brown recluses

[ceresa 3]

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

[Kez/JWolf 6]

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

Kez

[me_4_musa 1]

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!

[TracyTN 237]

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.

Edited February 9, 2007 by TracyTN

[JayJay 4]

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.

Edited February 9, 2007 by JayJay

[Ban Hammer 12,872]

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

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

Edited February 9, 2007 by charlesandnessa

[Keigwyn 1]

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!)

[Mags 112]

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

There's a moose aloose aboot this hoose!

Edited February 9, 2007 by mags

[Chris-n-Veronica 0]

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...

[Elena75 0]

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

[Kathryn41 3,205]

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 . . .

Edited February 9, 2007 by Kathryn41

[ladybutterfly 0]

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.

[Mags 112]

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

[TracyTN 237]

Mags

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

[Chris-n-Veronica 0]

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.

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

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