If You're Finding Brown Recluse Spiders In Your Yard, You Might Be Making This Mistake

Not all spiders are created equal. Some are more of a threat to your safety than others. Along with the black widow spider, the brown recluse is among the most dangerous in the United States and can cause some severe reactions. If you're lucky, a bite can lead to chills, nausea, or fever, along with a notable ulcer around the bite, but if you're unlucky, symptoms could be as bad as necrosis, jaundice, coma, or death by kidney failure. Serious symptoms are more common in children than adults.

If you've been noticing an uptick in brown recluse activity around your home, it's probably freaking you out, but don't panic: It's possible the cause might just be that you're making the mistake of letting weeds and overgrowth take over your yard. Overgrown weeds, plants, and shrubs can help create the exact kind of dark areas with little moisture that these spiders tend to love. Woodpiles and other types of clutter can have the same effect. To eliminate a brown recluse problem, then, pest control experts recommend that you put effort into making your yard less comfortable for them. Cut your grass, get rid of overgrowth, and reduce yard clutter as much as possible.

While cleaning up overgrowth may help you get rid of brown recluse spiders, though, it's not the only step you should take to deal with the problem. Other things can attract brown recluse spiders as well. The main thing that attracts them is other bugs – a primary food source for these spiders. Like ants to sugar or a potato chip lover to an open bag of potato chips, tons of stinkbugs or crickets or roaches on your property will draw these deadly spiders right to it. Taking steps to eliminate other pests in your yard, garden, and home is essential if you also want your spider problem to go away.

That said, if you do begin tidying up your yard, this is a good first step to tackling the prey problem, as well. As with repelling these spiders, cleaning up debris in the yard will also help to reduce the number of bugs. From there, you have to tackle a few more specific solutions. Getting rid of standing water and reducing moisture may also help. Also, be sure that you don't leave trash in the yard. Store waste properly and don't leave it out for too long, as otherwise it will attract insects and pests. If you dine outside on your patio, be sure that you don't leave crumbs lying around. If you have an active bug problem, you may also want to use some natural pest control remedies to keep them at bay — this will help with your brown recluse infestation, as well.

In addition to reducing overgrowth and insect activity, other things may help you get rid of brown recluse spiders, as well. Some pest control experts, including Combat Pest Control and Mother Nature's Pest & Lawn, claim certain scents can help repel them. Tea tree, peppermint, lavender, and eucalyptus essential oils are said to be particularly effective when sprayed around the yard and home. In addition to using essential oils, pest control companies also recommend spraying raw white or apple cider vinegar to repel brown recluse spiders. Consider adding these scents to areas where they may be hiding or use them as a barrier to prevent them from entering your home.

If you're open to using lethal methods to get rid of spiders, diatomaceous earth (DE) is a non-toxic, natural ingredient that's also recommended by pest control professionals and may help control them. Consider adding food-grade DE to spots where you think they're hiding. Sticky traps may be useful as well. Place them near walls, dark places, and in other areas the spiders visit for best results. 

Finally, if your brown recluse problem is severe enough and safer alternatives haven't worked, you may want to resort to insecticides and pesticides. Consider calling a pest control professional to help you eliminate the infestation safely and reliably.