Share your experiences with finding them in a home.

I have a friend whose three year old son got bitten by one.  They assume it came in with an above ground pool that they had just gotten, since we don't get many of these in the north.  It was a nasty bite as I recall, his arm was all blackish and swollen.

We have our share of nasty creepy crawlies around here. We spray poison, can't remember what its called.. but we do it at least once every few months. We also set off bug bombs under our home (we live in a manufactured home) recently we also set a bomb off in our LQ because I saw some beetle things in there. Took care of that! We live in the country so we are no stranger to critters. Mice are an issue especially when it's cold. My 4 barncats barely put a dent in them it seems. We dont poison the rodents in fear of one of our cats or other important wildlife eating the poison. So we just try to deter them. I set sticky traps around my LQ too.. but after lining all the drawers and storage inside with bounce dryer sheets I haven't seen any traces of those little buggers anywhere! If I saw a recluse, I'd freak out! We get plenty of scorpions tho. If possible,  call an exterminator company and have them come out and spray their stuff, theyll do a guarantee for you. That's what I'd do if our spraying and bombing wasnt working,  but so far so good. 

I live in an old farm house in the middle of a feedlot, so we get lots of mice and brown recluse spiders. I set out sticky traps in dark areas, and always make sure to vacuum and pick things up off the floor daily. Thankfully I've been able to get them under control, but still scary seeing one run across the floor 

When we built a new home in 1993 I had absolutely no fear of insects being a problem until one night I saw a very large brown recluse crawling up the bedspread headed for a snuggy place to pitch camp.  It was then I realized we had an infestation.  They were in the vents and generally scattered here and there.  I quickly learned to recognize them from other spider varietys just by the the spread across their two front legs.

I wanted to burn my house down.  Exterminators will tell you can't get rid of them, only bring down the numbers and that no house is safe from them.  Sticky traps are your best bet because spraying, unless you spray the insecticide directly on them, has no effect on them.  When you see a spider in a web it's not a recluse.  They can get trapped in other spiders webs but they don't spin them.  Do not let your bedspreads drag the floor or any other bedding.  They use them for a ladder and most people get bitten in their beds.  I lost my fear but not my respect.  They're just a fact of life in Kansas.

My experience is that the mainly live in walls in a house. They die if the sun hits them and are a very delicate spider. Widows have a very hard exoskeleton and can survive sunlight (tho they scramble for shade if exposed), but recluses are small and soft and delicate.

If you spray, be sure to spray from the inside of your house, not the outside. They will try to escape the spray by coming indoors if you spray outside. This is what happened to me in TN - the apartment complex sprayed outside and the little b*$!ards came into my clothes closet. I put on a sport bra with one in it without knowing. This was in 2000 - and the bite is still active and irritating. Since there is no muscle on the bottom of a boobie the vendom just rolls along between the skin and fat underneath. 

Recluses are found outdoors too, in woods, in barns, anywhere that does not get sunlight ever. 

My niece bought a beautiful home in Kansas City but in a very wooded area.  She came to find out it was infested with brown recluse.  They took down a piece of wallboard in the basement and there were at least 200 of them there.  Like me she wanted to burn her house down.  Her daughter was bitten but everyone has a different reaction to their bites and it left a small scar but nothing lasting.  She had her house fogged but they sold the house and moved elsewhere.  I'm sure the previous owners knew but didn't tell.

Wow! 

Sent you a PM 

Got  it answered. 

The feed store has a product called Demon. You can spray it around the outside of your house. I don't know about inside. It gets rid of just about everything. I think it is about $10. You mix it up in a pump sprayer. I think the last stuff I bought was called CYPER--same thing. 

If you can handle the idea of spiders in your house - don't kill wolf spiders. They kill brown recluses. I just tell myself when I see a wolf spider - I'm leaving you alone because I know you mean I don't have brown recluses.

Also, I was talking with my chiropractor yesterday about the treatments/ equipment we have for the horses. He told me the respond cold laser was great for treating brown recluse bites.