A homeowner in middle Missouri is unsettling people across the country after sharing an alarming image of a glue trap full of venomous brown recluse spiders.
Here's what to know
The post to Reddit's r/PestControl community laid out the details with a short description: "Indoor. We have a dog, too. This trap is upstairs/second floor. We have lots of traps and this one's pretty new. They fill up. Mid-Missouri."
Quickly, the comments section filled up with horror, suggestions, and clarifying questions. One user wrote, "I'd be out of there so fast. How do you know you won't get bit?" Another joked that the original poster should "burn the house down."
One individual who works in the pest control space explained that "mid-Missouri is known for having a high density of brown recluse spiders. I'm not too far away, and handle a lot of BRS issues for customers successfully."
The user went on to explain that dealing with the spiders often involves a three-step plan, writing, "1) Stop new ones from getting in through exclusion… 2) Catch/kill the wandering spiders with glue boards and a good product… and the hardest is 3) get as many of the females as possible."
More background
People may reach into closets, pick up laundry, move shoes, or let pets roam freely upstairs without realizing venomous spiders are active nearby. Brown recluses tend to favor dark, quiet, undisturbed areas, and homes can provide all of those conditions, along with insects to eat.
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That overlap between people and animals is often shaped by human activity. As this BBC explainer notes, many animal encounters happen because people alter habitats and create new opportunities for animals to shelter, hunt, or travel through shared spaces.
In practical terms, cluttered storage, cardboard boxes, gaps around doors or utility lines, and seldom-moved items can all make indoor areas more inviting to spiders. A second-floor trap repeatedly catching recluses suggests they are not just wandering in from a basement or garage, but may be using the upper part of the house as well.
Thankfully, there are plenty of available strategies to get these venomous spiders out of a home and away from family and pets.
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