Think You Saw a Brown Recluse? You Probably Didn't.

I get calls about Brown Recluse spiders every single week. "It's brown, it's in my garage, come kill it!"

Here's the thing: 90% of the time, I show up and it's just a harmless Wolf Spider or a common House Spider. People panic because of the horror stories they see online about rotting flesh and necrotic bites.

Let's clear this up.

First off, look at the eyes. Seriously, get a magnifying glass. Most spiders have eight eyes arranged in two rows. A Brown Recluse only has six eyes, arranged in three pairs. It looks weirdly minimal. If it has eight eyes, you can relax—it's not a Recluse.

Also, check the legs. A real Recluse has legs that are uniform in color—no stripes, no bands, no spines. Just smooth, light brown legs. If you see stripes, it's an imposter.

The "Fiddle" isn't always reliable

Everyone talks about the violin marking on the back. Yeah, it's usually there, but I've seen plenty of other brown spiders with vague markings that look sort of like a violin if you squint hard enough. Don't rely on that alone.

When should you actually worry?

If you live in the Midwest or South-Central US (think Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma), then yeah, worry. If you live in California or New York? You almost certainly don't have them, despite what your neighbor says. They don't travel well.

I've been in houses in Kansas that were absolutely infested—I'm talking hundreds of them in the attic—and the family living there never got bit once. They aren't aggressive hunters. They just want to be left alone in your old cardboard boxes. Shake out your shoes, wear gloves when moving junk, and you'll be fine.