Newsfeed display by CaRP The brown recluse is a brownish and very poisonous spider. It is about 3/8 of an inch long. The shape on this spider is unusual. It has a shape like a violin on it's back. This spider has six eyes arranged in sets of two, instead of eight eyes arranged in sets of four, like most spiders have. The brown recluse is active at night. It spins a sticky, unusual web with threads going in all directions. The brown recluse can live a long time with out food or water. The bite from a brown recluse spider is poisonous.

The brown recluse spider is uniformly tan to brown without markings except for a dark fiddle-shaped mark. Several other species of spiders may have similar markings. Although they can be found living outdoors, they can be introduced into buildings in other areas of the state where they have been transported in boxes, pallets or other items. The brown recluse makes a fine, irregular web. In indoor infestations, it commonly wanders in the evening while seeking insects as food.

Many common spiders are often confused with the brown recluse spider.

You can find this spider under rocks, indoors under furniture, or in undisturbed areas. Bites can occur when a human comes in contact with clothes that have been inhabited by the spider. A couple of hours after the spider bites a person the skin around the bite get red and swollen. The bite can lead to severe infection, which can cause severe illness or even death.

Originally the brown recluse was found in the southwestern part of the United States. Today it is found in all parts of the country.

Although fear of spiders is common, dangerous types are not likely to be encountered in many buildings. However, the brown recluse spider, which can inflict a serious bite, has been found in buildings. Tighter sealing around windows and utility access holes and tight weather stripping on exterior doors will usually reduce their numbers. Residual insecticide sprayed on surfaces near potential entry may help somewhat; dust and microencapsulated formulations may have a greater chance for success. Spiders that build webs in secluded corners or in outdoor locations such as eaves or lights can be most efficiently controlled with a vacuum. The general approach of sealing up entry points and vacuuming up intruders should be the first consideration for most types of spiders and other miscellaneous crawling pests, such as crickets and millipedes.

Control and Management:
1. If wandering spiders are found, the best approach is to limit their access to the buildings.
2. Tighten door thresholds and around window screens.
3. Caulk door and window frames and all wall penetrations.
4. Remove vegetation and litter from the foundation, doorways and window wells.
5. Where possible, relocate building or area lights that attract flying insects, especially midges.
6. Carefully check flowers brought in from the garden and from commercial greenhouses.
7. Indoors, eliminate old cardboard boxes and other clutter that provide hiding places for spiders.
8. One can kill spiders with a fly swatter or vacuum spiders to kill them. When you are done vacuuming up spiders and their webs, seal the vacuum bag and place it in an outdoor trash container.
9. Effective pesticide application for spider control is very difficult; indoor treatment is usually effective only if the pesticide contacts the spider directly. This means the pesticide application must be very thorough. Consequently, this may be a job for a licensed structural pest control company. Unless efforts are made to exclude spiders such as tightening gaps around entrances and inspecting where materials like cardboard boxes are being brought into the building, spiders will reenter the building.

Bites - Brown recluse spiders avoid busy parts of rooms where people are present, remaining where there is no activity and in closed or unused rooms. Even though indoor infestations can be large, people are seldom bitten. Bites may occur when rooms are suddenly put into use or when stored clothing is brought out for use. Brown recluse bites are sharp but not initially painful, but a blister is quickly raised, broken and surrounded by a red welt. The depressed center of this raised, red circle about the size of a dime to a quarter, which turns dark within a day. The dead tissue often falls away and the bite area scar over in one to eight weeks. Death seldom occurs, but the bite can result in a large and disfiguring scar. Individuals who believe they have been bitten by the brown recluse spider should immediately contact a doctor. If possible, the individual should keep the offending spider so it can be identified.

Symptoms:
An initial sharp sting or no immediate pain.
1. Pain developing within the first several hours after being bitten, possibly becoming severe.
2. General feeling of discomfort, malaise, or nausea.
3. Formation of an ulcer in the area of the bite.
4. Chills or fever.
5. Sweating.
6. Reddish to purplish color to skin area around bite.
7. Itching.
8. Red or purplish blister.

A bite in rare cases:
1. Blood in urine.
2. Jaundice.
3. Kidney failure.
4. Seizures.
5. Coma.

Home Treatment:
1. Apply a cold pack, then seek immediate medical attention.

Before calling emergency, determine the following:
2. Patient's age, weight, and condition.
3. Area bitten.
4. Time bitten.
5. Identity of the spider, if possible.

The patient should be taken to the emergency room for treatment. The bite may not appear to be very severe and may take some time to progress to a more severe state. However, treatment is important to minimize complications. If possible, bring the spider to the emergency room for identification.

The spider is delicate. After biting, it frequently can be found lying where the victim slapped it. It should be killed and taken to the physician along with the victim for positive identification. Other biting or stinging insects and related creatures can produce injuries resembling the bite of the brown recluse spider. Furthermore, some cases of "brown recluse spider bites" are actually injuries from other causes such as bacterial skin infections. Before any pesticide application occurs, a thorough inspection for the brown recluse spider should be conducted.

Inspection:
1. Sticky traps are very useful in determining if brown recluse spiders are present. Place the sticky traps in corners or under furniture.
2. Look along walls in uninhabited rooms, under and behind furniture, in the far reaches of storerooms, in unused closets, under stairs and in hanging clothes that have not been used during the current season.
3. Concentrate on areas outside daily human traffic patterns. Buildings that have been unoccupied for months or longer are particularly susceptible to increased spider populations.
4. Outdoors, these spiders may be found in cracks between the soil and structure foundations, in door stoops and in window wells.

Habitat and Harborage Reduction:
1. Carefully mop or dust seldom-used rooms and closets.
2. Inspect clothing such as that used in plays that has hung in hallways or unused closets through the summer. When not in regular use, store these items in plastic bags.

In the evening, reinspect spaces disturbed by dusting and mopping. Kill moving spiders.

Pesticide Application:

1. Carefully use residual pesticides labeled for spiders. Dusts and microencapsulated insecticides are usually more effective than other formulations.
2. Apply the pesticide in all cracks and crevices -- particularly in spaces outside daily human traffic patterns. Spot treatments will be less effective than crack and crevice treatments because spiders touch spot residues only with hairs at the tips of their legs.
3. When a population of the brown recluse spider is established in a building, effective control can take months of monitoring. Consequently, when the brown recluse spider has been positively identified in a building, the owners should consider hiring a licensed structural pest control company.

Follow-up.

Spiders not killed by the pesticide treatment will wander. Consequently, be wary when picking up items in rooms not normally in use and watch carefully for spiders for one or two days following treatment. Monitor and, if indicated, retreat the structure in one or two weeks. Infestations of the brown recluse spider may be difficult to eliminate completely; continue to monitor infested areas with sticky traps for several months.