# Black Widows in Frog Tank



## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

Hello folks!

So.. some background. Here in Las Vegas we have lots of black widows.. it stands to reason then that we'd get them in our tanks from time to time. Lots of food, etc. 

I think one may have left an egg pod in some plants I had outside this summer. Recently, I've noticed /lots/ of webs and tiny little spiders that look /a lot/ like black widows in the tank. We're talking 20 or 30 little spiders. 

They're about the size of a large pin head right now - too small to see the red markings - but I want to get rid of them just the same. 

How would you go about doing that? I can't have these spiders in the tank and enjoy it - I'm arachnophobic beyond reason.. it was OK when there was one. I went to show my housemate tonight (they come out at night), and when I turned on the light there were.... /a lot/. 

What can I do? If I take out the frogs, turn the tank on it's end, and put dry ice over it - will that kill the spiders? I don't really have a second tank that I could use in the meantime =\


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

What kind of frogs do you have? I feed my frogs newly hatched spiders all the time.


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

The 20 gallon "on end" houses a trio of imitators. 

I think the frogs do a good job of cleaning up the spiders they find out during the day. You never see them during the day. But at night.. well.. just think of the barn in "Arachnophobia" and you're not too far off apparently. Of course, the frogs are sleeping at night.


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## WVFROGGER23 (Jan 5, 2010)

I have heard of people removing the frogs and pumping CO2 in their tanks to get rid of all pests. Never attempted it, nor do I even know the proper procedure.


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

I also have to admit to having a crippeling fear of spiders. It's totally irrational - I can't tell you why I have it - but I'm horrified at the thought of that tank down there now that I've seen how many are in it.


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## JoshK (Jan 5, 2009)

Remove the frogs and burn the tank down. . . seriously. 

I found a Black Widow one time when I was tearing down a tank, it was only one but it was the largest I have ever seen. Luckily I had some friends over to take care of it as I was screaming like a little girl and heading for the front door. 


I would remove the frogs and start killing the spiders. I wouldn't want a frog getting bit.


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

Yes, right now they're very small. Too small even to tell if they're actually black widows... though the body type and color and web type all match. They even do the 'upside down hang' that the big widows outside do. 

I think I might go to the store this weekend and get some dry ice if I can capture the frogs. Then I'll put the dry ice on a dish in the tank and tape it up as best I can to keep most of the c02 in. Of course this all hinges on being able to actually capture the frogs. If I can't do that, well.. maybe I'll try turning the lights on in the middle of the night for a little bit and also try using a small vacum to suck up the spiders I can get to. 

There's far to many to remove them all by hand, unless I go into the tank at night and squish them up with tweezers.


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## srrrio (May 12, 2007)

Oddly enough another Vegas frog person, was just telling me last night he once threw a tiny spider into one of his mantella tanks and some time later he noticed a web, and shortly after he was feeding ff and saw a big black widow come down for the flies. I guess he was able to smash it, but he no longer feeds his frogs that kind of treat. 

My one suggestion is that I sometimes use this kind of a springloaded device I got for gettng olives out of a jar. I have repurposed it for when I had a millipede outbreak and it worked well at grabbing them quickly and retracts so you can pull it out of tank without losing the bug. Then you can release it in the trash without ever really seeing much of what you caught. The thin metal prongs might be fine enough to grab small spider. It also would put you at least 8 inches away from the spider 

good luck!
Sally


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

Yea, I see widows outside often (though, not generally around where I live) enough to never want to throw any spider looking thing into my tanks. I think I'd honestly be able to say that widows are the most common spider around here =\

They really are tiny right now - literally probably the same size as a hydei would be or smaller (that's including all the legs). I've never seen an adult widow around my house - so I'm sort of at a loss as to where these little guys came from. I've had tiny webs in the tank since day 1 - so, I guess maybe they've just always been in there. 

Scary. 

I have a tank at work that has never had this problem at all - though the plants for it were kept outside with the plants I used for my home tank at the same time in the same place. Strange.


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## srrrio (May 12, 2007)

Guess I was a bit slow answering, sounds like olive grabber won't work ...Sorry sounds like you have a difficult task.


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## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

you can wrap the tank up in a large black garbage bag, 

here is a post from a while ago when i did the co2 method, there are multiple option through-out the post as well, hope this helps


http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/29510-co2-method-pics.html


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## dam630 (Dec 11, 2009)

When you see'um, reach in and squish them between thumb and index finger.
You may be tempted to snack on them, but I wouldn't advise it...


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

Oh no, you see, that would require actually touching them - and even though they're so small they can't possibly hurt me I can't actually touch them =(


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## dam630 (Dec 11, 2009)

Latex gloves?
Or is that another phobia?
Kiddin'


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## Alan (Jan 12, 2005)

If it were mine: A vacuum cleaner (don't forget to change the bag/flush the canister) followed by dry ice (no pdfs, of course).


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

heh, no, my phobia of spiders is completely crazy. I'll be the first to admit that 

I'm going to try the manual removal and then dry ice. Seems like the best bet.


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## porkchop (Aug 29, 2005)

serious here,
find a friend who isnt afraid to collect them, then hit an arrachno board and sell them there, they are worth some money to them fanatics. seriously, you could even sell them wholsale to a breeder, they would love to get their hands on a lot of them like that.
check legallity to ship to another state though, im sure a breeder will know the regulations if you contact one.
you could get a new group of nice frogs for the price they will go for.
good luck,


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Tony is totally right. I have sold them in the past, and there are people out there who would easily buy up all your spiders. You could EASILY get a pair of almost anythng more common from selling them off. And as a bonus, they wouldnt have to die


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## RMB (Nov 26, 2009)

People actually buy black widows? Never occurred to me that someone would.


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## RMB (Nov 26, 2009)

Yup, found some for 15$ each. Time to go poke around outside.


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

I never would have thought that people would buy black widows. Good idea though. 

After sleeping on it.. they're certainly not big enough to hurt me, so I may go in with a paper towel (or 500) this evening and try to remove as many as I can. There is certainly no point in trying during the day - you only see the left over webs and the spiders are all gone. 

I really doubt that I'd be able to catch all three imitators in the tank anyway without really destroying it. That and the dry ice is going to be plan two if a few nights of paper toweling doesn't do the trick.


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## Bananaman (Mar 21, 2009)

I had a Black Widow that my brother found outside and gave to me, they are everywhere around here. She ended up getting pretty big and lived for about 2 1/2 years. It was pretty cool watching it eat - praying mantis's are even more gruesome when they feed! In my experience Black Widows are a very shy spider and tend to stay in their webs rather wander about.


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## Uncle_Benny (Aug 7, 2009)

If you want to use CO2 it is probably much easier and more feasible to put a bowl with a hand full of ant-acid tablets in the tank. They release quite a bit of CO2 and are much easier to get than dry ice. Just an idea.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

wouldnt b nearly enough co2. you need to really saturate the levels in order to get the desired effect


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

I know you admit to having a phobia about spiders, but isn't this a great opportunity for you to face your fears and maybe even come to see the benefits that spiders can have in the terrariums or frog room? I may have hundreds of spiders of about 10 different species in my frog room and they really help to find and conquer any escaped ffs. They all live quite well along side my dart frogs.

Just a thought. Good luck! Richard.


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## boombotty (Oct 12, 2005)

Black widows and brown recluse scare me. I enjoy seeing the little jumping spiders that have taken up residency on top of my tanks. They are the last line of defense against renegade fruit flies.
Scott


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## MonkeyFrogMan28 (Feb 3, 2009)

inktomi said:


> Yes, right now they're very small. Too small even to tell if they're actually black widows... though the body type and color and web type all match. They even do the 'upside down hang' that the big widows outside do.
> 
> I think I might go to the store this weekend and get some dry ice if I can capture the frogs. Then I'll put the dry ice on a dish in the tank and tape it up as best I can to keep most of the c02 in. Of course this all hinges on being able to actually capture the frogs. If I can't do that, well.. maybe I'll try turning the lights on in the middle of the night for a little bit and also try using a small vacum to suck up the spiders I can get to.
> 
> There's far to many to remove them all by hand, unless I go into the tank at night and squish them up with tweezers.


haha be carefull not to suck up a frog!!!


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## D's Darts (Apr 8, 2009)

Put a bit of silicone on the end of a shishcabob stick,(long thin stick) let it start to set up. Once it starts to set up (but still sticky) use it to get the spiders out. Good Luck


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I agree with Richard to a degree, but Im not a big proponent of keeping lots of "free range" black widows in the house


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## spinycheek (Jan 26, 2010)

If you wait long enough, the spiders will all start eating each other until there's only 1 or 2 left. But if I were you, I'd plop a bunch of dry ice in there, remember though, CO2 isn't nearly as deadly to spiders as it is to people. CO2 will generally just anesthetize them unless they're in it for a really long time. I learned this because CO2 is how one sedates a pet tarantula for whatever reason.


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