Concerning Various Animal Pests

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Last night, after work, I bought a half wine barrel, with the idea of turning it into a mini-pond from which our bees could drink. Urban and suburban beekeepers are advised to provide a consistent source of water for the bees. Neglecting to do this will send the bees out foraging, and they're likely to end up drinking out of your neighbor's dogs' dishes, or their swimming pools.

This is not a good way to endear one's self to one's neighbors, or to inspire kind thoughts about one's backyard hives.

So, I was pretty excited to find a barrel with a pond-liner for sale -- cheap! -- on Craigslist. The owners were selling it because they were moving to India, and also because they were tired of having their local raccoons eat all the fish they had in the barrel. We haven't seen any raccoons in our yard, and I hadn't given much thought to fish. However, the seller did mention that Alameda County will deliver free mosquito-eating fish to your door, as part of their campaign against West Nile Virus.

The seller and I carried the large and heavy barrel out to my car, and then I headed off to a lovely evening of needlework. I was pretty tired when I got home, and so I left the barrel in the car overnight, figuring that I'd unload it when I got home from work, the next day. Nobody was likely to steal a barrel out of my car. And anyway, I wanted to carry it in daylight.




So, when I got home from work today, I hauled the liner and the barrel out of my car. I was trying to figure out how to lift the barrel, and chatting with a band of roving Mormons, when I noticed the Black Widow Spider in the back of my car. All politeness evaporated, and I told the church ladies that I really, really didn't have time to talk. Would they please leave their brochures on my porch, and vamoose, immediately?

I had my hands full with the task of not freaking out. The spider was dead. Sure. But what about that gigantic egg sac on the bottom of the barrel? And what about all of her sisters, who were surely camped out under the seats of the car, slavering for human ankles? There are no spiders more frightening than the spiders in one's imagination. My car was crawling with just those spiders.

I'm really not sure what to do, now.

Clearly, a huge vacuuming party is on the schedule. But do I want to vacuum, or can I -- in clear conscience -- take the car to the carwash and pay someone to vacuum away my phantom spiders? Do I admit to spiders, and hope that they'll be willing to do the work, or keep my mouth shut and leave a huge tip?

And what do I do with the egg sac? I'm just weird enough of a nature-lover that I don't want to kill the baby spiders. I believe that they have a place in the ecosystem. However, I'm not convinced that their particular place in the ecosystem should be my back yard. For now, the barrel sits in the driveway, blocking my car.

And just to add to the litany of animals that people consider pests, Robb had our first encounter with a backyard raccoon last night. The outdoor cats and Linguine were freaking out. Robb was worried about our bees. And the raccoon refused to be flustered. It sat in the middle of our path, obliviously grooming, and probably dreaming of the taste of mosquito-fish.

I love nature. I really do. But sometimes I like a bit of distance between myself and nature.

Update: After further investigation,
I now think that this may be Steatoda grossa,
the False Black Widow.
This spider is an European invader,
frequently mistaken for the Black Widow.