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View Full Version : HELP! Need to know how to identify recluse infestation


RedJackCash
06-09-2005, 11:48 AM
Hey guys! I've lurked here for a while, but never found reason to post. Now do I ever have one!

I've found a sling in my room, which is connected to an attic. It's either a cellar spider or a brown recluse (I live in Atlanta, GA, which I'm reasonably sure is within recluse range), but it's too small to tell - I can't see the eyes! So I can't verify whether it has the typical recluse 6-eyes or not.

Not to mention that cellar spider webs and recluse webs are surprisingly similar - at least from decriptions I've found.

My question is - is there any way I can identify it as one or the other? Any signs I can look for? My room is the perfect enviroment for both spiders - full of old boxes, moldy clothes and magazines, very little light and very dry. They have a million places to hide - if it's a recluse infestation, I wanna get rid of them, but if it's just cellar spiders then I don't want to harass them.

Any help would be appreciated ASAP!

-Misha, who will have trouble sleeping tonight

ETA: It should be noted that I mark this as an infestation because, as I've been looking around my room it's very clear that I have some sort of large spider population living here, by the amount of webs and insect bodies I'm finding...more than a normal room, at least.

ETA 2: Ah, and one more short explanation - I live in college most of the year and am visiting home, hence the relative ignorance about the sudden state of my room. It's also part of what worries me - boxes and hiding spots for recluses everywhere, and not a person around to bother them! Seems like they would thrive...

Kugellager
06-10-2005, 10:09 AM
Here is a link to the range of the brown recluse spider and several images of it.

http://www.geo-outdoors.info/brown_recluse.htm

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5num2/special/recluse.html

The actual range of the spider may be slightly larger than in the image.

Don't have a clue what your version of a cellar spider (Pholcus genus) is as your description is a bit vague. The common house spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum) is also found just about everywhere but looks quite different from a brown recluse and cellar spiders.

Common Cellar Spider--Pholcus genus
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/CritterFiles/casefile/spiders/cellar/cellar.htm

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Pholcidae/Pholcidae.htm


Common house Spider--Achaearanea tepidariorum
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/spiders/common_house_spider.htm

http://www.uark.edu/depts/entomolo/museum/achaeara.html

A photo would go a long way in helping to ID your particular spider.

John
];')

RedJackCash
06-13-2005, 11:52 AM
Hey! Thanks for the info! Unfortunately, the sling was far too small and my digital camera far too cheap - all my picturesa produced were small brown blurs...