How do I get rid of brown recluse spiders? Small update p 3

[ckret01]

My Dad got bit by one of those a few years ago and was hospitalized for it. Pretty serious stuff. Hope you get rid of them

 

[TruBlu]

I live outside of the red area, and I've been bitten by one. It was just as bad as they say! I was on crutches for a long time.

Just today I killed 2 in my garage. When DH gets home we are buying some poison from somewhere. I have been freaking out all day!!! I'm surprised the neighbors didn't come running over when I was killing them. I was screaming like I was on Tower of Terror!!!

 

[Liberty Belle]

This map shows the area they live in. The red portion is the brown recluse area:

Lovely. That does it. I'm moving back to Michigan.

My son's preschool teacher was bitten on the toe by a brown recluse (it was in her shoe. They were able to get the spider and bring it in. She got medical treatment right away, though I'm not sure what they did. She's very afraid of them now.

 

[Gina]

Lovely. That does it. I'm moving back to Michigan.

My son's preschool teacher was bitten on the toe by a brown recluse (it was in her shoe. They were able to get the spider and bring it in. She got medical treatment right away, though I'm not sure what they did. She's very afraid of them now.

*shudder*

Growing up here, where so much of nature seems to want to kill you in one way or another we were taught at a very young age to always shake out your shoes every time before you put them on. You never know when there might be a brown recluse or a scorpion in them. It's just habit. Anyone else grow up doing that?

 

[mamacatnv]

*shudder*

Growing up here, where so much of nature seems to want to kill you in one way or another we were taught at a very young age to always shake out your shoes every time before you put them on. You never know when there might be a brown recluse or a scorpion in them. It's just habit. Anyone else grow up doing that?

No, but it is a new habit I will be bringing along on my vacation.............

So what else in your lovely state is going to be out to get us ? Besides the mosquitos, we've been warned about those.........something along the lines of the size of a Buick ?

 

[tevagirl]

I'd call in the big guns...

Then I'd get the hell out of Dodge!

 

[Aimeedyan]

I think I'll call a bug man =) We have lots of critters right now because we back up to a park with a creek in it and we have had TONS of rain.

And we're in TX where they are very common!

I took a picture of them last night though I did NOT count their eyes (shudder); DH was even scared to go near them. I will carry spray with me when I go outside until we can get someone out.

Even if those 2 AREN'T brown recluse, they are very common here and I'd rather err on the side of caution.

(DH has decided it's my job to take care of these things. We are both big weenies!)

 

[Kitty 34]

Lovely. That does it. I'm moving back to Michigan.

My son's preschool teacher was bitten on the toe by a brown recluse (it was in her shoe. They were able to get the spider and bring it in. She got medical treatment right away, though I'm not sure what they did. She's very afraid of them now.

Unfortunetly, they're here in Michigan too. A friend of mine's DH was bitten a couple of years ago and it was a very serious ordeal.

 

[Kirby]

Our neighbors house was infested with them. The exterminator told them that one way you could tell if you had brown recluses was if you stopped seeing other types of spiders in your home. This was over five years ago. The exterminator comes out twice a year to bomb, spray, whatever their home.

I suggest you have an exterminator come out and look. They can put a sticky sheet down in your cabinets. If you have brown recluses, they will probably get caught on that. Also, their webs look different than other spiders. If you do have them, have the exterminator show you what they look like. I saw one of the sticky sheets that came out of my neighbors house. It had three brown recluses on it. That was after their house had been bombed for the first time. I don't think that they have totally ever gotten rid of them, just kept the infestation down.

I don't mean to scare you but the exterminator told our neighbors that everyone down here has brown recluses, it's just that not everyone is infested with them.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Our neighbors house was infested with them. The exterminator told them that one way you could tell if you had brown recluses was if you stopped seeing other types of spiders in your home. This was over five years ago. The exterminator comes out twice a year to bomb, spray, whatever their home.

I suggest you have an exterminator come out and look. They can put a sticky sheet down in your cabinets. If you have brown recluses, they will probably get caught on that. Also, their webs look different than other spiders. If you do have them, have the exterminator show you what they look like. I saw one of the sticky sheets that came out of my neighbors house. It had three brown recluses on it. That was after their house had been bombed for the first time. I don't think that they have totally ever gotten rid of them, just kept the infestation down.

I don't mean to scare you but the exterminator told our neighbors that everyone down here has brown recluses, it's just that not everyone is infested with them.

Yeah, I read on another site that something like 80% of homes in the areas common for them have them - just some worse than others.

Maybe I'm just paranoid =)

 

[mickeyfan2]

They have a web but not a traditional spider web (think Charlotte's Web). There are way too many myths about brown recluse.

http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/fiddleback.html

http://spiders.ucr.edu/myth.html

http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/brownrecluse.html

"'Brown recluse bite' has become medical shorthand for "this patient has a mysterious sore or lesion." In such areas as the Pacific coast states, it is safe to say that 100% of these reports are errors, and the vast majority (80-95%, depending on locality) are not spider bite cases of any kind."

My FIL was diagnosed with a brown recluse spider bite although no spider was ever seen and we lived in an area which was not native to brown recluse. Most likely it was a flesh eating bacteria or some other type of necrotic wound and not from a spider bite. Physicians and the media love to jump on the "brown recluse bite" bandwagon.

This map shows the area they live in. The red portion is the brown recluse area:

I got bit out of the area and it was indeed a brown recluse spider. My Dr. did his internship in OK, the hot bed of those buggers. He saw and treated many with the bit. He said that many of them hitchhike on trucks and can end up in none red areas. I got bit at a McDonald's that was right off of I95 where many truck drivers stopped for a bite to eat.

 

[bengalbelle]

I don't want to scare you, but please watch this. This is a family from our church and they STILL haven't moved home and this started almost 2 years ago. http://www.theindychannel.com/station/10222871/detail.html

I would never step foot in that home again. This reminds me of that old movie Kingdom of the Spiders

If you want to try it yourself, I'd recommend a product called Suspend.
http://www.pestop.com/Spiders.html

Several years ago we moved into new construction and my nephew found a Black Widow while moving bricks for us. DH bought this and sprayed and we wigged out when we saw exactly how many widows had been hanging around our house (once they were dead).

 

[Aimeedyan]

Well, one of my friends returned tonight to the same area! It is living in the doorframe of my back door and comes out at night to hang out on this gorgeous spider web up in a corner. I didn't get close enough to count it's eyes =)

We went around the house and sprayed the foundation and the window/door frames tonight when it was dark. I had a snake in the yard last week but tonight just came across a big fat toad.

Did I mention we back up to a park and creek and it's been very very rainy here? Lots of bunnies and toads and SNAKES hanging out.

We also discovered a lot more spider webs then we realized we had so I am hosing down the house tomorrow to knock some down.

(btw - the spray did kill the thing. It shriveled up near the web. The web glistened when it was sprayed and really is pretty. But I'm still hosing it down!)

 

[debm]

If it was dark on the back porch, how did you see the "violin?" They are very small and only on the top part--where their eyes are. Many people mistake them with regular brown spiders that have a drawing on their entire back. Sorry for my lack of spider vocabulary! I have been doing a LOT of reading about recluses lately because our barn is infested with them. They are very adapt at living with people, ie in houses. Is this an indoor type back porch, or an open one? Chances are if it is outside like that it is more likely to be a black widow than a brown recluse. Recluses aren't aggresive though, where widows are. My 6 year old son was "chased" by one once and I watched. They are amazing! Anyhow....in reading I've discovered that spraying for recluses can be a detrimental thing to do. The spray doesn't kill them as often as kill their prey and they prefer their prey dead! So it makes the environment better for them! The sticky traps work well though. We had our barn "dusted" for them. That is what our pest people recommended since we would have to have hundreds of sticky traps. I will have to see if the dust works! It was done on Tuesday night and it was supposed to take care of 90% of the recluses. I have yet to decide.....Normally though, they are in your house but you just never see them, thus their name. In normal circumstances you won't ever be bothered by them. Just remember that if you live in an area where they are, shake out your linens that have been sitting in closets for years before reaching your hand back there. Most bites are from clothes sitting on the floor or the getting caught between your skin and an object. I hope you will one day feel better in your house!

 

[TinkInPink]

I don't want to scare you, but please watch this. This is a family from our church and they STILL haven't moved home and this started almost 2 years ago. http://www.theindychannel.com/statio...71/detail.html

Oh God why did I have to hit enlarge???

 

[darlak]

This must really be the year of the brown recluse. We've found 3 in the last week and I'm also freaking out. We were going to bomb and spray, but after what I've read here, I'm thinking that might be a bad idea. We live on riverfront property in Alabama.