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• Male black widow spiders are very small and quite harmless. They are usually less than one-third the size of the females, which makes them only about one-sixth of an inch long. Male black widows also have black, shiny bodies, but do not have any red markings like the females. Unlike the bite of a female, the male black widow spiders' bite is not at all dangerous to humans.
• Female black widow spiders live much longer than the males. A female sometimes lives as long as 18 months, but a male's life span is only from 25 to 40 days. Black widow spiders shed their skin in order to grow. This is called molting. Female black widows molt seven to nine times before reaching maturity. Males only molt between four and seven times.
• Scientists think that female black widows only have babies once in their lives. They lay their eggs in the early spring, in round cocoons about one-half inch across. Each cocoon contains between 250 and 750 eggs. The female spider guards her cocoons very closely. After about thirty days the black widow spiderlings hatch from the many eggs.
• Black widow spiders spin their webs in sheltered places, usually in rock crevices or dark corners. The threads are quite fine, but very strong. The web itself is closely woven and tangled-looking. The black widows wait for their prey at one side of the web. Whenever the web moves slightly, they rush out to attack. First the spiders bind their prey with silk so that it cannot move, and then inject it with venom to paralyze it. The prey is then ready to eat.
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