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If you're faced with a full-blown brown recluse infestation, there are more than a few methods you can try out before you call a professional.
February 26, 2022
20 min read time
This information is reviewed by an independent pest control expert.
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After spotting the brown recluse in their home, most people’s first instinct is panic- and they are right to be afraid.
The brown recluse is one of the two most deadly spider species in the United States, and logic dictates that if there’s one scary spider, there’s bound to be more.
In this post, we’ll be teaching you how to get rid of brown recluse spiders, as well as good tips and tricks to help you manage them and protect yourself.
Table of Contents
Not very.
At least not to humans.
Brown Recluse spider bites are not fatal to humans. Their venom breaks down the blood vessels near the bite and sometimes causes a wound that takes several long months to heal.
After the bite, you might experience muscle pain, convulsions, and fevers, but the symptoms will pass with enough time.
However, if you’re bitten by a brown recluse and take poor care of the wound, it may get infected and cause death.
People with vulnerable immune systems such as animals, pets, and small dogs are more likely to experience more symptoms and pain from a brown recluse spider bite and might even die. That is why you should take the threat of the Brown recluse spider very seriously.
It is vital to learn to identify the brown recluse spider before you mount any reasonable attempt at pest control.
Brown recluse spiders, also known as fiddle-back spiders, violin, or recluse spiders, can be found in the western, mid western, and southern parts of the United States, especially in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
Brown recluse spiders thrive in temperatures ranging from 45 degrees to 110 degrees F.
Around your home, you’ll find brown recluses in dark and secluded spots like under your furniture or bed. In severe infestations, they could also hide in clothing, shoes, the garden, the basement, curtains, boxes, closets, and random clutter around the home. They also like to hide in cracks and crevices during the daytime and come out to hunt at night.
Brown recluse spiders are near-unmistakable if you know what to look out for. Brown recluses are soft-bodied with a pale yellowish or brown color. They have six eyes instead of the eight most spiders have, and their abdomens are oval-shaped.
Males of the species can reach up to 1/3-to 1/2 inch in length, and one diameter wide, if you factor in the size of their spineless legs.
They are covered in fine hairs and have a distinctive dark brown violin-shaped mark pointing towards their neck.
Brown recluse spiders have no spines on their legs and are uniformly colored. If their hands are different colored than their legs or vice versa, you are not dealing with a brown recluse infestation.
Unlike their names suggests, Brown recluses are prolific breeders. An average female recluse spider can lay up to five egg sacs in its lifetime, each containing about 50 eggs.
This means if you find more than one recluse spider around your home, there could be potentially hundreds of them scattered around your perimeter.
If you find webs in certain corners, egg sacs, flying insects, random blisters, or notice that your pets are experiencing episodes of paralysis, then you might have more than a few brown recluse spiders.
If you’re faced with a full-blown brown recluse infestation, there are more than a few methods you can try out before you call a professional.
There are more than a few ways you can go about mounting a pest control effort to remove brown recluses from your home.
Natural Extermination
There are many methods of removing brown recluse spiders from your home without using chemical solutions like insecticides.
A few of them are:
Aside from being the only plants, Koalas will munch on, and Eucalyptus also doubles as a potent repellent for brown recluse spiders. Plant a few sprigs around the exterior of your home if you’ve had an infestation before or are dealing with one that is isolated to the house.
Keeping many outdoor lights invites insects, which then draws spiders and other predatory pests that prey on them. Sometimes, getting rid of your recluse spider problem is as simple as using fewer outdoor lights.
Brown recluse spiders prefer wall voids, cracks, and crannies, and it’s typically where you’ll find them in most homes. Filling up your holes with a bit of cement can be just as effective as spider traps.
Finding pests like spiders and flies around your home is a general sign of the state of it. Clean homes will leave very few hiding places for recluse spiders. Vacuum frequently, clear out clutter, wardrobes, and other favored hiding places.
Glue traps and Spider traps are the next logical step if you are determined to get rid of brown recluse spiders but haven’t seen any result from your natural methods and solutions.
Set up sticky traps or paper around the dark areas of your home. While they won’t help you magically eliminate every spider in your home, they should help you catch more than a few dozen.
A great plus of using spider traps and glue traps is that they can also help you catch other rodents lurking around your home.
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Chemical Solutions
Most people searching for how to get rid of brown recluse spiders skip the natural methods and opt for more chemical treatment or pest control efforts, and there is a reason for that.
They guarantee results when paired with routine inspections and cleaning sessions. Most companies sell residential insecticide kits that help you target areas where recluse spiders like hiding and help eliminate them.
Some insecticides focus on spider control, while others prioritize getting rid of insects and household pets that the spiders subsist on.
Most pest control treatment products are Aerosol-based, come with nozzles and sprays, and helpful instructional manuals that show you where to target or spray.
Regardless of whatever product you settle on, your safety should come first. Wear protective masks and goggles before you spray, or clear out any portion of your home with natural pest control methods.
Granule Insecticide:
Granule-based insecticides are a go-to for most homeowners and gardeners experienced with pest control. They are one of the few low-cost insecticide solutions guaranteed to eliminate most types of insects, spiders included.
The average spread ratio is about 2-3 pounds per every 1ooo square feet of lawn. Broadcast it with your hand or use a handy scatter box designed for that specific purpose. They are instrumental when you have large areas of lawn to cover.
Focus on your perimeter
In addition to targeting spiders in your home, focus on the areas around your home too.
Target cracks, wall voids, crevices, spaces, and other areas where brown recluse spiders are likely to hide. Pay grass and shade-covered areas around your lawn and garden concern too.
Most insecticides come with some form of protection against future infection, but none of them can keep brown recluses away long term.
Combining the most practical natural and non-natural spider control methods will help you keep away recluse spiders and all types of pests in the long run.
Keep your closets, basements, boxes, attics, storage areas, house, and furniture clean. You can also seal off any openings, wall voids, cracks, and crevices spiders like hiding in.
If you prefer to handle the spider infestation personally, following these tips should help you better avoid a brown recluse bite.
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What is a Brown Recluse Spider?
A brown recluse spider is a tiny household pest famous for its venomous bite and nocturnal tendencies. You’ll usually find them hanging out in dark, secluded areas of the house, under furniture, basements, and clutter.
How to get rid of Brown Recluse Spiders?
Clean your home regularly, seal up entranceways, and clear out hotspots indoors and outdoors.
How do I prevent a Brown Recluse Spider infestation?
You can prevent a future Brown recluse spider infestation if you frequently vacuum, clean your furniture, attics, etc., perform barrier control measures, and use insecticide frequently enough.
Brown Recluse spiders are one of the most dangerous household pests you may have to ever deal with. They are scary, nocturnal, venomous, and are very aggressive when encroached.
If you’ve read through the guide, you should have no problem deploying both home remedies and chemical solutions to get rid of brown recluses. You should also have no problem dealing with future Brown recluse spider infestations.
Sometimes, it’s just a matter of using the vacuum regularly, cleaning out basements, and making an effort to eliminate small brown recluse spider infestation when you spot them.
However, if you neither have the time or stomach for hunting down these deceptive and venomous invaders, you should hire a professional with experience in handling brown recluse spiders.
Call a professional if you can’t handle pest control yourself. The most innovative and quickest way to handle most spiders and pests is to leave them to professionals. The best Pest control service can clear out your home, yard, garden, or property and clear out all sizes of rodents in a few short days.
Alternatively, you could also invest in a pest control kit or insecticide and take care of the recluse spiders yourself.
Can you ever get rid of brown recluse spiders?
Yes, you can. With the suitable insecticide and chemical treatment, you can get rid of brown recluse spiders in your home, but there’s always a possibility that they might return despite your best efforts.
What to do if you find brown recluse spiders in your home?
Call a professional or mount a personal extermination effort drawing from the numerous methods, tips, and elimination methods for spiders we’ve covered in this post.
What keeps brown recluse spiders away?
Eucalyptus leaves, pest control efforts, and cleaning your home are all great ways to prevent future infestation or reduce the likeliness of an infestation in the first place.
How do you take care of a Brown recluse spider bite?
If you’re dealing with a Brown recluse spider infestation, you, your dog, kid, or someone in your family might get bitten. Given the recluse’s reputation, we thought it appropriate to create a short guide to help you deal with that.
A brown recluse spider typically only strikes out when it feels threatened, which is more or less what pest control is all about.
Depending on the stage or level of infestation, you might have to deal with them when you’re outside your home, indoors around certain areas, or just about every minute when you’re interacting with your space.
How does the brown recluse spider bite feel?
Recluse spider bites are not that painful unless you have a severe reaction. However, after 8-12 hours after the bite, the pain gets more intense. 24-48 hours after the bite, you might feel feverish, nausea, chills, joint pain, and you might even feel restless. It is at this point that the area bitten swells and becomes inflamed.
What happens when a Brown Recluse Spider bites you?
The Brown recluse spider venom will destroy cell membranes around the affected area, causing the tissue to slough away with enough time. The brown recluse bites will form large ulcers over the next few days.
How long Does the Brown Recluse spider bite take to heal?
The resulting wound from a recluse spider bite might be as small as a thumbnail or as the breath of your hand. The sores heal very slowly, taking about 6-8 weeks, and will leave a large scar.
What kind of First-aid Measures Should you take after getting bitten by a brown recluse spider?
We recommend applying an icepack immediately after a bite from a brown recluse spider. Follow that up with emergency medication for individuals prone to severe reactions if you need to.
You can then seek medical attention to deal with the brown recluse bite. The earlier you seek attention, the less risk you’ll be in usually.
