You pull a box of Halloween decorations off the garage shelf, and there’s a glossy black spider sitting in a tangle of web on the lid. Every October, Main Sail Pest gets calls that start almost exactly like that. Black widows have lived in Lake Elsinore garages all summer. What changes in the fall is that homeowners finally start moving the things the spiders have been living behind: holiday bins, patio cushions, pool toys, and the stack of pots by the side gate.
Why do people find so many black widows in the fall?
Most of the black widows people find in October have been there since summer. By late in the season, females are full grown and easier to notice, and many have egg sacs. The bigger change is human activity. Garage cleanouts, holiday decorating, and putting patio furniture away all mean reaching into corners that have sat undisturbed for months. Widows also stay hidden in their retreats during the day and come out at dusk, according to UC IPM, so a lot of homeowners never see one until they move the box it’s living behind.
How can you tell a black widow from a brown widow?
Look at the color, the hourglass, and especially the egg sac. California has two widow species. The western black widow is native, and the adult female is shiny black with a red hourglass on the underside of her abdomen. The brown widow arrived in Southern California around 2000. It’s mottled tan, brown, and gray with an orange hourglass, and its bite is considerably milder.
Young black widows can look a lot like brown widows, so the egg sac is the better clue. A western black widow sac is smooth, yellowish, and teardrop shaped, and typically holds about 300 eggs. A brown widow sac is covered in small silk spikes, almost like a burr. Either way, the web gives the spider away: an irregular, messy tangle of unusually strong silk, usually low to the ground.
Where do black widows hide in Lake Elsinore garages and yards?
They pick dark, dry, undisturbed spots close to the ground. Lake Elsinore’s dry climate suits the western black widow well, and research led by UC Riverside found that black widows tend to dominate in drier settings while brown widows favor irrigated urban landscaping. In the garage, we check under the bottom shelf, behind the water heater, inside the garage door tracks, and around the weatherstripping. Outside, the usual spots are block wall gaps, pool equipment pads, irrigation and water meter boxes, stacked pots, firewood, and the underside of patio chairs.
How dangerous is a black widow bite?
Bites are rare, and serious outcomes are rarer still, but a black widow bite deserves medical attention. UC IPM notes that bites seldom happen even where the spiders are common, because widows bite defensively, usually when one gets pressed against bare skin. The venom is a neurotoxin, meaning it acts on the nervous system. Symptoms often start within an hour and can include spreading pain, muscle cramps in the abdomen or back, sweating, and nausea. Young children, older adults, and people with heart conditions face more risk.
If you’re bitten, the CDC advises washing the area with soap and water, applying a cool compress, and getting medical care. Contact Poison Control or your doctor right away, and try to safely capture or photograph the spider.
How does Main Sail Pest suggest cleaning out a garage safely?
Wear gloves, use light, and never reach anywhere you can’t see. A few habits make fall cleanup much safer:
- Wear thick work gloves and long sleeves, and shake out gloves, shoes, and jackets that have been stored in the garage.
- Swap cardboard boxes for plastic bins with tight lids. Cardboard gives widows seams and folds to hide in.
- Vacuum webs and egg sacs, then seal the bag and throw it out. Removing egg sacs matters, since each one can hatch hundreds of spiderlings.
- Store items off the floor and a few inches away from walls so there are fewer protected corners.
- Replace worn weatherstripping at the bottom of the garage door.
Outdoors, clear stacked pots and debris away from the house, and keep firewood off the ground and away from walls.
When is it time to call a professional?
Call when you’re finding widows in several places, seeing egg sacs, or have kids and pets using the garage. Repeated sightings usually mean an established population around the house. A professional treatment focuses on the places widows actually live: garage perimeters, door tracks, block walls, and equipment boxes. That works much better than spraying whatever you can see.
Black widows don’t move into your garage in October. They’ve been there all along, and fall cleanup is when you finally run into them. If you’d rather have the corners checked before you start pulling down boxes, Main Sail Pest serves Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Canyon Lake, and nearby communities, with free retreatments between scheduled visits. Request a free quote online and we’ll get your garage ready for the season.