Black Widow showing belly marking, not always a perfect hourglass.

As warm weather approaches, we start getting calls about spiders and odd bugs people find in their garages, storage sheds, yards, and houses. The most common calls we get are in regard to spiders, especially black widows, brown recluse and a mysterious GIANT! spider that seems to strike fear in all who see one. The latter would be the common wolf spider.

Out of the tens of thousands of spiders in the world, only a few are dangerous to humans. The most common dangerously venomous spiders in the US are the Black Widow, the Brown Recluse, and the Hobo spider – and they rarely bite people. Far more people die each year of bee and wasp stings that from spider bites. And by the way, it is just a myth that the common daddy longlegs spider is extremely deadly – there is no scientific evidence to back up this fanciful tale.

One common spider in our area that you need NOT be overly concerned with is the aforementioned Wolf Spider. These large, furry spiders come in a wide variety of colors and do get quite large. They are not really tarantula sized but may look that way if you happen upon one in your house. They rarely bite and their bites are not normally life-threatening but can cause adverse reactions, like pain, redness, and swelling, in some people.

A nice big Wolf Spider

Once things warm up one of the most common larger spiders in our area is the orb weaver. This is a big family of spiders. Orb weavers come in many shapes and sizes and are relatively harmless to humans. The orb weaver most commonly seen around here is brown, tan, or light rust color, is about the size of a dime, and has a large bulbous abdomen with little points on it. Their spiral-shaped webs are often seen along the eaves of houses and around porch lights where their prey, insects, are drawn.

Another very different form of orb weaver is what is called the garden spider or black-and-yellow argiope. These big spiders weave beautiful and large, classic-looking webs with heavy zig-zags running up and down the center which act as stabilizers. They are called garden spiders as you most often see them in the garden, between bushes, or in tall weeds where there is enough room for their big webs and where insects are common.

Argiope or Garden Spider

Although not native to our area, there have been local accounts of Brown Recluse spiders – possible bites from them have been treated at our local hospital. In our mobile society, these may have been stowaways when people move to this area from regions where the recluse is common. It is not known if there are any stable populations here at this time. This is a relatively small and delicate-looking spider. They are also called fiddle-back spiders due to the violin-shaped pattern on their backs.

Brown Recluse Spider aka Fiddleback Spider

For the most part, the only spider we need to be concerned with in our area is the Black Widow. There are 5 varieties of Black Widows in the US and Canada with various types  of markings. But, the most obvious identifier is the large, shiny, black, round abdomen with a red (or sometimes yellow) hourglass on the underside. Young Black Widows are brown with cream-colored markings on the abdomen. This spider gets its name because the female reputedly has the habit of eating the male after mating if he doesn’t run away quickly enough. The male is much smaller – too small to inflict a dangerous bite to humans.

Black Widows are common in our area but stay hidden most of the time. They frequent basements, garages, sheds, trash piles, and outhouses; just about any quiet dark corner will do. They may also find their way into clothing and shoes making it a good idea to look before ‘slipping into something more comfortable.’

The female spins an irregular shaped, strong, and very sticky web, then spends most of her time hanging upside-down waiting for unsuspecting insects to drop by for dinner. A Black Widow will do her best to stay hidden in a remote corner of her web.  If bothered, she will try to run away. Biting is only a last resort if she cannot escape.

Because of her toxic venom, the bite of a Black Widow can be very dangerous to humans and animals. Within minutes of being bitten the most notable symptom of a Black Widow bite begins, extreme pain develops around the bite. This pain builds rapidly in intensity in the 30 minutes following the bite. Other symptoms develop as the powerful venom begins to work on the nervous system. None of these are much fun either:  nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fainting are accompanied by an increase in salivation, watering of the eyes, and profuse sweating.

Black Widow spider

If the bite remains untreated, speech may be affected, breathing becomes difficult, and the jaw muscles go into spasms, which distort the face into a pain-racked grimace. Muscles all over the body go rigid, especially those in the midsection, which may pull so tightly doctors have incorrectly diagnosed a spider bite as appendicitis or ulcer. Youngsters and older people are, of course, most at risk.

Fortunately there is an antivenom for a Black Widow bite. Once administered, the antivenom usually works quickly to neutralize the venom. Research has shown that the venom of the Black Widow is 15 times more potent than rattlesnake venom. No one is certain why such a little spider needs such potent venom to survive. Yet another example of Nature’s overkill I guess.

And those reptile guys keep telling me I just take care of the “harmless animals.”

Kathy Maguire
Curator of Amphibians and Invertebrates

It is Spider Season! Black Widows and their Friends. is a post from: Scales & Tales

Mac the Scarlet Macaw posing for one of his many portraits

On Wednesday, 10 March, we lost one of the very few living creatures that has been at Reptile Gardens longer than even us long-timers, Mac our Scarlet Macaw.

Like most parrots in the days before wildlife laws and captive breeding, Mac was captured in the wild, in South America. He was brought to the US in the early 1950’s and arrived here at Reptile Gardens as a large adult bird in 1956. We estimate his age at the time of his death to have been over 70 years.  He was a huge, brightly-colored bird loaded with personality. In fact in regards to his size, many parrot breeders and bird fanciers remarked that he was the largest scarlet macaw they had ever seen.

Mac achieved legendary status here at the Gardens once we moved down to our new location in 1965. At that time, he spent his summer days outside on a perch in our prairie dog town, which was right next to our snake show arena. He loved it outside. He would sit on his perch and talk, squawk, and “perform” for Guests. Sometimes he would climb down and wander around the prairie dog town, even chasing a prairie dog now and then just for the fun of it. After years spent listening to the snake show he was able to recite most, if not all, of the 20-minute snake show word for word. He could speak much more clearly than most macaws.

Mac in the Sky Dome

One of his favorite things to do was to act demure and quietly wait for an unsuspecting Guest or staff member to wander nearby. Or if that didn’t work he would calmly say “Come here” to get his victim to come move in closer. As soon as he felt the person was sufficiently near and lulled into complacency or not paying attention to him, he would let loose with one of those amazing filling-rattling, eardrum-shattering screams for which macaws are known. This would, of course, cause his victim to jump nearly to the ceiling and cover their ears, which would then result in Mac laughing in a human laugh…really. As a result of this hobby, Mac added a considerable number of cuss words to his already huge vocabulary.

This was not a bird to be trifled with that is for certain. I have seen him splinter a broom stick with ease and bend metal food dishes into modern art. He was not generally fond of men, especially men with facial hair and had moments in his younger days when he could be quite aggressive toward them. Apparently, at some point in his life before he arrived here, something happened involving a bearded man that he never forgot.  He could fool a novice Dome Guide or bird staff member into thinking their lives were in danger by simply striking a pose. Don’t tell anyone but our fearless reptile curator, Terry Phillip, known for his skills with deadly venomous snakes – the man who risks his life daily in the jaws of death – was once chased onto a table screaming like a baby and reduced to a puddle of fear by a mere bird: Mac the Scarlet Macaw.

For the past decade or so Mac has spent his days on a perch in the Safari Room of our Sky Dome. There, partially hidden among the jungle plants, he delighted Guests with his antics and was the subject of countless photos.  New Safari Room guides would often wonder who was saying “Hello” and “Come here.” when they could see no one in the room. He would sit and mutter to himself, occasionally embarrassing a parent with young children. Of course, he still took pleasure in startling an unwary passerby with his shriek.

Reptile Gardens will not be the same without Mac. Our staff, even the guys, loved Mac and the history he represented here. Year after year, Mac consistently scored as one of the top favorite animals in our Guest surveys. Sadly, in the last couple of years Mac had begun to show his age. He was losing his eyesight and his energy. Our veterinarian did all she could but ultimately he just couldn’t fight the good fight anymore. The staff of Wildlife Experiences has been caring for Mac, and our other parrots, for some years now. I know they too are much saddened by his death after working so closely with him for so long. Whether you know it is coming or not, it is always heartbreaking when we lose one of our animal residents, especially one you have known for so very long.

Mac was never in a show or trained to do tricks. His status as a senior member of our staff was established early and he always got to do just what he wanted. This impressive bird will live on in the tens of thousands of photos taken of him over the past half a century plus that he spent here keeping us on our toes and enriching our lives.

Mac on his outside perch in the early 1970's

Mac the Scarlet Macaw is a post from: Scales & Tales

Rattlesnake

A recent question about rattlesnakes prompted us to write this post, since we figured it may be helpful to many people in the Black Hills area.

The question involved concerns that there has been an increase in the population of rattlesnakes, or that there was a nearby den of snakes that contributed to increased snake encounters and danger to children and pets.

In fact, there have been many such questions this year. In nearly 13 years here at Reptile Gardens, I have never received so many calls about rattlesnakes.

More Activity, Not Snakes

The short story is we don’t have more rattlesnakes this year. We are just encountering them more frequently because both humans and snakes have been more active due to more temperate weather.

Rattlesnakes generally enjoy cooler weather. Not cold weather, but definitely cooler than some of the drought-inducing temperatures we’ve experienced in the last decade or so.

We’ve become accustomed to low snake activity in the summer because of these high temperatures. During these periods, rattlesnakes are generally more active:

- Early morning

- Late evening

- Night time

And since humans are generally the least active at these times, there’s a perception of low rattlesnake activity, which implies a lower population.

So What Changed?

The last couple summers have been much cooler than previous years, so the snake’s activity cycles are greatly increased. They are active on most summer days at 4pm or so, all night, and until 12 or 1pm.  This leaves only a few hours of the day where they are avoiding the higher temps.

Since it hasn’t been so stinkin’ hot for us people too, we are out and about for longer periods of time when the snakes are also active. The result: we are seeing more snakes this year than in previous years.

So rest assured, there’s no uptick in snake populations, nor is it likely there is a den close by that poses any more danger than usual.  You’ll simply want to be more vigilant and take some precautions against enticing snakes onto your property. We’ll be writing more about that soon – stay tuned!

More Rattlesnakes in the Black Hills is a post from: Scales & Tales

Reptile Gardens

Welcome to our new blog!

We started this blog because many of you have questions about reptiles and about Reptile Gardens.

Some of what we offer here will be technical, some fun, and some will simply be news.

We also see and receive so many web posts of photos and information concerning reptiles that are exaggerated or  just plain untrue.  As the premier reptile collection in the world, we feel a need to address these “reptile myths” and tall tales.

And, with so much going on with our staff and our reptile collection, we want to keep you up to date on all our happenings as well.

Feel free to join our ongoing dialogue!

Welcome to Reptile Gardens’ Blog! is a post from: Scales & Tales