‘You’d Better Watch Out. You’d Better Not Cry’: Brown Recluse Spiders Are Now Nearby 6/19/03

‘You’d Better Watch Out. You’d Better Not Cry’: Brown Recluse Spiders Are Now Nearby

MANHATTAN, Kan. – For BIG populations of brown recluse spiders, look to much of the nation’s southeast quadrant. Entomologists suspect that every home in the region probably has at least some of the poisonous arachnids – including the new housing being built from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas (western boundary) to Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia (eastern edge).

"Brown recluses are around year-round. But with the arrival of warm days, they become more active, hunting for the year’s new insect prey. That’s when people are most likely to see the spiders, foraging between dusk and dawn," said Ludek Zurek, entomologist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

‘Stalking’ the Brown
Recluse Spider

MANHATTAN, Kan. – All kinds of spider species can be brown. Brown recluse spiders, on the other hand, can range from brown to tan to wheat-colored.

That’s why Kansas State University entomologists say the following are the best ways to identify a poisonous brown recluse:

* The body is rather slender and small – usually about 1/4- to ½-inch long.

* The legs are comparatively long and skinny-looking. When extended, they make the spider’s total length and width about the size of a U.S. dime or quarter.

* The spider carries the silhouette of a violin on its back. This darker marking is on the front (leg-carrying) section of its body. The violin’s neck points toward the rear (abdomen section).

* While at rest, it usually keeps its front three pairs of legs pointing forward and the rear pair pointing backward.

"For a spider, brown recluses also have very unusual eyes. But most people really shouldn’t get that closely acquainted with this particular arachnid," said Ludek Zurek, K-State Research and Extension’s medical-veterinary entomologist.

Discovering that you’re sharing space with brown recluse spiders is no reason to panic, Zurek said. Still, it may be a reason to do some repairs, furniture rearranging and extra housecleaning.

"Yes, a brown recluse spider bite can cause quite serious symptoms, but only in people who are particularly sensitive to their venom. At most, that’s 10 percent of Americans," the entomologist said.

Besides, these spiders try to avoid people. Their shyness is what made "recluse" part of their name.

"Scientists have found that given the number of brown recluses living in the southern Midwest, the number of people getting bitten each year is extremely low," Zurek said. "Researchers who came over from the University of California-Riverside detected more than 2,000 brown recluse spiders in a single Kansas home. But no one living at the address had ever reported a spider bite."

The spiders attack only when they’re cornered or surprised, he said. That isn’t an everyday happening, because they hide in dark, preferably small places through the daylight hours.

In fact, brown recluse spiders are the reason to look before reaching into a corner of the bathroom cabinet or under the kitchen sink. They’re the reason to look before grabbing shoes stored in the back of the closet. They’re the reason to be careful working in and around stacks of "things ‘n stuff" in home or garage. They’re why people should look behind or under a painting or couch before picking it up to move it.

"The most common bite site, however, may be people’s beds. A brown recluse wanders onto the sheets at night, looking for prey. The sleeper rolls over and surprises the spider. So it reacts. The sleeper may wake up feeling a sharp pain. In many cases, however, people don’t feel the bite and don’t develop any symptoms for another six to 12 hours," Zurek said.

The severity of symptoms depends not only on the person’s sensitivity but also on the amount of venom the spider manages to inject. For the one person in 10 who is a sensitive victim, the common symptoms are blisters and swelling around the bite area. Rare cases include tissue peeling and deep ulcer formation. Sometimes reactions bring chills, fever, nausea, vomiting, rash and/or stiffness.

"Of course, your waking up with a bite mark doesn’t automatically mean that a spider’s been around and that you may get ill today," the entomologist said. "We’ve got bedbugs in Kansas again. The biting flies are out, and the mosquito populations are building.

"If you see one bite mark, those types of insects are probably at fault. Spider fangs leave two marks, about one-sixteenth of an inch apart."

Those who get bitten while they’re awake should try to save the spider, "even if it’s a little mashed," Zurek said.

"Not all brown spiders are recluses. Many bites are misdiagnosed, and people receive unneeded treatments," he explained.

The next steps are to clean the wound with cold water, apply an ice pack and elevate the bite area.

"Then, if you think or are sure you were bitten by a brown recluse, see your doctor immediately. If you can, take the dead spider along," Zurek advised.

Spiders "tip-toe" when they walk, so aren’t good candidates for controlling with residual insecticide sprays. The entomologist said sticky traps (e.g., Catchmaster) will catch them, if placed in such spider favorites as under the bed, under living room furniture, behind drawers and the like.

"But the best control is the same one that works with many household insect invaders," he said. "Seal both indoor and outdoor cracks, perhaps using expandable foam. Remove clutter. Vacuum up the insects you find – before they have a chance to lay eggs – and dispose of the vacuum cleaner bag. Don’t skip cleaning any spots simply because they’re out of sight.

"For brown recluse spiders, I also recommend moving the bed so that it doesn’t touch the wall and making sure the bedding doesn’t touch the floor. Before you put them on, inspect any shoes and shake out any clothing that you haven’t worn in a long time."

As the resident medical-veterinary insect specialist, Zurek also helps with K-State’s Insect Diagnostic Lab. That lab identifies specimens of all kinds of insects that Kansans submit for testing through their county’s K-State Research and Extension office.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.