L. reclusa in my bed

[bugs4life]

Last night when I was pulling my blankets back to go to sleep I noticed a dead recluse. About a year ago I found a living one in my pillowcase. Should I consider these isolated incidents and not think much of it or is this getting to be a bigger problem that I should do something about?
Since I have captive inverts and a couple of herps in my bedroom, I haven't sprayed in a very very long time. I have some sticky traps in my room instead. They've been in place for about 2 months or so and so far I have probably 4-5 adults and several babies caught. With as many as I've seen here in the basement I don't think they're helping much.
Where I live I see recluses every day and I've never been bitten (that I've noticed).
Anyhoo, should I finally evacuate my critters to a different room for a while so I can spray, or should I just ignore this?

 

[Amanda]

I'd evacuate the pets and spray like a mofo, but others will probably argue. :wall:

Why risk getting bitten? The price is just too high to pay.

 

[Spider Tyrant]

I wouldnt bother at all. They are very nonaggressive spiders, and arent going to come hunting for you in your sleep.

Lay a couple sticky traps around your bed if it makes you feel better, and just let the poor things be.

 

[Amanda]

Of course they aren't aggressive, but who's to say you aren't going to accidently press down on one when you roll over in bed and receive a defensive bite?

 

[Gigas]

well its been a year between spider sightings, i think the situations are unrelated, no real need to spray the chances are very low theres going to be anymore.

 

[David DeVries]

Flip the mattress, change the sheets. If you have piles of clothing or other layered items under the bed then move them. Recluse like undisturbed, tight areas. Just move stuff around. You will likely kick up any spiders while cleaning. I would not spray all over. More than likely if any recluse are still around they will be in a layered area the spray will not get to anyway. Cleaning is the best defense.

 

[crashergs]

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/images/brnrecluseglue.jpg

tell me that is not scarey???


use those glue traps, aparently they are useful.

 

[Venom]

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/images/brnrecluseglue.jpg

tell me that is not scarey???

Hmm, Yoda says: There would I not like to live!

As for finding more, the simple fact is this: if you live in recluse territory, you will have repeat encounters. There are steps you can take to reduce these however, such as closing doors to the outside, and sealing off the basement/ crawlspace of your house as much as possible to prevent outdoors bugs becoming indoors bugs. Second, there are the gluetraps and other pesticidal precautions such as spraying the perimeter of your house. Third, check/ shake your bedlinen and clothing ( and especially laundry, and anything left hanging to dry, like towels etc. ) check shoes. Fourth, keep your eyes peeled. If you live in a recluse-populated area, you should keep these guys in the back of your mind ( don't become oblivious to their presence ). And don't flip out, many recluse bites are of minor effect, and the spider won't bite if it doesn't have to. Clothing and bedding etc. are the major vectors of bites, so watch out for those areas, and you'll probably be fine.

 

[PA7R1CK]

I'd evacuate the pets and spray like a mofo, but others will probably argue. :wall:

Why risk getting bitten? The price is just too high to pay.

I agree. Although recluse are not aggressive it still doesnt mean you wont get bitten. I suggest clearing out your inverts and spraying, you could move you're inverts back down after its all clear. I just dont think its worth risking your body to not spray.

 

[bugs4life]

well its been a year between spider sightings, i think the situations are unrelated, no real need to spray the chances are very low theres going to be anymore.

Second sighting in a year in my bed. I've seen more around the baseboards and such.
I'm using the glue traps as I mentioned earlier, two of them by my bed. I keep things picked up, so no piles of clothes or whatever anywhere. I vacuum as much as I can, etc. The thing is, I live in the basement and my windows are level with the ground outside.

 

[Amanda]

Ohh... basement room. I'd clear everything out for a week or two, make any repairs or modifications you need to make to the windows and doors to prevent any new spiders from getting in, and irradicate everything in that basement. If you can thoroughly get rid of what's there, you'll have a much better chance of killing off anything new that comes along.

 

[RVS]

Obviously I love spiders and all, but I wouldn't hesitate to give a call to the Orkin man.
I'd be especially worried if you have children or pets around.

 

[bugs4life]

Ohh... basement room. I'd clear everything out for a week or two, make any repairs or modifications you need to make to the windows and doors to prevent any new spiders from getting in, and irradicate everything in that basement. If you can thoroughly get rid of what's there, you'll have a much better chance of killing off anything new that comes along.

You don't get many recluses in Florida do you? They spread like wildfire here in Kansas. I'm starting to think I'll let it be...all 3 of my brothers lived in there for some length of time before they moved out so I should be ok, hopefully I'll be moved out sooner than later.
Besides, there's no way I could pest proof the whole basement, my room is the only part of the basement that's even finished. The rest is concrete and rafters lol.

 

[PA7R1CK]

You don't get many recluses in Florida do you? They spread like wildfire here in Kansas. I'm starting to think I'll let it be...all 3 of my brothers lived in there for some length of time before they moved out so I should be ok, hopefully I'll be moved out sooner than later.
Besides, there's no way I could pest proof the whole basement, my room is the only part of the basement that's even finished. The rest is concrete and rafters lol.

Yea... I'm sure it would be extremly hard to pest proof a basement. I suggest just laying traps along the windows, and hope for the best.

 

[bugs4life]

Yea... I'm sure it would be extremly hard to pest proof a basement. I suggest just laying traps along the windows, and hope for the best.

I think that's what I'll end up doing. I'll probably have my mom put the traps between the curtains and window for me, so I don't discover anything I don't want to see ;-) lol

 

[Amanda]

You don't get many recluses in Florida do you? They spread like wildfire here in Kansas. I'm starting to think I'll let it be...all 3 of my brothers lived in there for some length of time before they moved out so I should be ok, hopefully I'll be moved out sooner than later.
Besides, there's no way I could pest proof the whole basement, my room is the only part of the basement that's even finished. The rest is concrete and rafters lol.

We do have them, but not to that degree in all places.

You didn't say that the basement was partially unfinished. :wall: Basements come in all shapes and sizes. I assumed that if you were living in it, it would be completely finished and alot less damp-and-dirty-basement-ish, ya know?

 

[bugs4life]

We do have them, but not to that degree in all places.

You didn't say that the basement was partially unfinished. :wall: Basements come in all shapes and sizes. I assumed that if you were living in it, it would be completely finished and alot less damp-and-dirty-basement-ish, ya know?

It's not damp down here. You just come downstairs to a thinly carpeted area where we have workout equiptment and stuff, then of course we have the washer and dryer down here too. The computer I'm at right now is in a corner of the basement, I see recluses on the wall in front of me pretty often. So the basement is pretty well lived in, mostly by teenagers. There are a few cluttered storage areas that I wont touch lol. Of course I know they like being up around the rafters and stuff too, under desks, on the shelves, really anywhere. I'm just babbling now so whatever
Oh yeah and my bedroom is the only finished room of the basement, with nice carpeting, real walls and ceiling lol. If you were to just pop into my room out of nowhere, you'd be surprized to step out and see an unfinished basement.

 

[Galadriel]

ARG! I hate it when people rely only on the worst case scanario. Necrosis from recluse bites happens in less than half of bites. That being said, keeping everthing picked up and giving the room a good dusting...check in corners and what not, won't keep them away, but it will alert you as to where they are. If all else fails, let a couple tokays loose (kidding! They're infinately more likely to bite you)

 

[rm90]

Get out of the country!!! haha. Just kidding.

That would be scary though, a recluse..

 

[Venom]

Hmm, ok. So you live in the basement. In that case, I would take this seriously. If you are seeing recluses often down there, then it is not a safe situation at all. If I were you, I would declare war. Glue traps, spray if needed--whatever it takes. You don't want to live in a place that populated with recluses, even if, as Galadriel says, most bites don't go into *major* necrosis. The chance of being bitten down there is very high ( you've already seen them in your bedding...), and you don't want to take your chances with L.reclusa envenomation. Do whatever you can to seal off any way the spiders can get in. Clean it up as much as possible to remove hiding places; place glue traps under dressers or in any place that are potential recluse abodes, and generally make it so that if there is a recluse in the place, it won't be long before it is visible ( from lack of places to be hidden ), and so can be killed. Let us know how things go, and if the sightings decrease!