[Synopsis]

Ortho Home Defense is the best! It works better than any product out there over the counter.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by littlewing

jessaka - the one that was in the tub had to have come up through the plumbing wall. There's a small area there I couldn't caulk. But the one in the living room I'm baffled by. I really caulked well in there (or so I thought). I was at Home Depot today buying more Ortho Home Defense and was talking to the clerk. She has gotten these bugs too and agrees that they aren't roaches. A few other people I've talked to said the same thing. I just don't know what they really are.

All this talk of Brown Recluse is making me a little nervous. My cat tends to shed alot and every time a little hair brushes my skin I jump. Guess I'll go spray my Ortho (got the gallon size this time)!

First of all, please get your house strayed about every 2 or 3 months during the spring to fall season. As for what came out of you drain, it probably was a type of roach, but it won't hurt anything: just gross. As for recluse spiders, they don't like people, we have lived in a couple of areas including Dallas where they can be found and never saw one. Jesseka is being overly cautious, which is fine, but don't go bonkers over this. Like rattle snakes, most people, no matter where they live will never see one in their 80 plus years of life. As a 7 year old kid, we lived in Miami during the 2nd world war, daddy was a Naval officer. Almost everyday during the summer we ventured to the creek (river) what ever and played in the water. We never saw a water mochican or whoever you spell that word. Careful is one thing, panic another.

Nita

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by nmnita

As for recluse spiders, they don't like people, we have lived in a couple of areas including Dallas where they can be found and never saw one. Jesseka is being overly cautious, which is fine, but don't go bonkers over this.

Nita

Well, I hope you are right. We are coming to Tahlequah to visit our property/vacation in July and this brown recluse thing has me concerned. I looked them up on the internet and it sounds like they are thick and EVERYWHERE and their bites can be downright nasty.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Well, I hope you are right. We are coming to Tahlequah to visit our property/vacation in July and this brown recluse thing has me concerned. I looked them up on the internet and it sounds like they are thick and EVERYWHERE and their bites can be downright nasty.

Yep I think you are right about the bite being nasty and them being everywhere, but they are called recluse for a reason, they hate people. I am not trying to minamize (spelling) the problem, just don't think it is something to panic over. Just be careful.

Nita

[littlewing]

Caught another one of my critters last night. I was turning off the lights and checking to make sure the doors were locked when he came sauntering in from under my front door like he owned the place. Well, I sprayed him and after he was fairly immobile I put him on a dustpan and brought him into the kitchen where the light is really good. I realized then it wasn't a cockroach. He had little mandibles which I thought I had seen on the other ones but didn't get close enough to tell for sure. I prodded him with a wooden skewer and he had a very hard outer covering. The covering was also striated. This morning I spent several hours online and finally found what I was looking for. It is some kind of ground beetle (there are about 2500 species in North America). I found a wealth of information at bugguide.net. They have a link to "The Manual for the Identification of Ground Beetles of Florida". This manual has dozens of photo's many of which resesmble my bug. I know we're in OK not FL but surely we share some of the same critters. The problem is that Ground Beetles are mostly beneficial bugs and are very susceptable to insecticides. They shouldn't be killed as they eat many unwanted pests. So how can I convince these guys not to come up here? Or do I just let them roam freely with the hope they will eat the Brown Recluse (lol)

[nmnita]

littlewing,

sounds like you have a decision to make: I hate to kill creatures that can help my garden, can eat bad guys, or are harmless, but normally I don't want to get close enough to find out. I have never asked one yet, if he is a good or bad kid.

I will say, if you think he will eat those recluse spiders leave him alone, just don't encourage his to have dinner with you.

Nita

[Mattie Jo]

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20031112/a229_1399.jpg (broken link)

Brown Recluse

Halfbakery: Brown Recluse Control

I propose that he scutigera house centipede be introduced as biocontrol for brown recluse spiders. Scutigerans are voracious predators of anything smaller than themselves, including spiders. They do not bite or otherwise harm people. Several large scutigerans introduced into the house might be expected to clean up any spiders or other house dwelling insects. The scutigeran population would then decrease to levels sustainable by the occasional spider trying to enter the house and get established.
In the tropics, people welcome house geckos roaming about because they devour house bugs as well. They are willing to put up with the occasional lizard dashing around, pooping in the sink, nibbling the peanut butter. Scutigerans could be the temperate world's answer to the gecko!

Science News for Kids: Snapshot: Poisonous Spiders as Reluctant Hunters

A little while ago, Sandidge heard that some exterminators tell people to kill all of the insects in their houses to starve and get rid of brown recluses. But Sandidge wasn't sure that was good advice. He had seen the spiders feeding on insects that had been dead for weeks.

To test spider preferences, Sandidge brought 147 adult brown recluses to his lab. He put each one in an enclosure with a live insect and a dead one of the same species. He gave the spiders 5 minutes to pick a meal. More than 80 percent of the time, brown recluses chose the dead prey.

[Mattie Jo]

Nashville Scene - Itsy Bitsy Spider

any good bug man will tell you that it’s almost impossible to kill brown recluses with insecticide because the spiders hide during daylight bug-man hours. Best I know, the only way you can kill brown recluse spiders with insecticide is to spray the deadly juice right on them. Some bug men think spraying or fogging brown recluse habitats is counterproductive because the spray probably won’t kill many brown recluses, but might just kill spiders and other bugs that prey on the brown recluses.

Brown recluse spiders like hot, dry places. Most of the brown recluses I’ve seen were in attics, including my very own attic. So every now and then I’ll buy a bunch of glue traps and put them around places where my attic connects to the rest of my house. I put glue traps on the stairs to the attic and around the pipes that go through the attic floor. I put glue traps around the chimney. Brown recluse spiders also like basements, because basements are full of the bugs they like to eat. So, I put glue traps against the basement walls, and on the top of the foundation walls.

… Don’t assume that spiders in the traps are dead. Some of them might still be able to bite. Wear gloves when you handle glue traps full of spiders, and bag up the glue traps in sandwich bags.

After reading the above I am not going to hire a bug man. I am going to keep my house bug free as best as I can and clean up dead bugs. The rest of the articles on these two posts are good to read.

I have now learned to identify a brown recluse by its body instead of the fiddle mark.

[Mattie Jo]

| Bite Prevention | Brown Recluse Spider Catcher | Brown Recluse Information Center | Prevention is the key to spider safety | Cold Weather drives Spiders inside

After all of my reading, these traps (above) seem the best. Some man at Lowe's said that they like the ones that are enclosed, but I can't find them anywhere except on this website. Another reason is that my dog just got his tail caught in yet another trap, and I opened the linen closet and stepped on one with socks on, but even if you buy those unenclosed sticky traps at the hardware stores, why not put them in the cellar or attic where the spiders are. The spiders will go to them, especially if you catch bugs on them first? I think my spiders prefer the cellar.

[Cali BassMan]

Oh this should be interesting, Cali Girl Wifey screams when ever she see's a spider, LOL, Our trip in August should be fun... America's funniest home video's here I come