On a normal day our family spends a good amount of time on the front porch of our house.  I love to sit on the steps while my little boy colors them with sidewalk chalk. We also bring the dog and let him patter about while we enjoy the relaxing weather. I’d say spending time on our front porch has become an almost daily occurrence for us. Yesterday, however, we managed to completely avoid our normal outside ritual. And that turned out to be a potentially life saving blessing!

Thursday is our trash day, which means we usually scramble to get everything out Wednesday night. Last night was no exception. I gathered all the remaining trash in the house and made my way out the door.

As I headed toward my front porch steps I noticed a large black object floating through the air.  Taking a closer look, I realized I was starting at a huge spider. Although it was 11:30 at night, I could clearly see this giant bug. Its legs were easily 1 ½ inches long—EEEWWW! 

I’ve never been afraid of spiders—ever! Bees are another issue entirely. In fact, I’d jump off a ladder to avoid anything with a stinger. Whenever I see a stinging bug, I run the other way—and yes, I have looked like a crazy lunatic running down the road before. But spiders have never bothered me. Even tarantulas with their disgusting harry backs haven’t ever sent me running for the hills. I don’t know what it is, but spiders just aren’t a big deal for me.

So back to last night…..

I’m on my porch, hands full of trash (but not for long), and it takes me about two seconds to realize I’m staring at not only a huge spider, it’s a Black Widow! Remember the thing about not being afraid of spiders—well that only applies to the ones who can’t kill me, my kid, my dog, or anyone else I’m fond of.

The first thing that came to mind was the spider had to die. I am not a huge spider killer—but when they can kill me, all bets are off.  I ran into the house and quickly found there was no bug spray! However, we do have a lot of trigger cleaners and I figured I could get this thing from a good distance with a spray bottle.

I quickly grabbed some tile and grout cleaner and ran back outside. It phased the spider, but not that much. It really just forced the giant bug to hide. I decided at that moment to go for aerosol. I returned the tile cleaner and grabbed Lysol and a flashlight. But when I got back outside, I couldn’t see the spider.

First, I took the flashlight and thoroughly examined the area surrounding my feet—nothing. Then I went out the garage and came around to the front of my house. We have four stairs leading up to the front porch and the spider originated above the top stair, so I figured the bottom of the stairs was a safe distance.

I took my flashlight and started fishing around. To my great relief, the spider was still hiding on the front stair, but at a place I couldn’t see very well from the top of my porch. So I started to attack from my new angle.

The Lysol was more effective than the tile cleaner. Being able to spray continuously was a great attack advantage, but the spider was not dying. Its legs got kind of stuck together, but it was not dead. So I moved to a more powerful weapon—Weed B Gone Max.  I pumped the Weed B Gone and started spraying. After going through six full pumps, the spider wasn’t moving much anymore.

I spent the next 20 minutes making sure the Black Widow was actually dead. I kept expecting it to jump at me with a dying breath revenge wish (in my head it was strategizing its last ditch effort to wound its would-be killer). Luckily for me, this didn’t happen. The Weed B Gone had done the trick.  

After taking a few pictures I went to the store for bug spray. I didn’t end up needing the spray last night (the spider was still dead when I got home from the store—phew), but if the same thing were to happen today I’d be well equipped to handle the situation.

Here’s what I’ve realized since last night:

1) Before today I hadn’t ever taken the time to educate myself on spider bites. I’d recommend that everyone take 10 minutes to learn a few things about the possible symptoms  and proper treatment of spider bites.

2) You never know when bug spray will be needed. It’s cheap, easy to store, and should be in every household!

3) Our family would be wise to invest in an anti-venom spider bite kit. Even if we never see another poisonous spider, we’ll at least be prepared for one.