Brown recluses for a dummy

[The wolf]

Over here in the uk we don't have brown recluses and so I don't know very much about them the only information I have to hand is news websites and a couple of vague fact sheets so what I'm a little confused on is their web all I seem to be getting is "tangled" and "asymmetrical" which is a little vague so please enlighten me,what does a recluse web look like is it like a pholcus web or a steadota web or gnaphosids retreat do recluses live in the web and just randomly wander a lot or is it the base for a wanderer

 

[chanda]

Recluse spiders aren't really big on webbing. Here's a picture of a female with her egg sac and surrounding webbing: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mOupvoQLXZI/UpO7R9-JADI/AAAAAAAAAGg/9tSDgmgp2zM/s1600/Loxosceles.jpg and here are a couple of pictures of a recluse in its retreat and a web: http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2013/kosch_matt/habitat.htm

I've kept a few as pets and all they ever did was put down a little disorganized webbing (kind of like what's underneath the egg sac in that first picture) in the bottom of their enclosures, though after a while it became a fairly substantial mat. Had they been free to roam about, they might not have stayed in one spot long enough for it to have accumulated like that. They did not web up onto the walls of the enclosure or make any 3-dimensional webs. They were usually sitting on top of the mats of webbing, though occasionally I'd find one tucked down into the substrate at the edge of the web.

My understanding is that the female will stick close to her web, particularly when she has eggs (as many spiders do) while the males are more prone to wander.

 

[The wolf]

Recluse spiders aren't really big on webbing. Here's a picture of a female with her egg sac and surrounding webbing: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mOupvoQLXZI/UpO7R9-JADI/AAAAAAAAAGg/9tSDgmgp2zM/s1600/Loxosceles.jpg and here are a couple of pictures of a recluse in its retreat and a web: http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2013/kosch_matt/habitat.htm

I've kept a few as pets and all they ever did was put down a little disorganized webbing (kind of like what's underneath the egg sac in that first picture) in the bottom of their enclosures, though after a while it became a fairly substantial mat. Had they been free to roam about, they might not have stayed in one spot long enough for it to have accumulated like that. They did not web up onto the walls of the enclosure or make any 3-dimensional webs. They were usually sitting on top of the mats of webbing, though occasionally I'd find one tucked down into the substrate at the edge of the web.

My understanding is that the female will stick close to her web, particularly when she has eggs (as many spiders do) while the males are more prone to wander.

Thanks that clears a lot up for me

 

[The Snark]

Adding to what @chanda said Recluse can be very hard to find, hence the name. Those little patches of web are easier to spot. From the web patches the urban myth came about that they make hides. Thus, as usual, a lot of misinformation has cropped up and any small patch of webbing has been attributed to a Recluse infestation. Exterminator companies capitalize on this though the web patches are often from larval development of a number of insects or mite infestations.
The rule of thumb is find the spider, don't assume all patch webs are from the Recluse.

Quite a few years ago the city of Sierra Madre in California declared they had a major Recluse infestation. Eradication efforts went on for a couple of months and Orkin Pest control ostensibly made a fortune.
Sensationalist screaming and yelling finally died down, one Recluse was found and the entomologists finally were listened to. It was all about a moth migration and the lone spider was almost certainly a transient.