here is what i share my shop with

Eight legged little bastards… we hates them! I haven’t seen any brown recluses running around my garage, but I do get those huge wolf spiders everywhere. I killed three the other week that easily had a leg span over 2”.

Just don’t let one of those rascals bite you! I have been bitten twice, once on the ankle, once on the forhead just above the eyebrow. The venom reacts with the local tissue and begins eating it away. My ankle lost all the skin in a three inch diameter area in a week, the forhead had little tissue loss, but half of my face was swollen temporarilly affecting my vision, hearing, and speach for about a month. Lots of penicillin stopped the infection on my forhead before I lost much tissue.

I have been bitten by black widdows 11 times in my life, and the combined effects don’t compare to one brown recluse spider (also, the local blood bank doesn’t like my blood any longer). I have both on my property, so I also have to watch where I put my hands.

Be careful, but enjoy your shop.

-- Doug, Bakersfield, CA - I measured twice, cut it twice, and it is still too short!

Please don’t send any my way.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

hey doug, were you bitten in california by the recluse? ive read they dont live that far west so that is interesting

I was bitten in northern Baja California, Mexico (on the ankle) and in Bakersfield, California (on the forhead – in my bed). I know that the internet articles say they are not out here, but I have seen them on my property, in agricultural fields, and in the oil patch. Few doctors here will dispute that they are here, as most of them have seen the results.

-- Doug, Bakersfield, CA - I measured twice, cut it twice, and it is still too short!

Jimi_C – Wolf spiders are good spiders. They are hunters and keep all the other bug populations down.

I remember when I was a kid they found some of those spiders at a local park and closed it down while they exterminated them. This was in Azusa, California.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I have bug traps for the ones that get too “up close & personal” coming into the bathroom and upstairs, otherwise I have “critter” jars to catch and release the good ones. I don’t like the black fat bodied spiders, as they look too similar to the Black Widow spider, so I’m afraid they get squished. Green ones and wolf spiders are pretty docile. Jumping spiders are pretty neat, and fast!

I’ve purchased a Brown Recluse spider bite kit and they also sell the sticky traps quite cheaply. The brown spider I thought was a brown recluse was not, according to the specialist at the Smithsonian. Their legs were a bit shorter than the ones you show, but where a bit large and creepy for being indoors.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Holy Arachnids Batman! There aren’t supposed to be any here in NM either….but that’s a myth. Biggest problem here is black widows…..gotta look before you reach out and touch something.

-- Doug, New Mexico.......the only stupid question is one that is never asked!........don't fix it, if it ain't broke!

hey garyk did you know wolf spiders are venomous also? although the bites do not become necrotic as with the browns bite can. and to be fair, most spiders are hunters that keep other bugs in check not just the wolf, its probably why i never find any other bugs (except black crickets) in my garage.

interestingly brown recluses will feed on wolf and black widow spiders but are prey to the non venomous jumping spider

GaryK: I know they’re pretty docile, but my house is my house, and intruders are dealt with :)

Nice! I’ll have to search around for some pictures of a huntsman spider we had in our kitchen when I was living in Australia. It was about 6” from leg tip to leg tip and ugly, but they don’t spin webs and kill redbacks, so I let it go outside and it never came back in.

I’m not sure if we get the recluses here in Denver, but I’m going to be a bit more vigilant from now on. Thanks for sharing the pictures!

-- Bret, Colorado

I just step on them.

-- Bob Kenosha Wi.

Wolf spiders actively hunt other insects and don’t create webs. They don’t wait for their prey to come to them.
I’ve never heard of anyone ever getting bitten by one. They usually see you coming first and run away.

Some spider trivia.
I have heard that spiders won’t make webs on Chestnut lumber for some reason. That’s why a lot of very high open beamed are made from chestnut.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Could you post some more pictures? ;)

-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails

I remember reading in National Geographic quite a few years ago the the average garden has about 150,000 spiders in it. For many, the subject of spiders is emotional even though they know that spiders do a good job of helping to keep bug populations in check.

-- Mike, American in Norway

I usually set off bug bombs in the shop once or twice a year. This takes care care of the problem.

-- Ray Cody, Florence Alabama

i caught a wolf spider and put him in the jar yesterday but he didnt survive the night. not sure if the BRs killed him or if he died of other causes