[Zero]

... Well, Kinda..  I caught this little creature chillin' right outside the back sliding glass door.  Ain't it cute?

http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brownreclusetx7.jpg

http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brownrecluse1hv1.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brownreclusefeedingap3.jpg

[topround]

Do you know that he is highly poisonous?
extremedura creatura, sly, wily and very tricky, watch out for those warm moist eyes, they can lure you into her ....lawyers office...
Watch out!!!!!!!!!

 

He looks like he likes jazz

[jqp]

Isn't this the one that hides in linens, whose bite eats away flesh in the direction of gravity?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Lines, rocks, anywhere really. Yes, the venom eats flesh. Not sure about the gravity thing though.
"Google" images of 'Brown Recluse' and you'll see some really nasty knarly looking wounds. yuk...

Bob

[Zero]

We shared a short, but memorable friendship.  But, in the end, we both decided it was best to part our ways. 

I couldn't tell you where exactly she is. All I know is that somewhere; deep within a neighboring park - she is happy and free.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Does the park have a playground? .......... with kids in it?

Bob

[Zero]

Bob,

I took it across a river (ok, its really a man made reservoir) and deep into a 1.5 mile long trail - where upon I went 'off roadin' quite a ways into the woods before letting it go.  Short of killing it, I took great care in assuring very low odds of it ever crossing paths with another person or pet. This area is not traveled often (as this part of the trail is where the cotton mouths like to hide).

[nathanm]

Lines, rocks, anywhere really. Yes, the venom eats flesh. Not sure about the gravity thing though.
"Google" images of 'Brown Recluse' and you'll see some really nasty knarly looking wounds. yuk...

Bob

Holy SMOKES, you ain't kidding!  That spider is pure EVIL! Here, if anyone needs to curb their appetite: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/brownrecluse.html

Lots of animals will just out and out kill ya, but to turn you into a zombie, that's just MEAN!

[Russell Dawkins]

but this page points out how often mis-diagnoses are made. I like the story (third paragraph) about how one family in Kansas collected over 2,000 brown recluse spiders from inside their house over a six month period, but no one was bitten.

http://spiders.ucr.edu/necrotic.html

[Bob in St. Louis]

Zero - Sounds good. Hopefully it will give it's life to nurish a juvenile copperhead.   

Nathan - Yea, buddy. Unlike our more compassionate friend Mr. Zero, I have chosen to wage full out chemical and biological warfare on them.
Raining Hell upon their very existence. 
From what I've heard, the Recluse is particularly hard to exterminate for two reasons. #1 Unlike all other spiders, they do not "bathe" themselves (think: cats licking themselves). #2 They are the only spider that does not absorb through their skin. For these two reasons typical sprays and fumigating bombs are totally ineffective. The badass little %&$@#'s will defiantly walk right through chemicals unharmed. The only hope is cutting off it's food supply.
note; Unsure if it's true or another urban legend but there's nothing better than unsubstantiated fear further propagated by the right mixture of ignorance and the internet.
But, you'd be hard pressed to find one of them in my house.

Russell - There's nothing else to do in Kansas. Might as well have some kinda' hobby. 

Bob

[nathanm]

Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating annihilating spiders willy nilly, it's just that it's difficult to work up much sympathy for a creature that can potentially inflict such damage.  I'm just glad I've never seen one around these parts.  It makes that bee sting to the eye I got years ago seem downright tame.