Send Me Your Spiders: UC Riverside Scientist Wants Your Help!

RIVERSIDE (CBS) — A UC Riverside scientist is asking for the public's help...and brace yourselves for what he wants.

Research associate Rick Vetter has been tracking the invasive brown widow spider and their egg sacs. And here is where you come in.

He wants you to find them and catch them and then send them to him!

Brown widows are usually found in Florida, but recently they've come to Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Bernardino counties. Welcome brown widows!

Brown widows are a nasty assignment. They're not terribly friendly and they are twice as potent as the black widow. On the plus side, they are less likely to defend their egg sacs (round and yellow with spiky protrusions).

Are you still reading?

Oh, and don't spray the specimens with pesticides! Vetter wants people to send eggs and spiders in separate containers labeled with the city they were found.  He needs about 2,000. Good luck, Rick!

Where to send: Rick Vetter, Brown Widow Project, Dept of Entomology, UC Riverside, Riverside California 92521.

For more information click here.