Brown Recluse are here, or, This Is Global Warming

Brown Recluse have a dark violin on their head.

 Brown Recluse spider bite can lead to an open sore several inches across that lasts for up to 3 months and resulting in loss of flesh.  Fortunately, the name Recluse gives a clue, they are afraid of people and run like hell, prefer instead to hide in dark rooms, cellars, under things, behind pictures, in cardboard boxes.  The chance of being bitten is small, but the penalty is severe.  Outside they haunt woodpiles and dense bushes, leaf piles, inside sticking your hand in a stored cardboard box, or putting on clothes thrown down overnight is the most common method leading to a bite.  (not a web producing spider)

Normally brown, but it varies, cream to almost black
In my part of Kansas they were rare, they lived further east in the state.  But the last 15 years changing weather patterns favorable to them delivered these devils further into the uber red state.  The whole neighborhood has them now.    Three years ago they showed up in our house.  They come out at night, so after sundown or early in the morning we hunted and killed them as they came out of hiding.  At one point I was killing 5 to 10 every day, this went on for months.  

We finally turned the corner when we had to replace our roof last spring.  We had wooden shake shingles.  The roofers said there was an eco-system on the roof, moss, ants, centipedes, silverfish, a complete food chain for the spiders.  Following the removal of their foods supply we did a severe cleaning, move and vacuum and wash everything, and under and behind every picture, bed, chair, appliance.  Laundry or bag up all kinds of things in the closet, go through drawers.  Then in a month we did it again.   Since then a couple more times.  We feel like we have damn near beat them, still, I find one every week or two.  The bastards are still in the walls and between the floor and the basement ceiling I'm sure, but it's evident there are not many, and perhaps some of what we find now is  the normal infiltration rate of one getting in from the woods now and then.  

This morning in the soft light of dawn, I got up for a pleasant whiz, didn't turn on the light but I thought I saw something move, turned on the light and there was one, a small one, running like hell for the air conditioner vent, the bastards are smart, they know exactly where they need to go, I slapped the floor three times before I had spider gut on my hand, I'm brutal, barefoot, barehand, I kill the devils with zeal.  That was the first one I had seen in well over a week, I think this is as good as it will get.   I have some fly paper I put down in the places I see them most, the way they think and move leads all of them to the same indoor topography for some reason, a half dozen locations are where I have killed damn near all of the ones I find.  I do not want chemicals, so I do not spray inside and rarely outside, besides, spiders walk on a horn or toenail, when they eat or groom they do not normally touch themselves with it.  They can walk over a sprayed area or poison area unharmed most the time.  The best cure, remove their food supply, go after all the other bugs.

Brown Recluse Spiders in your house?  This is your house on Global Warming.