Sunday, May 19, 2013

Brown Recluse Spiders In Pittsburgh?

The Brown Recluse Spider is a small spider native to some parts of the United States. It can be found from the Midwest and south to the Gulf of Mexico. This includes Nebraska, Southern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and some parts of Ohio. It can also be found in west Georgia and north Kentucky. It is almost never found out of these regions, although from time to time, the odd spider has been caught, but there has been no evidence of a large population.


brown recluse pittsburgh


Brown Recluse Spiders are sized somewhere between 6-20mm depending on the area that they are living in, sometimes they have grown larger than this, but that isn’t a common occurrence. Despite the name, the color can vary from being a ‘cream color’ to dark brown. Sometimes they have a ‘violin’ shape on their back, although not all Brown Recluse Spiders have this. Perhaps the best way to establish whether you are dealing with a Brown Recluse Spider or not is to take a look at the eyes, normally spiders have eight eyes, whereas a recluse only has six arranged into pairs.


The average life span for a Brown Recluse Spider is around two years. The female produces a number of clutches of eggs between May and July. Eggs take one month to hatch. The spiderlings will reach adulthood within a year.


One of the most notable things about the Brown Recluse Spider is the length of time that they are able to survive without any nourishment. In fact, the Recluse has been known to survive six months without food or water.


Despite their ‘bad rep’ for being an aggressive spider, the Brown Recluse Spider is perhaps one of the most docile of the venomous spiders. Generally they avoid human contact unless they feel threatened, and they very rarely get into fights with other insects. Instead they appear to prefer fleeing, although they are able to defend themselves fairly well if it is deemed necessary.


brown recluse pittsburgh pa


Brown Recluse Spiders tend to form their webs in quiet and dry locations. Therefore the majority of encounters with a Brown Recluse will be in areas such as a garage, a closet or in a shed. If they are inside of a house then you may find they inhabit cardboard. They have also been found making their shelter in clothing and shoes, although this isn’t common. In the wild they can be found in rotting tree bark and other areas which provide a natural shelter. The spiders leave their web at night to hunt, which is different to other spiders which tend to hunt during the day.


Perhaps one of the biggest dangers that the Brown Recluse Spider presents to humans is their bite. However, as mentioned previously, they are very rarely towards humans unless they feel threatened. Generally the spider will  only bite a human if they are pressed against the skin, for example, if they have made their home inside of clothes that are then being put on. Apart from that, they do tend to keep themselves to themselves.


If a person is bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider it can be fairly serious. This is because they have potentially deadly venom. However many bites are minor and are thus not going to do much damage. The bites can cause venom to spread throughout the body fairly quickly, especially in children and elderly. This can cause vomiting, joint pain and fever. The majority of fatalities are in those that have weakened immune systems, for example children and the elderly. Brown Recluse Spider Bites to tend to scar and it is a number of days before the full ‘seriousness’ of the bite is known.



Brown Recluse Spiders are commonly exterminated throughout the areas in which they reside in, mainly due to the potential of a bite. However, their ‘hardiness’ makes them incredibly hard to exterminate, and thus in some cases the infestation is going to be much worse before it gets better.



Brown Recluse Spiders In Pittsburgh?

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