brown recluse

Hello, just wanted to remind all to keep a watch out for brown recluse spiders. Here in TN I am seeing an increase in these beasties. One area I am seeing them at is of a real concern as it is a place sometimes you may grab. I am seeing these in the pull down stairs to attics. Please be watching for these spiders as I was hit by one last year and I am still having issues. Note you can find them anywhere, I found one in a commode bowl a few weeks ago.

That is one reason i wear gloves gong into crawl space and attics , thank you for the reminder

Wow, they’re nasty looking things. I hope that everything turns out ok for you Scott; it looks like they really pack a wallop!

South Florida is also having a lot of them show up . Found two of them in my pool this morning,and were are not in a bad drought here.

Kinda looks like any other spider to me. Not sure I’d know one if I saw it.

http://www.umm.edu/graphics/images/en/19570.jpg

The brown recluse spider is native to the United States from the southern Midwest south to the Gulf of Mexico. The native range lies roughly south of a line from southeastern Nebraska through southern Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana to southwestern Ohio. In the southern states, it is native from central Texas to western Georgia and north to Kentucky.[3]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)[4]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)
**
Despite rumors to the contrary, the brown recluse spider has not established itself in California or anywhere outside its native range**.[5]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia) Over the last century, occasional spiders have been intercepted in various states where they have no known established populations; these spiders may be transported fairly easily, though the lack of established populations well outside the natural range also indicates that such movement has not led to colonization of new areas, after decades of opportunities.[6]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)[7]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia) Note that the occurrence of brown recluses in a single building (such as a warehouse) outside of the native range is not considered a successful colonization; such single-building populations can occur (e.g., several such cases in Florida[8]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)), but do not spread, and can be easily eradicated.[9]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)
There are other species of the genus Loxosceles native to the southwestern part of the United States, including California, that may resemble the brown recluse, but these species have never been documented as medically significant. The number of “false positive” reports based on misidentifications is considerable; in a nationwide study where people submitted spiders that they thought were brown recluses, of 581 from California only 1 was a brown recluse—submitted by a family that moved from Missouri and brought it with them (compared to specimens submitted from Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, where between 75% and 90% were recluses).[10]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia) From this study, the most common spider submitted from California as a brown recluse was in the genus Titiotus, whose bite is deemed harmless. A similar study documented that various arachnids were routinely misidentified by physicians, pest control operators, and other non-expert authorities, who told their patients or clients that the spider they had was a brown recluse when in fact it was not.[11]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia) Despite the absence of brown recluses from the Western U.S., physicians in the region commonly diagnose “brown recluse bites”, leading to the popular misperception that the spiders occur there.[12]](Brown recluse spider - Wikipedia)


Source: wikipedia

They stand or rest in a specific way, I can tell one from across the room.
The biggest one I’ve ever seen came out of a sink drain yesterday.
Scared the bejeezus out of me, lol.

They’re very common here.

I try to keep my distance from ALL spiders. I saw my share of them when I lived in MS.