How Can You Know If That's A Brown Recluse In The Corner Of Your Ceiling?

The first time I correctly recognized a Brown Recluse Spider surprised me. I had no idea I really knew what the recluse looked like.

The company entomologist joined me on an inspection of one of my hospital buildings. As I shined my flashlight into a cabinet area I spotted movement. Looking closer I noticed a spider that moved away from the light's beam every time I pointed the light in its direction.

The legs set off a mental alarm. I called the entomologist over and asked if the spider was a brown recluse. He verified that it was.

That's the first recluse I ever seen alive.

I'd spent some time looking at pictures, and studying dead spiders through the microscope back at the pest control office. Evidently those efforts burned the brown recluse image into my brain so I could recognize one without getting too close.

I remember thinking that the spider's legs are unique, and that memory is what triggered the suspicion that the spider in that hospital building was a recluse.

This insect has very long legs. They angle upward from the body, and make a knee-like bend back toward the ground.

The recluse's body is long, and narrow. Its color is, as the name suggests, brown. On it's back is the shape of a violin (or fiddle). That shape is the reason you sometimes hear people call this the Fiddler Spider.

Most spiders I had experience with before my pest control days have short, fat bodies.

I still run across information that claims brown recluse spiders live in the southwestern United States. When I started working for the pest control company the entomologist told me that brown recluse only appeared in places where few people ever ventured.

Didn't take me long to understand that wasn't true. I found brown recluse right out in the open in the hospital buildings I inspected. On one visit to a warehouse where the hospital stores patient records I seen five of the pests.

Brown recluse are everywhere.

I even find them in my house when I get lax on pest control treatments. Not long ago I stood in my entryway, looked down, and spotted a recluse at the baseboard. That rascal had a web woven right there pretty as you please.

It's always those legs that alert me that I'm looking at this highly venomous bug.

If you wait to see that violin shape you're way too close to the brown recluse. They have a nasty bite. Starts out as a little red spot, but there's a lot of poison in that spot. Before long that poison starts spreading outward, eating your muscles and skin as it goes.

If you see a spider with real long legs don't take any chances.

Call your local pest control company.

Or save yourself those pest control company fees. Learn how to identify, and properly treat for, the brown recluse spider yourself.

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.

Is That a Brown Recluse Spider in the Corner of Your Ceiling?

Brown recluse spiders seem so abundant these days that you see them building webs all over your home, and most people have no idea that the spider they're looking at is a recluse.

Spiders are spiders - right?

When I first started working as a pest control technician I had no idea what a brown recluse looked like. Oh, I knew they have a fiddle shaped marking on their backs, but you must get really close to the spider before you can recognize that mark.

If you get that close you're a whole bunch closer than safety demands.

My first month as a technician I worked with another tech as a trainee, visiting a number of customers, and learning how to inspect and treat for pests. My instructor, and the pest control company's resident entomologist, told me that brown recluse spiders were no threat here in Indiana.

The truth soon proved otherwise, and luck was with me when I learned that truth.

During my training period I studied local pests and their habits, and one book I read had pictures of brown recluse. I gave them no more than glancing looks, but those short glances anchored a fuzzy picture in my mind that set an alarm off the first time I actually did see a recluse in one of my customer's buildings.

It was in the basement area of a major hospital that I made my first recluse sighting. As I looked at the spider moving around its web something about the legs seemed familiar. To me a brown recluse's legs are distinctive; they are very long and slender. I remember thinking at the time, "That looks like those pictures I seen of brown recluse spiders."

I caught that spider on a glue board, took it back to the company with me, and had a look at it through a microscope that evening. Sure enough a violin shape was on that spiders back.

From that moment on I had a definite, and permanent, picture of the brown recluse legs in my head. That's a picture that never faded, I see it as clear today as I did that day - almost 10-years ago.

That picture saved me from a number of bites over the years.

One time I opened a small box, looked in, and seen what I thought was a set of those legs scurrying for cover. I dropped the box, put a glue board in it, and used a long tool to move the items inside around. A few moments later I had two brown recluse spiders trapped on that glue board. A few feet further along the wall I opened another box to spot another recluse in residence. I got that one on a glue board too.

If you see spider webs around your home, be careful about approaching them. Brown recluse spiders are everywhere these days. I've found them in my bathtub, and often in my storage barn.

Find some pictures of these spiders; familiarize yourself with how their legs look. Get a picture of those legs fixed in your mind well enough that you at least recognize a potential brown recluse if you see one.

Don't take a chance on getting too close to these spiders. Their poisonous bites leave you with some nasty wounds that won't heal soon, and sometimes spread through your body.

When you think you see one understand that he probably has a family. You probably must treat your whole home to minimize infestation.

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.

If you want a more complete how to book for do-it-yourself pest control see BUG RIDDANCE, Mice And Rats Too!

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.