Controlling brown recluse spiders

By Kayla Regan

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Approximately two dozen brown recluse spiders were waiting for Tom Gorman when he moved into his apartment last August.

“It was pretty scary for a while,” Gorman, Topeka senior, said. “I’m sure I’m imagining it, but I can still see them crawling.”

Jamel S. Sandidge, owner of Brown Recluse Solutions, a local pest control company, said he once found more than 2,000 brown recluse spiders in one home in Lawrence.

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Identify a brown recluse

The brown recluse spider measures approximately 7-12mm (1/4” - 1/2’) long.

Body shows a dark brown spot in a violin form.

Legs are light brown.

Abdomen is dark brown, yellow, or greenish yellow.

Has six eyes. Normally, spiders have eight eyes.

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Where to find a brown recluse

Inside homes, the brown recluse spider can be found in any of the following places: dark spots within bathrooms, garages, closets and cellars, vent and heating ducts, seldomly used clothes and shoes. They can nest in stored clothes, old books, boxes, furniture, toys, carpets, coats, corners and cracks.

How to identify a brown recluse spider bite

Symptoms can include: fever, shivering, nausea, vomiting, itching, restlessness, possible shock.

The injury usually manifests with a size of a hole that can be 1 to 2 3/4 inches, which can take several months to heal and generally leaves an ugly scar.

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Photo by Ryan McGeeney

Jamél S. Sandidge, Ph. D., will soon release his book, "Brown Recluse Spiders: A Knowledge-Based Guide to Control and Elimination." Sandidge, who completed his doctoral work in ecology and evolutionary biology and owns local pest control company Brown Recluse Solutions, said the book will provide enough information for laymen to solve most brown recluse problems themselves.

Sandidge said he stumbled onto pest control while he worked on his doctoral research at the University. Sandidge will release his book, Brown Recluse Spiders: A Knowledge-Based Guide to Control and Elimination, in the next few days. He said he wrote the guide using the knowledge he gained from studying insect biology, behavior, genetics and ecology.

“With this book you can solve the problem yourself. The book gives you enough information,” Sandidge said. “I just kind of piece apart different houses and scenarios to let people know how to control the population.”

Gorman said that the majority of the spiders died after his apartment was fumigated, but that he still sees brown recluses every once in a while. According to the BRS Web site, the presence of one brown recluse usually indicates that others — in some cases up to hundreds — live in the residence as well.

“Most pest control companies will tell you many things in the book that I determine are plain lies,” Sandidge said. “You have to have the adequate knowledge, and that’s what this book represents.”

Dustin Herron, technician for Haley Pest Control, 1035 E. 23rd St., said most pest control companies successfully get rid of brown recluses by spraying the home, or destroying the spider’s food source. However, Sandidge said, while those techniques may appear to solve the problem in the short term, they do not eliminate the spiders entirely. Brown recluse spiders eat almost every type of insect, whether it is living, dead, small or large. The spiders also resort to cannibalism when food supplies are low, and can survive six to eight months without feeding. Pesticide sprays are often ineffective against brown recluses, which have different skin layers and breathe differently than other pests.

“It’s not as simple as throwing a bug bomb in an attic,” Sandidge said. “The only way to actually get rid of them is to actually get rid of the spiders.”

Sandidge said the only way to get rid of a brown recluse population was to keep the spiders from breeding. He said the spiders needed a specific environment and temperature to mate, and his techniques tried to eliminate those conditions to keep the spiders from reproducing.

“The book is different way to think about control as a means of population regulation,” Sandidge said. “It combines academics we have known for years with what pest control operators are trying to accomplish.”

Getting rid of a brown recluse problem for good requires research and work. Sandidge said that students who didn’t have the time or money to devote to eradicating spiders should write a letter to their landlord or contact BRS.

“People can stand up and say, ‘I have rights; I know this is a public health threat and I don’t have to stay in this house,’” Sandidge said. “I’ve written landlords myself.”

Those who want more information on brown recluse spiders can visit the BRS Web site, www.brownreclusesolutions.com.

— — Edited by Casey Miles

Comments

tj06 (anonymous) says...

I think it's beneficial that you had this article, but did you really need to have pictures of big spiders on the front page of the paper?
No. There are a lot of Arachnophobic people in this country. Think that one through next time. I couldn't even pick up the paper today.

April 14, 2009 at 11:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

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