Spiderbloggers

Thank you so much for your quick response. We built our home home about 15 years ago. We added a garage with a bedroom and storage area about 5 years ago. There has not been any remodeling just painting recently. My daughter moved home a few months ago and then moved back to her home recently after settling into college. Most all the cleaning has been done when the kids are out playing and in bed, I did make him clean out his bottom dresser drawer where he had put his old note books and drawing. We have a plastic storage box for them. I have explained to all of them not to leave clothing on the floor, use the hamper, keep backpacks up and to keep things picked up. It also makes it easier to spot them because there is nowhere for them to hide. I have been staying up till 3 and 4 in the morning sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dusting under furniture, flipping couches etc. There is not a piece of furniture that has not been moved. cleaned and cleaned under and around. Washer and Dryer were pulled out and cleaned behind. Clothes have been removed from closets and racks floor and walls cleaned. I got eucalyptus oil on cotton balls under beds and such, I sprinkled it on the carpet steps going to the bedroom above the garage and closet, lemon dusting spray, citrus spray cleaner anything with a orange or citrus smell. I really can't think of anything else besides under the house that we can do. Last night was the first night that I have not seen a Brown Recluse, Thank God. I am not sure but I think they may have come from the boxes used when my daughter moved she has now found them at her house. I just don't know it she had them before or got them when she moved back home. I have not found but one to two Brown Recluse in each room they have been scattered. Thank you again and if I missed something that may be of help please let me know.
I read where they generally come out around dark, I also have a friend that has them in a log cabin house. They are out at all different times of the day. I also found one at work yesterday in the middle of the hallway under a rolling book cart that is about 5 inches off the floor. If we decide to spray do you have a spray you would recommend. We were also told to pull plug outlets and spray behind them. Does this method help??? Or is it the exterminator having you sign a contract so they come out monthly???
Bobbie

There are several sprays available that have the ability to kill brown recluse. I am not sure which are legal for homeowner use and which must be obtained through an exterminator. You could use a fogger to treat your house and then treat door trims and undersides of tables, chairs, shelves, ect. with a residual spray like Diazinon or Baygon for longer lasting repulsion. Some pesticides that homeowners should be able to use include Drione, Ficam, Dursban, and Torpedo. Some safer sprays are made with pyrethrin, a insecticide that is produced in chrysanthemum flowers. If you decide you need to call an exterminator you may want to keep a few brown recluse in jars for identification, otherwise they may not spray on just your word. You should definetly use glue traps under your furiture because as you clean and treat the spiders they will move around to other areas of your house. Glue traps will capture them as they crawl along. They will probably be drawn to glue traps placed in the open underneath low furniture because it will look like a nice place to hide out. If you call an exterminator be careful because they may try to make you sign a contract. I have an elderly relative that has her home sprays four times a year for recluse spiders, and believe me that is highly unneccesary. I wouldn't use pesticides more than you have to. I don't use pesticides I just live with my recluses, but then again I know that my husband and I are not sensitive to the venom and I don't have any children.

Why is it that every day when I clean the cats' litter boxes I find a large brown recluse stuck in there? It isn't the same spider, because shamefully I either squish of capture every one of them. It breaks my heart but I do dispose of hte recluse spiders living inside my house when I find them. Trust me their population is not hurting because of it! My cats are afraid of them and won't use the litter box if one is in there.

When you say 'stuck in there', do you mean unable to get out, or just gone in to hide and decided to stay? They must have peculiar tastes if they like cat litter trays.

Ha ha. Don't think they like them. They are unable to get out. They crumple themselves up so that you can't really tell what they are until you start scooping, then they run about all helter-skelter and like to startle your socks off!