

• the Mission Impossible/SWAT team drop
• the raising of one leg in my general direction
• the stand completely still so she thinks you are not alive until she gets really close
• the jump
• the run across the windshield while she's driving

On occasion, I do believe that SpAN has invited humans into their web of trickery. My mother and boyfriend (now husband) once spent about a month placing a super-scary looking spider cut out from a magazine all over the house, in my lunch bag and anywhere else I might find it and scream. This, undeniably, was an action that was instigated by SpAN!

The Greatest Fear of All

The one constant in all of my spider fears has singularly fell with the impending doom of my someday encounter with a Black Widow. I learned about how frightening a bite from one of these venomous girls can be and I was terrified. I feared that every spider I found was a baby black widow. After having their fun with me, friends and family would assure me that I need not worry as long as I stayed in New York - black widows live in South Western United States, they love the heat. I tried to take this to heart.

Then someone told me the IKEA story. In short, a couple bought a plant from IKEA and brought a black widow home with them. For YEARS I did not walk through the plant section of IKEA - I REFUSED. I would run through their shortcut lanes and say a little prayer when I got to the other side. I did not want a black widow on me!

I was ridiculous. I continue to be. Two days ago I was out weeding in my backyard when a wolf spider jumped out of the weeds I pulled. I jumped a mile high and started throwing the weeds around. I told the spider to, "Go live somewhere else! I am trying to get some work done!" I must have looked insane to my neighbors.

I keep trying to be strong, but it doesn't always work. Fear is a funny thing.

Today

Fear or no fears, the sun came out again today, so I set out to finish what I started in the backyard. My backyard is a huge mess, so there is a lot to do. I won't bore you with all the details, but at around 2pm, I came upon an overturned red pot that I was not sure if I should keep or not. I decided to turn it over to see what condition it was in. Here's what I found:

Do you see that large black spider?

Perhaps you need a closer view...

Do you see how shiny it is?!?!

I had a very strong feeling I knew exactly what kind of spider that was sitting right in front of me here in New York City... My husband came home and decided to take a closer look

It wasn't as sunny anymore. I was trying to get the abdomen in this picture.

What is not visible in this picture is the very fancy red hourglass on this lady's abdomen. Guess what that means?

We captured her.

The New York City Department of Health advised that I keep her alive until the Environmental Investigation unit can come by to check her out and do an investigation of the area she was found. She is pissed off, in her jar in my shed outside. All I know is that I am not going to be the one that opens that jar!

Anyway, I always knew this day would come.

I think Sp.A.N. really outdid themselves this time...


THE SAGA CONTINUES:

•  Black Widow UPDATE
• My Lucky Black Widow Spider