I didn't know much at all about Brown Recluse spiders until I read a thread here on this forum last summer. In June we started seeing a whole lot of spiders inside our house, and because of that GW thread, I started looking at the spiders I killed with a magnifying glass. I was horrified to find they were Brown Recluse spiders. We finally hired a pest control company because I was literally obsessing about the spiders, dreaming about them, scared to put my hand anyplace I couldn't see into, really scared to death. And that was very unusual for me, as I've always "lived" outside and had more than my share of spiders crawl across me, and they'd never fazed me before. But the Brown Recluse are a whole 'nother ball game... I've too found that the best thing for killing them are glue boards. We have glue boards hidden behind all our furniture and along the baseboards, trying to catch as many BR spiders as possible. We've never had a problem with any other bug in our house except brown recluse spiders. :( I don't know why we have so many here. The county extension agent told me he thought it was because we have so many thousands of acres of agricultural crops grown in this area. And also maybe because our house is log and cedar. But we also have them in our shop, and it's a steel building. So who knows?? Y'all are scaring me about the black widows hiding on the tomato plants. At least I will now be aware they might hide amongst the tomatoes, and pay attention. Once as I was feeding my horses, I glanced in my colt's feed bucket before I poured in his oats. To my horror, there was a black widow spider sitting on a tumble weed inside the bucket. I tried to shake it out to kill it, but it hung on tightly with me bouncing the bucket off the ground many times. So I took the bucket up to the house for DH to kill the spider for me, as I was totally creeped out. Lo and behold, when he bounced the bucket on the concrete driveway, a second black widow came from underneath the lip of the bucket. That nearly scared me to death! Two black widows on one bucket at the same time! I felt so lucky it hadn't bitten me as I bounced that bucket on the ground over and over, trying to knock the first spider loose. Or bitten my horse if I hadn't looked in the bucket before pouring his feed inside. I have to say, if I didn't love my new home so much I think I would pack my bags and move back to Murray county! These poisonous spiders scare me so bad it's unreal. I know I sound like a big sissy but they're probably about the only things in life that does scare me.

Well I decided to let nature decide. Checked on them again yesterday and there were only a few spiderlings left hanging about. No sign of mom. A couple of things helped me make up my mind: this is the first one I've seen here in the yard--ever. Can't be like we are overrun with them. I am allergic to beestings, so you could say given the number of wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, etc. around the place, the stinging insects pose a bigger threat to me than a single spider, yet I avoid problems with them by just trying to be observant and a little respectful. I think if this were a recluse, which is a wanderer and not a web-based spider, things would have been different. And I also know firsthand how dense recluse populations can get! If and when we ever have to go into the crawl spaces under the house, we will simply have to be extra careful, shine the corners and beams for others, and watch where we put our hands. I coexist when I can.

I'm in Vero Beach, Fl. Moved down here from south central Ohio and had never heard of Brown Widows. Had to Google to figure out it wasn't a Black Widow. The egg sack is so distinctive. I think the Browns are the only thing I've seen right here, although Blacks are supposedly around. Usually I spot the egg sacks under the overhang of the roof. Or like in the first post, on the back porch. This post was edited by chuggerguy on Fri, Jun 14, 13 at 1:09

I think it is an interesting type of spider and like to know whatever I can about them. Thanks for the id verification.