Brown Recluse Spider

[txdon]

Many types of spiders have a violin-like design on their backs. Most spiders that people bring in are much too large to be Recluses. My point is, every snake in the water is not a water moccasin and every spider in your house is not a brown reculse. Every body take a deep breath and relax. Get a brown paper bag if you need one.

N80, I found this spider in the shower this morning. I put a penny next to it and took the picture. It has a violin-like design on it's back, What is it?

 

[KaiB]

Boy if that's not a Fiddleback i don't know what is; I've killed a bunch of these guys in the shower also.

 

[KaiB]

You know, I just googled and learned enough to doubt myself (ain't this always so on the net?).

Evidently the major identifier is the fact that Recluses have six pairs of eyes rather than eight (no, I don't intend to look at one up close).

Another fact is an evenly colored abdomen. The more I compare Don's photo with the ones on the net, the more I wonder...any experts here?

 

[txdon]

Oh great, now I have to ge close enough to count eyes and then turn him over?

 

[KaiB]

I jsut read my post...its THREE pairs, not FOUR, i.e.,

The Recluse has six eyes which look like three dots and a "nicer" spider would have four dots.

I ain't looking.

 

[Richard]

Squish first, look second! If the squishee looks like it has 312 eyes, then divide by the number of eyes by how many times you whacked it with your shoe to achieve the proper eye count.

 

[txdon]

Squish first, look second! If the squishee looks like it has 312 eyes, then divide by the number of eyes by how many times you whacked it with your shoe to achieve the proper eye count.

If it was only that easy.

#1. Remove septic tank lid.
#2..........

 

[JESSE1]

These pictures have been going around the internet for years now
check it out here

http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/brownrecluse.asp

I'm working with a guy who had this man for a teacher at Kilgore College a few years ago. He was at an area lake and was setting his camera down on a table outside when he felt a sting on his hand. The treatment included sewing his hand to his abdomen in order to graft skin to his hand. Supposedly his hand is back to normal now.

 

[weldingisfun]

An article in the paper a few days ago told about a local woman who had been bitten on the leg by a Brown Recluse a year or two ago. She had to have the leg amputated last year and died a week ago from additional related complications.
Take Richard's advice, "Squish first, then look."

 

[dieselalles]

When I was 13 or 14, I received a light bite on the inside of my right leg by a Brown Recluse. I got up that morning and picked my blue jeans up off the floor and put them on as I had always done. Well, I didn't feel the bite but I felt the spider crawling around. I immediately shook it out of my pants and popped it with my belt when it hit the floor. I immediately noticed the violin on it's back but figured because I didn't feel anything that I didn't get bit. A day or two later I noticed a redness in my skin and at that point I suspected a bite. I told my mother and she hauled me to the doctor's office where they gave me medication to counter the bite. The only thing that happened from that point forward is that my skin turned from red to blue, like I had a bad bruise but that was it. Slowly the normal color came back, and 40 years later, only a tinge of red to remind me.

And from that point forward, no clothes on the floor. That sure broke me from suckin' eggs! And even to this day before I put any clothes, I shake them out...

Now what scares me are Black Widows. I heard on a TV program that their venom is 15 times deadlier than a Rattlesnake. I'm sure they don't inject as much but stilll. I put on gloves before I start digging around wood piles and dark areas!