Is This Crawling Nightmare Really Common At The Jersey Shore?

This is the stuff nightmares are made of. Of course, this info would come out right around Halloween. If you were one of the many Jersey Shore residents who slept well thinking black widow spiders are someone else's problem and not ours, you better think again. Many Jersey Shore residents will tell you all about their encounters with the Black Widow spider right here.

It might come as a complete shock to you that Jersey Shore residents have seen black widows in our area on a pretty regular basis. I learned this when I was on a Toms River & Neighbors community page.

Someone snapped a photo of a black widow in their Toms River backyard, and the number of locals who were not shocked at all is a little bone-chilling. There were a lot of 'me too's" and "I've been seeing them for years."

And it's not just Toms River. We have had residents claim to see them in Jackson, Tuckerton, and Manahawkin as well. And although many residents say they have witnessed them, experts say they are not very common in New Jersey

So, are people misidentifying here or are we really in Black Widow country here?

Here's what Arrow NJ has to say...

Black widow spiders like to hide in furniture and stored boxes as well. But they don't have to be transported from another state. We have localized populations right here in New Jersey.

That's just great. Another thing for us to worry about as if we don't have enough already. But there is good news. Experts say the Black Widow would much rather scurry away from you than try to bite you.

And they are pretty easy to identify, with that red hourglass on their round abdomen. Here's what to do if you do get bitten by a Black Widow, according to USA Spiders. Get immediate medical attention although most Black Widow bites are "usually uncomfortable but not deadly".

They go on to say that 10X the number of people in the U.S. die from bee and wasp stings than do from spider bites. But please, still be careful. Don't mess with a Black Widow.

I am still shaken a bit by this revelation. You may have known this for years, but I didn't. Still, I'm going to put them for sale sign I grabbed when I first heard this spider news in my garage and see how things go.