brown recluse spiders and the arachnophobe

This message was edited May 3, 2006 7:31 AM

i see the title to this. a brown recluse spider bite is a nasty thing. i am hoping you weren't bitten by one.

I second that. One bit my mother last summer and she was 6 months getting over it.

No, I just found one in the shower, which was kinda traumatic, I can deal with spiders in the house if they don't touch me, but not POISONOUS ones. I was wondering if anyone knew how the get rid of them, since I couldn't sleep, (knowing they were lying in wait to crawl on me in my sleep..lol ) I did some online research, and then went out the the 24 hour Walmart and bought tons o' sticky traps to put in the closets. I killed another one last night, tho, so I am a little scared still. Appartently, tho, they really aren't aggressive, per se, and most ppl are only bitten when the spider is trapped in clothing, or someone rolls over on one in bed..(great, that helps ny insommnia!!)

Well, it's probably time to call an exterminator on this one. I got bit many years ago. I can take a photo of the bite site and show you if you want to put your mind to rest. There's a lot of horrible photos out there but most of those were probably taken in the days shortly after the bite. All the horror stories out there of nasty scarring and whatever else is being said really give one a case of the willies but where i was bit is nothing remarkable and sort of looks as if it is a little scar from where somebody put out a cigarette in my arm. That is where they dug out the venom. You must be in a wooded area. Fiddlebacks do seem to like to hang out at ground level in clothes, carpets, blankets, and pet bedding on the floor. That's how i got nailed. I was gathering up clothing scattered here there and everywhere on the floor by my piggie husband to do laundry. Needless to say, I try to demand that all laundry goes down the chutes now. There's not much more I can say other than that this time it is probably a good idea for you to seriously consider calling in the pros. After we did, we found that there had been quite a few more Fiddlebacks in the house. The exterminators come through the house and do their thing then they vacuum to give you a sampling of what they "exterminated". I was not too happy because it appeared the Fiddlebacks had reproduced in my house. oh joy. You don't know me from Adam but I can tell you I will attempt to avoid chemicals whenever possible so for me to come out the gate and tell you to please consider getting an exterminator is a big thing. First you found the one in the shower and then now you found a second one in a closet. One in a house may be a "stray" but two? My bet is they reproduced and they are in your house. They may be non aggressive but.... sticky tapes may not cut it for you this time. Please look up Loxosceles reclusa and see how many offspring they have.

Oh, no.. I believe you! I am just very wary of the chemical thing..esp since I have read that the only way spraying kills them (spiders in general) is if they are actually sprayed..residuals don't seem to affect them, and killing any other things just gives them more food (apparently they are one of the only spiders known to PREFER dead things..ugh) I may, however, give in, the exterminator will be here for the Carpenter bees outside tomorrow(they are destoying the wood trim along the roof) and I have the corpse of the one from the shower in a jar.
Thank you for your concern all!

Good thing you hung onto the one from the shower. Your worries might be unfounded. For some reason, many people confuse the Brown Recluse with common and harmless Wolf Spiders. Wolf Spiders are members of the Lycosidae family. They are basically the same color and like to hang out in the same areas. If you have Wolf Spiders, best to leave them be because they don't bother anything and they aren't poisonous. I had a girlfriend who told me she was convinced she had Fiddlebacks in her house and she ended up having common House Spiders. Another spider to just leave be that is harmless.

Brown Recluse-
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Brown_recluse.jpg
http://www.cookspest.com/pics/brn_recluse.jpg
http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/wildthing/images/brownrecluse02.jpg
http://www.vanguard.org/health/unitpics/1_recluse.jpg
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2004/3/IMAGES/brown_recluse.jpg

oh, no..we had wolf spiders at our last place..in droves!! I am a bit creeped out by them, but I learned to "catch and release" (using a plastic cup and a magazine) them to a more appropriate place..like my garden, where they could be free and do what spiders do best..eat other bugs.
I checked online with my little corpse..three pairs of eyes and unmarked abdomen along with the brown color all pointed to fiddleback. :(
I really really wanted it to just be a wolfie or a cellar spider, I can sleep at nite with those..we had to where we were before..it was a running joke on our daily "spider count"..the cats couldn't keep up!!
In fact I had a mattress in the garage, that when we moved had AT LEAST 100 spiders living behind it...mamas and babies..I had never seen the thing with the mama and the babies all over her back until then..it was cool in a creepy sorta way!

I have a photo somewhere of a momma with babies on her back. I rescued her from a tray of water. If I can find it, I'll post it. Impressive to say the least.

Yup, I've got the wrist action down pat tossing spiders and daddy long legs out the house. I used to kill them until I learned more about them. even the kids flick them outside now.

OK i just have to chime in and add my 2 cents...for what it may be worth.....lol

If i see a spider in my house, whether it be crawling, in the corner sleeping,babies on back...ANYTHING it is dead....I am deathly afraid of spider and most bugs...Once when my youngest daughter was a baby i went into check on her and see a spider on the ceiling and stayed in there all night just waiting for it to crawl down to where i could kill it.
It could be a baby crab spider or a giant grass spider, for the good of things I will still kill it.And the same goes for snakes...
Hope this does not offend anyone as it is just a phobia of mine.


Char

I'm certainly not offended in the least. I used to be deathly afraid of them and snakes too for that matter. Then I had kids and they ran around waving these things in my face. I guess I became desensitized after a while and then I actually started getting interested in them.

Me either, I am still fairly uncomfortable with spiders. I just grew desensitized from exposure.
In fact, everyone at work was laughing at me this past week..I was still a bit jumpy from my run-in with the recluse, and a little jumping spider came out from behind my computer on the wall. Needless to say i screamed bloody murder and jumped about three feet in the air!!!
Edited to add:
BTW pest control came yeaterday and no more bees..(yay, I know they are still good for plants, but very bad for my home..) and they confirmed that yup, it was a fiddleback, quite common around here, apparently. (eek) They sprayed around the walls and whatnot, but no more corpses have turned up. Thank heavens!!!

This message was edited May 6, 2006 3:34 PM

Yay! Three cheers for pest control visiting your home. I may be desensitized to spiders but the Brown Recluse is one I would kill without so much as batting an eyelash.

Please be very careful dealing with those spiders. My husband almost lost his arm back in 1990 from a recluse bite while remodeling. He ended up off work several weeks, had a drain in his arm and was on pain meds and antibiotics.

I am very glad you called an exterminator...nothing to mess with.

Good luck
Debbie

Artemiss
Yea for exterminators!! I don't like chemicals either, but I've also been bitten by a recluse years ago in Arizona, keep checking, exterminate as often as you have to...you don't want those in your house...
Sherry

Those sticky traps WILL creep you out when you see how MANY spiders share your quarters w/ you!!!!!!!!! Under the bed and in the bathtub - yikes!!!!!!!

Now, I have cats and so no longer set out sticky traps - don't need to try to unstick a curious kitty.

Vicki