I Found a Black Widow in My Garage, How Worried Should I Be?
You went out to grab something from the garage and there it was, small, glossy black, and you’re pretty sure you saw a red marking on it. Or maybe you found it in a web tucked behind a box or in the corner near the water heater. You killed it, or you ran back inside, and now you’re wondering how concerned to actually be about this and whether that’s a one-off thing or a sign of something bigger.
Is that actually what you think it is?
Black widows are pretty distinctive once you know what you’re looking for. The body is shiny and jet black, noticeably glossy, and the red hourglass marking on the underside of the abdomen is usually pretty clear if you can see it from below. The web itself is also a clue, black widow webs are messy and irregular, close to the ground, and feel unusually strong and sticky compared to a typical house spider web. If what you found matches that description, there’s a decent chance that’s what it was. If it was brown or had any kind of pattern on the top of the body, it might have been a brown widow, which is actually more common around here than the black widow and worth knowing about too.
How dangerous is a black widow bite really?
More serious than most spider bites, but less dramatic than most people assume from the reputation. A black widow bite can cause significant muscle pain and cramping, usually starting near the bite and spreading to the abdomen, chest, or back. Some people experience sweating, nausea, and headache. It’s genuinely unpleasant and in some cases needs medical attention, especially for kids, elderly people, or anyone with health issues. That said, deaths from black widow bites are extremely rare. If you or someone in the house gets bitten and starts having muscle cramps or other symptoms, go get checked out rather than waiting to see how it develops.
Does finding one mean there are more?
Not necessarily, but garages are one of the spots where black widows are most commonly found around here, so it’s worth taking the question seriously. They like dark, undisturbed spaces with low foot traffic, which describes most garages pretty well. Behind stored boxes, under shelving, around water heaters and AC equipment, in corners near the floor, all of those are typical spots. Finding one doesn’t guarantee there are others, but it does mean the conditions in your garage are suitable for them, and where conditions are right there’s often more than one.
Why are garages specifically such a common spot?
A few reasons. Garages tend to have more gaps and entry points than the inside of the house, gaps under the door, around vents, where pipes come through. They’re also usually less climate controlled, which means more insects get in, and more insects means more food for spiders. And they tend to have a lot of undisturbed storage, which gives spiders plenty of places to build a web and sit quietly without being bothered. It’s basically an ideal setup from a spider’s perspective.
What about brown widows?
Brown widows have become more common in Florida over the last decade or so and they show up in a lot of the same spots as black widows. They’re tan to brown rather than black, and they have an orange or yellowish hourglass rather than red. Their venom is actually more potent than a black widow’s in terms of its strength, but they inject less of it and are less aggressive, so bites tend to be less severe. Still worth taking seriously and not handling with bare hands. If you’re finding small brown spiders with spiky-looking egg sacs in your garage, that’s likely what you’re dealing with.
Should you just spray and call it done?
Spraying the one spot where you found it is better than nothing but it doesn’t really address the situation. If your garage has the kind of conditions that attracted a black widow in the first place, another one can move into the same spot once the spray has worn off. The more effective approach is a thorough treatment of the spots where they actually hide, combined with reducing whatever’s drawing bugs into the garage in the first place, since that food source is part of what makes the garage attractive to spiders.
What can you do in the garage right now?
A few things make a difference right away. Moving stored boxes and items off the floor and onto shelving reduces the ground-level hiding spots they prefer. Shaking out gloves, shoes, or anything that’s been sitting undisturbed before you put your hands into them is just a good habit. Checking the corners near the floor and under shelving periodically so you catch webs before they get established is also useful. None of that eliminates the possibility of black widows being in there, but it makes your garage a less comfortable place for them to settle in.
When does this become worth calling someone about?
If you’re finding them more than once, or finding webs in multiple spots in the garage, or if you have kids or pets that spend time out there, that’s when it makes more sense to have someone come out and do a proper treatment rather than trying to manage it yourself with a can of spray. A garage with an established widow population isn’t something that clears up on its own, and the spots they tend to hide are exactly the spots people reach into without looking first.
If you found a black widow or think you might have them in your garage, our spider control and inspection service covers the spots they actually hide in, not just the ones you can easily see, and treats the garage in a way that has real staying power rather than just knocking out the one you found.