Black Widow spider spotted in Mulmur

Carolyn Lane was surprised to find a Northern Black Widow spider on the front porch of her Mulmur home earlier this month.

She said she stepped outside to greet the neighbour’s dog and saw the spider, about four centimetres long. Although she had never seen a Black Widow spider before, she said she knew exactly what she was looking at.

Lane said she was really freaked out by the spider and called for her husband, Christopher Dodd, who captured it in a jar. They decided to release the spider back into the forest that surrounds their home, knowing that it is an important part of the ecosystem.

The Northern Black Widow is indigenous to southern and eastern Ontario.

Generally, only females are cause for concern, according to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). The Black Widow spider’s venom is 15 times more poisonous than that of a rattlesnake but even so, the small amount of venom they produce gets quickly diluted by the human body. A Black Widow bite can cause severe pain and lead to painful muscle contractions. The bites are generally not life threatening for healthy adults, but medical attention should always be sought following a Black Widow bite, particularly for children and the elderly, says the NCC.