I live in Dupage County, Illinois and found this spider in my basement last night (dead)
It is furry and was heavy.

It really scares me.

I live in Dupage County, Illinois and found this spider in my basement last night (dead)
It is furry and was heavy.

It really scares me.How long is the body... as in fractions of an inch or inches?

The body is about the length of my pinky nail. This picture was taken inside the bottom of a solo plastic cup

I too live in DuPage County, so will be watching for this creature's friends.

Since it's so tiny, it could be a tick of some sort. Ticks are rampant this spring because of the early spring. It could be a baby wolf spider. Odinn7, one of our members on this site, is a spider expert, so I will PM him to look at this thread.

It appears to be a wolf spider. They are solitary spiders if it is. They basically hunt alone on the ground. Seeing one is not really indicative of an infestation. He probably just wandered in during his nightly hunt.

Not a wolf spider, looks like a female mouse spider and is venomous be cautious and spray your home or just be aware of any areas in your homethat you don't move things around a lot in.

Mouse Spiders are not indigenous to the US.

The picture is not clear enough to distinguish the species, let alone family, of the spider. Wolf spider is a good guess. Wolf spiders have a distinct eye pattern:

http://cdn-www.trails.com/Cms/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/3605/302438_Full.jpg

It is definitely NOT a tick.

Spiders may be creepy but most species are not dangerous. I learned in arachnology that all spiders are venomous, but not all spiders have the ability or inclination to bite people. But there are species that bite people. The dangerous species are well known, but not always easily identified - widows, violin, yellow sac, & hobo spiders.

IMO, pesticides are not the first choice of control for spiders. Good housekeeping (=vacuum), window screens, door jams & thresholds, and a rolled up magazine will keep spiders out of the house. Spiders are different than insects. Their physiology and habits don't make them easy to kill for fumigant, or residual insecticides.

Websites:
USA Spider ID Chart (http://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html)
UC IPM (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7442.html)
Illinois Dept of Health (http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcspiders.htm)