Close up of a shiny black widow spider in a tangled web on a brick wall, holding a brown cricket wrapped in silk, with dry grass caught in the web.

Our tech photographed this black widow spider on the brick wall of a Princeton home, sitting in a tangled web with a cricket she had caught and wrapped in silk. Black widows favor sheltered gaps and corners in brickwork, and crickets moving toward houses in fall give them a steady food supply. If you notice messy, low webs along your brick, have it inspected so the spiders and the insects drawing them in can be dealt with.