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Old 01-01-2008, 06:58 PM   #10
JohnK
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Austin
Posts: 58
Re: Brown Recluse Spiders-(ouch ******)

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBendHiker View Post
... Just knowing where they like to live will be of help to me.

BBH
They prefer to live in piles of stuff (wood/debris) and other places that are generally left undisturbed; hence, their name, recluse. In homes, they like to hang out in boxes and areas of closets and garages where things are often tossed and forgotten.

Although brown recluses are often found in Texas, I would again like to state that actual bites are rare. As the Wikipedia article that Shannon posted states, as many as 80% of skin lesions diagnosed as brown recluse bites actually are not bites at all. Probably most of them are infections by Staphylococcus aureus (so-called Staph infections).

The article at the following link, written by an entomologist, has some great photos and identification info, as well as suggestions to reduce the odds of sustaining brown recluse bite injuries:

Identifying and Misidentifying the Brown Recluse Spider

JohnK
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