Arachnophobia - recluse by my desk! NM, it's a wolf spider!

[dsmith]

I’m paralyzed by fear right now! I see an hourglass shape, that is a recluse, right?

[dsmith]

It doesn’t look like the recluses I’m seeing online, so I’m confused. I posted to the arachnid subreddit for id. Now I feel like things are crawling on me lol.

[CTVKath]

I don't know what kind of spider that is but I'm really, really sorry it's on your desk. Whatever you do, don't take your eyes off of it! At least not until you can get it out of the house and away from you.....................

[Innisfree]

Recluse or not, it would probably be easy to pop a clear plastic food container over it, slide some cardboard or thick paper under it, and carry the whole thing outside. Put it down well away from the house, use a stick to separate container from cardboard if you don’t feel comfortable using your hands, and leave it alone until the spider has vacated the container.

But I don’t have arachnophobia, so maybe this wouldn’t work for someone who does.

[prairiewindmomma]

It’s not like any brown recluses I have seen. It looks more like a grey house spider.

[Ausmumof3]

Do you have nasty types where you are?

I would pop a glass over it, slide some paper under, wrap it then take it outside. Ignore if it’s likely to be something more deadly, but most spiders here are pretty safe to handle like that. 

[mmasc]

My vote is that it’s not a recluse. The ones we always had in our house were more of a true brown/caramel-y color. That one looks too dark gray, imo. But yeah, he’s gross and still needs to go!

[dsmith]

I had my son wake up my husband to get rid of it. I still don’t want to work at my desk! I’ve never seen a spider that large in our area, over 2 inches. Well, daddy long legs, but they don’t terrify me!

ETA: After looking at various spider pictures, I wonder if it’s a wolf spider?

Edited July 18 by dsmith

[livetoread]

17 minutes ago, dsmith said:

ETA: After looking at various spider pictures, I wonder if it’s a wolf spider?

That's what I thought when I saw it. We have lots of those here, and they get big. I'm always taking them outside in the way Innisfree described. I put a piece of paper under the plastic container first because I'm afraid it might scuttle out of the little crack made by something bigger (we won't discuss that) and then I slide cardboard under the paper. Makes it all rigid and easy to carry so it can't scuttle out under something flimsy while walking to the door (also won't discuss). Works really well, though I am often trying to shoo the cat away at the same time who is trying hard to help.

[Tenaj]

42 minutes ago, dsmith said:

I had my son wake up my husband to get rid of it. I still don’t want to work at my desk! I’ve never seen a spider that large in our area, over 2 inches. Well, daddy long legs, but they don’t terrify me!

ETA: After looking at various spider pictures, I wonder if it’s a wolf spider?

I vote wolf spider, too.  I have a love/hate relationship with them.  They startle the heck out of me when I see them but I know they keep the house centipede population down in our basement and house centipedes are at least the same level of startle/fear when they show up.

I once had a wolf spider that was living in the hole where our sump pump is and I tolerated him because of the whole house centipede thing.  My washer/dryer are in the same room so often that summer I would see him peeking around the edge and I kept explaining to him that we could share the space as long as he never strayed  farther than the edge of that hole.  For months he kept up his end of the bargain but then began straying farther and farther until I had to relocate him.  

No way on my desk!  He would be dispatched just because of the startle factor.  I'm amazed you took a picture!

Edited July 18 by Tenaj

[wintermom]

That's scary!

Last week I was sitting in my kayak out on the water when I saw a relatively large spider scuttle past me behind my seat. We don't have deadly spiders where I live, but spider bites can still cause some health issues. I just had to assume it wanted nothing to do with me and continue with my paddle. Fortunately, I was right and it didn't bother me at all. I was not a happy paddler for a few panicked minutes, though. 🥶

[lanabug]

Not a recluse. Brown recluse are also known as fiddleback spiders because of the violin shape on their body. You're more likely to see brown recluse spiders at night than in the day. 

[ktgrok]

4 hours ago, dsmith said:

I had my son wake up my husband to get rid of it. I still don’t want to work at my desk! I’ve never seen a spider that large in our area, over 2 inches. Well, daddy long legs, but they don’t terrify me!

ETA: After looking at various spider pictures, I wonder if it’s a wolf spider?

Definitely not a recluse then. Recluses are much smaller, biggest they get is size of a nickle. Also, not sure where you are but they are only in certain parts of the country, thankfully! 

[dsmith]

34 minutes ago, lanabug said:

Not a recluse. Brown recluse are also known as fiddleback spiders because of the violin shape on their body. You're more likely to see brown recluse spiders at night than in the day. 

I remembered they had some kind of marking, and that’s what made me think recluse at first. This one has a very clear marking on him, almost an hour glass shape I guess. He’s been relocated but I hope there aren’t any more!!

[MEmama]

I'm sorry you have to burn your house down 😞 

[dsmith]

It took me over 7 hours to be able to sit at my desk!🤣And I have that creepy crawly feeling on my back since this morning, but I'm happy to know it wasn't a dangerous spider. I'm still calling dh if I see one in the early hours of the morning again!

[livetoread]

When wolf spiders feel threatened, sometimes they rear back and wave their front legs at you. At first I found it terrifying, but after getting used to having them around, it's kind of cute. I will never get used to the momma wolf spiders with babies on their backs though. That is just too much. Google at your own risk, and know that's another good reason not to squish wolf spiders - one spider can become many tiny ones scattering in all directions.

[mlktwins]

Funny story -- LOL. We were on vacation in a house rental in NC. My boys were little and they remember this well. My DH went in to use the bathroom in the basement. Next thing we hear him screaming (words the boys hadn't heard before). It was a huge spider and he stepped on it. All of a sudden, about a 100 baby spiders were everywhere. We could hear his flip flop beating them on the floor. Anyway, he thinks it is funny now, but it certainly wasn't then. It ended up being a wolf spider and they carry their babies on their backs 😱. 

[Starr]

8 hours ago, ktgrok said:

Definitely not a recluse then. Recluses are much smaller, biggest they get is size of a nickle. Also, not sure where you are but they are only in certain parts of the country, thankfully! 

We had these some places  in NY as well. When the kids worked at camp the doctors would treat for Lyme and recluse spider bites because the initial symptoms were sometimes so similar . 

[dsmith]

7 hours ago, livetoread said:

When wolf spiders feel threatened, sometimes they rear back and wave their front legs at you. At first I found it terrifying, but after getting used to having them around, it's kind of cute. I will never get used to the momma wolf spiders with babies on their backs though. That is just too much. Google at your own risk, and know that's another good reason not to squish wolf spiders - one spider can become many tiny ones scattering in all directions.

I will NOT be googling that! 

[ktgrok]

11 hours ago, Starr said:

We had these some places  in NY as well. When the kids worked at camp the doctors would treat for Lyme and recluse spider bites because the initial symptoms were sometimes so similar . 

There are not recluse spiders in NY. However, doctors are not entomologists and often think any bite that gets infected is a recluse bite. Doctors in Florida often report recluse bites...despite us not having endemic populations here. (there were studies and they did fine a few isolated populations in a few buildings from shipping containers)