A couple of weeks ago I had to get rid of some skunks. A female dropped a litter last spring under an outbuilding, and we've been waiting for them to go away, and they did, all but three. Just wouldn't leave. Tried everything. So I had to crawl under the building with a .410 and... Wasn't pleasant.

Point is, I wasn't going under the building until I could do all I could to clear out the black widows. And that meant spraying with Cypermethrin, not scattering orange juice and fossil dust. So, the week before, I sprayed the areas where I'd be crawling.

As I crawled I watched for white egg sacs. The black widow female is most dangerous when she's tending the sac. Won't eat for the two or three weeks it takes to hatch out, and she gets hungry, mean and aggressive. Otherwise they usually flee.

I half expected to get stung by a scorpion as I was crawling, but I only picked up a couple of dozen fire ant bites. Almost rolled over on a velvet ant, and that's an experience I never want to have. They say those are painful stings.