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Unfortunately, the brown recluse is not a shy spider. They swarm our house every fall when the weather cools down. If you cross paths with one scurrying across the carpet they can be very aggressive. To the point where I've had them jump on me just for walking to close to them. In the house I use a good old fashioned shoe to be rid of them. Outside, I douse them with bee killer. They die. My son has a pet tarantula, and I don't really mind spiders, but these little nasties are the worst! With 2 small children, I have to be dilligent about checking everywhere for them. I've found them under the covers in my bed, and even curled up in my clothes inside my dresser. I kill every widow and fiddleback I see around here. At least the black widows stay out of my house though. Oh, and I was always told wolf spiders are poisonus as well, not that I'm going to get up close and personal with them either. Good luck, and please be careful.
Most all spiders are "poisonous" to some extent, at least to their prey. Wolf spiders do bite and do have venom, but do not usually cause bad reactions in humans.
I guess I'm skeptical to the "swarms" of brown recluse spiders I hear about because if you see pics, they are rarely brown recluse. Even Billy the Exterminator called a bunch of house spiders recluses. And the distribution is mainly central US, so an infestation in Virginia would be highly unusual. OP in MO, so this much more likely. Here in FL, very unusual to see them as they are not endemic here. But most people believe every brown spider is a brown recluse.
They are called recluse, because they are shy and hide in dark places and usually only bite when inadvertantly mashed. But you don't die from the bite. Just get a nasty wound that may not heal. I hear about "spider bite' frequently and they are usually just staph infections.
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef631.asp
Unfortunately, the brown recluse is not a shy spider. They swarm our house every fall when the weather cools down. If you cross paths with one scurrying across the carpet they can be very aggressive. To the point where I've had them jump on me just for walking to close to them. In the house I use a good old fashioned shoe to be rid of them. Outside, I douse them with bee killer. They die. My son has a pet tarantula, and I don't really mind spiders, but these little nasties are the worst! With 2 small children, I have to be dilligent about checking everywhere for them. I've found them under the covers in my bed, and even curled up in my clothes inside my dresser. I kill every widow and fiddleback I see around here. At least the black widows stay out of my house though. Oh, and I was always told wolf spiders are poisonus as well, not that I'm going to get up close and personal with them either. Good luck, and please be careful.
Most all spiders are "poisonous" to some extent, at least to their prey. Wolf spiders do bite and do have venom, but do not usually cause bad reactions in humans.
I guess I'm skeptical to the "swarms" of brown recluse spiders I hear about because if you see pics, they are rarely brown recluse. Even Billy the Exterminator called a bunch of house spiders recluses. And the distribution is mainly central US, so an infestation in Virginia would be highly unusual. OP in MO, so this much more likely. Here in FL, very unusual to see them as they are not endemic here. But most people believe every brown spider is a brown recluse.
They are called recluse, because they are shy and hide in dark places and usually only bite when inadvertantly mashed. But you don't die from the bite. Just get a nasty wound that may not heal. I hear about "spider bite' frequently and they are usually just staph infections.
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef631.asp
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