Reports of deadly brown widow spiders are coming in from across the state and the arachnids are likely in the area, St. Charles Parish County Agent Renè Schmit said.
“The brown widow is certaintly something to be reckoned with,” he said. “In the spring and summer, there is most often spiders of every kind where you have a damp, wet situation like under leaves or pots.”
Experts believe that the brown widow recently migrated from Florida to Louisiana. Generally found in tropical areas, the spider is closely related to the black widow spider and is poisonous.
Experts say the spider ranges in color from gray or tan to dark brown and may reach 1 inch to 1½ inches long. Like its better-known black widow cousin, the brown widow spider has a yellow-to-orange hourglass marking on the underside of its abdomen. It also has black and white marks on the top of the abdomen and often has dark bands on its legs.
“A brown widow bite tends to create more problems than a black widow bite because the venom is different and causes the skin in the affected area to rot,” Schmit said. “If you get bitten by one, you need to seek medical treatment right away.”
But Schmit said brown widow spiders are not as common as recent media reports seem to suggest.
“They are in Louisiana, but not in an epidemic proportion or anything like that,” he said. “They aren’t in any greater number than the black widow spider.”
Dr. Dennis Ring, an entomologist with LSU’s Department of Entomology, said the brown widow spider is most often found in areas that haven’t been disturbed, such as brush piles and wood piles. They also can show up in crawl spaces, under chairs, in garbage can handles and under flower pots, eaves and porch railings.
Ring suggests wearing gloves, long-sleeved shirts and long pants when working outdoors, especially in areas that don’t get a lot of human activity.
The best remedy for controlling brown widow spiders is to remove areas where they may nest, according to Ring. The LSU AgCenter entomologist recommends picking up clutter and sealing cracks and crevices around doors and windows.
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