how common are brown recluses?

How often do you all spray.. do you do it yourselves, or professionally done?

Should I be worried? I saw a spider in our house Im not sure whether it was a brown recluse until hubby comes home. I know about the fiddle but the spider is so tiny I cant tell. Even so, I need calming down

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2061.html

Kez

My neighbor got bitten by one and got very ill. She was checking her mailbox and when she grabbed the stack of mail in the box she got bit by a recluses. It nearly rotted her finger off!

I can tell you that you can't spray for them yourself. Apparently it takes a special-ish chemical to get rid of them.

How common they are, I believe, depends on the part of the country you live in.

I had the pest control man here last time my fiance visited me. He opened the attic (which I never go in) and one fell out. He killed it (chemical) and my fiance saw it so at least now he knows what to look for. I, however, was horrified and vowed to continue my ban of the attic. At least until the exterminator goes up and inspects more closely.

From what I've read, black widows are actually worse to be bitten by. They emit a neuro toxin, which can be immediately deadly (esp. if you've already been bitten by one once). Brown recluse bites are far more surviveable (so the exterminator said).

If you are curious, google it and find a piccy. But I'm thinking if the one you saw is small-ish, it probably wasn't a brown recluse.

Brown Recluse spiders aren't really very common - and they are also not very keen on people, so I wouldn't worry too much if I were you

IF you live in a part of the country where they're located (and that's usually further down south) then just check your shoes before you put them on if you leave them in an area insects frequent. like most animals, spiders do not enjoy ebign squashed and that's when you'll get bitten.

HOWEVER, find comfort in the fact that most reports of Brown Reculse spiders are cases of mistaken identity - common house spiders can get bigger than these beasties, and can often be mis-diagnosed, as it were!

Panic ye not, young lady! Thou shalt be a'iit

This is a brown recluse (sorry if anyone squamish is reading this: but I wouldn't expect it, sicne anyone scared of spiders hopefully wouldn't look at this thread, no?):



Little thing, isn't he?

And click here for a pretty decent website related to the Brown Recluse and other species of Recluse spider.

and here is even a webpage named after them

link

we have them here in kansas, but somewhere i saw that the state with the most bites by a brown recluse is missouri.

they like dark places, so be careful - always use a flashlight to look before you stick your hand in. other ways to get bitten are:
-When people put on clothing or shoes (containing a spider) that were left on the floor overnight when the spider crawled into the object.
-When people blindly pick up or grab objects with out gloves in a secluded or rarely visited area.
-When people roll over in bed on a spider that had climbed up the covers that were touching the floor.

i spray around my house on a consistent basis. i figure if i kill off all the other bugs, the brown recluses will die off from lack of food. don't know if what i spray will kill them, but i figure something is better than nothing. the spray does kill off other spiders that come in contact with it for several weeks though.

map of where they can be found:


another source for info is this site:

wikipedia
if you are in texas, i'd not be surprised if the fire ants keep the brown recluse killed off pretty well
black widows are also a threat too, if you need info on them just ask and i'll post such.

eta: now this is a scary spider! it kills on average 5 people a year!

brazilian wandering spider

Gee, thats why I like living in the Upper Michigan. Nothing small that can get you! But then, we do have Wolves, lynx, bears and moose!
(but they only have four legs!)

I'd rather see a moose than a spider.....

There's a moose aloose aboot this hoose!

I've seen bites of the recluse...and it eats away the muscle tissue So it leaves a big pock mark.... it's very nasty...So have it sprayed professional unless you want to leave it up to a can of Raid...

I live in an area that is lousy with these spiders. I have learned to deal with them as I occasionally see them in the house. Two years ago I had a bad problem with them and I ordered a product online called Demon WP and it worked great. These spiders are called recluses for a reason, they are not keen on human company. Luckily I was never bitten even though I had them so bad that one crawled on me. I have known alot people that have been bitten by these little guys and not all people get the reactions you see on the internet. If you want to see if you have them you can use the "glue" spider traps along walls and see what you catch. It makes it much easier to identify them that way.

Good luck

We have brown recluses and black widows in the area and it worries me because I honestly don't know how to identify one spider from another. I can tell the Wolf Spiders and there is a huge orange and black garden spider here that makes a zigzag web, but there are others and sometimes they move faster than I can track. It is only recently that I have stopped being literally paralyzed into motionless at the sight of a spider so it is hard to actually look at one. Even when growing up I had to have my Mom check out my winter boots every autumn to make sure there were no spiders in them - and there aren't poisonous spiders in Ontario! Now, any spider that dares to enter the house is squashed. I am not only worried about them for me but also because of the cats. The cats think spiders are wonderful playtoys but I know a black widow bite can be fatal for a cat. I suspect a brown recluse wouldn't be a good thing for them either, so I am very vigilant about insects that enter the house. So far they are allowed flies, moths and earwigs - all else get taken away and/or killed. My husband was bitten by a spider once -didn't know what type though - and there is an indentation about the size of 2 quarters wide. It still bothers him on occasion. I am also hesitant about using insecticides around because of the cats and other wildlife. Fire ants though - I go after those things with the fireant bait regularly - they are so persistent - and our neighbours don't police their yards for them so they keep setting new nests over here. I discovered I am allergic to their bite as well - not a nice thing. Sure wish I could just have some nice harmless spiders around to keep the other insects in check, but no, now they are dangerous too! Oh , we also have poisonous snakes here as well! Pleasures of the south . . .

Yeah, definately check your towels before you use them. I live in San Diego, California and several months ago I was washing my face and then grabbed the hand towel to dry it. Usually my eyes are closed after washing my face as I dont like to get water in them, but this time my eyes were open .... and luckily they were! There on the hand towel was a black widow spider! I screamed and shook the towel so hard and then killed it. OMG, if I had put that towel on my face ... it doesnt bear thinking about.

Well, I WASN'T scared until I read this thread.....

Mags

I dunno about you, but I may never be able to use a face towel again! Eeeeeek!!!!

I wasn't scared until I read this one.....


We get recluses in Idaho too.... so that map above isn't that good...

I will never shut my eyes when I wash my face ever again

Mags... that's just what I was coming on here to post. I've never been scared of spiders, at all, and the idea of squashing a spider horrifies me - flies and wasps are there to be squished, spiders are there to be carefully picked up and let outside, or just to be left to live happily in the corner where they're not bothering me. But maybe that's growing up in a country where the spiders mind their own business and rid your house of insects for you... this thread has freaked me out a bit. I'd never even heard of brown recluses 'til I opened this thread. Must remember... spiders bad. Spiders no longer my friends... eeek!

Black widow on hand towel....

I've actually just washed my face and guess what...I checked the towel first!

Incidentally, I live in a really old house that we are renovating. Just think 200 year old plaster and lath walls that haven't been touched since they were put up and we have to rip it all down. We have half ripped down walls, gaps in all sorts of places...just how many of these buggars do you think are in there??????????

Tell ya what, I'm gonna check the bed before I get in there tonight which, may I add, has the covers touching the floor....




Tell me about it! Spiders are supposed to be good little things to have around....aren't they???

I havent seen to many big spiders here yet, and have only seen one big snake.


I freak when I see those big black cock roaches. I dont want to see those spiders, I would probley have a heart attack for sure.

I grew up and lived in Oklahoma most of my life. Some of that time on a cattle ranch working in dark dusty barns. Oklahoma is thick with recluses and black widows and I have never been bitten. A little extra caution and common sense and you will be fine...

NOw you did it...Covers touching the floor...

Oooooh you guysss.... Just gather the little creatures up and make a nice stir-fry out of them. *giggles*

*runs away to avoid being slapped...teeehehhehe! Protein*

I've lived in Missouri all my life and almost everyone I know says they have been bitten by those little critters. Maybe they have. I've also been told that if you live in Missouri...you have brown recluses in your home. Everyone reacts to the bites differently....some minor like a mosquito bite and others are pretty ugly. I did see a patient once that eventually had to have a skin graft due to a brown recluse bite. On another note, brown recluse do not spin webs so I tend to like seeing cob webs once in a while.

Which is exactly where I got bitten by a black widow when I first moved to Virginia. I was cleaning the barn out and that b!tch got me. Mannn....was I ever sick for several days and on MEGA doses of anti-biotics.
I lived to tell about it tho...lol...and learned from my mistake.

apparently brown recluses and black widows have made their way as far north as Ontario. Spider bites have been reported, but I'm not sure if they're confirmed brown recluse or other types of recluse.

They probably wouldn't survive the metre of snow on them though!

We've got brown recluse and black widows here in NC, and I think 10 different types of poisonous snake. So far I haven't seen any.

Yeah, I've only seen one poisonous snake that wasn't in some sort of a zoo or an exhibition at a state park - and that was a coral snake right on the front door step at my sister in law's home in the Houston area. My brother in law killed it because it was just too close to the house and they have young grandchildren who play in the yard. My husband had water moccasins on the farm he used to have, though. Poisonous snakes don't worry me as much as spiders - you can generally see those suckers coming!

This has made me paranoid! I'll just buy some cats! They'll kill any intruders!

exactly what i was gonna suggest. cats are a great defense against spiders. look a new toy. bat bat bat bat bat

But surely, if a cat is bitten by a brown recluse (highly likely if they are tormenting it) they will die?

That is why I take spiders away from the cats - the bites of brown recluse and black widows can have very serious repercussions for cats and I don't want anything to happen to them.

Protein = good
venom = bad

my cats got plenty of hair on his paws, i'd be surprised if anything could bite thru all of that. usually he smacks it and then waits a bit and smacks it again

I hate spiders but I wasn't worried about poisonous ones until I read this thread. I've never heard of a brown recluse and I didn't like it at all!

And it's funny 'cus I have a farm in the Amazon back in Brazil with plenty of baddies for me to be worried about. I guess over there I'm just used to shaking my shoes before putting them on, and I always shake my towels, etc. Never thought of doing that in Rio de Janeiro though, and apparently I should have.

Oh well, from what my husband tells me Puerto Rico is pretty much free of poisonous threats. Apparently we don't have dangerous snakes or spiders. the only poisonous thing being the earwig, and I know for sure those aren't so poisonous as to kill a human, although it's said to hurt like hell.

earwigs are poisonous? not according to wikipedia link

"There is no evidence that they transmit disease or otherwise harm humans or other animals, despite their nickname pincher bug."

thanks for all your replies... i dont know whether to be calm or terrified

our house is only 2 months old, do you think that helps some? and how often do you all spray?

our covers touch the floor too... they won't be anymore though !!

my inlaws live out in the country, once my FIL called me in their bedroom to show me a brown recluse crawling in the bathroom sink, that things was huge !!!! and he was actually proud of it !!

Well you know that saying - "Everything's bigger in Texas!"

if it was huge, then it wasn't a brown recluse. They're not even an inch big, including legs.

It's NOT a Brown Recluse IF any of the following are true:

1) It's really BIG:
A spider's body is in two main parts. The size of the body, not including legs, of a recluse is smaller than a dime.

2) It's really HAIRY:
Brown recluses have only very fine hairs that are invisible to the naked eye.

3) It JUMPS:
Jumping spiders live up to their name, and some other spiders including wolf spiders occasionally jump, but recluses don't.

4) I found it in a WEB
Brown recluses don't spin a web to catch prey; they spin silk retreats and egg cases, but don't form a typical recognizable web.

5) It has DISTINCT MARKINGS VISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE, such as stripes, diamonds, chevrons, spots, etc. that are easily seen.
Brown recluses have no markings on their legs or abdomen (the largest part of the spider's body). The "violin" is very small and located on the front half of the body. The violin is also indistinct in some, especially young spiders. They're really rather dull looking.

i spray outside when it gets to about 60 degrees for the first time. i spray outside and then about once every 4-6 weeks after that, i continue that until about when it gets down to freezing and stays there for several days. since you're in texas i'd say just spray once a month from about end of feb to end of nov.

Ok, so that about wraps it up on Brown Recluses, so who's going to start the thread on wood ticks???