Dust Off Your Pest Control Techniques The Brown Recluse Spider Is Active Again

Did you relax your pest control techniques for insects over the winter?

Those brown recluse spiders took to hiding in their crannies, and crevices, for the last three or four months. They lurked in the shadows just out of sight. But they didn't go very far away, and now they're developing eggs. Soon those eggs will hatch, and you'll have a bunch of little tiny brown recluse crawling all over your house.

Yesterday my lady started some spring-cleaning on the patio. She told me when she moved things around spiders went scurrying everywhere. She said there were all kinds of spiders out there.

I didn't say anything about that, and I didn't go have a look see. I know from experience many of the spiders she seen running away were most likely brown recluse. Those things are everywhere in the neighborhood now.

That's strange because just a few years ago we supposedly didn't have recluse spiders in Indiana. Now a days, even though I'm no longer an active pest control technician, I here about brown recluse bites all the time.

I think the main reason people get bitten is because most people don't know what a recluse looks like. Sure the majority of people know about that mark on the spider's back that's shaped like a violin, or fiddle. It's the reason we call the spider the fiddler.

But if you're trying to identify this spider by that mark you're way too close to the insect if it's still living. That violin is so small it's hard to see.

I studied pictures, and got an image of the spider firmly fixed in my head, back when I started my pest control technician days. Now I recognize one when I see it from a distance of a few feet. So I know to be very careful when I approach.

The brown recluse has distinctive legs. They're very long. They angle upward from the body for a short distance, and then turn back downward toward the ground. That turn, or bend, in the leg is kind of like our knee. The body is long, and slender. But it's very small too. That's why the fiddle mark is hard to identify.

These guys have a nasty bite. My father found that out the hard way. A recluse bit him on the first knuckle of his middle finger. He didn't really feel the bite. When you do feel it you only feel a slight pinch. But a short time later his knuckle started turning red, then it began swelling, and an angry wound opened up.

That red started crawling up his finger next. And then the doctors cut his finger off so the poison couldn't spread up his arm, and into his body.

Not fun.

Treating for brown recluse spiders is simple enough if you know how.

The hard part is learning how to recognize this pest. And then you must learn how to take care of it with the proper pest control techniques.

Joseph Jackson is an experienced pest control technician and author of SPIDER RIDDANCE, a how to guide for performing do-it-yourself pest control for controlling spiders.

Find other pest control ebooks by Joe at http://www.bugsmiceratsnomore.com

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Is it Time to Inspect For Unwanted Spiders Again?

Through the winter months spiders aren't very active, and you rarely see them. But now it's spring, and time for the spiders to move into those bright, sunlit corners at ceiling and floor.

 

They warm up, weave their webs, get all-reproductive on us, and create their egg sacs. Soon you look up and see all these tiny specs moving around.

 

Unnerving, isn't it?

 

Mostly spiders help us by catching the flies and mosquitoes in their webs. We have so much trouble controlling those flying insects that seeing them trapped in spider webs gives us satisfaction. Even though the web doesn't look all that good hanging there in the corner.

 

Some might think you're a poor housekeeper because you leave those cobwebs hanging.

 

I don't mind them until I see a Brown Recluse creeping around. I do take exception to those guys, and I suggest you should too.

 

The recluse rarely bothers us, and hardly ever attacks on purpose. Usually a bite occurs when we disturb the web. We touch the nest; the spider feels the vibration (that's how it knows when a fly or other insect gets stuck in its web), and immediately thinks "food." First thing the spider bites the captive to stun it, then gets it ready for a tasty meal later.

 

The same thing happens when we touch the nest, but by the time the spider realizes that we're too big for it too handle, it's already bitten, and in the case of the Brown Recluse, the poison is already attacking our body.

 

Like I said, that's how the bite usually happens, because these spiders mostly stay out of our paths of travel around the house, and more often out-of-sight than in view.

 

But consider that once I entered my bathroom and noticed a spider dangling on a silk thread attached to the shower curtain. Closer inspection identified the spider as a recluse. If I hadn't seen that one, and was entering the shower, my entry would've been right through the opening where he hung.

 

And next I'd feel him crawling around my body some place. If he didn't bite me already, my natural reaction to slap whatever crawled on me promised the bite. Biting, of course, is the natural reaction of the spider.

 

When I see a recluse I simply spray the area of its nest. I don't take any risk with these guys, and I suggest you don't take chances with them either.

 

Go on the Internet and find some pictures of Brown Recluse. Study them; get particularly familiar with the look of their legs. Those legs are distinctive, and any time you see legs that resemble what you studied, just spray (I recommend using a chemical that leaves a residue. That way it keeps working for a few months and takes care of babies when the eggs hatch.).

 

Don't even try identifying these guys by looking for that fiddle mark on their back. You're getting way too close if you see that mark well enough to recognize it.

 

If you suspect a Brown Recluse problem in your home, and you're not comfortable with treating for them yourself, call a professional. I guarantee the cost of medical attention for a bite is much higher than any pest control company charges.

Joseph Jackson is an experienced pest control technician and author of SPIDER RIDDANCE, a how to guide for performing do-it-yourself pest control for controlling spiders.

Find other pest control ebooks by Joe at http://www.bugsmiceratsnomore.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.