Surprise Lodger

[Yonak Hawkins]

I put on a glove in my shop yesterday and, next thing I knew, this guy was running up my arm :

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There are misconceptions about brown recluse spiders. Everyone has images of horrible skin reactions from bites but, brown recluse spiders are not aggressive. In fact, they're very shy ; they'd be much more likely to run away than to bite. Also, if one is bitten, it's not a sure thing they will have a bad skin reaction. Many people are bitten and barely know it.

There is, however, a clear danger. The brown recluse is one of the most venomous spiders in North America and can cause a really bad reaction, while rarely death.

My attitude is to be aware but not have an inordinate fear of these spiders.

[Rick Potter]

Where I live, a pest guy told me a brown recluse spider looks like a black widow, but not shiny, and no markings. He showed me what look like BW eggs in the usual hairball, but the ball had little spikes all over it like a WWII mine. He also said they were more aggressive than the BW, and were taking over the area.

Assuming he was right, my BR's around here are much heavier looking than yours.

I am no expert, just repeating what I was told.

[Doug Dawson]

I put on a glove in my shop yesterday and, next thing I knew, this guy was running up my arm :

411803

There are misconceptions about brown recluse spiders. Everyone has images of horrible skin reactions from bites but, brown recluse spiders are not aggressive. In fact, they're very shy ; they'd be much more likely to run away than to bite. Also, if one is bitten, it's not a sure thing they will have a bad skin reaction. Many people are bitten and barely know it.

There is, however, a clear danger. The brown recluse is one of the most venomous spiders in North America and can cause a really bad reaction, while rarely death.

My attitude is to be aware but not have an inordinate fear of these spiders.

Having taken care of a BR spider bite on a loved one, I would say they're about as friendly as a sleepy rattlesnake. A rattler will kill you if it wants to, if you don't get medical attention immediately. A BR spider OTOH will tease your flesh into localized gangrene over a longish period of time no matter what you do, and its ugly, and its no fun, and I hope you get into the habit of shaking your boots out before you put them on if those things are hanging around. After 40 years the scar is still there.

[Stan Calow]

They have short fangs, so you really have to be pressing down on them for them to get a good bite. Such as lying down on one in bed or stepping on one. This from a pesticide license certification course I had to take. They dont climb bare surfaces well, so you're not supposed to leave sheets and bedskirts touching the floor.

[Bruce Volden]

Sad to say but if that spider were to appear in MY shop--------he'd own it!

Bruce

[John Goodin]

When my daughter was 5 or 6, she thought every brown spider she saw was a brown recluse. Then one day I explained the definition of “recluse” and she stopped worrying about them. I guess she figure she would never see one.

[lowell holmes]

In my shop, he would meet his maker. I don't tolerate critters.

[Sam Force]

If I were to see that in my shop, momma get the gun!! And when you give me the gun make a run for the Charmin as I need it too!! :eek::o

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

There is a small reddish brown spider in this area. Rather tiny, but bites. It stings and burns much worse than bee sting. I almost immediately get very nauseous and feel like all the energy I had was suddenly sucked out of me. The limb where I am bitten swells up and the horrible sick sensation lasts two or three days. I have been bitten by these spiders 4 or 5 times over the last 20 years. Needless to say I do not take chances. I kill them wherever and whenever found.

[Tom M King]

I didn't have as good luck the last time I had an insect in a glove. I was doing some string trimming, and felt what seemed like something hitting my finger hard. I was using a heavy duty trimmer in thick growth, so thought at first it was just something thrown by the string. Then I felt the same thing again when I wasn't cutting, so I pulled the glove off. A Red Wasp flew away. He got me in two knuckles, and it hurt all day. The stings definitely felt like impacts, not stings, and the pain was about as bad as I have experienced.

[Bruce Page]

My sister that lives in SE Missouri lost a chunk of her buttock to a BR. I'm glad they don't like Albuquerque.

[Ted Reischl]

A young lady I worked with was bitten on the thigh by a BR. When it was all over they had cored out a 1.5 inch diameter X 2 inch deep chunk of her inner thigh leaving a horrific scar on. It was terrible, she was quite good looking and before that had worn mostly short skirts to work. It literally changed her life and had an impact on her confidence.

[Jim Koepke]

Spiders used to give me a bad case of the willies. Since moving to Washington and having a greenhouse they still sometimes give me a start, but they are not as likely to die for being a spider.

Sometimes they are quite fascinating, like when the garden spiders hatch:

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These little guys grow up to be up to have a three or four inche leg span.

jtk

[Mark Gibney]

The below is by a spider expert called Richard Vetter, writing about Brown Recluse spiders.
I'm doubly happy, as far as I know there are none in LA anyway

People think that if they just have one recluse in their house that this thing is going to be running around like the shark from Jaws, running around chomping on them. I did a study with a woman in Kansas, and she collected, in six months, 2,055 brown recluse spiders in her house. Most of these were babies, and about 400 were of a size big enough to bite, yet it took 11 years before these people had one registered bite in their house.

[Doug Dawson]

The below is by a spider expert called Richard Vetter, writing about Brown Recluse spiders.
I'm doubly happy, as far as I know there are none in LA anyway

People think that if they just have one recluse in their house that this thing is going to be running around like the shark from Jaws, running around chomping on them. I did a study with a woman in Kansas, and she collected, in six months, 2,055 brown recluse spiders in her house. Most of these were babies, and about 400 were of a size big enough to bite, yet it took 11 years before these people had one registered bite in their house.

I would venture that more people in this country are bit every year by BR spiders than by sharks. So yeah. :^)

(I would also call that severe negligence and grounds for a lawsuit on behalf of the bitten.)

[Erik Loza]

My MIL had a vacation property in East TX for many years. Naturally, I got the honey-do list every time we went out there, part of which was replacing the sticky traps (whose use I oppose of, by the way). Anyhow, every time I would pull one of the old traps, it had LOTS of Brown Recluse spiders stuck to it. I never told my wife or MIL until after she sold the property.

Erik