We have been finding brown recluse spiders in the house quite frequently and so I have been researching how to get rid of spiders. As most of you know.. I like to handle pest control myself and while I don’t like spiders I have no desire to kill them all or anialate them, I just want them out of my house.
I understand their role in the ecosystem and appreciate that but when they are on my turf.. it is war time!
I have done extensive research on the subject and I am reporting my findings of what works and what does not work.
I am not going to get all bent out of shape over spiders that are harmless such as daddy long legs and others that are known to be harmless to humans but the ones that scare the bajeebers out of me are the brown recluse, also known as a fiddleback, and the black widow spider.
Brown recluse spiders are naturally not very aggressive and will usually only bite if it is a last resort and they feel their life is in danger if they do not.
The first step in getting rid of them is to remove their comfy environment.. they love to get in dark places such as inside of clothes and shoes on the floor, inside cardboard (they love cardboard), under the covers on the bedding, etc., they need areas with moisture such as in bathrooms and kitchens.
These are things that are fairly simple to take care of..
- Remove the clutter
- Don’t allow clothes to pile up on the floor
- Get rid of cardboard boxes and use plastic bins instead
- Make sure the bedding is not touching the floor
- Take care of any unneccessary moisture such as leaky pipes, standing water, etc.
The next thing I disovered in how to get rid of spiders.. namely the brown recluse spider is the things that they do not like.
Apparently their taste buds are located on the tips of their legs so they will be very adament about not walking thru or hanging out in areas that contain tastes that they do not like.
They hate citrus such as lemon, orange, etc. and from what I understand.. the best thing you can do is to dust with lemon pledge. They also hate eucalyptus leaves.. another natural way to make them feel extremely unwelcome.
I read somewhere else where they do not like the smell of kerosene.. the source suggested wiping down window sills, door jams and any other area that might be used as access points with kerosene on a piece of newspaper.. that is not something I am willing to try but maybe it will appeal to someone.
Last but certainly not least.. be sure to shake out all shoes before putting them on as well as clothing.
If you have suggestions on how to get rid of spiders please feel free to send them my way.
Im so glad I found this website because have brown recluse spiders in our house as well. Im am pregnant and I do not like to be around the sprays that the exterminator uses so Im looking for more natural ways to get the brown recluse spiders out. We have had the exterminator out 2 times now and Im still seeing them. I’ve actually laid eucalyptus leaves around our bed and it has seemed to help. The bedroom and the living room is where we have been seeing them the most, but we havent seen any in the bedroom since I’ve laid the eucalyptus leaves down. I do have a question though. The exterminator “smoked” the attic and the crawl space under the house. Does that actually kill the brown recluse spider or does it just run them off?
I have not heard of eucalyptus leaves as a deterrant but will try that. I use the sticky pads everywhere, vaccuum a lot, and today read that boric acid around house works well. I’m off to get boric acid!!
I live in a home that seems to have a recluse infestation. I applaud you for wanting to take care of it naturally, but also consider that the recluse can cause damage to anyone, but are more likely to cause damage in infants.
As far as boric acid goes, don’t waste your time. I caught a brown recluse in a glass in my kitchen cabinet. I had also heard boric acid worked on brown recluses. I left that recluse sealed in the glass with a dusting of boric acid, and the spider was not affected. He was in there for 10-20 minutes, and he continued to crawl around just fine. Next, I transferred him to a glass with some insecticide in it. He died within 10-20 minutes. That being said, the boric acid DOES kill roaches, crickets, etc, and if you can get rid of those bugs (and remove their carcasses – recluses will chose a dead bug over a live one 80% of the time!!!), then you are on your way to ridding yourself of these awful creatures.
We had the exterminator come out. We’ve put down at least 50 glue boards in our 3 bedroom home. We’ve sprayed inside and out with “over the counter” sprays. It all has worked to a degree – we’ve caught at least 150 recluses on the boards. I’ve found at least a dozen dead recluses next to where I sprayed. We aren’t seeing as many overall, however, they are still there. Just last night, there was one crawling up my bathroom wall. This is a bathroom I use daily, and it has lots of light during the day and into the night, and NO clutter. ICK!
Oh, I also tried the lemon. I got lemon scented everything – pledge, pinesol, lysol, and real lemon, and I clean my hard floors with the pinesol, wiped down all of our wood trim with pledge, and clean the counters with lysol and lemon. They don’t seem to care enough to avoid it.
Thanks for posting this. I just moved into a home here in Florida, and kept finding these spiders inside and really didn’t think anything of it, other than I hate spiders of any kind. I was out by the pool, which is screened, and felt a small bite on the back of my leg. Well, it was one of those same type spiders I’ve seen inside, and that got me to investigating and looking for them. I still have a red spot that is lucky healing, but I’ve caught several more inside and I’m pretty sure they are brown recluse as I can’t find any other spiders to match them. The violin marking isn’t quite definable, but I’ve seen pictures online of recluse’s that don’t have a very defined violin. I’ve found these spiders in the bathroom, outside around the pool and in bright lit areas of the house, so it’s not all dark places they like. I have a cat of 13 years, so I’m cautious on pesticides, so if you come up with any other natural, proven methods please keep sharing. I’m paranoid now, these things are extremely dangerous, extremely.
did you ever find an answer to the problem………..i have just moved into a new home in europe and after three weeks i’m finding them all over the place……………..it’s quite horrible…………i’ve found them in closets, on sofas, running on the floor in broad daylight……………HELP!!!!!!!
Yes, Kathleen – I keep hearing and reading that bocic acid is very effective, and I assume harmless to cats, as it has many human uses. But I can’t find anyplace the explains HOW to apply it to rid these nasty biting reclouse spiders??
Will very much appreciate any advise you may have. Thanks, Janice
Hi,
I read your post and I have the solution to you Should Know About! Most of the time when Terminix Sees this problem we know that 8 out of 10 times it is mainly an infestation in the attic or crawl space.
The best way to make sure that you don’t get infested is to use a GREEN solution like boric acid. Not to sound like a sales man, Terminix can apply an insulation called Tap in you attic space that will stop an infestation before it begins! They can also treat the crawl space with Bore Thor- active ingredient Boric Acid. Not to mention you will be upgrading your home to be more energy efficient and get tax rebates to help offset the cost. I have only seen it necessary to do a Fumigation on a property with a Brown Recluse infestation once and that was before the TAP product came out.
Also take a look at this web site- http://ag-organics.com/Food-Grade-Diatomaceous-Earth-10-lb./M/B003QJBVH8.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=froogle
This is a product we All should have especially if you live in Sub Tropic climate.
I am studding to be an Entomologist for Terminix, if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Good Luck!
I’m spending about 20 bucks a week on these glue traps and still these buggers get through. I bought some spray and bombs at Lowe’s…seems to help more, but that was another 50 bucks. I am renting the home. Is there any culpability on the owners part to assist in eradicating these nasty arachnids?
I mentioned the problem to my landlord, emphasizing that the problem was preexisting – we didn’t bring it in, and I knew that because we had lived just up the street in an even older house. We had glue boards there, and not a single brown recluse. I asked politely if there was anything I could do, asked them if they would help, but also let them know that I was not thrilled about moving into their property that was infested with recluses, and that I would be less than thrilled to have to pay for any doctor visits (not to mention skin grafts, antibiotics, cortisone shots, etc). That did the trick! Be nice, but persistent. Document, document, document!!! Write down everything, and take pictures of the recluses you catch with something in the background that proves its in the rental. Nothing may ever come of it, but if you did get bit and had to undergo months of doctor visits, it may help you in a lawsuit???
“Sticky pads” and frequent vaccuuming is also very helpful.
“Sticky pads” and frequent vaccuuming is also very helpful. I have also used ALL lemon products available for cleaning and air freshening. I have sprayed repeatedly around the perimeter of the house with various insecticides,sprayed under the house as far as possible, used bombs in both attic&under house,used sulfur dioxide(smoke bombs), epsom salts, osage orange balls, and hydrated lime!!!!! Just ordered Demon WP and Delta Dust to try these products. Got 2 cats and they now live under the house!!! All this over the past 3 months!! We still have the spiders, just fewer of them. Now seeing baby recluse spiders…very hard to see, so I’ve increased the vaccuuming. Praying for these demons to leave the property. Hope that helps as nothing else seems truly effective.
My grandma and I have put down sticky pads and we put it down a week or so and we picked it up today and there was a cricket, and 7 Brown Recluses!!! So they Really do work!! Thanks website!!
We have brown recluse in our home and this spring I sealed all of my heating and air vents around the edges. Recluse like to live on top of the vents and they climb up the vents and into your home around the space where the vent fits into your flooring. I sealed off any way that they could crawl into my home around the vents using a caulk gun. It has helped tremendously. I would still love to get rid of these pests completely.
Thank you so much LInda, We moved into this house about 5 months ago and of course the brown recluses come out in starting in May. Well I discovered the first spider on the granite wall in the shower…lolz I ran of course I am petrified of spiders I hate them, only those who do damage. We have tons of vents in the floor so I am going to buy screen material to glue over the flat vents so we can still have our central air blow but with the screens protecting anything from coming in. I really want to get rid of these pest badly, I can’t stand them!
Just tonight, I was going out the door of my home to get my “Baby” her blanket out of the car and just before reaching for the door handle, there it was just inches from me reaching out to close for it to get me…not the fact of getting bit by the little devil but, the fact that my 11 month old daughter plays in and around the door all the time looking out the glass at the dogs and cat…this is so scary that I am really worried about her playing anywhere in the home now…with all the ideas that everyone has provided on here…I will be headed out to the hardware store tomorrow to get all these sticky pads and see how many more of these creepy crawls I can get…I did find one thing that kills them and that was a flip flop…priceless…
I have these scary critters too! They love my attic and bathroom. First and foremost, most of the pesticides at lowes, home depot, etc. DO NOT KILL RECLUSES! Look on the bottle, can, or etc. and it will state if it kills them. If it doesn’t state anything about a recluse then it doesn’t. My pesticide people tell me their chemicals do not work unless sprayed directly on the spider. They have protection on the bottom of there legs, that’s why they are hard to get rid of. Sticky traps and a shoe is what I have found most usefull.
Just this morning my seven year old son was putting on his shoe and while he was busy messing with his toes he looked up in time to see a recluse running into his shoe. I shook it out examined it and yes it was another recluse and this is January in Oklahoma. It has been unusually warm this winter so I guess they are not hibernating as usual. I have been bitten myself on my leg two summers ago and have tried everything to get rid of them. I have tried glue traps, Orkin, sprays, boric acid, orange slices, horse apples, etc. etc.etc. I still have them. I am going to try eucalyptus next. They have caused me so much depression cause I am buying this house. Part of me just wants to abandon the whole ship. Say screw it all. Throw everything away and give up. I think that is the only way I will truly be rid of them.
Personally, I have found that the vacumn cleaner works best to remove both eggs and the host. Ive been bitten at least twice a year and suspect I have on occassion been bitten while working outside in the garden. I never feel the bite or see them, but always see the result. I have a suspicion that clothes in dark closets is where my culprits hang out most. Vacumn, vacumn vacumn.
I have found that the application of raw vinegar does kill the bite juces if applied soon after dected on skin surface. This I understand to be an ages old treatment.
My husband told me today that he found one of these spiders out side our home in Texas!!!! Then he called back and said one was in his sock!!!! I’m going back home with my two children I am scared for them to go back to a home with these spiders!!! So i will have him try the sticky pads and also i will do research on this!!! I have all wood floor and tile so I do not vaccum !!!! I sweep and mop so if any of u no what could help me I would love to hear what u have to say thanks!!!!
moved into a place 2 yrs ago full of brown recluse since then i have bought many glue pads seems to work plus have electronic devices my place is close 2 1100sq ft i ck my traps often lately have not caught any spiders so this mean they gone dont kmown were are they @
i figured out that this method works on eney spider just get a size 12 mens shoe and stomp that *****
I have been cleaning my garage and have killed 100s of fiddlebacks. The method I use is the heat method. A propane torch. Iexamine all the nooks and crannies and when I see one I light it up. Something very satisfying about the sizzle. I got bit by one on the inner thigh a year ago and I’ve been working to get rid of them since. It was to the point in my garage (shop) that I could predict where they would be. This winter while it was cold I went out and pulled out boards I had stacked and killed nests of these things. I am sprayfoaming the perimeter of the garage and am also in the process of cleaning around it. Pesticides don’t work. Fire does
I also have big black ones twice now in the morning in my kitchen sink! My husband said they are drain spiders. I have white spiders and brown ones everywhere. When I clean I never run into any of them!!!
I am curious to know if anyone has tried to dehumidify. It seems these spiders like humidity. If you dehumidify, killing the bugs they live on, perhaps the spiders would either die or leave. I am thinking you get rid of their food source, you get rid of the spiders.
I do have a dehumidifier in our basement, but it doesn’s seem to matter to the spiders. we still have several of them down there, and our 4 year old plays down there all day. thankfully she knows she’s not supposed to touch spiders, just yells to us that she sees one so we can kill it.
Will they be in the covers of your bed when the covers are on the bed?????
My aunt just found one in my 7 year old cousins bed.
Yes, they definately get into covers. My husband and I both have been woke up in the night with them crawling on us. They seem to show themseleves every few days. We won’t see any new ones crawling around or stuck on glue traps and then we will see 4 or five in a day. They are persistent, but the glue traps definately kill them.
i’m so sick of these things.. i think i’m going to try some of thse tips but i’m scared to death of these things..and my 5 yr old got bit by one not to long ago..
We’ve been killing about one of these a day here recently. I was always hoping it was a wolf spider, but on a recent kill, we found the tell-tale violin on it. I live in Central Kentucky in a rental property, and I find myself with flashlight at night doing random ‘spot checks’ on the wall. I plan to try some glueboards very very soon and go from there.
diatemaceous earth also natural way to rid yourself of spiders and other insects.
This is what I recommend, I live in West Ky and we are loaded with the little creatures. I live with them everyday and dont do anything other than try and keep my place clean and lay traps around specific areas. If you worried about them, get some double sided (carpet tape) tape and wrap the legs of the bed, get rid of the bed decoration, shames and stuff. Put double sided tape around air and heat registers, wrap the legs of other pieces of furniture if need be.Use the tape anyplace you think you need to.
The tape is hardly noticeable if you get the clear. I only use spider traps in the dark places like closets and storage areas.
You can look around on the web and get sprays and powders to get rid of them and it is recommended to treat inside and outside the home. The down side of them.. they arent very user friendly, must keep awy from pets and the kids. Another issue is if you treat an area. they are likely to move somewhere else that isnt treated.
We were lucky enough to buy a house in middle TN with a confirmed brown recluse infestation. We have battled them for over three years now and suspect they will always be here. We’ve had an exterminator spray multiple times and have dozens of glue traps all over and they do catch a lot of them but I feel that there is no way to completely wipe them out. We have an 11 month old so we have not exterminated in a year. This morning I found a huge one in the dryer with our clothes. How did it get in there??? No idea what to do about them. I guess we’ll just have to live with them.
i have spiders, but im not sure if there brown recluse or not, im pretty sure they are. i have a 2 yearold daughter and she hangs out in the living room and thats where i find the spiders. always in the same corner but i have searched and searched and cant find where there coming from. obviously i dont want to use poison because of my baby but i dont know what else to do. what should i do??
I to live in Nashville in the same house for 11 years and just killed my first recluse in my kitchen. I am taking both the home remedy approach and will be meeting with Macks pest control on Monday. I have spent my weekend reading about this nasty little devil and natural remedies to help detour it from the home. I’m finding that eucalyptus oil as well as cedar oil can be sprayed to keep them at bay. Now we are not talking about sprinkling wood chips under the bed or the leaves from your local florist. I’m talking about ordering 100% essential oil. Your home is going to have a distinct smell that won’t be intrusive but more pleasant, but it sure beats crawling in beds with an extra 4 pair of legs and a kiss that bites.
Has anyone successfully rid themselves of recluses?
pinesol and eucalyptus leaves everywhere in your house.
I have researched Recluses for a while now and have not heard of anyone getting rid of them and where the Recluses are there’s usually Widows. We have them both here in a house in Homosassa Florida that we bought. My dog has been severely bitten by a Recluse. I my self have been bitten by a Widow. We have only been here a couple weeks. The recluses grow to be GIANT. There impossible to get rid of. The BEST method is to remove your self and your family from them if you want to be safe!!!!!! As soon as possible!!!!!!
I live in the Nashville area also and I’m a landlord, one of my rentals was infested two years ago and I paid $599.99 for brown recluse exterminating. The exterminator used boric acid around all the floor registers and behind all the outlet and switch plates, we also used the glue traps all around the house. The price included twelve monthly revisits by the exterminator, they would check and replace the glue traps and reapply the boric acid. He told us the boric acid doesn’t kill them just by it getting on them, but after they go back to their nest and groom themselves and ingest it. Thats why he put it in places where they have to crawl through tight spots, he also said they are belly draggers so they will get it on themselves. We started out catching quite a few at first with the glue traps, but by the end of the year we weren’t see any on a monthly basis. My renters still keep the glue traps out (just not as many) and they find one every four or five months. If I were to find myself in that situation again I wouldn’t waste that much money for the exterminator, thats why I’m not giving their name, I can buy the boric acid and glue traps at a hardware store and check them myself, thats really all they did. Hope this helps someone.
How did they apply the Boric Acid to the light switches? Do we just raise our vents up and put this around the vent areas? I am freaking out over these things. I have a special needs child who can not get them off her if they get on her and we have them pretty bad.
For the person who is in Nashville you can buy the sticky traps in bulk at Odems. I think they are on Dickerson. I got 250 for $25.
I live in an area where recluses and pretty uncommon. I’ve already been bit once, but I only got the red ring arond it and it went away luckily. I’ve been seeing them everyday and I’ve had several close calls with them. Nothings working and we really don’t want to call an exterminator because of all the animals.
hi all. I live in Texas and this year, we are being overrun by Brown Recluse. I purchased the Brown Recluse glue traps at the local hardware store and have them in each bathroom. In 3 weeks, we have caught 1 Brown Recluse. The rest of the traps are empty. Last night, I woke up to something crawling on my arm, gently brushed it off and sure enough, it was a Brown Recluse. I guess the next step is one of the Pyrethrins. They are “OK” around pets and that is what the local pest company uses, but I can do it MUCH cheaper. I am READY TO GET RID OF THESE BUGS!!!
I forgot to add do not place wood piles of any kind next to your home. They love them and it invites them into your home. I was told that from a UT etymologist.
We have a ridiculous amount of them in my house.. They are everywhere. I kill 3-4 a day sometimes. They scare the ever living crap out of me! I wish there was a way to really get rid of them.. I just want to sell my house and get out of here!!!!!
I feel the EXACT SAME WAY! They creep me out and I am SICK of them!! It’s been 6 years now that we have been battling them. I am always scared to death my kids are going to get bitten. We try to keep things picked up as best we can, and our house is really very clean, but regardless, they are in our bathroom and master closet, and I just don’t know what else to do. I think SO often, that I just want to MOVE!!
I am finding about 1 brown recluse a day. I am really starting to freak out because it started as maybe one a week and now it is growing. I have tried lemon juice mixed with water and its not working. I really dont understand where they are getting in at. Anyone heard of these things coming up through drains??? They always seem to be in the bathroom……but that, in my opinion, is the most sealed room in the house. This morning, I showered with one….yup! NOT COOL!!! Hope he got nice and clean before I soaked him in Windex for about 3 hours and then smashe him on the sidewalk with my size 10 shoe. Yesterday, I caught one and microwaved him. He ran around for 10 seconds before finally frying. These things are crazy. I don’t get it. If I had the money….I would burn my house down and build a new one……IS THERE ANY WAY TO TRULY GET RID OF THESE USELESS SPIDERS? Some one really needs to invent something that kills these things for good. I hate them and I want them all dead!!! These things are not animals or insects….they are evil. Please HELP!!!
It’s been so hot and dry this year they’re really coming indoors to get cool and find moisture. Unfortunately if you have an infestation it’s all hands on deck. I found a helpful website “do my own pest control” dot com. I hope the moderator lets this post go through. The website has a lot of good info for getting rid of brown recluse spiders.
Pinesol everynight spray down the base boards and around the windows make sure you lightly wet the floors down everynight I dont see them if I do that but if I dont spray evrynight then you will see them.The only thing I say try it.
Everytime I find a Brown Recluse, I zap it with the Electric Fly Swatter and make sure they pop and sizzle a couple of times before I dump them in the toliet.
Howard Garrett (the Dirt Doctor) says that mud daubbers (wasps) eat brown recluse and black widows. SO DON’T KILL YOUR MUD DAUBBER NESTS!!!! We gotta know who is the real enemy here. I’ve also heard that scorpions eat brown recluse. I’ve been bit by both and the scorpion is way easier to handle….not fun…but no permanent damage either from a scorpion.
Gray jumping spiders also kill brown recluse. They are defenseless against the attack from above. Don’t kill the little gray furry jumping spiders if you can help it. And yes, wasps also kill brown recluse.
where do you get these spiders from the gray ones I love them things.
I’m in a rental property in Charlotte, NC. I’m a city girl from up north, with other northern roommates. Needless to say, we are freaked out over these spiders. We’re seeing one a day at least now and we’re not sure what kind they are but they are definitely all different colors. Landlord says they have a treatment for the weekend but thats just too far away!! What can we do to keep these things out? We’re in a ground apartment if that helps.
Instead of using glue traps which are limited in area, I use long strips of gray tape, ends folder over so my fingers don’t stick to it, and lay them along the sides of my beds and other strategic locations around the house. This is a lot cheaper than glue boards, and I can cover a lot more traffic area with foot long strips of tape. Buy the wider rolls.
I think setting off bug bombs made to kill spiders,(be sure and check the box) has really helped us,and I have sprayed around the house 3 times. We had browns coming in our home for the first time this April after 18 years of living here, barely saw spiders, or bugs for that matter. First mild winter ever, seems to be a large part of the BR activity. The BR made our news the week after they arrived in our home, and it was stated that several homeowners, and companies, were calling in exterminators due to the invasion of BRs. We also had a hail storm in our area a year ago, and all the homes in our area got new roofs which many were shake shingles replaced with composite. We were told that the browns loved the attic which provided them with silverfish, and now a great part of their food was eliminated,and the roof was sealed with plywood, and the only place they could go search for food, would be inside our homes. We also set out sticky traps, which has caught some, and helps to eliminate them when you are sleeping, and they are up and hunting. With the bug bomb treatments, 2 since April, we placed them in our attic, two levels in our home, basement, and the garage,12 cans. It seems to have really helped. However, we did it at a late time in the evening (7:30 to 8:00p.m.), so that we were exposing them to the spray when they would likely be out hunting. Since the spray needs to contact them in order to kill, during the day they are hiding. It does make for a very late night or early morning, if you plan on coming home to air out. We left for 4 hours, came home at midnight, and aired the house for an hour, since it was strong smelling, and the carpet seemed moist where the cans were placed, even with plastic bags placed under them. So, after an hour we came in, cleaned up, and readied our beds for sleep. We did this twice, and we are catching a few here and there on the glue traps. Some seem affected from the spray, they look really brittle on the trap. When they try to get loose they break off their legs. It is as if the chemicals are working and they are dehydrated. So, if you think you are up for a late night, we returned because it is hot and I wanted to turn our air conditioner back on, also our refrigerator. Be sure to turn off any appliances that cycle, or have gas supplied to them. (water heater, stove etc.) Good luck, and if you try this,I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks, I can relate with all of you and how horrible and upsetting this has been. All are in my prayers. Hopefully we can find resolve in some method in dealing with control of these unpleasant visitors. I am praying for an extremely cold, I mean brrrrrr cold winter.
Just wanted to let everyone know that vinegar kills these spiders. I have been cleaning my closets and getting rid of the clutter with a spray bottle full of regular white vinegar with me. If you see one of therse spiders in a hard to reach spot or a corner, spray it a few times with vinegar, at first it slows it down and within a few seconds kills it! My plan is to clean out all of our closets, get rid of the clutter, place sticky pads everywhere, call Terminex for the outside and attic, and to have my bottle of vinegar and my flipflops close by!
I spray my house and my two rooms everynight windows inside and out.I havent seen any brown spiders in my house.I was killing five to ten a night before I sprayed if I dont spray everynight they come out.Make sure you spray the floors down make them where they are somewhat wet and spray before it gets darks before they come out and hunt.I am so scared of these spiders.I got so sick of seeing them in my house I just moved into this old house and the people before me were nasty.I make sure her room is cleaned up before it gets dark.I also make sure my room doesnt have anything on the room or against the walls where they can climb on my things and try to nest.I also make sure all shoes are in closed bags so they cant nest.I make sure they cant nest or eat in my house thats the plan.I hope it works.
I didnt say who she was it is my three year old child.
I’ve had two spiders crawl on me in the past 24 hours I think they are in my couch. I did buy a bissel floor steam cleaner which can be used on hard floors and carpet as well as other places it came with eucalyptus water. I’m going to try vacuuming and steaming the floors and couch tomorrow.
We just bought a house in the OKC
Area & are really infested with
Brown recluse
The house has floor vents in the slab
Sadly we have tons of boxes to unpack
I am freaking out even opening all of them
since the spiders are everywhere
Going to try euculyptes oil & pinesol
But what about the boxes we are storing
Bomb the room ?
Slowed to a snails pace
going through these boxes out of pure fear
Until this experience I had always thought
Spiders were good
Also know your spiders wolf spiders Are good
Scary looking I know but not dangerous
I have been fighting these recluse spiders for over a year now since we purchased a house in middle TN. Things are much better this summer than last summer. I have been using pure lemon oil mixed with water to clean hardwood floors once or twice a week. I think this has helped. Large bottles of the pure il can be found on ebay. I have also drilled small holes in many of the walls in our home and sprayed Delta Dust and also Demon WP in these holes,sealed back up with plaster.I feel these two products, Delta Dust and Demon WP have really been helpful. I continue to spray around the house about every ther week with Demn WP and also Delta Dust. Although the products say they last for several months, I think the persistence and frequency of treating all areas has been very effective in helping rid these creatures from the house.They are constantly crawling , looking for places to set up “housekeeping”, so I feel I have to constantly fight to keep them gone. I have read the recluse is called the “dirty spider” due to never cleaning itself, so I think boric acid is useless.. Some exterminators use Borid(boric acid). It is not manufactured to kill the recluse.Save your money! Sticky pads under bedlegs will help you sleep better!Keep up the fight!!!!
Thank god I found this website because I was just cleaning my room and I took my sheets off of my bed and I saw this spider and I flipped right out. URGG I HATE SPIDERS and does any one know where they come from???
use a can of “hot shot”,spray around doors windows,corners of rooms–does smell but works for 4 months,also comes in lg garden(gallon)container with long tube and hand held sprayer–works up to 6 months for outdoors.have had good luck with this for years.
buy at home depot ,lowes just about anywhere–good luck
BEWARE WHEN USING SPRAY! if you use bug sprays with brown recluses a lot of the time they wont go away and it will make them more aggressive! probably the best thing would to use natural things like the lemon(i have not tired it yet but im going to)
Hi, my husband and I have recently been finding a couple of brown recluses every once in a while in our apartment. We live in tennesssee which is common place to have them. I am greatly opposed to using chemical methods so I bought some pure essential eucalyptus oil from whole foods and combined about 15-20 drops per 6 ounces of water along with some Meyers clean day essential lavender oil soap in a spray bottle. I sprayed everywhere in my house and also laid out glue traps under furniture and in corners and near windows. We have only caught 2 spiders, which leads me to think we don’t have many, but the spray and traps are definitely working! You can also get essential oils of peppermint, lavender, lemon, and a few others I have read about online. Hope this helps. I would also advise you to read about pesticides before you put them in your house, since I read that they can make the spiders more aggressive Not Good!
Spiders are not killed by spraying poison unless you get it on them. They will not die unless the spray gets on them. This is why you see your exterminator installing glue traps. If they ever spray for spiders, it would only be to satisfy a panicky customer.
Boric Acid kills slowly, but it does kill. The person who said that they gave the spider 20 minutes to die in a jar that was dusted with Boric Acid, did not wait long enough. Boric Acid is not the best way to deal with Spiders, it works by ingesting it, when some bugs groom themselves. Spiders don’t do that. The other thing that is even harder to control/kill are White footed ants. They are working their way up the east coast, and look like sweet ants, or Pharaoh ants. None of what you use to kill sweet ants will kill White Footed ants. they look very similar, but you will need a pro to deal with White Footed ants. The White Footed ant does not take food back to the nest to feed the queen. They are nearly impossible to kill, and are mainly only controlled by spraying a poison around the perimeter of your home. It is a poison that you cannot buy, call a pro.
You can only tell they are white footed ants by close inspection, or by the fact that you can never get rid of them on your own.
Look, I’m your average teenage girl who can not stand spiders.
The way my room is set up, the head board part of my bed is in my closet. (I find it very unique! & quite cozy!)
I may notice this more sense my bed is halfway inside a closet, but i Have ALWAYS had a brown-recluse problem.
Actually, just about 10 mins ago I woke up to one crawling on my arm!
uuughagaaggah! Just looking at that picture of the spider gives me chills!
So, I looked up on how to get rid of them.
It’s quite peculiar that you say they love cardboard, because I know for a fact that i have an old Whales Crackers snack box left there in a result of my laziness, I KNEW i heard something crawling around in there, but I just never bothered to look. But sure enough! Here comes the little bastard! Making his way up my arm! -__-
At the moment, the spaces between my bed & my closet walls are barricaded with blankets & pillows. I’ll be sure to get whatever products I can to get rid of these little rascals!
Are they not one of the most deadly spiders??
I think this is the type of spider that bit my husband. I looked at the bite mark to see if I saw 2 small holes to determine if it was a bite.I did not see any holes. The bite mark is like a big hive the size of a tennis ball and the under the skin is very hard. and itchy. Is this a bite from a Brown Recluse Spider.
I have had a brown recluse infestation since the spring. We had a very mild winter in Nashville (a lot of Nashville people infested this year!) and reports of brownie infestations are rampant. I have a pest company that comes once a month and adds glue traps, dusts and sprays. I also put out glue traps and used gorilla tape sticky side out on my bedposts and went to sleeping with just a single light colored sheet and as it gets cooler just a light blanket. I am a lot colder, but I can check easily for spiders before going to bed. I rented a dumpster and completely cleaned out my garage and got everything off of the floor that I could and caulked any voids and openings. That has helped tremendously. They were very strong in the attic and my bedroom is above the garage and below the main part of the attic (ugh). I bet money they are heavy in the walls inbetween also. It has been a constant battle- I would say glue traps have been highly effective, but you never know how many are avoiding the glue traps. Shake out all clothing and shoes before wear. My bug guy said they rarely crawl up walls, etc., but after reading many posts about these spiders and seeing some of the videos online I now believe they can crawl anywhere they want. I wish this upon no one.
Getting rid of clutter will work. We never wanted to spray, as we had three young children. It took us a couple of years of moving stuff and getting rid of things, but it will eventually work. Also, keep moving stuff about. Don’t let things sit for too long. Clean and vacuum. We moved here 23 years ago, and our house was infested with those darn things. An entomologist here in St. Louis told us the only real way to get rid of them is to get rid of clutter. He was right. We rarely see one in our home.
this is the best insecticide Bayer “Suspend SC” it is not sold in all states but internet / mail order can be done.
I would also suggest cedar chips or shavings around the perimeter of your home. This messes with creatures with simple respiratory systems like spiders, insects and even reptiles. Its a cheap and simple preventative measure but won’t help if you already have them in your home. Good luck!
I am really freaked out, Our whole house is made of Cedar and we are having these darn spiders around…im screening all air vents on floors and using every single thing that worked on this page…so wish us luck…
I found this thread and you people are crazy! Get some jumping spiders and release them around your house! They are not harmful to humans ( even look kinda cute) and will kill every brown recluse in your house! After they are done killing all the bugs in your house they will go away!!!
We just purchased a lake house 6 months ago. We have killed 30 brown recluse spiders all sizes in the past 2 weeks. We have had pest people spray a mist heavy in attic. And I have several sticky traps which do work some. I am terrified! Wished I knew answer!