Brown Recluse Spider
The brown recluse spider is part of the genus Loxosceles and is sometimes known as “fiddleback” spiders or “violin” spiders because of the violin-shaped marking on the top of the cephalothorax, which are the head and the thorax. The brown recluse spider has six eyes, which are all arranged in three pairs (sometimes a pair may be so close that they look like one eye rather than two). Their eyes are also their most noticeable feature which makes it easy to identify a brown recluse spider.
Identify the Brown Recluse Spider
The violin-shaped marking is typically found only on more mature brown recluse spider. The brown recluse is range from a light tan to a darker brown color with their entire body being covered with thin hairs. The brown recluse spider is about 3/8 inches long and about 3/16 inches wide. Although the male spider are somewhat smaller in body length than females, their leg span is usually the same length.
If there is more than one color on the legs, or if the legs are dark brown, or if there is more than one pigment on the abdomen, it is NOT a recluse. Note: spitting spiders (genus Scytodes) have a similar eye pattern but do not have the violin mark.
The brown recluse spider is found throughout the Midwest and the southern central part of the United States. It is very rare to find a brown recluse spider outside of those particular areas. Brown recluse spiders are typically found outside in many different areas such as under rocks or logs, woodpiles, dirt, or debris. However, during the cooler months it is not uncommon to find brown recluse spiders within the house, especially basements, attics, closets, or anywhere else that is dry and warm.
Many times during those months the brown recluse will go without any food or water. It is nearly impossible to fully get rid of brown recluse spiders once they have become established in these areas of the home. The brown recluse does not spin a web either to catch their food; instead they hunt their prey which usually consists of insects, either dead or alive.
The brown recluse is actually somewhat nocturnal, as they spend most of the daylight hours hidden within rocks or logs. They line these homes with webbing, which is later used for holding their egg sacs. If a brown recluse spider is seen during daylight hours it usually has to do with the fact that they are hungry, otherwise they stay hidden.
Our Brown Recluse Spider Bite section has some very graphic pictures of what happens when people are bitten by a BRS and pictures of the spider. Rick Vetter over at UC Riverside Dept of Entomology also has a page on Entomology - Brown Recluse Spiders. The agricultural extension service of the university of Tennessee has a brown recluse spider packet in pdf format the you may also find helpful.
Here is a quick test to determine if you may have a Recluse:
1) Has 3 pair of eyes, one in front, one on each side.
2) Has Violin shaped marking
3) Legs must be one uniformly light-colored
4) Only one pigment on the abdomen
5) Fine hairs on legs, no spines
6) Body length is less than half an inch (3/8 usually)
Brown Recluse Spiders
Brown recluse spiders are not aggressive unless they are aggravated, which is like many other species of spiders as well. Some cases where they may bite is if they are trapped between skin and other surface or when putting on clothes that they are hiding in.
Because of that it is extremely important to thoroughly shake out clothing before putting it away to ensure that there are no hidden spiders that could possibly bite. The brown recluse spider bite is often not even felt, which makes it very dangerous. In some cases the bite is noticed right away because of immense pain, for others it can take several hours before the bite is even noticed. The reaction to the bite depends on how much venom is injected.
The only deaths reported from a brown recluse spider bite have been with children under the age of seven. However, the brown recluse is one of four species of spiders that is dangerous to humans along with the black widow spider. If bitten by a brown recluse spider it is vital that the victim seeks medical attention right away, and if possible capturing the spider and bringing it in will help ensure accurate identification. More about the Brown Recluse Spider Bite
Written by Jim on August 4th, 2007 with
120 comments.
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Hey, I found one of these spiders in my home. It had a weblike feature in front of my bedroom door. Its the biggest brown recluse I have ever seen. it has some markings on it.
The recluse had a web and my dad said most brown recluse spiders do not make webs in your house like that.
Is this true and if not, how do I get rid of these spiders?
What is the span of the spider across? I believe I killed one in my house today. All the pictures on-line look just like the one I killed. It looked about 3 inches across. Of course I didn’t get real close. Also you say it is almost impossible to get rid of them. Can’t you spray insecticide? That is how I killed the one.
My brother was bitten by several spiders while working under a house.
We are not sure what kind of spider but assume it is brown recluse,
Mainly because of the extensive damage. The doctor that treated him said that brown recluse don’t exist in florida. Is that true? Thank You
This spider is very scary… I don’t want my thumb to be like the one in that picture. However, no fear, just shake out your clothes before wearing them and just be careful of what your getting your self into. Personally, I have nothing to worry about so I am okay, but I like being awared of this.
If i suspected i was bitten by a brown recluse along with any other treatment i would use charchol poltice and change it often.
Charcoal poultice is a gooey layer of medicinal activated charcoal that is applied to the skin for the purpose of pulling chemicals out from the underlying body part. This is often used to help control pain and decrease inflammation, sometimes with spider bites. Pain is controlled by adsorption of the pain chemicals of inflammation and by assisting the inflammation of healing by adsorption of the toxic waste products of inflammation.
I have to say that the Brown Recluse is an elusive little twerp. I was bitten in the 1st grade on my ankle. The poison traveled up my leg and into my groin area. I took no pleasure in the pain or the treatment that followed. (3 months) If not for the quick thinking of my mother, the consequences could have been disastrous. As for the doctor mentioned above, maybe he should do a little more research before informing a patient that the Brown Recluse does not exsist in Florida.
I got bit by a brown recluse (in southwest Florida) in 1990, I was 18 years old. I didn’t feel the bite but noticed a large bubble just below my knee. I went to 3 different doctors that had no idea what it was but, of course, charged a fee to look at it, anyway, I ended up limping and the veins in my leg were very noticeable so I went to a dermatologist and he knew right away what it was. He ended up carving out the poison that was in my leg and also told me that if I waited any longer that I would have had to have my leg amputated. My friend just got bit on his stomach the other day fixing up a sailboat, that is why I am on this site. That pitcure of that guys thumb is so scary and makes me see how lucky I was, my scar looks like a cigar burn.
I think this is very helpful to understand how serious a brown recluse spider bite is.
10 minutes ago my big brother found a brown recluse in our bath room, it is huge and he wants to keep it! After viewing this information, I think he has lost a nut in his head.
Thank you for your hard work on the web site :} I really think what you are doing is very sweet.
Brown recluses arent huge.
Hi, my husband was bitten 2 times in 2006 and 1 time in 2007 and he was treated with antibiotics for the first 2 and they were on his backend where there was a little more meat so they were just as painful as the 3rd one but easier to treat they gave him 2 different kinds of antibiotics and had him check back they healed fine then he got the 3rd one and it was on his index finger and he said it looked like a black head and popped it out and from then it started getting bigger and the swelling went all the way up to the middle of his forearm when we finally got him to ER it was swollen and red and he was put on IV right then and they gave him 2 IV antibiotics and pain meds and then bandaged it and sent him to a infectious doctor to make sure it was not that inf. you get in hosp., but now everywhere, he confirmed it was a bite and they sent him to physical therapy and they did wet dressings for 2 days and he stayed on the meds for at least 2 weeks he got lucky it only left a scar on his finger but he almost lost his finger it looked like the pic on here of that finger after the bite but did not get as bad as the 2nd pic we beleive his bite came from our pickup cause they all showed up a day or 2 after he had worked on it and it sat for mths in texas where we were living and that is where the first 2 bites happened and the 3rd one happened here in Va. so yes after all those I beg anyone to PLEASE PLEASE get medical attention ASAP if it is at night or weekend go to your ER don’t wait till the next day or after the weekend it has been 5mths since his last bite and it is still tender!!!!!!!
Thanks Philip for the correction in the Brown Recluse text! Greatly Appreciated!
It is true that the brown recluse is not just in the lower Mid West. I am a home inspector in Oregon and they are up hear,,, Fact. Just caught one crawling up my living room curtains this morning.
My son is twelve and like three days ago he got bit by a spider. We took him to the doctor and he really could not tell us what type of spider it was. The doctor cut it to take any liquid out and gave him an injection for infection and some antibiotics but it seems to look a little worse. I wish someone could send me a picture of a bite so i can really know what im dealing with.
Thank you.
Yesterday (I live in the MidWest), I was at the pool, and I noticed that something was crawling on my arm - It wasn’t very large, however, it was tan, and had fairly long legs, it’s body was an oval-shape. Was it a premature recluse?
Thanks
I live in missouri and there are A LOT of brown recluse spiders here, I didnt realize that they were actually poisonous cause i thought they were wolf spiders (and someone told me that brown recluses were the only poisonous spiders), well the ones that i’ve seen, are freaking huge! Some are definitely bigger then my hand and one that i saw last year was bigger then both of my hands. It was mostly just their legs that made them big but they were big enough to scare me.
Sometimes when I’m cleaning the pool one will be in there and that’ll scare me pretty well too.
There is a woman who lives across the street that was bitten by a brown recluse spider, the shot (or whatever) was easy cause she got to the hospital quickly but then the bite didn’t get better and it was because the needle hadn’t been cleaned. Well, that was my comment, thanks for posting this! it just might have saved my life if i ever got that close to a spider
My boyfriend got bited from a brown reclous spider. There are two red bite marks on a bump that is red and pink. The bump (bite area) is very hard and we are very scared.
Please, if you have any information, get back at me, I’m scared. Thank you and godbless
Well was looking around on information on Recluse’s found this site interesting enough to write something down. In Illinois and got a brown recluse in a cup right next to me. Never knew my room would be any type of place a spider would want to be.
Apparently I got to thinking. If you don’t want spiders to be chilling in your room. Clean it or move things around weekly. Since they love to be in places that are undisturbed, the more you move things around and clean such as vacuum, especially in cracks and corners, especially closets where I found this little guy hiding.
Make it a habit to keep your house unwelcome for visitors like that. Just an opinion.
I just found one in my house. how do i find the nest to get rid of the rest of them. I am deathly afraid of spiders, of any kind .
I found one this morning in my bathroom. It was little just sitting on the wall next to my shower. I was able to look at it for a minute before I killed it. And it was small but I wanted to make sure I knew what it looked liked before I killed it.
My Freind was bit two weeks ago on her chest, and I know they say 24-48 hours but she was mowing the hard and about 2 hours later when she went to take a shower it was all black and oozing. She went right to the ER and they knew what it was and didnt make her wait.
They gave her an IV with antibiotics, then they gave her a shot mulitiple times around the bite site. Then scrapped it and stiched it up. She is okay now, she had never been so scared in her life. Be aware of greenery, trees, and so on that they are in but because we disturbe them, they fall onto us and bite. With my friend the spider crawled under her shirt and her bra.
So please protect yourself when outside and under trees and so on.
my brother (tyler) got bitten by one just yesterday…..7/8/07….by a brown recluse…..he is in the hospital right now…and im really worried…….he got bit while he was sleeping…….we were camping in the woods . it looked like a blister……and lf you look really close you can barely make out two little marks…….the brown recluse is deadly so try to stay away…..and if you get bitten go to the hospital right away.they like to hide in stones and piles of wood and dark dry places.
my brothers only 9……..please pray for him….i still haven’t got a phone call…i really hope he is ok.
July 10th 2007
My daughter was bitten two years ago by the Brown Recluse Spider, and to this day she still brakes out on her calf of leg, burned like, plus all the other symtems every once in awhile and goes to the emergency for antabotic treatments, some times they put a piggy back on her so when she comes back to hospital for the rest of her treatments,then they release her with more antabotics and pain meds!
I was woundering if anyone has been bitten and if it lasted that long?
I would like to see a picture of a Wolf Spider bite. I have seen the one of Black Widow and Brown Recluse spider. I seen that a Wolf Spider swells and gets red around the area where bit. I would like to see a picture. My sons ear is swollen and red but I can’t see any teeth punctures. My son swells and bruises when he gets bit by a mosqitos and that is what we thought it my have been. But I am now worried b/c I just killed a Wolf Spider in our house.
I believe I was biten by one a couple of days ago. I went to Pheonix just this past weekend, and thought I got bit there because my friend got bit by one on her breast (no joke), she had to go to the er and get surgery, they had to cut it out of her and so she’s got a healing hole with dressings in it. She couldnt even sit down or walk.
My ankle got a blister on it and spread with a red line to another big red blotchy spot that is very hard and bumpy. I read about these spiders last night. This morning my husband found a spider in our bedroom and caught it with a cup. I keep looking at it and it looks just like a brown recluse. I don’t have medical insurance so I havent gone to the dr. I don’t have symptoms of fever, pain, cramps etc. I’ve been icing it and it’s draining constantly.
Any suggestions? I live in San Diego, CA
Have some type of bite on back side of leg. Think it is a spider but cannot find where and when it happened. Just noticed it late Thur night. Today, it is hard and somewhat itchy in the white center, red surroundings and hard in the infected area. Could it be a brown recluse? Could not see fang marks but under magnifying glass looks like an infected hair follicle.
Curious. Thanks
Ryan.
I tried several ways to send a picture of my brown recluse spider bite to http://www.badspiderbites.com, to go along with my posting. I keep getting the message that this is not a real web address.
UPDATE: (Send pictures to help@badspiderbites.com)
I just wanted to let people know that these spiders are also in MA a close friend of mine was bit by one almost 2 years ago she didn’t know what it was and ended up in the hospital. She is fine now but still has a nasty scar from where they had to cut the posion out.
Just wondering, I felt something crawl over my foot just half an hour ago, and kicked it, and it was a huge brown spider. I had a glass close by and cupped it over it and now have it in a very secure container. I have seen ones that look exactly like this many many times before, at least 10, and my dad, who is a conservation officer keep telling me its not a brown recluse.
It looks exactly like the ones in the picture except its last thorax is a light tan except the first part, which has a darker brown color. Also, its front two ’short/fang like’ appendages are not far apart like in the pucture, but it holds them together. I can take pictures if need be, the container is clear.
Can someone please let me know if the characteristics can vary? Or if there is a species of spider around alabama that looks similar??
These brown recluse bites are very serious. I don’t know if the bite occured in Memphis while on a trip or back home in New Orleans. However, I noticed this pus bump in the middle of my foot. As the days and weeks passed, instead of my home remedies working, it appeared to only get bigger and painfull.
I finally went to a Doctor and he told me had I waited any longer, I would have lost my foot. Now that I am a parent, I am constantly looking my son over and I use insect repellant each and any time we have to go outside.
Don’t take any bites for granted and seek medical attetnion immedaitely.
Update on my post above: We had two specialists look at th spider and confirmed it was a chinchilla male? However you spell it, but it was THAT type of Brown recluse.. the chinchilla.. Because I had kicked him, he didnt inject much of the venom, just simply ‘nicked’ me according to the doctor, and it was red, swollen and grayish a little, but it has started to clear and Im getting better… thank SO much for your effort though!!
Turns out all those years when I saw these spiders in our house (10 total in 12 years) my dad was WRONG when he told me they were NOT borwn recluse. he had told me they were wolf spiders, and they look NOTHING like wolf spiders! So we are having our house inspected and sprayed… maybe this wont happen again
My house is getting on, and the workers said that we had at least 4 brown recluse’s. I thought that i had never saw them before so Iooked at the pictures online. I then remember when i was 7 that there was one in my bedroom right next to my bed.
So just to finish this off, it would be great if i knew how to get rid of them
Hey everyone I was bit by a brown recluse spider last Sunday July 15th. When I noticed that I had the bite it was that night and didn’t pay attention to it till Monday evening. So I called the doc. and we just did not agree on some stuff so he would not see me and the other doc in town was on vacation for the week so I decided to take care of it myself.
For the first couple of days I stayed online trying to figure out what to do because I did not want a big hole in the back of my leg. Well anyway my sister in law had some steroids and some antibiotics so I’ve been taking those and at night i get a large bandage with powder meat tenderizer and a little bit of water and stuck it to the bite for the night, every night and during the day I kept a bandage on with neosporin.
Well with doing all of this today July 23rd and it is healing and almost gone and the biggest it got was only the size of a dime. Thank goodness!
I hope my story will help someone else. Good luck for anyone who has a spider bite I know they hurt but hang in there.
I just recently got bitten by one of these recluses.
just so yall know you can spray the lil demons with insecticide. bug bombs will work only if last resort (they dont usually work)
I woke up this morning, headed to work about 8:00am and noticed that I had two bites on my right forearm, at first they looked like a mosquito bite. But after several hours passed I relized that it had tripled in size an was itching. I scratched it a little and it grew three times the size it had been. By then I was worried about this bite, so I began to ask about at my work.
The reaction that I had gotten from my co-worker was scary as they told me that I should go see a doctor ASAP because by the look of it I had been biten in three different parts of my body and “they were positive it is a brown recluse sprider bite”. Well here I am at 10:35pm on July 28th and I am feeling very unlucky.
As I look down at my arm which continues to grow in size from a few inches to now three inches by three inches and counting. This swollen area has a tempature easily double what the rest of my body is. I feel very restless, overly anxious about tomarrows visit to the doctors office
Why, OH WHY?
I live in Louisville, KY and as I was getting out of my car, my sister said she saw a spider on the door. Later that day I got into the car again, not thinking about what my sister had said earlier. Some time later I was sitting on my bed reading when I noticed a bruise on the inside of my forearm, it is a very light color. There are two tiny brown dots smack dab in the middle of this bruise. If I apply pressure, it causes slight pain.
Dear people
I have a brown recluse spider in my house and don’t know how to get rid of them!
If you know how to prevent these spiders from getting into my home, please let me know!
It’s incredible how many people have taken myths about the brown recluse and turned them into fact. Finding a true brown recluse outside of the central US between texas and georgia and up to ohio is EXTREMELY rare. In fact, in the state of california there are only 75 confirmed recluse specimens IN STATE HISTROY.
In the midwest where they are common, the average home often shelters 12 or more recluse spiders at a given time and the residents often live this way for years without even knowing. Despite the fact that they are so common, bites are still very rare in these areas.
Many people are paranoid about the brown recluse spider. Most recluse bites DO NOT become necrotic. As for the fellow who said that he has seen recluses the size of his hand (Alex post #15) …ridiculous. As with all animals, a few individuals will be beyond the norm, but a spider growing to 10 times its natural size is for a sci fi movie, not this board.
To someone knowledgable about the spider, i find that about as believable as being told that your golden retriever is 9 feet from nose to tail and weighs 400 lbs. same level of credibility.
Thanks Kyle for clearing that up and the detailed information!
Jim - BadSpiderBites.com
To add to what Kyle said–even for a specialist, positively identifying a specimin as a brown recluse is extremely difficult. Generally, the only accurate way to identify it is by cutting it open and examining the internal structures. Brown recluses look almost exactly like a VERY large number of other brown spiders. They are very occasionally found outside of their general habitat area, but those are individuals brought to new areas through shipping, much the same way South American banana spiders will occasionally be brought to North America.
And this contradicts what is stated in the orignal article, and is very important: IF YOU ARE BITTEN OR STUNG BY A VENEMOUS ANIMAL, SPIDER OR OTHERWISE, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CATCH IT FOR IDENTIFICATION. You only waste time that should be spent seeking medical treatment, especially if the animal is small or difficult to catch, and there is a VERY good chance you will be bitten or stung again in the process. Hospital workers do not necessarily even know all the venemous creatures in their area by sight, particularly ones that are difficult to identify. If you can provide a good description, that may be helpful, but attempting to bring the animal itself with you is a BAD idea.
Anyone claiming to see a brown recluse bigger than a half dollar did not see a brown recluse. These things are generally no bigger than 1/2 of an inch. That’s what is scary about them, they are SMALL. I have them in my house, they were in my last house, and the house before that.
They are generally very unagressive, and will only bother you if you bother them. They are also very hard to get rid of. They are NOT bloodthirsty killers….but still scary. I know for a fact that I have been bitten at least three times in my life with no ill effects: itching like a mosquito bite, and it’s gone in a few days.
Just because you are bitten doesn’t mean you will suffer from the severe necrosis seen in internet pictures. For example, some people die from bee stings, it all depends on how allergic you are to the venom. Kill ‘em if you see em, keep your home clean and clutter free, be smart.
I have this bite on my side for around 3 days, it is red about a silver dollar size and very red about the size of a dime you can’t tell in the picure but it has a very hard area under the skin and that is about the size of a quarter. It is very painful and i can not sleep on that side. Any ideas? Oh i live in kansas and the house that i stay in just was treated for field spiders and brown recluses.
I’ve been bitten by a brown recluse spider in the leg (my right leg) but im ok now; however, even after 7 years, there is still a hole. The hole is filled in, but you can still see a dimple and dark stop. Don’t take any chances and see a doctor.
My daughter was bitten on the neck on Friday night while she slept. It has a black place in the middle of the bite and red running up and down her neck .The doctor put her on medication on Sunday the 12th and said it may be a brown Ruclese spider but was not positive. She takes 2000 mg a day. I am worried.
While on holiday in Florida, my young daughter was bitten on her backside, we actually treated it ourselves for several days before calling a doctor. The doctor identified the wound as a Brown recluse Spider bite. The wound started off, looking like a boil, but quickly escalated to a large swelling, infected site with 2 small puncture holes,with a small hardened red area surrounding it, with oozing pus coming from it.We have had to seek further medical help on our return to the U.K. We have also found a similar looking Spider on our bedroom wall, but I am unaware whether the Brown Recluse Spider will live in our different environment. Anyone have any advice?
Just like it says here, “Don’t pop it and seek medical attention ASAP!” It started on Satuday that looked like a pimple, so I popped it, but come Tuesday it looked like what you see in the photos. I came to this website and discovered that what I had was definitely a spider bite, God forbid a Brown recluse spider, see picture below.
So after seeing the pictures from previous people, I immediately seeked medical attention. I was given an IV of Cleocin Phosphate and Clindamycin HCL pills. It is better to be safe than sorry so please, seek medical attention even if you suspect it is or not.
I’ve been bitten by 2 brown recluse spiders (one on my lower right leg and one on my left elbow) when I was a kid I have indentions as results. I believe I have some in my apartment now I keep killing them when I see them it’s usually when I go to pick clothes off the floor they run out. I’ve killed 4 or 5 in my bathroom alone behind a rack I keep my towels on. Where can I find the glue traps at? I will try to take a picture and send it if I kill anymore.
If you are looking to use a glue trap to snag the brown recluse spider, then visit your local hardware store and they usually have them in the lawn and garden center.
I recently got a bite last week and it didn’t look like much but then it started hurting when walking and now I am limping and can’t kick for drill team. It’s on my upper right thigh. So it like spread out under my skin and then it got all tight together really hard and last night in my hot tub all the pus started coming out with blood. I don’t know if it is a brown recluse but it looks like the spider bite picture with the little pimple thing. I haven’t gotten it checked out yet but now that it has died down, should I still worry about it?
Hi, last week I had got bitten by brown recluse spider or it seemed like that is what it was. It was like a mosquito bit but with a bump the 1st day then it got to be a big hole in my thigh with a white bluster, it was bleeding and a lot of pus was coming out of it.
I had went in the emergency 5 days after I got bit and it was so bad that they had to put me in the hospital. I just got out yesterday where they did some kind of surgery on it to take all the stuff out.
After the surgery, the doctor came in to talk to me he had said I lucky I came in when I did because I had lost a lot of tissue in my thigh; I was also lucky that it ate up my fat tissue first. Can you believe that it was literally eating my skin and my insides?
He said that the bit was like if I had got bitten by a rattlesnake. Crazy that it could have been a spider called brown recluse. Now I have a hole the size of half a dollar that is an inch and half deep.
If anyone out there has something like my bite, please just go to the emergency room and do not wait until it is too late!
I was bitten by something on Aug.17 and not really sure, but doctors think it may have been a (brown recluse) spider.
I have been to the doctor 2 days in a row and am not real sure the doctors in this area are real familiar with this type of thing.
I’m e-mailing photos and hopefully can get some kind of feedback on this.
My Friend in Union, New Jersey got bitten by a Brown Recluse in her bed, sleeping. At its worst, she had a huge hole in her arm and could see her muscle! Make sure to look out for these things, even if you are not in the states that are prone to these spiders.
Was bitten by brown recluse August 1, 2006 and a year later the bite area, at times, is still painful. The pain flares-up once in a while. I spent the whole month of August, 2006, in bed. Had antibiotics and painkillers but was really sick and for a week or so thought I was going to die. Very, very painful. The tissue drains a clear liquid constantly and the bite area is so sensitive that you can actually feel the liquid move about in the bite area. The bite, after a week, really affects your brain and all of your body. No reading, TV, radio. All you want to do is to sleep because sleep is very hard to come by due to the pain and the impossibility to get comfortable. The bite area is always sore. I now have at least twenty disposable glue traps around the house. The first night I put them out I caught five in one trap. Since the last year I’ve killed nine more, three in the bathroom alone. Just thinking about these spiders scares me.
I live in North Eastern Florida and was bit by the brown recluse spider while sleeping in bed one night. It is very hard to even feel them biting. It bit me on my wrist and on the elbow. I was rushed to U.F. to see an infectious disease doctor. It said it was definitely a brown recluse and it loves to bite you on the bones, because they eat at the bone. Go figure.
I think all these eight legged freaks suck! Here I am with the 2nd brown recluse spider bite within a year. The first was bad but this one i may end up needing emergency surgery as the pain is twice as bad. It all really sucks!
I was bit by a brown recluse 8 days ago at our ranch house. I was sitting on the sofa at night and felt a pinprick snesation. I didn not think much of it until the next day. The area felt like a a bee sting. When I touched it the bite area was hard and sensitive. Soon after it became swollen, extermely red and warm to the touch. I went to two doctors and was put on antibotics. This experience has been a nightmare. Never under estimate the power of nature.
Hello everyone I am just wondering about this bite on my ancle, it is small and red and it looks like fang marks. I am wondering if this seems to be a spider bite. I got it yesterday or on 9/11 *remember the people* but we have had some spider occurances in my house. It iched at first but then it started to stop. While I was in the shower this morning it seemed to sorta swell up in a way it just got kinda puffy. But it has gone down to the point that all you can see is the to cuts. I think it was a spider because I can’t think of any other thing that would make it look like it does. If someone would answer that would be great thanks!
Two years ago, while visiting family in Louisiana, I think I was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Being British and not having a lot of experience of insect bites, it went unnoticed for quite a while. I actually thought it was a mosquito bite at first, as I had quite a few.
Last year again while in US, someone commented on my lesion, which is still quite sore and tends to slightly heal with antibiotics, then opens again as an ulcer when I don’t take medication.
Doctors in UK have no experience of this, so any help on what I need to do will be much appreciated.
Hey Kyle, Are those 12 “CONFIRMED” recluse specimens living in any midwest household at any given time?. I was born and raised in California and know for a fact that they are quite common here north and south. I have had several friends bitten and hospitalized because of the imfamous recluse and the brown recluse much like the black widow seems to thrive here.
My friend missed almost the first 3 Weeks of school because he was bit by a Baby Brown Recluse. He woke up in the morning for the first day of school and he was unrecognizable. Wow, those things look weird and scary. I defintitely don’t want to have an encounter with on of ‘em.
Deb- I’m not sure what you should do sence you said you live in the UK and the docters there have no experience with the brown recluse problem, but I think you should try to look up on the web if there is a diffrent Docter in the UK that knows about it. Also you could try typeing in what it looks like on your search engine like google or something and see what it comes up with. Good luck
Four days ago, I found a 3/4″ spider alot like the brown recluse shown above, legs curled up under it on the floor in a corner (seemingly about to die). I took the tip of a small shoe and smushed it (Immediatly I felt its juice on my fingers that were neer it) and saw hundreds of tiny babies scattered. I killed thoes as well. Maybe the egg sack was under it. Very soon after, I noticed that the side of my middle finger most exposed to the spider was numb. It felt like I could have put a knife into it and not feel a thing. today I still have the numbness but it seems a bit less. Does this sound like brown recluse poison absorbing thru the skin? Is it possible or just a coincidence?
September 4th, 2007 at 11:30am
I was working with my horses and getting them shod when one bolted and stepped on left ankle and my right inner thigh, or so I thought. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance and treated for the wound on my ankle. Nothing was said about the small red dot on my thigh that had began to itch. It was only the size of my index finger nail. The itching was bad. In two days I had two large blisters next to each other on my thigh and think it was a brown recluse.
The pain was unbearable. I could not get relief with anything. I went to the hospital and the blisters were lanced and without any pain relief I felt as if I were going to die. I was sent to another hospital and they cut away the dead skin and that was murder without pain relief first. I was even on antibiotics and pain medication. The area turned black and swollen with clear drainage. It has been almost a month and the area is not looking better. Is there something else I can do to help?
Hello, My name is Sarah, I Live In southern Wisconsin, I was never bit my the Brown Recluse Spider but I was wondering what the chances are. I live in the City and what not, but i have this horrible fear of Brown Recluse Spiders, And i just wanted to know if they are very populated in Wisconsin or not. And if there is a chance i will ever come in contact with one of those horrible creatures. Thanks for you time.
Sarah
Sarah- I hate to say this but there is always a chance you could get bitten by one no madder pretty much where you live. But the answer to your question about them populating in Wisconsin is yes I am almost positive they do populate there but then again they do in many other places to. Below are some more facts about them I have learned the more you know about something (like a brown recluse) it doesn’t seem as scary.
But the bites of them are rarley fatel but if you do get betten you need to go to a docter to get it checked out. Also they prefer dark or night time best. They aren’t very aggressive but they will bite if disterbed. Also I looked up on Google spiders in Wisconsin and the first thing it came up with was a brown recluse
I found a brown recluse in my bedroom last week, yes its a bit scary and gross! Anyway we sprayed bug killer on it and then we picked it up with a paper-towel and put it underneath my ‘lil’ sisters microscope, and we looked for the violin-shape mark and we did’nt see one. We are positive that it is a brown recluse because wee studied them in school the day before and it matched all of the descriptions it gave us. So, my question is , are you sure that there are really violin-shaped marks on the cephathorax?
Candice- From what I have seen and know the answer to your question is yes they all have the violin shaped marks on their cephathorax.
Hi! I was just wondering, what do you do if you see a brown recluse biting you? Would you kill it? Swipe it away? what would you do?
Thanks
If the body is longer than 1/2 inch it is not a recluse. All recluses have the “Violin” markings as they are sometimes called fiddlebacks. The best way to tell if it is a recluse is by the eyes. Most spiders have 8 eyes in 2 groups of 4 eyes in each group. The recluse has 6 eyes total. 2 to the left 2 in the middle and 2 to the right. Slight magnification will be needed. That is the best way to determine if it is a recluse since ALOT of people mistake markings on spiders for the infamous “Violin” shape. I hope this helps
Hello, I am from the Twin Cities (Shakopee, SW suburb) and I was bitten twice within four months in 2004 by what I believe was a brown recluse. The first was in Feb., which was on my right thumb. I must have been sleeping, because I don’t recall feeling an initial “prick”. Within 48 hours, my thumb turned a purple-ish blue and was inflamed. After 3-4 days, the sore had spread to my index finger, half of my middle finger, half of the back of my hand, and half of my palm as well!!! INTENSE PAIN for over a week, as I couldn’t even write with my right hand. The pain subsided after two weeks, and returned to normal shortly thereafter.
The same happened to my right foot in May. Again, I felt no initial “prick”, and nearly identical symptoms occured as they did in my right hand. My big toe, 2nd and 3rd toes, the top and ball of my foot were inflammed and in excruciating pain. I could barely walk for over a week. I DID notice a small amount of pain in the initial 48 hours, but it took that long for the pain and swelling to become a nuisance in both cases. I was 27 and about 230 lbs at the time.
In the months and years after the incidents, I’ve killed dozens of spiders in my home, many matching the descriptions on this site. Some very small (dime to nickel-sized), others quite large (3-3 1/2 inch diameter leg span)…
We recently moved to a newer house in SE Minnesota and there are a TON of similar smaller, nickel-sized spiders, especially in the basement. Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of, or at least diminish them?
Thanks for your time.
I live in Spokane, WA and last November, 2006. I was bit by a brown recluse spider in bed during the night. They were brought into our house after my husband had come across a nest in our hay shed when rotating the old hay out to make room for the fresh hay. The bite was located on my inner upper left thigh, buttocks about the size of a pea to start with. I discovered this on a Friday and by Monday morning I was at ER and admitted to the hospital.
I don’t remember the first 12 days I was in the hospital. They almost lost me the eve of Thanksgiving. My heart raced out of control and my lungs filled with fluid. I was in intensive care and underwent several surgeries to remove the damage infected tissue. I don’t remember any of these events. I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital, had a wound vac on, along with all kinds of other IV tubes, feeding tube, and catheter. I went to a nursing home for almost three weeks where I spent Christmas and New Years.
I was back in the hospital for more surgery on the 5th of January 2007. They did a skin graft to close up the tender area. After surgery I spent two weeks flat in bed to insure the skin graft to take. I lost the left half of my outer female area and 7 to 10 layers of skin. I finally saw home again on the 12th of January 2007. I was gone from work from November 20, 2006 until March 1, 2007. I started back part time to get back in the swing of things. I underwent physical therapy and home nursing for about 5 weeks.
To this day I am still afraid that another spider will make its way into my bed or clothes. Because they hid so well you never know when they may come out. Most everyone claims they are not in the western states but mine isn’t the only case I have been told about since I was bit.
I live in Kentucky and own a business with my mother. Our office is totally infested with brown recluse spiders. We have “sticky” pads in each corner of the office and in a months time it is not unusual to catch hundreds of these. In the corners of the walls, you can also catch tiny little baby ones as well. We cant get rid of them either. We are scared to death that we are somehow going to get bitten here at the office. I would say that since we first discovered recluses here, we have captured an (easily) estimated 1500 of these.
I was bitten twice in 2003 in seperate incidents a week apart. Both bites were on my shins….first the left then a week later the right. Both wounds started out as small dots much like a mosquito bite and developed within a week to volcanic lesions. The left measured 3in by 2 1/2 inch and all the way to the bone and the right 2 1/2 by 2in again all the way to the bone at their worst.
The doctors put me on dapsone and proscribed hyperbaric oxygen therapy due to the location of the wounds (the lower front of the leg has virtually no blood flow under it.
The hyperbaric therapy consisted of being taken in a compression chamber to the depth of 40 feet where pure 100% Oxygen is fed to you for 2 hours at a time.
The wounds took well over a year to finally skin over and the area still to this day (4 1/2 years later) looks bad. Nothing to mess with…if you suspect go to your nearest hospital immediately. Although there is no anti-venin for the brown recluse they can at least get the healing process started.
I went to my friends house this weekend and she had been biten by a brown recluse. Well I woke up this morning and I found a bite below my shoulder, a little close to my underarm. I don’t know if my bite is a recluse bite or not. It is red with a little brown spot in the middle of the bite. I would show a picture but i don’t have a camera. Sorry!!
Please help me identify,
Leanne Taylor
I do not care what they say I am a victim of over 13 bites in all from the Fiddleback 3 in Oklahoma in 82 and 94 and in the last yr over 10 bites one from the Brown recluse, and Hobo, and Yellow recluse. All having to have debrievment surgery. when I got bit last yr I met over 20 people that also got bit by the brown recluse, and Hobo and all got the same as me MRSA. I almost had to have my arm removed. This bite now from Sep 27 07 is 2 1/2″ deep and has 3 surgeries. I got another 2 weeks ago bit me 4 times on the back but must not have had a lot of venom left because only two had to have surgery. They are here in Tumwater WA, and in Alaska. I know the first Fiddleback case came in through the Oly Brewery. The man lost his hand.
Peace and Prayers from
“She Who Seeks and Gives” NaHomTima L.
i was bit last may 2006 at my former job in their plant yard now i have a black mark and have a sore ankle
I am in Montana, and the guy that sprays for bugs around here says he found some nests of Brown Recluse spiders around my house, so they definitely are here. I was taking a nap and woke up to a large long blister on my stomach, when I gently wiped my hand over it, it just brushed away and oozed liquid, It didn’t hurt so I let it be for a few days, but I noticed it was getting deeper to the point of an index fingers length, and about 3/4 inch deep so went to ER (on Sunday) several days after bitten.
They also gave me an IV for a short time there and sent me home with stuff to dress it with, also a home health nurse came to my house every few days to check on it. It took several weeks for it to heal up and close. I also used EMU OIL on it as it is a healing and preventative for germs to get in (do research on Emu Oil, its really good stuff for lots of things!!). Now I’m spider phobic of sleeping in or on my bed! I believe the wolf spiders are bigger in size than the brown recluse.
It’s rather disturbing to be on this site, not necessarily reading about the repercussions of a recluse bite, but reading all the responses from people thinking they may or may not have been bitten by one and are not seeking medical help! In case the testimonials from those bitten badly enough to require surgery haven’t frightened you people enough, if you think you may POSSIBLY have been bitten by a brown recluse, haul your butt down to the nearest hospital and get it checked out! It’s common to not feel the initial bite. But if you find the beginnings of what sounds like a recluse bite, go get it looked at by a professional immediately!
Basically, if you’re close enough to the spider to discern more than a general body shape, you’re *too close*. If it’s black and has a “bubble-butt” for an abdomen, stay away; if it’s brown and thin, stay away! I work at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and we stress to all children (and adults; you’d be surprised how many are ill-educated about harmful spiders in their area) to never touch a spider, scorpion, or snake in the wild and, if evidence of a bite is apparent, to go to the hospital ASAP. Brown recluse spiders may not produce deadly results, but they’re no picnic if you’re bitten! Our specimen is double-contained and under extremely careful watch.
I was bitten by one and it took over my arm not very pretty!!! i now have a scare from it people ask me whats that i say spider bite you know what they say “yea right no really what is it” i mean man some people just don’t believe that spider’s can really hurt you!!!
Maaan, this website has just intensified my spider fears. Thanks a lot for making me scared to put on my clothes in fear of being bitten by a brown recluse spider… If i get bitten by one of those things I’m going to commit suicide!
Do Recluses live in Florida?
Thanks.
my husband got bitten by a brown recluse in Kansas. He of course did not feel the bite as it was on his right butt check untill he went to the doctor and they told him what had bit him.
This was a very quality website.
My family owns an apartment, that is basically infested with Brown Recluses. And now, home from college, I have the task of remodeling the pinthouse that sits atop the building. Needless to say, I’ve been brushing up on my Brown Recluse research.
There are several bug strips full of these spiders. Its very erie to know that they all are creepin around you all the time. Luckly its winter and the building has some problems with leaking water. I’m sure that wont stop them from biting me, but I know they wont be as active.
I was bit 2 times on my right leg by I don’t know what. After 3 months they are still inflammed and red about 3″ in dia . I think it may have been a brown recluse nest I walked into in some thick brush while in shorts. I am going to go see the doc but I was wondering if anyone has any info on k9’s being bit? I do love my dogs and they are outsiders. They are about 70 lbs or so, can a bite kill them??????
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider and i didn’t think about it after a couple of hours it started to kill i went to my doctor and he said if i had left it any longer there would have been a high chance of me dying
Oh my gosh now I know to stay away from spiders. I used to hold brown recluses! I got goosebumps now, I let them in my house.
Hi,
Less than 24 hrs ago, I felt a prick on my inner thigh when i was doing household chores. We have stickers all around our house and I get pricked all the time so I ignored it and planned to fish it out after I was done doing a certain task. It started stinging and bothering me so I fished out the “sticker” from my pant leg and found instead a half dead brown recluse (I think its a brown recluse because its got six eyes and a fiddle on its back AND I matched it to the pictures).
My thighs rubbing together crushed it and it bit me in retaliation. So its been about 24 hours (see pictures below), can anyone tell me if the bite looks like a recluse bite? Sorry I couldn’t get a closer pic of the spider. Maybe I’m just overreacting?
love spiders :p ive been drawing them for ages and id love to see them infront of me
A lot of people say a brown Recluse is not that big but it is bigger then a quarter. i see them around every day out at my barn where i keep my horses. thankfully neither of my horses have never been bitten by a brown recluse. but i have seen horses that been bitten and a bit on a horse is a lot bigger that it would be on a person!! the bite can be as big as a football and thats with the treatment. so if you are out in the yard please be careful especially out at any barn!!
thet is so gross. thank you so much for the stories and info.
love 11 ,cheyenne
A woman in Missouri, Rita Brumm, died after spending a month in the hospital, following complications from a brown recluse bite:
Rita Brumm, 63, of St. Louis was bitten by a brown recluse spider and died that last day of March! The spider was caught in her sweater which probably caused it to inject venom. Most bites are not fatal and won’t react this way unless cornered or trapped.
Rita joined the real estate profession with more than 20 years of business experience and an extensive background in marketing, communications and promotions. Her previous work involved fund raising and involvement in the community.
Rita’s professional experience includes: President of Outreach St. Louis, the charitable foundation for KMOX, KEZK and Y98; Director of Community Relations for the Humane Society of Missouri; Director of Special Projects at UMSL; and Editor and Art Director at Ladue News. Her current civic and charitable involvements include the United Way and Humane Society. She previously served on the boards of Arts and Education Council of St. Louis, Central Institute for the Deaf and Junior League of St. Louis. Formerly a resident of Ladue, Rita and her family currently live in Town & Country, Missouri. Rita received a Bachelor’s of Journalism Degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Rita was well respected and will be missed by the community.
I?m from northern California, today me and my brother were about to enter inside my house when he noticed strange tiny yellow colored bugs crawling everywhere on the 2 brick pillars outside my front porch. It looked to me as if a nest of whatever these bugs were had just hatched. I felt something crawling on my leg and when i looked down I seen a spider that resembles the brown recluse. I immediately shook it off and squished it (I wish I had not so I could have taken a picture). It was light brown in color and had the same type of body of a brown recluse. I checked (whatever what was left) for a violin mark on its body but wasn?t sure if it had one or not.
The sharing of this vital information is very important to each person that have taken a bite form this species of spiders.We can medically treat other soft tissue diseases/bacteria such as staph,boils and mrsa as well as (proper id of these soft tissue problems. Spider bites are different.Site like this one is so helpful to combat some of the problems.Again this due to the sharing of information.Being on the front line,I spend hours in the dwelling of this species of spiders. I have visit homes and business where they have been found, not one bite have taken place and i have been where a multitude of bites occurred. We must not discount that these spiders will and do bite as well as kill.
thank-you
chris gleeton, arachnologist-cmapsb
Hi everyone,
I’ve been visiting a lot of sites about the brown recluse lately and it creeps me out that one small thing can do so much damage to someone. I love spiders but every time i see one i kill it for my safety. Please, I need someone to reply if these spiders are in Chicago.
Thank you
I’ve been looking up about brown recluse spiders, they live here in Utah so I’m very scared to get bit by one. I saw a picture of a guy who got bit on his thumb, he probably wasn’t very happy. Another guy got bit on his leg, he was just sitting there with this gaping hole in his leg. They’re about the size of a quarter, aren’t they?
Brian, there are no brown recluses were you live they only live in the mid west and north west but you are right for slapping spiders I do the same thing and I love spiders it’s sad to kill them but sometimes it what you have to do it you find a brown recluse put it in a glass cut
If any one finds a brown recluse in there home put it in a glass cup and take it down to a local college or vet or who ever knows about animals and get it verified that it is a brown recluse some other Brown spiders seem to look like brown recluses so before you panic take out a cup.
citlolli
Yes they are the size of Quarters no bigger I have ton of them on my Probably for years and have never gotten bitten in places like Utah there pretty rare aren’t they so you have pretty much nothing to worry about.
I live in Wa and have seen only two in my life time a whole 15 years of life but my Dad said theres ton in are little Plays house we have in are back yard I’m pretty good at verifying Brown recluses by now and I’m sure thats what they are.
You have pretty much nothing to be scared of I had to write a paper on Brown recluses and grew to respect them and there space I think every one needs to do the same!!!!
Brown recluses aren’t aggressive spiders at all. The only times they bite are if in cloths which scares them or when you disturb their environment. As for getting bit by one some people experience little or no symptoms and with RICE therapy everything should be fine. Although if your bite is serious and necrosis occurs you should definitely be at the doctors.
There are many infections that have the same symptoms as a recluse bite so typically if there are no fang or bite marks chances are it wasn’t a recluse, probably something else. Recluses are easily mistaken for small wolf spiders. Recluses are about 3/4 in body length which is very small. Thankfully my brother had mild necrosis and healed just fine on an iv of solu-medrol and a couple of other medications.
If you think you have been bit then its always good to get medical attention, but its not as serious as people make it out to be. The only deaths reported are on children under the age of 7 and on elderly people. this is just some of the information I have gathered over the years.
The Recluse Spider is not known for making webs and sitting in them. However the ones in our house enjoy the warm air at the bottom of the freezer and waits until lights out before before venturing out into the kitchen to snack (tile floor). I have noticed one method they use is to lay a flat web out in front of their path maybe no further than 2 inches in front of them. That way if an ant/bug is walking across the floor and disturbs the webbing it he will trigger and attack the target.
I killed a quarter size recluse last night. We have a sliding door for one of the rooms and I know he must of been waiting and hiding in the wall before coming out. I have lived in this house over 20+ years and have been lucky. I throw my bed covers back most every night for inspection and put the bed up on pedestals to keep the covers from hanging on the floor.
I have been awakened by spiders on my face and arms before. agh! I squashed them with my fingers on my cheek. One had made a resting spot next to my nose and eye in the socket area. Nightmare….
I have a brown recluse spider and they are really popular under houses and damp dark places. i saw one, one night and i thought some one was playing a trick on me so i went to pick it up and when i touched it,it ran a way from me. Then on when ever i see a spider i always step on it just to be safe.