If you see this, do you still enter the crawlspace

[tbird]

When you see this at the entry of the crawlspace, what do you do? Just curious on your thoughts. Do you sweep it away? Do you note in the report that you did not enter due to poisonous spiders? Do you keep bug spray with you and enter later? What do you do?

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[Bill Kibbel]

Change into dry coveralls.

[hausdok]

I'd sweep her away and go in. You probably won't find more than one of them in the same crawl anyway.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Brad Manor]

I remind myself to be grateful to live somewhere that crawls aren't terribly common, crawlies even less common.

-Brad

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by tbird

When you see this at the entry of the crawlspace, what do you do? Just curious on your thoughts. Do you sweep it away? Do you note in the report that you did not enter due to poisonous spiders? Do you keep bug spray with you and enter later? What do you do?

Black widows don't live in my area. If they did, I'd always keep a couple of cans of fogging insecticide with me. I'd squash or relocate the visible gal in your photo, then I'd fog the crawlspace and enter it an hour or so later.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Phillip]

Get rid of her then crawl on in.

[Terence McCann]

It's actually quite magnificent. I'd relocate it outdoors and proceed with the inspection.

[Bain]

Black widow bites actually aren't so bad. In KY, it's the brown recluse spiders you have to look out for. Their venom causes necrosis of the skin, and there's really nothing that can be done about it.

[Tim Maxwell]

When I have a crawlspace I usually see one. They're even more common in the water meters. So be careful when taking the lids off of those.

I still have yet to see a live brown recluse. I've studied the photos.

I've seen like three snakes and zero critters other than squirrels, birds or bats.

[Scottpat]

I find them in outdoor electrical panels on a regular basis. Always look for the fine web the she weaves, it is unlike any other spiders web. The BR (Brown Recluse) are the bad boys(Girls) in the Southern states. I find more of them than I do Black Widow spiders.

Once you get past the entrance you will seldom is ever find spiders. They stay near the entrance or vents so they can catch the bugs the enter. Sorry to say to all you spider lovers, but I do not relocate them.

[John Dirks Jr]

Black Widow bites may not be too dangerous to a healthy adult but to a young child it can be a much bigger problem. The Brown Recluse can actually show up anywhere even thought they are indigenous mainly to the south. They move around the country in shipments of furniture and the like. I think both should be considered dangerous just for safety sake.

BTW all spiders have venom. Because the all have venom they are all poisonous. It's just that some are more dangerous than others.

[Erby]

If I didn't do crawl spaces with spider webs, I wouldn't do any crawl spaces. Be watchful. Wear protection.

[Bain]

We also have a rat infestation in downtown Lexington, Erby, near Wilgus and Race Streets. A neighbor walked over to a house I was checking out on Wilgus a couple of weeks ago and told me he'd recently been awakened by crunching in his kitchen. The guy got up, walked into the kitchen and found a rat munching away on dog food. The size? According to the neighbor, the rat was as big as a large opossum, which is what, thirty pounds or so?

I think rats are nocturnal, but I was wigged to the max scooting around in that crawlspace.

Loki says, "Hi."

John

[Erby]

I'm fortunate, I think. I've managed to stay out of those shotgun houses in that area for the most part.

Do you see the news story about the rat infestation in Andover Hills. $300,000.00 house with a rat problem????

http://www.kentucky.com/179/story/219389.html

The neighbors were freaking out!

Rats are nocturnal. They sleep in the crawl space during the day. I'd be making lots of noise!

[Bill01]

Black Widows ARE dangerous. My grandfather was killed by one in his boot. I moved into a new home in 1997 and killed at least 12 Black Widows in the first year. Haven't seen any since. If I see something like that photo, I will not enter. I have to admit to a fear of spiders. Snakes, I don't mind at all. But here in my area of Georgia, I do expect to see them whenever I open the cover to a water meter.

[tbird]

Originally posted by Bill01

Black Widows ARE dangerous. My grandfather was killed by one in his boot. I moved into a new home in 1997 and killed at least 12 Black Widows in the first year. Haven't seen any since. If I see something like that photo, I will not enter. I have to admit to a fear of spiders. Snakes, I don't mind at all. But here in my area of Georgia, I do expect to see them whenever I open the cover to a water meter.

That was the exact feedback I have gotten from other local inspectors. This is why I ask. I usually sweep it aside and quickly go in.