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View Full Version : Spider identification - SanJose, CA


MyraBird2005
Jul 15, 2010, 09:32 AM
I find these often in my house and wonder if it's a brown recluse, hobo, hunter, or what? This one measured approx 3 to 4 cm. The "butt" part didn't have any easily detectable markings. The front fangs were neither large or small, they are somewhat obscured in the photo. Found in my kitchen, hanging out on a wall in the open about eye height. I've never found webs for these things, they just seem to wander and come out when it's hot outside. I've never seen them on the floor. Usually on a wall or ceiling which makes me think it's a hunter of some kind but the markings almost look like a brown recluse. Thank you for responding!

Emily94
Jul 15, 2010, 09:45 AM
Doesn't look like a hunter, there body part is larger. It looks like a brown recluse to me. I've uploaded a photo that looks almost exactly like yours.


31963

Brown Recluse Spider (http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2061.html) Here is a great link that will tell you a few things about them; how to identify them, first aid if bitten, and a few more things.

Hope I helped.

MyraBird2005
Jul 15, 2010, 01:54 PM
Right it looks like one - but Brown Recluse are not established or found in CA? What else could it be?

Catsmine
Jul 15, 2010, 02:30 PM
Right it looks like one - but Brown Recluse are not established or found in CA? What else could it be?

Have you had any visitors in from the Central Plains? Fiddleback spiders (the Brown Recluse) can be carried, particularly in luggage, with the carrier completely unaware.

You might want to take a section of transparent shipping tape and catch one and affix it to a notecard then take it to the biology department at State (their entomology team is first rate) for a positive identification.

Emily94
Jul 15, 2010, 06:44 PM
There was a spider found where I live, can't remember the name but it was HUGE. It was found In a parking lot. They think it came in a shipment of fruit. The weird thing was that the spider was found over a mile away from a place that sells any kind of fruit.So if by chance someone brought it along, it could easily travel a far distance, and it could have been pregnant and that's why there is so many.

MyraBird2005
Jul 15, 2010, 07:03 PM
I found a good article from the University of California Riverside. Based on that article I think it could have been a small cellar spider. I moved to CA from Missouri over 3 years ago, could recluse stick around that long?

UCR Spiders Site: Brown Recluse ID (http://spiders.ucr.edu/recluseid.html)

Catsmine
Jul 15, 2010, 07:06 PM
I found a good article from the University of California Riverside. Based on that article I think it could have been a small cellar spider. I moved to CA from Missouri over 3 years ago, could recluse stick around that long?

UCR Spiders Site: Brown Recluse ID (http://spiders.ucr.edu/recluseid.html)

If you have an unused attic space with outside access, yes they could. They'd have to have a food source.