Recluse (Church Hill: new home, neighborhood, scorpion) - Tennessee (TN) - City-Data Forum

klosk · 07-12-2007, 10:07 AM

I still have this fear of "Brown Recluse" which I understand are all over Tennessee!!!!!!!! My new home is located in Church Hill in a wooded neighborhood. Does that present more of a problem then if there were no trees around? What do people do as precautions not to get bitten? Do I really have to worry about my bedspead touching to floor? Do I have to worry about them crawling into my closet and setteling in my clothes and shoes. Do I have to worry about them getting into the boxes of Christmas stuff that we take out once a year? Or things that are stored in the garage? Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems like no one really worries about these little creatures. Does anyone see them in their house and yard? Is my fear valid or am I just being and idiot.

bbkaren · 07-12-2007, 10:21 AM

There's tons of great info in the previous threads about this--just do a search; in fact, you participated in a 3-page thread about the brown recluse specifically.

Try to stop worrying and enjoy Tennessee; there's a creepy crawly of one sort or another anywhere you go!

mbmouse · 07-12-2007, 10:52 AM

Hi Klosk,
I would suggest that you have an exterminator treat once every 4 months or so, this is what my folks do as they are in the middle of a field and the foundation is very low to the ground (house built in 1840) they have no troubles with any critters, crawlies in the house, it is relatively cheap too.
I have been in North East TN for 10 years now, haven't seen one yet and we love being out side, and have never seen one in the house.

kamoshika · 07-12-2007, 01:26 PM

in West TN than in East TN. I've lived in the Tri-Cities for over 20 years and have never seen a brown recluse, but I've seen many dozens of black widows (I used to collect 'em in jars!) My mom hates all spiders w/ a passion but she's made it through 10 years in a very heavily wooded part of Church Hill completely unscathed, and she and my dad do a lot of yard work.

I don't have a morbid fear of spiders but I do have a routine when I put on a pair of shoes I haven't worn in a while: I step on the toes & squash them just in case some unsavory critter's inside. I developed that habit, though, while living in Atlanta after a girlfriend got stung by a scorpion hiding in a shoe.

My advice as a native of this area: Don't freak out, just do some research & act prudently but not obsessively. A good educational site on brown recluses (PDF format) from the University of Tennessee:
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publi...les/pb1191.pdf

hiknapster · 07-12-2007, 03:28 PM

I've never seen a recluse or been bit by any spiders or snakes, and I lived in Florida for nine years.

You are not an idiot but you are being a bit too nervous. Honestly, there are just as many spiders and snakes in New Mexico.

You are just getting anxious about your move. I've been there. Our future was much more uncertain when we moved here, and we did fine. I actually have several happy moments a day since I moved to Tennessee!

hiknapster · 07-12-2007, 03:36 PM

Here we go. We're going to to put your mind at ease once and for all. Here's the research that I found:

As indicated by its name, this spider is not aggressive and usually bites only when pressed against human skin, such as when tangled up within clothes, bath towels, or in bedding.[5]. In fact, many wounds that are necrotic and diagnosed as brown recluse bites can actually be Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Actual brown recluse bites are rare.

Most bites are minor with no necrosis.

Other recluse species such as the desert recluse (found in the desert southwestern United states) are reported to have caused necrotic bite wounds.

See? The spiders are worse where you are. You better hurry up and move to Tennessee!

I hope I calmed your fears and made you laugh.

happyappy · 07-12-2007, 07:01 PM

Spiders! Yuk! Double-yuk!! Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em ALL! What purpose do they serve? Eating flies? Yeah; one or two per YEAR! Ridiculous things. Ludicrous. It’s a good thing they don’t breath in air and exchange it for carbon dioxide; they wouldn’t be able to mitigate the damage they did! What was God thinking . . .

hjlacey · 07-12-2007, 07:18 PM

hee hee, happyappy, I'm with you! I will make sure I have an exterminator on call... oh yea, I have one... he is my husband

poor thing is always killing any spiders that come into my personal space. 50 feet any direction

happyappy · 07-12-2007, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hjlacey

hee hee, happyappy, I'm with you! I will make sure I have an exterminator on call... oh yea, I have one... he is my husband

poor thing is always killing any spiders that come into my personal space. 50 feet any direction

I once used my 12-gauge on one. Not in the house, of course. It was really BIG spider . . . okay!

SolorzanoAssociates · 07-12-2007, 10:23 PM

I recently moved here and have seen some but as you would anywhere else, what I have never seen in my life which was in a pair of slippers I left outside, stupid me, was the biggest beetle, eeewwww. I was in a hurry rushed my slippers on and crunch. dropped the paper the coffee and ran around the front porch for a couple of minutes. I first thought it was a roach but after disecting it concluded it was a beetle. I can't stand roaches or anything similar to them.... So careful where you leave your slippers.