What Spider Is This

[DragonsEye]

Paree, from what I recall, Pholcid spiders (Family Pholcidae) primarily take very small prey ... ants and such being a common food source. An adult widow would be too large for them.

That aside, false widows are very timid. I would not worry about a possible bite from them either. Never seen S. grossa like those you have pictured. Quite lovely things. Mine (yes, I do keep them) are generally a rather boring deep brown as adults -- wish they looked more like the ones you have pictured.

[Pareeeee]

Originally Posted by DragonsEye

Paree, from what I recall, Pholcid spiders (Family Pholcidae) primarily take very small prey ... ants and such being a common food source. An adult widow would be too large for them.

What source are you getting this information from? It's a fact that certain Pholcids go after Redbacks, Black Widows, etc. It's those long legs that protect their tiny bodies from being bitten while wrapping their prey in silk. Perhaps you have smaller subspecies where you live?

Here's one of many videos documenting it:
Daddy Long legs vs Black Widow - YouTube

Also another pholcid attacking another even bigger spider:
Daddy long-legs spider vs.House Spider - YouTube

And if you can handle the cheesy sound-effects, this one is pretty entertaining:
Monster Bug Wars- Cellar Spider Vs. White-Tailed Spider - YouTube

Originally Posted by DragonsEye

That aside, false widows are very timid. I would not worry about a possible bite from them either. Never seen S. grossa like those you have pictured. Quite lovely things. Mine (yes, I do keep them) are generally a rather boring deep brown as adults -- wish they looked more like the ones you have pictured.

Yeah they seem to be variable. The house I grew up in had a lot of them, and I don't remember ever having been bitten. I'm sure I picked them up too, that's what I used to/still do. The ones we have here are mostly brown, with a faint version of the mottly/speckling.

[DragonsEye]

Hmm, miss a couple months, miss a lot it seems.

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

DragonsEye do you keep widows as well?

Not currently though I have in the past and will again at some point -- beautiful creatures. Latrodectus bishopii is my favorite. Unfortunately it is only native to a small region of Florida.

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

My husband was bitten and received a very nasty reaction to a Northern Black Widow last year.

How unfortunate! Black widows are actually far more numerous that people realize. Documented bites are rare (as with the vast majority of "spider bites," people -- including docters -- simply "assume" that a bug bite came from a spider). Yours is one of the few verifiable ones I have heard. The reaction you had is actually typical -- despite what folklore and the idiot media would have the public believe. Overall, the widows, as with all spiders, do far more good than harm and pose less of a threat than many items in our lives -- including dogs, horses, and automobiles.

Originally Posted by Pareeeee

What source are you getting this information from? It's a fact that certain Pholcids go after Redbacks, Black Widows, etc. It's those long legs that protect their tiny bodies from being bitten while wrapping their prey in silk. Perhaps you have smaller subspecies where you live?

Cool vids, Paree!

Partly personal experience and partly dimly remembered readings (but -- alas! -- I cannot remember the source(s) ).

I could caution against such blanket statements as: <I> "don't kill Daddy-Longlegs spiders if you see them, they are harmless and keep other spider populations under control. Their favourite diet includes things like Black Widows."
</I> As you pointed out in your last post <I>"certain Pholcids"</I> do ... Without identification or observation on the OP's part, no way to tell if their specimen would do so. On a somewhat related note, there are some species of Salticidae (jumping spiders) that include other spiders -- particularly the cobweb weavers -- in their diet.