abra_sus_ojos (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} abra_sus_ojos) wrote,@ 2006-03-08 11:57:00 |
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Brown Recluse Spiders
When I lived in Virginia, sometimes I would come home pretty late at night, and my parents would always leave the porch light on for me. Well, depending on the time of the year, sometimes I would come home to several brown recluse spiders sitting on the porch. We lived in a wooded area, next to the Pocahontas State Park. The spiders liked to collect on the porch to catch the large moths that flew around the porch light.
The Brown Recluse (Loxosceles Reclusa) comes in various shades of tan to brown to darker grey-brown. Its abdomen is ellipsoidal and significantly smaller than the Black Widow. They like to hide under baseboards, bark, newspapers and in the corrugations of cardboard. The Brown Recluse is very active in the summer and more likely to be found in warmer climates. Like the Widow and unlike most spiders, the Brown Recluse is not an annual spider. They both hibernate and may endure several years.
The brown recluse hunts at night seeking insect prey, either alive or dead. It does not employ a web to capture food -- webs strung along walls, ceilings, outdoor vegetation, and in other exposed areas are nearly always associated with other types of spiders.
The initial bite is usually painless. Oftentimes the victim is unaware until 3 to 8 hours later when the bite site may become red, swollen, and tender. The majority of brown recluse spider bites remain localized, healing within 3 weeks without serious complication or medical intervention. In other cases, a bite from a brown recluse causes necroses, or the death of cells and tissues around the bite.
Read more about the brown recluse at
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfac
When I lived in Virginia, sometimes I would come home pretty late at night, and my parents would always leave the porch light on for me. Well, depending on the time of the year, sometimes I would come home to several brown recluse spiders sitting on the porch. We lived in a wooded area, next to the Pocahontas State Park. The spiders liked to collect on the porch to catch the large moths that flew around the porch light.
The Brown Recluse (Loxosceles Reclusa) comes in various shades of tan to brown to darker grey-brown. Its abdomen is ellipsoidal and significantly smaller than the Black Widow. They like to hide under baseboards, bark, newspapers and in the corrugations of cardboard. The Brown Recluse is very active in the summer and more likely to be found in warmer climates. Like the Widow and unlike most spiders, the Brown Recluse is not an annual spider. They both hibernate and may endure several years.
The brown recluse hunts at night seeking insect prey, either alive or dead. It does not employ a web to capture food -- webs strung along walls, ceilings, outdoor vegetation, and in other exposed areas are nearly always associated with other types of spiders.
The initial bite is usually painless. Oftentimes the victim is unaware until 3 to 8 hours later when the bite site may become red, swollen, and tender. The majority of brown recluse spider bites remain localized, healing within 3 weeks without serious complication or medical intervention. In other cases, a bite from a brown recluse causes necroses, or the death of cells and tissues around the bite.
Read more about the brown recluse at
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfac
