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Fishing Spiders and Brown Recluses, Part 2

Dark Fishing Spiders- Very helpful in the house
Location: Wildwood, Missouri
Jun 16, 2011, 11:26 PM
I found a couple photos of the mother spider I kept as a pet and her babies. The mother spider was a joy to have around, I first found her in my grandmother’s basement. She was one of the best spiders I’ve had as a pet, and I’ve had several wolf spiders and a tarantula. Studying her behavior was a joy, and I kept a journal of her behavior. It was interesting to see how much she liked to eat recluses! She’d pick them over crickets when both were in her box. Since releasing a few of her babies outside the house (Most were released at parks with ponds and lakes), there haven’t been any infestation problems!
Use whichever photos you like on your website. Or none if you don’t like them, I don’t mind either way.
All are named by species and dated by when the photo was taken.
The photos are as follows:
My first sighting of a fishing spider, 1 year before the mother spider.

Female Fishing Spider, April 16, 2010

2 months prior to finding her in the basement- suspect its her. Quarter next to her as size reference.
Mother and Babies, day after the babies emerged from egg sac.
Recluse sighting on the ceiling.
The recluse that gave me a bit of a scare when it came up through the toilet. I actually saw it come up!
Cassie

dolomedes spiderlings cassie 20100803 300x215 Fishing Spiders and Brown Recluses, Part 2

Fishing Spiderlings, August 3, 2010

Hi Cassie,
We are positively thrilled that you took the time to locate these images. We are posting half of them with your letter and we are replacing the image of the Fishing Spider on your original posting with another of the images. You never provided us with a location. Can you at least provide the state where you took the photos?

Brown Recluse in the toilet

Location is Wildwood, Missouri, just a couple miles from Rockwood Reservation. That was actually one of the places I released some of the babies. I still see some of those that I put in the yard- they love the ground level birdbath on hot days. Being near the reservation means I get to see all sorts of interesting creatures. I’ve raised a wheel bug from the day it hatched, countless wolf spider and mantises, and several other fascinating creepy crawlies. I love monitoring their behaviors, and finding out their favorite foods and environments. I’ve gotten pretty good at recognizing bugs, and when I don’t recognize one I’ll set up a habitat for it, identify it, and study it a couple days. My family used to make bets with each other on if I’d be an entomologist, herpetologist, or artist. If I get any more good snapshots of the local bugs, I’ll be sure to send them!

add Fishing Spiders and Brown Recluses, Part 2

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¶ Posted 24 June 2011 § Nursery Web Spiders ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: food chain

Fishing Spiders and Brown Recluses

Dark Fishing Spiders- Very helpful in the house
June 14, 2011 4:25 am
You might be interested to know that dark fishing spiders absolutely love to hunt and eat brown recluses. I got rid of an infestation using my girl. (girl because she has probably more than 100 babies that I released.) If people knew about her kind eating the dangerous spiders, maybe fewer would be killed! She may be big and intimidating, but she sure helped with that problem before I got bit by a recluse a second time!
My wolf spider hunted them a bit too, but went after crickets more. Now those are spiders to have around the house! Especially because most pesticides don’t effect recluses!
Another thing about spiders-
Recluses like moisture and can climb through pipes. I had several come out of an unused sink drain and one came up through the toilet! Watch out so you don’t get your butt bit.
Signature: Cassie Bryan

Cassie's Fishing Spider

Dear Cassie,
Thanks so much for your email. We hope the advice you offer will prevent the Unnecessary Carnage of large and scary, though harmless Fishing Spiders. We are illustrating your email posting with photos from our archives of a Fishing Spider and a Brown Recluse.

Brown Recluse from the archives

Ed. Note: June 23, 2011
Cassie just provided us with another account of raising Fishing Spiders and them feeding on Brown Recluse Spiders. We were able to replace the Fishing Spider image from our archives with one of Cassie’s own photos.

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¶ Posted 16 June 2011 § Nursery Web Spiders ‡ Comments (2) °

Recluse Spider in Arizona

Specific recluse
Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:56 PM
Hi, I found this presumed reclusa spider in my house in Tucson, AZ. I know browns aren’t thought to be native here, but this is the fourth one I’ve found. This is the second one inside the house, and the other two were in the garage and back porch. Would this be a desert recluse, an arizona recluse, a brown recluse, or another species??
Thanks,
Clay
Tucson, Arizona

Recluse Spider

Hi Clay,
We too are unsure exactly which species of Recluse Spider in the genus Loxosceles you have photographed. Exact identification may take a spider expert and may require actual examination of the specimen. BugGuide posts a map with species distribution, and it seems Loxosceles apachea, Loxosceles arizonica, Loxosceles deserta, Loxosceles kaiba and Loxosceles sabina can all be found in Arizona, but there are no photographs identifying the differences between the species. Both Loxosceles apachea and Loxosceles arizonica have ranges near the Tucson area. BugGuide also indicates of the Loxosceles: “Brown spiders will not bite unless provoked. Little is known about the venom and bite of the lesser-known species of brown spiders. ‘Although there are suspected variations in virulence among the species, all Loxosceles spiders should be considered potentially capable of producing dermonecrosis to some extent.’ (Arachnids Submitted as Suspected Brown Recluse Spiders (Araneae: Sicariidae): Loxosceles Spiders Are Virtually Restricted to Their Known Distributions but Are Perceived to Exist Throughout the United States by Rick Vetter). Loxosceles venom is cytotoxic to humans. “

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¶ Posted 28 November 2008 § ‡ Comments (2) °

Hoax or Not????

possible false photo?
Dear Bug Man,
One more thing regarding your picture of the Brown Recluse spider bite. These pictures were also passed around in 2003 when I was in the Navy. It passed around our ship and everybody was frightened because there were reports of spider bites in my ship. I checked at this address :
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/brownrecluse.asp
and it could be false photos. The last two pictures look computer rendered. thanks alot!
John

Hi John,
We post the images that people send to us. We are not fully convinced they are either genuine or a hoax.

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¶ Posted 20 April 2006 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Paramedic’s Spider Bite Page

good site
I have a website, and put a link to yours on mine so that others can see what the spiders actually look like. Most persons including myself dont know the differences between the species. I got an education looking at the pictures you have. I hope you dont mind. I am a paramedic and I get to see the bites, and the pictures I have on my webpage are bites from different kinds of spiders in Pennsylvania. The persons in the pictures saw the spiders as they smacked them, and got bit. I figured it would be better to refer people to your site, since I only use pictures that I took myself.
David Macher
www.cprpgh.fanspace.com (spider bite page)

Hi David,
We are flattered that you posted a link to our humble site. We have put your letter at the top of our Spider Bite page. The public needs to be educated not to swat at spiders and biting or stinging insects, but to blow them off to avoid injury.

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¶ Posted 11 July 2005 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Brown Recluse Spider (Bite)

These photos were received by me via e-mail to alert people to the danger of its bite. You may not be able to show the reaction on your website but you could alert everyone to be extremely cautious.
Jill Allford living in southwestern Missouri.

Thank you Jill,
We recently received the identical photos from another reader. The Brown Recluse bite causes the tissue around the bite to die leaving a horrible scar. We will build a new page devoted specifically to bites thanks to your letter.

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¶ Posted 10 June 2004 § ‡ Comments (1) °

poisonous spider?

Dear Editor,
I got this email and the attachment says the person got bitten by this spider had this kind of severe wound. I’d like to ask if a spider bite can really cause this kind of wounds? The spider doesn’t look like a black widow or like kind.
Thanks.
NC .

And now the bite:

brown recluse bite day poisonous spider? brown recluse bite day 6 poisonous spider?

Day 5 and Day 6

brown recluse bite day 9 poisonous spider? brown recluse bite day 10 poisonous spider?

Day 9 and Day 10

Dear Nora,
According to Hogue: The Brown Recluse or Violin Spider, Loxosceles species, has come to the public’s attention beginning in the late 1960′s as a possible spider menace. The venom of these spiders acts on the tissues locally, rather than on the nervous system in general like the Black Widow. This causes a troublesome sore, which may grow in size and be so s=resistant to healing that plastic surgery is indicated. Violin spiders build their small loose webs in dark recesses. Common habitats outdoors are wood piles, spaces in and under stones and wood debris loosely set on the ground. and piles of broken concrete. Indoors, they occupypacking crates,piles of old books and newspapers, and other accumulations of trash. They are rare in Los Angeles.