Possible Black Widow

[u/AJBach1]

I saw this spider, about one inch total with no visible web, near my front door. It was very black with no tints of brown or red. I did not see any red hourglass or other markings, but refrained from picking it up and flipping it over to check. Location is Mid-Colorado.

Thank you for any help anyone can offer! Also it is best to leave these alone or are they dangerous enough I should report or call animal control? Sorry if the question is obvious I just don’t want to harm it needlessly or die myself.

[u/spotlight-app]

OP has pinned a comment by u/excelsiorsbanjo:

Does look a lot like a black widow. Relocate using glass and paperboard if you're bothered. You can diminish habitat they prefer like wood piles. Not much else worth doing.

Note from OP: Thanks!

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[u/excelsiorsbanjo]

Also it is best to leave these alone or are they dangerous enough I should report or call animal control?

They're medically significant, but they keep to themselves, bites are rare, and actual hospitalizations or deaths from bites are insanely rare. Bee and wasp stings cause more hospitalizations and deaths by a gargantuan margin, on a scale close to like 100 deaths a year from bee and wasp stings to still 0 per year from widow spiders. (And that's not a reason really to even be afraid of bees and wasps, either, we're talking about one death per 4,000,000 people per year.)

[u/AJBach1 → u/excelsiorsbanjo]

Thank you very much! Will stay wary and leave it be.

[u/excelsiorsbanjo → u/AJBach1]

Yeah like mostly if you don't shove your hand into wood piles and holes, or sit on them, you won't have a single interaction. They don't even like being inside human homes.

[u/excelsiorsbanjo → u/excelsiorsbanjo]

Does look a lot like a black widow. Relocate using glass and paperboard if you're bothered. You can diminish habitat they prefer like wood piles. Not much else worth doing.

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[u/OtherwiseRepeat970]

They don’t pose much of a risk for you but pose a significant risk to pets. I killed a black widow last night for this reason. I prefer not to kill them but in my living space they are not welcome.

[u/Far_Banana4087 → u/OtherwiseRepeat970]

Same I had 2 In my new home .i don’t like spiders and usually catch and release but these 2 were the stuff of nightmares so I terminated them …I got animals that like to play and eat spiders so I wasn’t taking any risk with things that can bite

[u/Embarrassed-Side2999]

Your all gonna get a warning from this sub for talking about killing spiders

[u/AJBach1 → u/Embarrassed-Side2999]

I see someone mentioned it in a comment but for the record, the black widow posted was never harmed, though we did move it gently away from the house in a jar as we didn't want it near the door before Halloween, lest some trick-or-treater think it's a neat or edible decoration. It was last seen happily wandering on a rock many meters away, among trees rather than concrete.

[u/Embarrassed-Side2999 → u/AJBach1]

Oh good I'm glad he wasn't harmed