The dreaded brown recluse.Perhaps no other spider has more bad press and instant culpability for bite wounds across America. Some 2000 bites per year are reported to poison control as brown recluse. Up to 80 % may be false. If you google brown recluse you get 1,030,000 results. People search the words brown recluse over 4000 times per day, probably much the same way you found this site. Fear and false information have made this spider into a national everyday problem but the truth may be far from that.
First bookmark this site so you can come right back. Great, now go to google and type in ‘False’ brown recluse bites. Alright I’ll save you some clicks. You would’ve seen that there are over 62,000 articles or sites reported. Far fewer in number as you can see then the original search.There is a lot of mis-information out there leading people to believe they’ve been bitten by this critter and these sites and reports can help you see why. Here’s a few of the points that can be misconstrued as brown recluse.
Myth
The brown recluse is also known as ‘Fiddle Back’ spider because it is the only one with a ‘fiddle’ or ‘violin’
shaped marking on its back. So that mark means it’s definitely a recluse.
Truth
Many spiders have similar markings, mostly little hunting type spiders. The best way to truly identify a brown recluse is that it only has 6 eyes ( instead of the normal 8 )
in 3 groups of 2.
Myth
Recluse are spread throughout the nation in large numbers in every state.
Truth
The brown recluse is not native to every state. The fact is they can’t thrive very well outside the areas indicated on the map shown here. So states such as Florida have no real over population of the spiders. Indeed the brown recluse has been found in Florida ( 6 confirmed cases in the last 100 years) but that’s mostly attributed to the spider being transported to the region via moving trucks or tucked away in some delivery vehicle.
Myth
Recluse bites do not heal until it reaches the bone.
Truth
The venom of a recluse is necrotic (containing 9 different proteins) and will deteriorate the flesh but many 
wounds heal with little or no treatment. Anti biotics are usually prescribed by doctors. And getting professional medical help is always strongly advised.
Myth
The brown recluse will seek you out and bite.
Truth
Recluse as the name indicates means they are shy in nature and prefer to hide in undisturbed usually dark areas.
They usually only bite when disturbed or provoked. One family in Oklahoma had over two thousand recluse spiders removed from their home by professionals. They lived in there for two years before realizing they had a problem and no one in the home was ever bitten.
With all this said, if you should unfortunately be bitten by a brown recluse see a Doctor, or if you have a infestation in your home or business, call a professional. Even though there are a lot of misgivings and misinformation out there the fact remains that this spider can be dangerous and the consequences are too high to risk doing self treatments. Let the pros do it who have the know how and the tools. But hopefully this bit of information has eased your mind and will allow you to read the morning paper instead of rolling it up as a weapon.
The truth about Americas most deadly spiders” is a free e-book which you can choose to download and read at your leisure. Simply sign up for my also free newsletter and it’s your to keep. This is the first of many detailed writings that I have planned and I truly hope that you’ll enjoy it and use the information to keep your home spider free. If you missed the sign up box when you logged onto my site simply fill out the newsletter request form at the right of this page and shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get it right to you.
Information is a powerful thing and I hope together we can put to rest any undue arachnophobia’s.
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