I grew up in a very safe town in central New York State. About the only danger we had was getting a blizzard that would dump 3 feet of snow and have 50 mph winds along with it (I experienced that a couple times). I never experienced those really dangerous things that are in everbody’s top ten of dangerous things, such as tornadoes, and major earthquakes. I never saw a rattlesnake, or a scorpion, or a black widow spider except in picture books and museums . . . until yesterday. Ultimately it’s not very exciting I guess, but imagine my shock to see the little guy gal in the picture above while cleaning out my garage. Immediately my heart began to race, and I instinctively went to grab my digital camera. The white styrofoam may not have been the ideal background, but I got a passable shot of the distinctive red hour-glass on the belly of the beast. There are other spiders that resemble black widows, and I have seen them and wondered whether I had seen my first. However, after this encounter there can be no doubt.
So what did you do with it?
Um . . . she’s no longer with us. I don’t kill spiders as a general rule, but the thought of Aidan coming across this gal was far too strong to challenge any environmental conservation.
Little … guy? I see you got that straight in the comments section.
Nice photo.
I think you did the right thing in making the garage safer for Aidan. Thing is, you may have some little baby black widows to deal with. They love garages. Good luck!