Brown recluse vs. wolf spider?

Question

How can you tell the difference (including habitat) between a common house wolf spider and a brown recluse? I understand the recluse as a fiddle on his back. And, yes, I realize that I can look this info up, but I'd like it from personal experience. Thanks!

Answer 1

From my own experience, I have never seen a wolf spider in a house, although once I saw a brown recluse in the bathtub and sink of my family's self-built out-in-the-country home. Brown recluses have an intricate little fiddle pattern, as you said, and the ones or one I saw had humoungous palps; the little teeth things.

My knowledge; Female wolf spiders, when they lay eggs, carry their young on their back or carry around a large egg sac, I don't think recluses do. I do not think that wolf spiders live in the home. Also, wolf spiders are not very poisonous and are not listed as dangerous to humans, so you at least don't need to freak out if you see one, but brown recluses are highly poisonous and their bites are painful and can, although rarely, cause death.

I would also recommend you look them up because my experience is limited on spiders in the house ( but once I discovered a black widow spider in a plastic carton of grapes that my family had bought at Aldi's. Scary, huh?)

Answer 2

Wolf Spider Vs Brown Recluse

Answer 3

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RE:
Brown recluse vs. wolf spider?
How can you tell the difference (including habitat) between a common house wolf spider and a brown recluse? I understand the recluse as a fiddle on his back. And, yes, I realize that I can look this info up, but I'd like it from personal experience. Thanks!

Answer 4

Wolf spiders are very large and Brown recluse are much smaller. Here are some pics you can use for comparison.

Wolf spider:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/images/rabid_wolf_spider.jpg
This image is not great for size comparison, but Wolf spiders can get very large and do not have the image of a fiddle on their backs. However, they do sometime carry their offspring on their backs. Wolf spiders are garden spiders and are not so shy. I find them running around my garden all the time, but they are usually running from me. My 7 year old and I just caught one inside our house just a few days ago and released it outdoors where it can do it's thing.

Brown recluse:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dbrown%2Brecluse%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dks-ans%26x%3Dwrt&w=400&h=320&imgurl=www.umm.edu%2Fgraphics%2Fimages%2Fen%2F19570.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umm.edu%2Fimagepages%2F19570.htm&size=24.9kB&name=19570.jpg&p=brown+recluse&type=jpeg&no=8&tt=2,870&oid=ae32d7c37b795adc&ei=UTF-8
Notice the image of a fiddle on the head and upper back of the spider. This is a dead give away. They all look like this. Although the brown recluse has a nasty bite, it is rarely seen in the open. You would probably have to be digging in a dark corner somewhere or under objects that have not been moved in a while to even find one. It is very shy and like any spider, it will run from you before it bites you. One thing to remember that if you are ever bitten by a Brown recluse then time to treatment is essencial. The bite itself is not painful, but If you can get help right away, the chances of developing a necrotizing wound which is very painful is slim. I've been treated for a fiddleback bite and it never progressed past a dark pea sized wound and it healed quickly.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

browns are smaller and don't like light. you will encounter them in the back of closets, in old shoe boxes, etc. Wolfs are not necessarily friendly, they just aren't poison. i would bug bomb the place and get rid of all of them