Brown Recluse Spider Problem Suggestion
Here is a story about how I believe I solved my brown recluse spider problem fairly quickly, in expensively and without using possible dangerous chemicals. Plus I did it all myself.
I have been occassionaly putting out small amounts of "sticky strips" (a.k.a. glue boards, etc) at various locations in my house for several months. I would occasionaly find a brown recluse spider stuck in one of the traps. But when I did I didn't worry too much because I have read that almost every house in certain parts of the country has a few brown recluse spiders in their house and there is never any problem. Part of that reason for that is of course found in the name of the spider. Brown "recluse". Luckily for us, such spiders are "reclusive" and would much rather hide and avoid you, and any activity the are aware of, when they encounter it. They will usually hide from you and try to avoid you. But recently I started noticing way more such spiders stuck in my traps than I feel comfortable with. So I went to war with the spiders using a WHOLE lot of glue boards.
I got several dozen glue boards and put them EVERYWHERE. And to my surprise and worry I caught a lot of brown recluse spiders. So I would discard the old glue boards and replace with new ones. After several weeks I found I was catching NO spiders or bugs of ANY kind. I truly believe I have cleaned my house of 90% of the spiders and insects that I had. Of course I will NEVER stop putting out fresh glue boards just in case.
Many here might think that I only rid my house of the spiders that were "dumb" or careless or overly active. However, when I was catching a lot of spiders I noticed that after the glue board trapped a few spiders, then it appeared to me that those spiders (who were still alive and stayed that way for weeks) somehow, someway attracted other spiders. In the case of attracting spiders of a different species, I believe that those attracted spiders were on the prowl for a meal. In regards to attracting other brown recluse spiders, the same may be true but I also believe that the still alive and trapped brown recluse spiders had some way to summon and/or attract other brown recluse spiders. I even noticed that some baby brown recluse spiders had hit and stuck to the glue board as if they were walking side-by-side, in a group. Very odd.
Also, once I starting getting no spiders or other insects stuck to my various glue boards, I went one step further and "baited" the glue boards with live crickets. Brown recluse spiders seem to love crickets. Since the spiders are hunters they should be quickly and easily attracted to live crickets and then would of course be stuck to the same glue board as the cricket. Yet no more spiders were caught.
Anyway, I have dozens of glue boards all over the house sitting there day and night just waiting to catch any insect or spider that walks over it. Since I am not catching any such bugs, I am comfortable that I have few, if any, insects walking around.
I wanted to post this, not to brag about it, but to alert other GB.com members in the event they want to try what I did. I have heard some pretty horrible first and second hand stories about brown recluse spider bits and I don't want anyone in my family (or your family) getting bit.
BTW, in doing my research I was suprised to learn that there are other spiders which are NOT brown recluse spiders yet have approximately the same deadly venmon. Just so you know.
I have been occassionaly putting out small amounts of "sticky strips" (a.k.a. glue boards, etc) at various locations in my house for several months. I would occasionaly find a brown recluse spider stuck in one of the traps. But when I did I didn't worry too much because I have read that almost every house in certain parts of the country has a few brown recluse spiders in their house and there is never any problem. Part of that reason for that is of course found in the name of the spider. Brown "recluse". Luckily for us, such spiders are "reclusive" and would much rather hide and avoid you, and any activity the are aware of, when they encounter it. They will usually hide from you and try to avoid you. But recently I started noticing way more such spiders stuck in my traps than I feel comfortable with. So I went to war with the spiders using a WHOLE lot of glue boards.
I got several dozen glue boards and put them EVERYWHERE. And to my surprise and worry I caught a lot of brown recluse spiders. So I would discard the old glue boards and replace with new ones. After several weeks I found I was catching NO spiders or bugs of ANY kind. I truly believe I have cleaned my house of 90% of the spiders and insects that I had. Of course I will NEVER stop putting out fresh glue boards just in case.
Many here might think that I only rid my house of the spiders that were "dumb" or careless or overly active. However, when I was catching a lot of spiders I noticed that after the glue board trapped a few spiders, then it appeared to me that those spiders (who were still alive and stayed that way for weeks) somehow, someway attracted other spiders. In the case of attracting spiders of a different species, I believe that those attracted spiders were on the prowl for a meal. In regards to attracting other brown recluse spiders, the same may be true but I also believe that the still alive and trapped brown recluse spiders had some way to summon and/or attract other brown recluse spiders. I even noticed that some baby brown recluse spiders had hit and stuck to the glue board as if they were walking side-by-side, in a group. Very odd.
Also, once I starting getting no spiders or other insects stuck to my various glue boards, I went one step further and "baited" the glue boards with live crickets. Brown recluse spiders seem to love crickets. Since the spiders are hunters they should be quickly and easily attracted to live crickets and then would of course be stuck to the same glue board as the cricket. Yet no more spiders were caught.
Anyway, I have dozens of glue boards all over the house sitting there day and night just waiting to catch any insect or spider that walks over it. Since I am not catching any such bugs, I am comfortable that I have few, if any, insects walking around.
I wanted to post this, not to brag about it, but to alert other GB.com members in the event they want to try what I did. I have heard some pretty horrible first and second hand stories about brown recluse spider bits and I don't want anyone in my family (or your family) getting bit.
BTW, in doing my research I was suprised to learn that there are other spiders which are NOT brown recluse spiders yet have approximately the same deadly venmon. Just so you know.
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Very good idea. Thanks for the tip. 0 -
nice to know
we have a bunch of black spiders that keep coming in not the black widows Iv only found one of them. so I think Ill give the glue strips a try.
I wonder if the crickets will come to the strips I think we are being invaded by them right now[:(!]0 -
Thanks for the tip... 0 -
Thanks - I could have tried that in the old house, last year... Good to know!!!!!! 0 -
Glue boards
Can they come in 4 x 8 sheets for walls?
I know a couple of people that could use some help with a Cock Roach problem.0 -
I use the glue boards too. I've noticed that late spring to early summer is the peak of our recluse infestation.
Ben0 -
once i found four black widows in the same day. was cleaning windows and pulled them out the clean the track and the spiders were in the track.[}:)] 0 -
There is at least one published project of a family trying to remove brown recluse spiders from their home over a multi-year period. They removed about 40 per month for several years, with the numbers never dropping and no one ever receiving a bite. I DO wish you well, but I am dubious based upon this and my own experience when living in recluse country that you will actually be rid of them any time soon. 0 -
Funny thing is, I'm not in "recluse country". I'm north of I70 which is supposed to be out of "recluse country"; however, I'm also in a retired railroad freight depot so they've probably been here since the 1800s.
Ben0 -
Now get yourself some Ortho do it yourself home bug spray. and spray it around anyplace a bug could get in . It is not harmful to pets, only to fish so dont get it around water with fish in it. We have a plametto bug problem here in florida, you know those great big cockroaches that if ya step on em they take ya for a ride, well the Ortho spray keeps em out along with all the other critters here in Florida..[:D] 0 -
Excuse me ignorance, but what are Glue Boards?[:(] 0 -
Awsome idea. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by sig232
Excuse me ignorance, but what are Glue Boards?[:(]
sticky traps. Like what you use for mice.
Ben0 -
quote:Originally posted by Classic095
Now get yourself some Ortho do it yourself home bug spray. and spray it around anyplace a bug could get in . It is not harmful to pets, only to fish so dont get it around water with fish in it. We have a plametto bug problem here in florida, you know those great big cockroaches that if ya step on em they take ya for a ride, well the Ortho spray keeps em out along with all the other critters here in Florida..[:D]
Sounds like a good idea. I will try it, although I was under the impression that spraying over the counter chemicals around was not worth it since it disapated quickly.0 -
quote:Originally posted by sig232
Excuse me ignorance, but what are Glue Boards?[:(]
Thin white cardboard (paperboard actually) that is usually about 10" x 5" with a think layer of very, very sticky glue on one side of the board. The glue is covered with wax paper until you need the board then you just peel off the was paper and put the glue board some place where pets and children cannot easily get to it but the insects can. Such as under a large heavy dresser, under your furnace, etc.0 -
Most sprays are not very effective on spiders, even if they work well on insects. Different animals, different biology, different behavior. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by He Dog
There is at least one published project of a family trying to remove brown recluse spiders from their home over a multi-year period. They removed about 40 per month for several years, with the numbers never dropping and no one ever receiving a bite. I DO wish you well, but I am dubious based upon this and my own experience when living in recluse country that you will actually be rid of them any time soon.
Good point and all, but I think of my glue boards as 24 hour silent sentinels. I've got them all over the house. I probably spent about $50.00 just this go around on glue boards. If they report back to me, by them having an almost complete absence of insects stuck to them (especially the ones I hand baited with lives crickets), that there are few, if any insects crawling around my house I will accept that as fact. There is little or no reason not to accept it as fact.
In regards to the 40 spiders per month family you mention, I feel they had a house that had one of several things going on. A large infestation in the attic or crawl space that was left unchecked and those spiders would migrate down into the house each month. Or a large outdoor population of spiders that easily found entry into the house. Or a breeding area in the living space of the house which acted as a sanctuary for the spiders and kept producing spiders. Or they didn't put out a HUGE amount of glue boards and kept missing a few spiders that later showed up each month.
But who knows?
My sister who lives 40 miles East of me said she didn't have a spider problem because her house had been treated for termites and that killed the spiders. I was at her house one day recently and was doing some work in her garage and after moving some boxes I noticed an area that had numerous dead spiders. I showed them to her and told her that I recognized them as brown recluse spiders. She then let me put down a few glue boards.
But her spiders were dead just as she had predicted. Now if I had searched further I might have found some live brown recluses but I will let her glue boards sit while and that will decide the issue for me.
My next door neighbor told me a story about his brother-in-law that got bit on the ass with a brown recluse spider. The bite was very close to his rectum and the wound /infection spread up into his lower intestine area. During the treatment for the spider bite, the physicians discovered that the brother-in-law had cancer of the colon. But the physicians could not treat the cancer because of the damage done to that area because of the spider bite. Brother-in-law went on to die of cancer.
Yeah, I know this is a wild story and I found it hard to believe. But my neighbor is no joking clown and has a good and responsible job. He is no fool and I believe he believes he told me the truth about this story.0 -
I have something to add TR,
Spiders are a preditor. Preditors must eat. Spray for the other insects that may be present and that alone should vastly reduce your spider infestation. If they have nothing to eat, they starve and cannot reproduce.0 -
if you have pets i hope you have them were the pets cant get to them 0 -
quote:Originally posted by jwb267
if you have pets i hope you have them were the pets cant get to them
Roger that. Although it can be an entire evening of fun watching a cat trying to get one of those glue boards to come unstuck from said cat.0 -
Now I feel really stupid but where might you buy a sticky board and is that what they are really called and made for??? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by manoldgun
Now I feel really stupid but where might you buy a sticky board and is that what they are really called and made for???
They are just kinda like a flat version of fly paper. They are referred to by different names. Most any large hardware store or home improvement store should either have them in the insect chemical depart or be able to order some for you. The cost about $1.00 per board or $4.00 for a box of 5.
I urge anyone here who has a crawling insect problem to get several and put the around your house. Even if you are sure you have no problem with crawling insects, after you leave a few glue boards around for awhile, I think you will be surprised what you find stuck to them.0 -
quote:I urge anyone here who has a crawling insect problem to get several and put the around your house. Even if you are sure you have no problem with crawling insects, after you leave a few glue boards around for awhile, I think you will be surprised what you find stuck to them.
But do NOT leave them in the open if you have house pets or very small children!0 -
quote:Originally posted by He Dog
quote:I urge anyone here who has a crawling insect problem to get several and put the around your house. Even if you are sure you have no problem with crawling insects, after you leave a few glue boards around for awhile, I think you will be surprised what you find stuck to them.
But do NOT leave them in the open if you have house pets or very small children!
Good advice.
If anyone does get some of the glue on them, lighter fluid and maybe even mechanics handcleaner takes it off pretty well.0 -
I have the same problem with Hobo spiders here in Wyoming. They are a cousin to the Recluse and their bite is just as bad. I have been using the glue boards for the past few years and I catch a steady supply of Hobos. I think I will never rid the house entirely of them unless I burn it to the ground! They are tenacious little buggers! 0 -
The Hobo spiders are imports from Europe via Seattle, but they have been spreading, probably as people move. They are a dangerous spider, so keep after them!
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7488.html0 -
quote:Originally posted by tr fox
If anyone does get some of the glue on them, lighter fluid and maybe even mechanics handcleaner takes it off pretty well.
vegetable oil works like magic.
Ben0
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