ID brown recluse and what to do

[Bookgirl32]

Hi, new here. I don’t know for sure if this is the right board or if I need to post somewhere else. I need help confirming this is a brown recluse and if it is, deciding what to do. Single family home, Southeast Nebraska. 14 year old house. I’m finding things online saying that they’re rarely found in single family homes in Nebraska so why us?! Not a cluttered house, shoes on the floor of closet that’s it. Only found just this one, out in the middle of the bathroom floor around midnight. This bathroom is right outside our walk-in closet and also has a jetted tub with an access space underneath. I keep sticky traps under the access space bc we once had a mouse under there. I did find two very tiny brown spiders on one trap when I looked after finding the full grown spider but they were so small I would have no idea, other than that nothing on those two traps. But I have yet to place any on baseboards and in the closet or under the bed. I’m trying to be rational and not freak out, although it’s 3am and I feel like I will never sleep again. Is it possible to have a fluke of one brown recluse? How do I know if I have an infestation? Do I need to move (kidding but not kidding)? Reading horror stories about trying to get rid of them and I don’t even know what pest control company to start with. Trying to tell myself if they’re here they’ve been here and we are all still not bitten and it’s safe to go to sleep, and to relax. Ugh!!!

 

[pannaking22]

Welcome to the forum! That is indeed a brown recluse, Loxosceles reclusa. While it's on the edge of the range, it's certainly possible to have L. reclusa in your home. I'm not sure why they'd be rare in single family homes? That sounds odd because they really aren't going to care whether it's single/double/multiple/etc. Maybe because with more people moving in there's a better chance of one being brought in by accident? Not sure, but that's beside the point.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it was living in the access space, or if there are any other nooks and crannies that lead into the bowels of your home. Did you move there recently? If so, from where?

Keep in mind, recluses are exactly what their name suggests. They like to stay hidden and out of the way. They also really don't like moving around. There are articles about people living in homes for years with L. reclusa in the hundreds, and nobody has ever gotten bitten. They just get a really bad rap for the <5% of cases that result in some sort of necrosis. It's so unbelievably overblown.

 

[Bookgirl32]

We have lived here for almost three years and this is the first we have ever seen. We recently had to have work done on the house for bats in or attic so I’m about ready to move out. I’ve called two pest control companies already this morning and both are coming for estimates and inspections. Both want to spray. Is that even going to work?

Finding hard not to worry. We have one eleven year old and I want to put him in a bubble while he sleeps. Finding it hard to sleep actually. Everything says pull beds away from walls. Like how far? Do we have to have our beds in the middle of the rooms the whole time we live here?

 

[pannaking22]

Personally, I wouldn't be too worried about a potential infestation. There's a chance this is just a one off thing because you're up at the edge of its range. Put out some sticky traps, maybe shake out shoes before putting them on, and keep an eye out, but don't worry yourself too much about it. If there are more there, they've already been there for a long time, and they aren't out to try to hurt you or your family.

Ah, you know what, I'm wondering if the recent work for the bats in the attic shook things up and got the spiders moving around, so that one accidently made its way out. Spraying could work, but it's not guaranteed. If you want to pull the beds away from the wall, I'd say just a few inches. Nothing too much, these guys don't jump very well (if at all). You could also put double sided tape near the beds. That would serve as a barrier and extra long sticky trap.

 

[Bookgirl32]

Yeah the sleeping thing is what gets me the most. Normally I’m not afraid of spiders. If I find them in my house I only vacuum them if they’re huge. Otherwise I leave them. It’s just the thought of the bite and all that. And then reading that you “have to learn to live with them” and that they’re notoriously hard to get rid of. Too much internet reading at 3am. I already head sticky traps under the crawl space and looked at them and there are two tiny spiders. Are these babies? Or a different kind of spider? Probably hard to tell. If I don’t find any on sticky traps after awhile would it be safe to assume it might’ve been a one off thing?

 

[AngelDeVille]

It is actually really cool to see one! I grew up in Omaha and had never seen one, and I feel cheated.

I live in the land of Black Widows (Latrodectus sp) now, and on a summer night I could catch a dozen in 20 minutes.

They are part of the landscape and have and will co-habitate with you.

No reason to freak out, they are on duty keeping other pests from invading your home.

Just shake out your shoes before you put them on....

 

[Bookgirl32]

So no need to shake out every item of clothing I put on out of closets/drawers? Some of these sites are like “oh if you live your whole life looking for spiders constantly you’ll be fine” like it’s no big deal to check every single item of anything every single time. Feels kind of hopeless reading that.

 

[AngelDeVille]

Yeah the sleeping thing is what gets me the most. Normally I’m not afraid of spiders. If I find them in my house I only vacuum them if they’re huge. Otherwise I leave them. It’s just the thought of the bite and all that. And then reading that you “have to learn to live with them” and that they’re notoriously hard to get rid of. Too much internet reading at 3am. I already head sticky traps under the crawl space and looked at them and there are two tiny spiders. Are these babies? Or a different kind of spider? Probably hard to tell. If I don’t find any on sticky traps after awhile would it be safe to assume it might’ve been a one off thing?

Those look like a molt of a house spider of some sort.....


The real spider is behind you.......

 

[Bookgirl32]

So if I set sticky traps lots of places, storage room, garage, under furniture, along baseboards, and don’t see anymore would that be sufficient to give me some piece of mind that maybe I don’t have a huge problem? Living here three years I would think I would’ve seen something. We did have sticky traps in the garage and I checked them, there were obviously spiders but all but one were definitely not one. The only one that might’ve been was so withered I couldn’t tell

 

[pannaking22]

For the two on your sticky trap, one looks like a harvestman and the other might be a cellar spider.

An alternative would be to release some cellar spiders and/or spitting spiders in your house. They do a good job of cleaning up recluses.

A quick smack of the clothing before you put it on couldn't hurt, but I also don't see it as the end of the world if you don't. As you said, you've lived there three years and never encountered one. There'll probably be a resettling period for them after the work in the attic, and then they'll all disappear again.

Internet reading at 3AM definitely doesn't help, doubly so when it's about an organism that's considered public enemy #1 in North America. There's an incredible amount of disinformation out there about it, so it can be tough to weed through all of it to find the nuggets of truth. Do you have a local ag extension office? They should be able to provide you with more information (accurate too!) on what to do.

 

[NYAN]

As others have mentioned, this is indeed loxosceles reclusa. What I tell people is that there are likely others you’ve never seen also. They are reclusive, like their name suggest and bites are uncommon. There’s one story of a family who caught thousands over many years living in their house and they were never bitten. Bites cause necrosis around 10% of the time and systematic reactions happen 1% of the time. I only know of 1-2 cases of a confirmed death from one. You’ll be fine, just be careful with leaving clothes lying around, sticking hands in areas you can’t see and use common sense. Bites happen the most often because people put clothing on with a recluse in them and get bitten. Also, I’ve read these guys need assistance in order to penetrate human flesh since there fangs are so small.

 

[Mr Centipede]

Where I grew up were brown widows were everywhere in fact I bred some .

When I catch them I try not too touch them because they are venomous. They are not very aggressive and just play dead.

 

[Bookgirl32]

So do get the house sprayed? Is that a waste?

 

[Mr Centipede]

they are not in my house. they are in sewer grades.

 

[The Snark]

So no need to shake out every item of clothing I put on out of closets/drawers? Some of these sites are like “oh if you live your whole life looking for spiders constantly you’ll be fine” like it’s no big deal to check every single item of anything every single time. Feels kind of hopeless reading that.

Your only real concern is if they make hides in bedding or clothes. Just checking periodically, every week or two, and keeping a diligent eye out for your cohabitants should be enough. They want nothing to do with people..

 

[dangerforceidle]

Here is a comprehensive list of ways to avoid interactions with the spider: http://spiders.ucr.edu/avoidbites.html

There is plenty of information about the brown recluse within the site from a respected arachnologist. It should be one of the most trusted resources regarding the species.

 

[NYAN]

So do get the house sprayed? Is that a waste?

Total waste. Insecticide don’t effect most spiders unless directly applied. Here’s a link that’ll be helpful:http://spiders.ucr.edu/avoidbites.html

Here is a comprehensive list of ways to avoid interactions with the spider: http://spiders.ucr.edu/avoidbites.html

There is plenty of information about the brown recluse within the site from a respected arachnologist. It should be one of the most trusted resources regarding the species.

Didn’t see you already posted this link. Oh well, great minds think alike.

 

[The Snark]

Just an FYI, unless your house is covered with a tent and methyl bromide is injected and maintained in concentration for 72 hours, there is no pesticide that will give a 100% kill of all 'pests'. None. Nada. The only pesticides that come close are residual pervasives that are as great or greater a danger to humans as they are to the critters and their eggs, larvae etc.

 

[AnObeseHippo]

Lucky exterminator if he's having you spray your house for a single spider. This is the most overblown reaction to a spider I have seen. Can't relate to having a kid but how many million people live in areas inhabited by brown recluse and you could probably count the number of yearly bites on a hand or two. That makes the chances of your child getting bit way less than 1% so I think you should just relax and save some money. On the extremely off-chance that you are the unluckiest person on earth and get bitten by an unprovoked brown recluse, a bite would be very manageable and nowhere near life threatening. Is that worth paying someone to spray your house with chemicals that could do damage to your kid?

 

[The Snark]

Obviously we are dealing with psychotic serial predators here:
"Vetter and his colleagues studied six years of brown recluse bite records, derived from three poison control centers in Florida. A total of 844 brown recluse bites were reported. But in 100 years of arachnological data, only 70 recluse spiders (not all of them brown recluses) have been found in the entire state."