Reptile & Amphibian Forums

me and my friend recently found a spider in his garage that looks exactly like a widow. there is some major differences, for one the spider is an oily brown color kinda like dirty engine oil but still has a sheen like a widow. the other difference is after carefull looking(through the plastic container) i couldnt see an hour glass.

the thing is we live in WA state near seattle, and widows are not something you find around hear. id post a pic but my digi cam sucks at small photos but if you wanna know what it looks like, picture a black widow thats oily brown with no real visible hour glass.

is this a widow of some kind or just some kind of mimic house spider? if its a widow please try to tell me what kind? (latin name)

we found it with two eggsacs, i collected the spider and the two eggsacs in two seperate plastic containers, its good to see the spider cant seem to climb the plastic.

HOW SMALL will the BABIES be when they hatch? i intend on poking holes in the lid with a needle thats about 1/32"-1/16" thick, will this be small enough so the babies CANT ESCAPE?

thank you

This is a tricky ID to make without a picture of your spider. There IS a widow look-alike spider, the "false widows" of Steatoda. HOWEVER, they look SO much like the western widow spider ( Latrodectus hesperus, which is the species you would have over there ), that only the initiated can distinguish them properly.

So let me initiate you. Here is what an L.hesperus can look like:

Brown morph of L. hesperus: http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/inverts/images/latr-hes_jberrian.jpg

Compare with the phenomenally similar Steatoda:

Steatoda grossa( widow look alike ):

http://bugguide.net/images/cache/O0EQB06QF0SKVKLKWK0K6KRKUK6Q6KRKV05QWK5Q2KQKPK6Q106QC0AQRSNQV00KUKZK9KKKTKNQLSPQLSEQ9KSK.jpg

The key to distinguishing the two is the belly markings. The true widow will almost always have some form of RED hourglass. The false widow will have a figure-eight shaped maroon / brown colored marking.

L.hesperus underbelly:

http://www.americanarachnology.org/images/gallery/latrodectus_hesperus_lr.jpg

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=4898&highlight=Steatoda

Steatoda grossa underbelly:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/78857/bgpage

Steatoda borealis underbelly:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=93445&highlight=Steatoda

I hope this helps you to decide what you have! If you can get a pic, even a rudimentary one, you can email it to me at rabidosar@hotmail.com and I will do my best.