Brown recluse spiders
 

The idea of them gives me the yips.

And, they're supposed to be fairly common here in central Oklahoma.

The problem is that there seem to be some, also common, spiders that look similar.

We have a large metal barn where I store the riding mower, and extra car and other stuff. And there are a lot of spiders in there.

Lately, from looking at spider identification sites, I'm beginning to think that a lot of those are cellar spiders, not brown recluses.

Frankly, I'm not all that good at identifying them because I'm not too thrilled about getting close to them. And by the time I smash them with a wadded up paper towel or spray them with gasoline or whatever it takes to kill them, there's sometimes not much left to identify.

Some sites say that brown recluses don't often bite. And that the spiders do whatever they can to stay away from people.

But, I don't know.

So, some questions.

If I get bit, will it hurt or sting immediately?

How often do they really bite?

Am I a big doofus for being jumpy about them?

If you know someone who was bit by one, how bad was it?

We have them real bad in TN...we have problems with them in the house. I see more in the house than I do in the barns or outside. (but we have free range chickens outside) Not everyone gets bites like you see in the pictures where the skin all dies. We have been bit before, I have never felt it but it has swelled before and itch...like a mosquito or chigger.

We spray our house inside and out about every other month and I have these traps that are excellent,these are well worth the money

http://www.cleanertoday.com/Spider-T...A9A&Click=3469

Actually using these traps has really cut down on the spiders.

Yesterday wisconsin public radio had a show with their bug expert from the U of Wisconsin. The subject of brown recluses came up. It seems they are not aggressive and many of the bites attributed to them are actually mrsa infections. They talked about one test house in Missouri where they trapped 1000's of brown recluses yet the family living there never suffered a bite. It was the Larry Meiller show and an audio replay is available. Check on www.wpr.org/larrymeiller.

were not suppose to have them here but things can and do travel.
Been bit by spider many time but once while moving a old tv from a seldom used room something bit me and it was a very sharp pain almost felt like a burn in a way, I immediately dropped the set it hurt so much. thats when I noticed several small spiders on back of the set.
it was the tinest red spot which then ulcered and formed a a red ring within several hours.
I had sweats and chills,head ache, body pains, pretty much delirious. and was bed ridden for three days.took a few weeks to actually get over.
Over the coarse of the three days that red circle started to make a line up to my soulder and down to my wrist.
I can't say it was a recluse but it sure was not a widow. Again been bit many times by other spiders but thats more like a skeeter bite.
I just know I dont play with small brown spiders no more.

Last year we lost our dog to one.
Here we are in Northern Lower Michigan and it was a horrible way to die.
First it ate away a lot of the right side of his face.
Lots of antibiotics several pills three times per day and two shots I had to give him per day and just as it looked like the hole was starting to close up it shifted gears and started eating away something inside so he could not eat and keep anything down.
Next thing was it caused him great pain to swallow anything.
It took a 120 pound dog down to 57 pounds when we had to have him put down.
Locally here my sweet wife has a cousin whose daughter got bit by one two years ago and she is still fighting it. Part of her issue though was her drug addiction. Last week it looked like we were going to lose her but she came back out on top and she got out of the hospital today. Probably new testing and new meds.
Ain't gotta love this global warming but we do have to live through it.
New thing for us here as in some areas we have a lot of ticks now.
If we get chiggers here I will move to Alaska.

They aren't particularly aggressive in any way. The real issue with them is that they love to curl up in nice dark, tight places, i.e. your shoe, in the pair of jeans you folded and placed in the closet. Shake out your clothes and bedding before using, and you really probably won't have any issues.

Many brown recluse bites don't do any real damage. My husband has been bit twice at work and never had a bad reaction. An indication should develop within 24 hours, but there's really no need to see a doctor unless it develops serious rash or redness.

If you get bitten you will not know.
It does not hurt.

The only way I knew that something was up was seeing a little blood blister on my toe.
I thought that was weird because I couldn't remember doing anything painful to get a blood blister.

Then...
it started to rot.
It turned all green and other colors and was always damp, like it was sweating.
I went to the doctor adn he had no idea and didn't seem too worried about it.
I had a wee fever and felt achey and awful and it continued to rot a bit.
Then it got all better again.

I feel that if it had been anywhere other than the tip of my toe, I would have been much sicker and it might not have gone so well.

I didn't find out until much later what was going on.
I was belatedly squicked out.

Black Widow bites hurt like the 12th level of hell.

lol, that's why the spiders are in the house, to get away from the chickens.

Neighbor down the road was bit on the leg and it was pretty nasty and she missed six weeks of work. She developed a hole on the side of her leg the size of a silver dollar. My sister in law was bit too, cleaning up in the woodshed. she too suffered negative effects, it was on her hand.

rofl, never thought of that but sounds true enough..lol

I definitely shake everything, they do love to hide...DH on the other hand doesnt..although I remind constantly. What I have found in researching is they nest up in the attic etc...and then start moving downward...so I have plenty of traps in the attic, actually I have those traps everywhere around the house, even in cabinets. I try and change them out about every qtr. We have always sprayed, but I really didnt see a difference until I started using the traps. I think I have seen 3 or 4 this whole year where in the past I might see and kill at least 10 or more during the summer. I dont see them in the winter.

I've been bit several times... saw the first one 'bite'... feels like a red wasp sting. Second one, felt the 'wasp' pain, looked and there was my little brown friend...

Both times, made an ice pack, and kept the area dangerously cold for several hours, and there were no lasting pain or issues.

Last fall, I put on a rain jacket, that had one 'in it', got bit, late at night, and didn't put two and two together, thinking a red wasp had got me, and slept on it. Well, 'it' didn't get better... was bit in the armpit and in the morning it was the size of a golfball... by noon it was baseball sized, and 'on fire'... ice didn't do anything as the poison had worked it's magic. Mixed otc painkillers for a week... finally the thing burst, and boy did that feel realllllllyyyyyy good. Three or four days later of painful milking, it was gone. Then a week later, it popped up again. All in all, three weeks of pain...

I happened to be visiting the ER on one of my icy treatment bites, and the doc said ice and antibiotics...

Most people have little or no reaction to the bites. They can be serious for those who are sensitive to them but as someone else posted, it is often not the BR bite itself, but rather MRSA or some other infection that gets in the bite. Their natural habitat is between loose bark on trees and the trunk. That is why many are bit while working in woodsheds or carrying firewood. In the home, they are most likely in environments that mimic their natural environment. Cardboard boxes, between a book and the cover, cracks around woodwork, etc. They will not bite you unless you put pressure on them. They bite people only in self defense.

As with any kind of bite or sting there are people out there with horror stories. I knew one person that was bit on her face as a child and had visible scarring from it. However, I think that in most cases that get bad like that, it is more a case of the person not getting to a doctor to get it taken care of until it had gotten out of control. Use normal precautions you would for any other bug and try not to be too paranoid about it. If you should ever have a bump come up that itches use normal cortizone. IF it develops a dark spot in it, then get to a doctor. That is called necrotic and needs to be addressed as soon as you see it. Don't sit around and wait until it has rotted a huge spot and spread toxins into your whole system. If you do that, then you will be just fine.

I was bitten yrs ago. It is serious stuff. My spouse worked at a facility that had a real problem with them. He'd carry his jacket back and forth to work, seldom wearing it, but hanging it in a locker at work.

One evening after work he laid that jacket across a basket of clean clothes I had just folded. The next morning, I showered and got a pr of clean jeans from the basket. I felt the bite immediately, didn't hurt bad, and I might not have felt it if I had not just scrubbed in a hot shower. I was bitten on the inner thigh about 4" above my knee. I caught/pinched the spider in the jeans leg, so was able to identify it.

My leg began to swell, and within 2 hrs looked as if I'd been hit with a basketball. I got fever and was nearly delirious for 3 days. A trip to the emergency rm got me nothing more than an antibiotic cream and the news that I should expect it to get worse. It did.

The bite spot began turning black with a hard inner core, then began to ooze. It was very painful and was getting bigger. A couple of weeks in, the would was as wide as my small hand and as deep as my fingers. Probably to the bone, but I didn't dig to test.

I decided to treat myself. I made a salve of comfrey, goldenseal, burdock and echinacea. Two or three times daily I wash the affected area with the hottest water I could stand with a handheld shower wand. Then I applied hot compresses of comfrey/goldenseal until cooled. After I applied the salve and wrapped in gauze.

It began to heal slowly. I had read that care must be taken with comfrey, that the would not heal only on the outside, leaving infection deep within. That was part of the reasoning behind the hot shower cleaning.

I ran a low grade fever for almost three months, and lost about half my hair. Thankfully, I had thick hair. It took almost 5 months to heal, but continued to be very tender to touch. Today I have a 3" by 2" scar and a healthy respect for spiders in general, as well as a keen eye in spotting them. One good thing about the experience, I used to completely panic as the site of a spider, nearly had a wreck once. Now, I figure if this experience didn't kill me, I can handle killing a spider.

Well I feel better, I had no idea what the 12th level of hell felt like. I was pretty confident in the first 11 levels of hell, now I know the 12th level. :) :) :) :) :) :)

I have them in my barn as well- in buffalo, ny! I thought it was too cold for them here but am told they are moving north!

Do guineas eat them? I have muscovies and heard they eat spiders. My dozen one month old ducklings have decimated the flies in the barn and Ive watched them go for the spiders too! LOVE IT!

I was bit on the top of my foot about 3 months ago. It was in my shoe. Left 3 blisters and is just now healing up. I saw the spider but didn't feel any pain from the bite - I have a new shiney scar about the size of a quarter on the top of my foot now. I used a large bandaid and lots of neosporin.

I was bit in/at Sturgis , didn't feel the bite. My kidneys started to hurt and thought it was from rideing so much. Called my Dr. he called in a script for antibotics. By the time I got to Michigan the bite was obvious and it was itching. Went thru the whole rotting and took some apis (homeopathic) and the antibotics. The hospital wanted to do a blood transfusion on me because of the white blood cells were over the top,I said no. It healed and then came back about 9 months later.

Had this same thing happen, had to have the bite area lanced and drained. Bite location was my wrist as well...it hurt so bad you coulnt move it. When mom saw the red streak I was at the doctor asap.

I never felt the bite.

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My garage would always get a lot of spiders and webs - then I started spraying Home Defense from Ortho around the floor next to the wall - now I don't see any spiders or other bugs in the garage - I also put the spray around the perimeter of the kitchen when I saw ants - no more ants - this spray is really good stuff for getting rid of bugs -

I have been around them from the time I was a child in Southern Illinois, to my present location now in Missouri. They have been around almost every place I have lived, and I have found hundreds of them overwintering under the bark of firewood. Guess where they end up when I bring the fire wood inside and the bark didn't fall off first?

Either some people are not nearly susceptible to them as others, or they must very seldom bite, because I have been available to them for most of my life. I get what I call a "spider bite" occasionally, but I don't really know what it was, so the point is moot.

Once one gets used to what the look like they are easy to identify.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...E9PUYT0hB0DNWo
The violin on their abdomen is easy to see. Don't worry, they can't jump two feet in the air and land on your face. The largest ones have a leg span of about the size of a quarter. The varieties of "wolf" spiders one often sees in the grass are usually larger and heavier bodied.

After a while one gets so used to what they look like that one can usually identify them by their size and shape.
They do seem to like human habitation. I have seen them in houses, barns, and outbuildings, and they are usually very common in woodpiles, especially in the autumn and winter. I actually have never seen one in the woods or fields.

http://www.amednews.com/article/2002...h/308059999/4/


Sounds like they don't travel and it's usually not a Brown Recluse bite.

5 Lies About the Brown Recluse Spider


http://insects.about.com/od/spiders/...cluse-lies.htm

All spiders will bite when cornered. And since they might take to hiding in your shoe or boot, that will be when they are cornered. I don't seek out spiders outside our home, but any within our home are soon dead spiders.

Lisa, that was a nice little article to sum it all up.

Wolf spiders I know well.

But cellar spiders look a bit similar to brown recluses

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/12-cell...er-625x450.jpg

Depending on their stage of development (and in the dark viewed by someone who is probably wetting himself)

The problem I'm running into is that some websites say to be very worried. Other, mostly bug-loving sites, say that the threat is vastly overstated.

so I suppose if they took up residence in a RV and the Rv was heading for Michigan they would request that they be let off.
Or perhaps another example would be rats on ships or tarantulas in Banana boxes.

Probably true on their own but we people move lots of things in our activity's.
Purposely and incidentally.

Like the Goby thats a major issue here, they came all the way from Israel I believe.
Or the zebra mussels and lord knows what else.

My Grandad traveled all over, came regularly for visits often bringing things with him so quite possible for hitch hikers to come with him.
I'm also pretty sure he was not the only one visiting, we have scores of trucks that come and go bring goods with them daily.

Thats what I was implying by "things can and do travel".

Again I do not now what bit me but I have never had a reaction to a spider bite like that before. I do know they where small brown spiders though.

Calm down...no one said Granddad might not have brought you a present home with him. Things do get carried to other places. But if the climate isn't right (like it IS for invader plants and animals) there aren't going to be Brown Recluses everywhere like people think. Here is a map of where they are found:

I've heard people go on about them up here in Idaho, and there aren't any. We just have Black Widows and Hobo spiders.

I'm not worked up, just pointing out it is possible.
What ever bit me had lived in the house so climate was not an issue.
I think thats how most of these bites outside there range happen.
But it would also be possible that some may be a little hardier then others or quirky circumstance leads to survival.
Being a tiny spider though would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
More so with a small or isolated population and given preferred habitat.
Southern Indiana's is not so much different then where I'm at here in Michigan.
Add in the lake effect and weird weather patterns and they could be established in areas short term.

Like I say, I have been in the thick of them for years. I have heard all kinds of horror stories, but either have never been bitten (though I don't know how I could have escaped) or they must not hurt all people equally. I now sort of treat them like ticks... yep, they may carry Lime disease, but if I am going to live in the country, I am going to have to protect myself as best I can, and hope I am not a statistic, or I am going to have to hide like Howard Hughes did.

Frankly, I don't have the cash.

So I kill them when I see them, and don't stress. I got too many things to stress about already that have a better chance of biting me in the anterior.

BTW, I am much more concerned about being bitten by a black widow, and I probably only see one of them every couple of years.

I think I'd order a gecko from Geico or an anole and turn them loose in the house.

Cats will catch and eat every spider they see- except the brown recluse. Professional courtesy.

I once got bitten by a brown spider in CT. It felt like someone stuck a hot poker in my cheek. My face swelled so bad that my eye was shut. It oozed and drained for weeks, and finally cleared up. I have no idea what kind of spider it was- only that it was brown, and rather smooshed when I swatted it.

Sticky traps laid along the edges of rooms or interior walls of outbuildings are a good way to lower your population.
They like to zip around the edges of a room and they will stick themselves down.

Works for wolf spiders and other ground crawly things.

I had a great apartment in a very old house in the old part of a city. Gorgeous! Cobblestone streets and gas lights.
But a serious spider problem.
They would crawl over me at night. Not like one every once in a while, but one or two a night. On my FACE!
I have a bit of an issue after almost 3 years of that. Seriously.
So I like to put down the wall edge sticky traps in the fall and other times because I never, ever, ever, ever want to wake up that way again.
Ever.

I love my outside spiders.
I 'raise' the big yellow writing spiders.
We hand feed them daily out in the yard. Everyone gets 2 grasshoppers. The most we have fed was 19. I consider them to be rare and hadn't seen one in years until one showed up here. And from that lady we have a plethora.

But if a spider makes the choice to cross my threshold, then it is on.
I consider that decision to be an open declaration of war by the spider and react accordingly.
The only exception is the cute little furry jumping spiders. Love those guys and they can stay because they don't want to sleep or bathe with me.

http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsh...ecluse-spiders