What is this?



A. Nothing to worry about
B. Kill it with fire

Looks like a male black widow.

Dead before I posted here.

Carcharodon carcharias

There are brown widow spiders but not sure if what you show in your pic is one.

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess

Laser Wolf said:

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A. Nothing to worry about
B.

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It could be a brown widow, but they usually have a ventral hourglass like black widows which I don't see in that pic.

Brown widows are an invasive species from South Africa, and as with all invasive species the answer is always kill it with fire if you can positively ID.

Brown widow venom actually has a lower LD50 than black widow venom (meaning it is more deadly in a lower dose when directly injected into mice).

However, bites are generally nowhere near as symptomatic as the black widow in people. It is believed they are only capable of injecting very small doses of their venom. So small as not to be dangerous to people. I still wouldn't handle one though.

I destroyed two brown widows in my garage just last week.

I am fairly familiar with them personally and every one I have ever seen, the "hourglass" has been very prominent in shape and coloration. Like below.



The one I have personally seen have been markedly red in color. This is the most muted one I could find online.



Widows and common house spiders are very commonly confused and the only reason I know anything about them at all, is I decided to educate myself years ago about the differences. Common house spiders come in a HUGE array of coloration though so I separate out widows by the hourglass shape. Probably not scientific but I think it is good enough for most people. Based on that pic in the OP, I would kneejerk answer just a house spider and harmless. But that is just my guess. You do what you have to do, OP.

House Spider

Whollleeeeeee lotta NOPE in that post.

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess

OverSeas AG said:

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TH36 said:

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I can't stand spiders.... like I want to burn them and everything they've ever touched. And then go back in time and burn their ancestors.

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I hear ya bro. I have seen some crazy stuff in my time and some scary stuff. Spiders rank among the top. Hate those damned things. Snakes, scorpions, slugs, bats, frogs, lizards, no biggie... spiders OTOH.

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Nothing bothers me except roaches. I'll gladly take my chances with a recluse or black widow before I'll even get in room with a roach. Irrational, I know, but I am terrified of them.

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess

RightWingConspirator said:

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OverSeas AG said:

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TH36 said:

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I can't stand spiders.... like I want to burn them and everything they've ever touched. And then go back in time and burn their ancestors.

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I hear ya bro. I have seen some crazy stuff in my time and some scary stuff. Spiders rank among the top. Hate those damned things. Snakes, scorpions, slugs, bats, frogs, lizards, no biggie... spiders OTOH.

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Nothing bothers me except roaches. I'll gladly take my chances with a recluse or black widow before I'll even get in room with a roach. Irrational, I know, but I am terrified of them.

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Everyone gangster until the roach starts flying...

Since we're on the subject, I found this black widow in the shop and was curious as to what the bug is that it is hanging out with?

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess