How Dangerous Is the Brown Recluse Spider?
Out of all of the types of house spiders native to the United States, the brown recluse is one of the most dangerous. Its bite causes a nasty reaction and can require immediate medical treatment. As professional exterminators, we believe it’s important to be informed about all house spiders—especially dangerous ones like the brown recluse. Continue reading to learn more about these spiders, and how you can avoid meeting one this summer.
Where do they live?
Like most spiders, the brown recluse isn’t aggressive, and prefers to stay hidden in the shadows or in dark places. That’s the good news; the bad news is that you never quite know which dark space they’re hiding in. Some popular locations for their webs include underneath furniture, in boxes and outside in piles of wood. Dry and dark areas in your home, like your attic, can be hotbeds for brown recluse spiders. With that in mind, always be careful when you’re rummaging around in your attic. It’s not a bad idea to consider wearing work gloves and a long-sleeve shirt to prevent being bitten.
Keeping them out
As the name suggests, they’re reclusive creatures and often won’t come out of hiding unless there’s an abundance of food lying around. You can mitigate the need for spider removal in Bartlesville, OK (and pest removal in general) by keeping a tidy house. Always clean up any crumbs on the floor, and never keep open containers of food out for too long. Also try to avoid leaving piles of clothes or boxes around your home. Spiders and other pests are more likely to live in your home if there are places for them to hide.
Bite symptoms
Thankfully, brown recluses only bite humans when they feel threatened or when they’re scared by something, like a hand encroaching on their territory. So, the only time you’re in danger of being bitten is when you enter their space. The peculiar thing about their bites is that they don’t always show symptoms or even hurt right away. It can take hours for you to realize that something’s not quite right with your skin and overall health. Depending on where you were bitten and how much venom the spider released, symptoms on your skin can range from mild irritation to nasty looking lesions. If the bite is bad enough, you may come down with a fever and experience convulsions, itching, nausea and muscle pain.
Bite treatment
While the bite can lead to the symptoms mentioned above, there aren’t any documented cases of a brown recluse bite leading to death. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go to the emergency room to have it checked out by a medical professional and possibly given an anti-venom. A skin lesion can become infected rather quickly and lead to big problems down the road.
At the end of the day, we don’t need to be as worried about brown recluse spiders as we do about many other pests getting into our homes. But if you notice a lot of spider webs around your home, it may be time to call Excellence Pest Control for spider removal in Bartlesville, OK. We quickly take care of spiders and any other pests creeping and crawling through your house.