I think I read about your wife once: :D

http://www.rainfall.com/posters/imag...imag/GG067.JPG

Pretty close! Both have red hair, well endowed and know how to skin a cat!:eek:

Jack, what do you use for Recluse traps? I need to thin the spider population around here.

I'm using 'Tomcat' glue traps. The flat paper ones are the only ones that will work on the Recluse. You can find them at Lowes in packages of 4 or 5 for around $5. They can be set out flat, or folded into a small box, which works best on the Recluse as they are attracted to shelter. The package they came in was so bold as to have a drawing of a Recluse on the outer package.


http://bluegtzhome.com/pics/reclusetrap.jpg

http://bluegtzhome.com/pics/reclusetrap2.jpg


Every spider in that trap is a Recluse. This is the main trap that catches the most. I believe there are 12-13 in that trap. The other trap in the same room has 5 in it. The bathroom trap around the corner has 4 Recluse in it. Behind the fridge trap has 5.

I still haven't checked the under bed traps, closet trap, or the Theater room traps.

Jack, can you get a better picture of one of the recluses to show the "violin" on their back?

This is one I caught in my bathtub a month or so back.

http://www.bluegtzhome.com/pics/brownrecluse.jpg


The fiddle isn't the best way to identify the spider though, as this marking can be found on several different spiders. The best ways to identify it are by it's lack of markings on the abdomen, the overall shape and color of the abdomen, and the fiddle can help.

The only TRUE way to identify a Recluse is by it's eyes. Instead of 8 eyes, the Recluse only has 6.

I can't get my camera to do a good enough 'macro zoom' to show off the eyes, but a search on the internet for Brown Recluse Spider will have some pictures showing the eye cluster.

The thing to remember is the size of this spider, I've got babies in some of the traps that aren't more than 3/16" round in legspan. Some of the adults I have are maybe 3/4" legspan. The pic of the one above might have been closer to 1.5" in legspan, and the largest I've killed has been around 2" in legspan. For the most part, it's a fairly small spider though.

AHHH!!! not cool! I'm over my fear of spiders, not my fear of clowns. That ***** scares me for some reason.

How many of u guys are scared of clowns and/or porcelain dolls?

Porcelain dolls? Really? How odd...I don't think I've heard of that before.

yeah, i don't get it. When we used to spend the weekend at our grandparents' house, i always got the spare room with the dolls. I didn't sleep. they look like they're watching you all the time.

is this a "find our commander and chief" game? like where's W ?

if so i give, they all could be him.

At the risk of sounding like Cliff Clavin of Cheers...did you relize there are basically two types of clowns, Red Nose and White Face. The Red Nose clowns are ones that are played tricks on and do rather silly and rediculus antics where as the White Face clowns are the ones that are doing the mean tricks on the Red Nose clowns. The White face clowns actually represent the dark side (white face is bloodless), the evil side. The Red Nose clowns represent the common man at his weakest point and always outwitted by the white face clown.

Thats funny, My wife has a fear of clowns. Yet she married me???
Guess you got to face your worst fears to over come them...

Can anyone can identify this spider? They seem to be cropping up in some numbers around my house in Colorado. And these suckers are getting big lately!

Make no mistake, I will kill any that I see, as anything with more than 4 legs should be killed on sight. ;)

Just wondering if anyone knows what this is, and if it is more dangerous than it looks.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126319601.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126319620.jpg

Greeeaaat..................... :rolleyes:

I have tons of spiders around, and just knock em down and stomp on them or suck them up with the vac...and they all look like that brown one, the Recluse.

Can anyone fill me in about what household spiders are ones to worry about? And what they do? (To me!) I live on the coast of CT.

ME TOO...I've got them around the pad too...cept they're more brown (maybe lat/long has something to do w/ it?) They are BIG...I mean scary big. They only seem to make themselves known in the fall...making huge webs, spanning 8-10 ft. I've hit that web a couple of times...then I start running and screaming like a little girl:eek:

I saw them first in Indiana. I will have to check my spider book tonite. I will tell you this, I do not think they are poisonous but dam they are fugly!

Mike: You keep chemicals at home?!!?

God forbid your lake across the street ever overflows, talk about toxic water.:o

Ed - you've seen my garage, it is a mini-warehouse! All up on my shelves on sealed containers. If it did over flow, that would be the least of my problems.

CT doesn't have any confirmed population of the Brown Recluse, and is pretty far from their territory.


There are really only 3 spiders in the US that are considered dangerous.

The Black Widow, which is easily identified by the hairless black body, with the red hour glass on the belly of the abdomen. Juveniles are still jet black with the hour glass, but can also have some red stripes on the back of the abdomen.

The Recluse family, brown and desert, which are identified by their appearance and eye pattern(Recluse are only 1 of 2 spiders in the US with only 6 eyes, the Spitting spider in Florida is the other. Both spiders are related, but only the Recluse is dangerous). Recluse don't spin webs and hang from them, the female does spin some webbing for the egg sacs to hang on, but the female is impossible to find, so you'll likely never see females.

The Hobo spider is the 3rd, and are found in the Northwest. The Hobo looks alot like a wolf spider, but it inflects a nasty necrotizing wound like the Recluse. I don't believe the hobo is a web spinner either.

I don't think it's really considered dangerous, but the Sac Spider can inflect a wound like the Recluse and Hobo, but it usually isn't as severe, and generally heals in a few hours to a few days(Recluse and Hobo bites can last for months, and in rare occasions never really heal).


ALL spiders are venomous, but the three above usually have the ability to inject a larger amount of toxins, making them particularly nasty. But as with any poison or venom, your reactions will vary based on your own body's ability to handle the venom(bee stings can cause death, if you happen to have extreme allergies).


Hell, we have it easy. The only spider here that actually can kill is the Widow, and that usually only pertains to small children and elderly. Look up the 'Sydney Funnel Web', that's a particularly nasty little creature.

That's just a Garden Orb spider variety. Not dangerous, and they eat mosquitos and flies, not too bad to have hanging around the garden.