Parent tears apart rear-view mirror after brown recluse crawls over their head and vanishes

A parent on Reddit says a suspected brown recluse may still be loose inside their car after the spider moved from their head to the area around the rear-view mirror and then vanished.

What happened?

Writing on the r/pestcontrol subreddit, the poster said they were very sure the missing spider was a brown recluse.

"I'm 99.99% sure a Brown recluse spider is MIA in my car," they recounted. "It crawled over my head over to rear view mirror and into the housing."

They shared pictures from the car and where they suspected the spider might have fled. They didn't capture a picture of the suspected brown recluse, though.

"I took housing off, and lo and behold its not there now, but didn't see it go anywhere else," they added. "Now thinking it made its way into another hole where [the] windshield meets the padding on the roof of the car."

The poster said the situation felt especially urgent because they have a toddler and "cannot put them in the car without knowing it's DEAD and gone." They implored for "HELP" in all-caps.

Why does it matter?

Even though brown recluse spiders are generally reclusive and bites are relatively rare, the possibility of one hiding inside a family car is enough to upend daily routines. 

As the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology wrote, the spider is not aggressive, and most bites occur when the spider is trapped unintentionally against bare skin.

The incident is also a reminder that human-made spaces often create exactly the kinds of shelter wildlife uses. Cars, garages, sheds, and other built environments are full of dark crevices, trim gaps, and protected pockets that may attract spiders.

As people continue to expand into natural habitats and move items between indoor and outdoor spaces, these kinds of encounters may become more common. 

What are people saying?

A self-described entomologist chimed in to ease some of the OP's fears about brown recluses.

"If they are abundant enough in your garage or near your home to have moved into your car, they are 100% also in your house," they suggested. "And seeing as you are still alive and doing fine, having one in your car is nothing new to worry about."

They added that the spiders are often misidentified for other brown spiders, and that bites are still extremely rare, even in the Midwest, where they are common.

"Putting poison in your car or tearing it apart is not necessary," they concluded to the OP.

"Thank you for your response!" the OP responded, though they indicated they were spooked to possibly be hosting so many brown recluses.

"It's a recluse," another user said. "It will live up to its name and you will probably never see it again."

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