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spider diagnosis-evaluation

BJohnson

BJohnson

Well-Known Member
Killed a spider on my basement steps last evening. Usually large spider compared to most that I have run across over the years in my home. Didn't think anything of it initially but then got to thinking and checked some images of brown recluse spiders. I am not saying this was a recluse or not but I am also not convinced it isn't and really do not want to piss around with these things as my understanding is that they are serious BAD NEWS.

Does anybody have any insights as to how to go about getting this checked out. I saved the crushed spider from the trash and would appreciate any suggestions.
 
I would guess it's probably a wolf spider, but to be on the safe side can you see a fiddle looking shape on the backside of the spider? If so, then you have yourself a brown recluse.

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Just spoke to a pest guy who is coming over to ID the suspect tomorrow. He stated the same thing, most likely a wolf spider. Coloration on the image of the wolf spider looks very similar to what I squished last evening. Thanks a bunch for the timely input.

IW members are such a great source of info. :way::way::way:
 
Got bit by what i assume is a recluse 5 years ago. Still have a scar from the bite. Didn't even know I had been bit, woke up one morning with what looked like a pimple on my side, next morning it was a golfball. By that evening darn near a baseball so I went to the hosp. Doc cut me open and put a drain in me. I felt like hell for a couple days.
 
I'd guess wolf spider myself. They are super common.

Bites from a brown recluse are HIGHLY necrotic. My graduate work was with rattlesnake venom, but you can't not study spider venom at the same time. Bites from a brown recluse cause major tissue damage very quickly. I had a couple of professors that had been bitten by black widows and, as dangerous as they can be (not as much as everyone thinks), their venom truly pales in comparison to brown recluse.

I don't mind spiders at all. Centipedes...that's a completely different story, especially when they are those big 9" black w/red head suckers we have in SE Arizona!
 
Pest guy's visual opinion was also wolf spider. I feel a bit better now but thanks again to all who responded.
 
I saw some brown recluse spiders in TX last year. They weren't nearly as big a wolf spiders here but do look a lot like them.
 
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