Stand Your Ground.

[Seth]

11 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Yeah, I kill every brown recluse I come across, but it's a losing battle.  The only thing it accomplishes is making sure that particular recluse doesn't bite me.  Probably every household in Missouri and Arkansas has at least a few brown recluses.  Pest control people, if they are honest, will tell you that treatment for them actually kills their food sources (along with their predators), and not the recluses.  

Want to find out how common recluses are in your house?  If you have baseboard around your floors, especially hardwood floors, wait until the lights have all been off for a couple hours, get up, turn on the lights, and look around the baseboards.  Chances are you'll see some; they love to hide between the baseboard and the floor during the day, and come out at night to hunt.  Or, you can just put sticky traps in the corners and see how many you get.

Sticky traps and just keeping things picked up are about the only thing I've seen that reduces how often we see them. I'm sure they are still around, but it's one of those "out sight, out of mind" deals.

[fishinwrench]

6 hours ago, Seth said:

Sticky traps and just keeping things picked up are about the only thing I've seen that reduces how often we see them. I'm sure they are still around, but it's one of those "out sight, out of mind" deals.

Yeah that has worked pretty good for getting our youngest to keep her room somewhat tidy.   There was a big spider in her window, and I told her it wanted in because it looked like a spider paradise in there.   

"And don't go shoving everything under the bed UNLESS you wanna sleep with them".   

Worked like a charm 👍

 

[Al Agnew]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Yeah that has worked pretty good for getting our youngest to keep her room somewhat tidy.   There was a big spider in her window, and I told her it wanted in because it looked like a spider paradise in there.   

"And don't go shoving everything under the bed UNLESS you wanna sleep with them".   

Worked like a charm 👍

 

Nice strategy, and certainly has more than a grain of truth!  The messier your house is, the more recluse you'll have to deal with.  Stacks of cardboard in the basement are the worst.  We used to keep a lot of flattened cardboard boxes and sheets for shipping art prints in the basement, and every time we'd grab a box to start to pack a print, we'd have to kill a recluse that was hiding behind it.  Along with brushing off a couple of carapaces of the males that female had stuck to some webbing and killed after mating with them.

[Seth]

12 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Nice strategy, and certainly has more than a grain of truth!  The messier your house is, the more recluse you'll have to deal with.  Stacks of cardboard in the basement are the worst.  We used to keep a lot of flattened cardboard boxes and sheets for shipping art prints in the basement, and every time we'd grab a box to start to pack a print, we'd have to kill a recluse that was hiding behind it.  Along with brushing off a couple of carapaces of the males that female had stuck to some webbing and killed after mating with them.

That was the worst thing we did. We'd build up a stock pile of Amazon boxes in the garage and the recluses loved it. I made sure to wear gloves and long sleeves when cleaning up that cardboard because the recluses were all over it!

[fishinwrench]

I have big Rubbermaid totes that I throw all extra gaskets in.   They seal up reasonably tight, and the lids have rather heavy items stacked on top of them......but it doesn't matter.  There will ALWAYS be gray spiders in them.   

Luckily my bride isn't freaked out by smallish spiders, so it's always HER JOB to go gasket diving.  She says they aren't Recluses..... but bygod they are too !   It actually doesn't matter to me if they are poisonous or not.....they are SPIDERS and that's where the line is drawn.

But WHY would a spider (any spider) want to be in THERE.   Living things need substance and there's nothing to eat in there !  I guess it's just a place to hide and screw. 

A spider whorehouse with no bar or kitchen.   Whatever, I wish they just didn't exist.   Whoever "created" them was an idiot.   🙄

[grizwilson]

On 9/8/2022 at 11:08 AM, fishinwrench said:

I have big Rubbermaid totes that I throw all extra gaskets in.   They seal up reasonably tight, and the lids have rather heavy items stacked on top of them......but it doesn't matter.  There will ALWAYS be gray spiders in them.   

Luckily my bride isn't freaked out by smallish spiders, so it's always HER JOB to go gasket diving.  She says they aren't Recluses..... but bygod they are too !   It actually doesn't matter to me if they are poisonous or not.....they are SPIDERS and that's where the line is drawn.

But WHY would a spider (any spider) want to be in THERE.   Living things need substance and there's nothing to eat in there !  I guess it's just a place to hide and screw. 

A spider whorehouse with no bar or kitchen.   Whatever, I wish they just didn't exist.   Whoever "created" them was an idiot.   🙄

[grizwilson]

@fishinwrenchmail box????

[fishinwrench]

I gotta tell you this story on me, and the reason I'm telling it is twofold....#1. because it's funny.   And #2. because I want you pranksters to know that I'm too aware of things to fall for it.  😁. 

I got a small box in the mail awhile back, something very light was inside rattling around and I didn't recognize the name from which it came from.    I just knew that it was one of my OAF haters, and that they had gifted me a bigass wolf spider.   🤬

I took it out in the middle of the driveway and opened it with a garden rake and a machete, and took a full can of carb cleaner with me.  

Turned out to be an ignition key, a business card, and a note 😅   Somebody had dropped off a boat and forgot to leave the key.    

 

[Flysmallie]

17 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

I gotta tell you this story on me, and the reason I'm telling it is twofold....#1. because it's funny.   And #2. because I want you pranksters to know that I'm too aware of things to fall for it.  😁. 

I got a small box in the mail awhile back, something very light was inside rattling around and I didn't recognize the name from which it came from.    I just knew that it was one of my OAF haters, and that they had gifted me a bigass wolf spider.   🤬

I took it out in the middle of the driveway and opened it with a garden rake and a machete, and took a full can of carb cleaner with me.  

Turned out to be an ignition key, a business card, and a note 😅   Somebody had dropped off a boat and forgot to leave the key.    

 

What’s your address again? 

[MrGiggles]

On 9/8/2022 at 11:08 AM, fishinwrench said:

But WHY would a spider (any spider) want to be in THERE.   Living things need substance and there's nothing to eat in there !  I guess it's just a place to hide and screw. 

Kinda like flies in a vehicle.. I don't know why, but open your doors for more than a second at the feedlot and a small swarm will zoom right in. They will leave a literal fly paradise to buzz around my truck, where there's nothing at all for them.