Originally Posted by JonboyE

It is very unlikely. Brown recluse spiders are native to south eastern US.

Originally Posted by gloveman

We get loads of spiders here in BC and they have just started to appear in force in the house looking for their winter hide away. I was biten by one last year in bed and it wasn't very pleasant. Saw the bugger but never managed to catch it so it is probably still roaming around waiting. Not an expert but pretty sure it was a brown recluse. It is not unusual to find them in the sink - in fact this time of year we are more likely to find one in the kitchen sink than not first thing in the morning and they can be rather big.

MIL says you can get things that you plug in the mains and they send out a high pitch sound that scares them off. Someone else once suggested chestnuts! Anyone found anything that helps to keep them away, please?

Originally Posted by pennyhp

I saw a spider documentary with Johnny Rotten and he interviewed a man about Brown Recluse spiders. He said they like to hide in old books and paperwork and stuff.
The bite of the Brown Recluse is necrotising (sp) so it would leave part of the flesh rotting. Was it like that?

Originally Posted by AndyBCbound

THATS THE BUGGERS!!Any of those in BC

Originally Posted by Lychee

Oh yes, certainly! In the Vancouver and coastal areas, you see wolf spiders. Rarely in the open - they like the dark, dry, safe areas.

I see you're heading to Kamloops. Kamloops is a completely different climate zone than Vancouver, so I don't know what the wolf spider situation is like in Kamloops, but if you're heading to Vancouver, you may see one eventually!

Edit: Hrmmm... just found this link: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=3162

Originally Posted by moondevil

RIGHT thats it after doing a search they are also alot in alberta :curse:

OFF to find what kills the things, so i can stick them in my boxes to follow as well :curse:

Originally Posted by moondevil

RIGHT thats it after doing a search they are also alot in alberta :curse:

OFF to find what kills the things, so i can stick them in my boxes to follow as well :curse:

Originally Posted by gloveman

Lots of things kill them as Rich_007 kindly pointed out - you need to find something that stop the dam critters wanting to share a home with you in the first place. It's alright killing the ones you see but what about all the others that you don't!

Originally Posted by gloveman

Sorry JonboyE - I usually take what you say to be right and value your input but in this case you are wrong. We most definitely have brown recluse spiders on Vancouver Island and they are not uncommon. We also get hobo spiders and they are nasty litle devils too.

Originally Posted by AndyBCbound

I'll second that,what about the ones you can't see, especially the ones lurkin under the bed while you sleep the crawl over the quilt and up on the pillow........(to the sound of JAWS)

Originally Posted by JonboyE

I did say unlikely, not impossible. I freely admit to have been wrong about many things, many times.

I also don't claim any particular expertise on bugs but, because I am not at all keen on spiders either, I did do some research. This is one comment I read. If was on a bulletin board so I don't know the background of the author (my emphasis):

Take, for example, the Hobo Spider - Tegenaria agrestis - also known as the Aggressive House Spider, a funnel weaver which was introduced to Vancouver Island, Canada in the early 20th century from Europe, and has spread throughout the Northwestern United States. It too causes necrotic arachnidism, and even death, when the envenomation or individual reaction is severe.

For much of the 20th century, it's bite was misdiagnosed by the vast majority of medical professionals as the bite of the brown recluse, a spider that doesn't even exist within 500 miles of the range of the Hobo. Entomologists knew this, but since the prescribed medical treament for a brown recluse bite had always worked, no one in the medical profession bothered to question the matter further.

From wikipedia (yes, I know):

The brown recluse spider is native to the United States from the southern Midwest south to the Gulf of Mexico .[2] The native range lies roughly south of a line from southeastern Nebraska through southern Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana to southwestern Ohio. In the southern states, it is native from central Texas to western Georgia. They are generally not found west of the Rocky Mountains.[3] A related species, the brown violin spider (Loxosceles rufescens), is found in Hawaii.[4] Despite many rumors to the contrary, the brown recluse spider has not established itself in California,[5] nor Canada[6]. There are other species of Loxosceles native to the southwestern part of the United States, including California, that may resemble the brown recluse, but these species have never been documented as medically significant.

The reference given for [6] is Vetter, R.S. (2008) Spiders of the genus Loxosceles (Araneae, Sicariidae): a review of biological, medical and psychological aspects regarding envenomations. The Journal of Arachnology 36:150–163

Originally Posted by gloveman

Yeah that sound like the bugger who got me.

Originally Posted by AndyBCbound

Just how big are these things i'm gathering they are quiet small 10p size

Originally Posted by gloveman

They certainly aren't the biggest spider around but I would guess they are probably a little bigger than a 10p. Having said that, haven't seen a 10p for quite a while and can't remember exactly how big one is.