The people vs Brown Recluse spider (L reclusa)

[Germx]

So I have a bit of a predicament. I've recently moved into a new home. I've been here about a month and have my T room/ office set up beautifully. The problem is that I've recently discovered our new home has a large amount of Brown Recluse spiders amongst others. The others are not a big problem at all, scoop in a cup and relocate to the nice shrubbery in the back yard. The Brown Recluse however presents a problem. My wife loves our tarantulas and will gladly scoop any type of wolf or jumping spider and move them to the great outdoors. She does not handle the idea of sharing living space with the brown recluses very well.

I need a way to rid or greatly diminish their numbers without affecting our tarantula population and I would prefer to not harm the other types of 8 legged friends as well. If need be I can get a spider sitter for a few weeks and go the professional exterminator route. I have a friend who has a pest control business and tells me he could do it without harming the T's. They would need to be removed from the home for a couple of weeks. The poison he uses is completely gone after a few days and he has a couple of T's of his own and none seem to be dying off due to unexplained causes. However I would prefer to use that as a very last resort. We have some interesting local critters around here I would hate to see exterminated. Lots of frogs, lizards, spiders, and beetles. Alas though I can't have the wife and kiddo keep shaking out every article of clothing we own. Plus having to relocate the cats, dog, T's, and guinea pigs for a few days to a couple of weeks would be a right pain in the bum.

Here are some ideas I've tossed around without going nuclear with pesticides.

Instead of removing wolf and jumping spiders to the outside move them to the places where I've seen the most brown recluses.

Select spraying pesticides in high recluse areas away from the T room

Glue traps ( don't want to catch other spiders and stuff on them though :/ )

Any other ideas or suggestions would be great. Especially if someone has had to target one specific type of critter without messing with the others too much. Thanks!

---------- Post added 06-28-2014 at 04:47 AM ----------

One thing I would like to add is that I do live in the south central part of the United States and I realize the risk of receiving a harmful bite from a L reclusa is slim. However reducing their numbers would put my wife's mind at an easier state. She's an expect the worse type of person. My daughter and I react pretty badly to any type of insect venom so having never receiving a wet bite from one, she expects either one of us to lose an appendage if we did happen to get bit.

 

[Python]

I once moved into a place that was infested with roaches. I released a single tokay gecko and within a week or two the roaches were mostly gone. I only caught glimpses of the gecko after that, mostly in the middle of the night. If a tokay isn't your bag, house geckos or some other lizard would probably work. Biological warfare is the best option IMO

 

[Germx]

I think I'm going to start moving the wolf spiders into the closet and attic instead of outside. I agree with the bio weapon idea haha. Let's hope they do some work!

 

[Lucky Luciano]

I think that could result in some very funny "Adams Family" type of humour.
You have a guest over they point at a the wolf spider roaming about.
Guest: "My gosh, a spider!"
You: "Oh, don't worry, dear, that one is one of US!".

Speaking of which I highly recommend a really cool dark comedy/B-movie called "Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told".

 

[awiec]

You can always hunt down some lynx spiders, they do hunt other spiders, though they are generalists so they will eat any spider they can get a hold of. Wolf spiders might get in fights with the recluses but if I recall both can be around the same size and the recluse venom will kill other spiders rather fast. I think the best solution is a gecko or something similar. I believe also the fruits of the Maclura pomifera will also repel spiders without harming them, they don't care for the smell. They generally are native to Texas but we have a cultivar of them growing up here, so there might be some in your area as well.

 

[dredrickt]

If spraying isn't an option (and it isn't), then the sticky boards are about the only way to get brown recluses.

---------- Post added 06-29-2014 at 12:21 AM ----------

You can always hunt down some lynx spiders, they do hunt other spiders, though they are generalists so they will eat any spider they can get a hold of. Wolf spiders might get in fights with the recluses but if I recall both can be around the same size and the recluse venom will kill other spiders rather fast. I think the best solution is a gecko or something similar. I believe also the fruits of the Maclura pomifera will also repel spiders without harming them, they don't care for the smell. They generally are native to Texas but we have a cultivar of them growing up here, so there might be some in your area as well.

Recluses will not get anywhere near as big as a wolf spider. Recluses will however clear other populations of bugs and spiders out. My brothers garage (that I would lift weights in) had a massive bug and recluse infestation. I'd say within a month, there were no spiders, crickets, flies, or bugs of any kind left, only recluses. It was almost eerie how fast the population of everything just disappeared.

 

[Python]

Recluses do seem to take over an area when their numbers go unchecked or when the local predators aren't as efficient as they could be. Wolfies can get bigger than recluses but, around here at least, there are several species that people call wolf spiders that stay relatively small. They also aren't as numerous as recluses. Recluses seem to be the rabbits of the arachnid world. At the very least I would introduce something that has a large appetite for all things buggy. The population of everything else will suffer but such is life if one is to have a happy home. I would urge you to consider lizards. They are recklessly efficient when it comes to eating. Local lizards should be easily caught and can be entertaining to "find" from time to time. Anoles and geckos can decimate a population in no time and are inexpensive or free. Sticky traps also work but they can't actively hunt the buggers.

 

[awiec]

Recluses do seem to take over an area when their numbers go unchecked or when the local predators aren't as efficient as they could be. Wolfies can get bigger than recluses but, around here at least, there are several species that people call wolf spiders that stay relatively small. They also aren't as numerous as recluses. Recluses seem to be the rabbits of the arachnid world. At the very least I would introduce something that has a large appetite for all things buggy. The population of everything else will suffer but such is life if one is to have a happy home. I would urge you to consider lizards. They are recklessly efficient when it comes to eating. Local lizards should be easily caught and can be entertaining to "find" from time to time. Anoles and geckos can decimate a population in no time and are inexpensive or free. Sticky traps also work but they can't actively hunt the buggers.

recluses are very efficient because they are regularly know to eat dead prey, they will scavenge off dead bugs if they cannot find live prey; something wolf spiders do not do often. A predator of some sort is the best solution as chemicals are no good and you can't catch and remove all of the recluses.

Recluses will not get anywhere near as big as a wolf spider. Recluses will however clear other populations of bugs and spiders out. My brothers garage (that I would lift weights in) had a massive bug and recluse infestation. I'd say within a month, there were no spiders, crickets, flies, or bugs of any kind left, only recluses. It was almost eerie how fast the population of everything just disappeared.

There are some pretty small wolf spiders, they are being considered for their own special sub-family that I can't think of right now, sure recluses are not as large as some wolf spiders but they can and will dispatch them if they need to.

 

[AgVet09]

Unfortunately, you really can't selectively exterminate just the recluses. If you want to get them, you're gonna get the others too, so they'll have to take one for the team. I'd use a combination of traps and a healthy population of house geckos (like, grab every one you see and put them where you're seeing the recluses). Last resort, move the T's out for a while, and call in an exterminator, or use something like Termidor or Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer. That stuff is like "Sherman's March to the Sea" style scorched earth though.

 

[Germx]

Thanks for all the replies! I do know that you can't target one type of spider to remove, I was hoping someone had a tip for repelling brown recluses like awiec did. I'm going to try the fruit first (If I can find it in this area lol) and then start moving some geckos in. I've seen one that lives on the front porch that likes to come out and eat bugs by the light.

After that, lots of caulk on anything that might let critters in.

 

[Micrathena]

My grandparents have recluses in their attic, and they use glue traps. I can't say how effective they are, though.

 

[The Snark]

If you were around here I'd suggest making a mixture of honey, sweetened condensed milk and sugar in water and painting the walls and floors. The ants will make very short work of any and all spiders.