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Ah, the brown recluse spider. We hear lots of stories about how these spiders surprise people in their homes, or how a friend of a friend was bitten by one and spent days in the hospital. Are they really so bad? Brown recluse spiders may not be the worst pest that we come across in Nashville homes, but they certainly have a few good reasons to be disliked so strongly by folks in Tennessee! Here are the top 3 reasons to hate brown recluse spiders.
1. These spiders truly live up to their name and work hard to stay reclusive. And because they are brown, they tend to easily blend into their surroundings. So a spider that wants to stay hidden and is hard to see can make it very difficult for us humans to locate! The ability of this spider to carefully hide in your home is one very good reason to dislike it, because a hidden spider that is not easily seen can be accidentally encountered in your home without you even realizing it…. And you can be bitten by this spider before you even know what hit you!
2. Most people have a general dislike of spiders. Seeing them out in nature is one thing, but when they share your home and your personal space, they can bring about goose bumps, the chills, the willies- whatever you want to call them! No one wants to think about spiders hiding within their clothing or their closets, or climbing over them while they sleep at night. Sharing your home with brown recluse spiders is no fun at all, which is another reason to dislike these little brown arachnids.
3. Brown recluse spiders may be reclusive, but that doesn’t mean they are meek little spiders. They actually have a very venomous bite- one that can put grown men in the hospital! A brown recluse spider will not become aggressive, but they might bite you if you inadvertently touch one or step on one that you didn’t even see (if it is hiding inside your clothing, or in your shoes, you’ll be very lucky to escape without being bitten!). The bite causes symptoms that may include severe pain at bite site after about four hours, severe itching, nausea, vomiting, fever and muscle pain. Sometimes the bite can lead to a more serious reaction that includes symptoms like blistering, necrosis of the skin and destructive necrotic lesions. Now that’s one heck of a bite!
Now that we’ve explained our reasons for such serious dislike of these arachnids, we’re going to tug on your heartstrings a little. There is one good reason to feel sorry for these spiders- or at least the few spiders that have been caught by the research laboratories at the University of Oxford’s Silk Group. These spiders have been restrained and milked for their super-strong silk. Watch “Rabbit” (that’s what they named this spider) as she is held down and milked for her super strong and super sticky silk. This particular spider is the most reliable and profuse silk spider the team has ever come across and watching her be held down is rather sad. But her silk is amazingly strong (five times tougher than Kevlar!), so scientists are pushing for it to become a success commercially.
If you have an infestation of brown recluse spiders in your TN home, we recommend giving us a call today. We know how to locate these arachnids and can offer control solutions that will eliminate all of them, even the ones hiding deep in your closet (yikes!). Contact us today to learn more and to schedule your first appointment to protect your home and family from the bite of the brown recluse spider.