Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry, I dont have a picture.
Okay heres the thing; I live in california and go widow hunting a bit. But there is one kind of spider I encounter on my hunt that at first you would think shes another western....then you look closely. They are the same size as a western Widow, webbing is just as strong, and they are found in the same kind of places I find the Widows. Cept this; they are not jet black when veiwed closely. If you put it with a widow you'll notice that right away. Then there is the hourglass. It has one and is quite noticeable. Not yellow, orange or red but darker brown than its own dark body and sometimes the hourglas is even solid black. Id say that 1 out of 5 widow(like) spiders is one of these mistery spiders. My bedroom is infested with those annoying house spiders so I am positive its not one of those. If any of you know what it may be, I'm dyin to know.

It sounds like it could be one of the widow look-alikes of the genus Steatoda. I have these around my house, and they are extremely similar in all respects to the black widows. They do have a brownish marking on their belly similar to a widow's hourglass. They are virtually harmless however ( their bite has mild, and non-threatening symptoms). Try running a search on Steatoda, and see if you find any pics that match your spider.