I’ve smushed loads of these my whole life. Where I grew up we had them, they live in Vegas as well. I’ve never been bitten by one-few close calls picking up pallets, but never stung.
I’ve smushed more than I can count with my palm, first few were kinda scary. Then after I figured out that works every time it’s not a big deal.
I know a few people who have been big/stung by them and depending on the level of their allergic response their wounds varied. Nobody I know ever lost their life-however I do believe in a small % of people they can be lethal. It’s painful. I remember one person with their arm in a sling for a month or 2 from a bite.
Their webs are very very tight and if you strum the web you can hear it-where most other spiderwebs are very delicate(except bird spiders and spiders that live in trees) black windows live under things in dark areas so having thick webs is a unusual trait they have. There’s no web “pattern” like the tree spiders. But their webs are noticeable and when we used to lift anything up and see webs we’d touch the web to see if they were present or other spiders (with delicate webs)
Interesting topic
Fatboy<——-not snake bit or spider bit(so far) ok I’ve been bit by snakes. But I’m not “snake bit” different topic.
