Brown Recluse or Southern House Spider?

Question

I live in Memphis, TN and my apartment frequently gets little brown spiders ALL the time. I see them running across the carpet or just hanging out in the bathroom. It really scares me because of what a Brown Recluse can do to you but I am not sure if it's just a Southern House Spider. It's a light brown color, long legs, little, moves fa st, and is not afraid of light. Does anyone know?

Answer 1

The Brown Recluse has a violin shape on it's back.  It's a black mark with a thin "neck" and then a fat "body" that looks like a violin.  If you see that then kill the thing before it kills you.

Answer 2

recluse has violin on its back side

Answer 3

Well, first, they are not called recluses for nothing.  They like to hide and stay out of sight.  They are also rather small spiders, with a body length of half an inch.  I am well within the range of recluses but have never seen one anywhere but the local zoo.  My father says he has once a long time ago.

I would have to see a good picture of one of these spiders to be sure.  Next time you see one try to use the cup method to capture it.  Get a glass and a ridged piece of paper, trap the spider with the glass, then slide the glass over the piece of paper and turn over.  Keep the paper on the glass though, I am not sure about how well recluses can climb glass, but it is most likely not well at all.  Try to get a photo of the spider and post it on here, send it to me, or best yet, send it to bugguide.net or whatsthatbug.com.

They could be grass spiders, I have seen those mistaken for brown recluses before.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2001

I don't think the violin is obvious enough to see a foot away.  This is a picture of a recluse that shows the violin shape.  It is the dark mark on the cephalothorax (head) that covers the eyes and the front of the face of the spider.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/117683

Answer 4

Brown Recluses are heavily populated in the state of TN however they are names Recluse because they are reclusive so it's highly unlikely they are going to be walking across your floor in daylight.  They generally move around in the dark in garages and undisturbed areas.

This site has a very good picture of a Brown Recluse:

http://www.brown-recluse.com

Furthermore, they have a video of a Brown Recluse which is even more helpful becasue you can see how it moves which is helpful for even further identification, go to the link and scroll half way down the page for the video: http://www.brown-recluse.com/traps.html

Should you decide after identification that you do in fact have a Brown Recluse, pesticides do not work as the Brown recluse actually likes pesticides because it kills other spiders and bugs and thats what the recluse eats. Sticky traps, which you can get for cheap on the above site are the most effective. Good luck :)