RIDGE RUNNER CHRONICLES: How Bad is a Brown Recluse Spider Bite?

By Editor | December 30, 2025 |

Yesterday I was getting the Christmas ornaments and lights out of their hiding place, deep in the recesses of our furnace room where no one goes unless they absolutely have to. And as I am pulling boxes off the shelves, I am thinking that these dark, undisturbed places would be a great breeding spot for the “loxosceles reclusa”, also known as the brown recluse spider. Maybe you have had the same thought this week as you probe in the dark for the ornaments.
The brown recluse is a small, shy spider that has a nasty reputation simply because it happens to be venomous. It is non-aggressive and prefers to live in quiet, dark corners of many Mid-West houses and garages. The venom is cytotoxic, meaning that it attacks and destroys living cells; by the way, there is no anti-venom medication for this bite. In roughly 10% of the reported cases, the brown recluse bite can cause necrosis but generally it will resolve itself within a few weeks without treatment. If necrosis does occur, medical attention is required. But more often than not, an alleged brown recluse bite is actually the result of something other than the bite of a brown recluse. That is why it is important that you know how to properly identify a brown recluse from other spiders and that the medical personnel treating your lesion know how to distinguish a brown recluse bite from some other lesion, such as those caused by a staphylococcus, herpes or fungal infection. If possible, you are urged to capture the spider and bring it with you if you are seeking treatment. (Let me know how calmly you accomplish that chore.)
The brown recluse spider is generally identifiable by a so-called violin marking on its upper body, with the bottom of the violin located directly above the head of the spider and the stem of the violin pointing toward the rear of the spider. The adult brown recluse is a light brown color, generally an inch long, with six eyes instead of the usual eight eyes on most spiders. The web of a brown recluse is distinguishable by the fact that it is off-white, with a messy, irregular appearance rather than the somewhat artistic and orderly webs of other spiders.
Most human victims of a brown recluse say that they do not feel the bite when it first occurs. They notice a red, discolored area about an hour after the bite has occurred, and that bite will eventually develop a bulls-eye appearance, with a white or blue center, and a red circular area around the bite. There will often be two visible fang marks in the center but the bite area will generally remain flat rather than in a raised position, as would be the case with a pimple or boil. The white or blue area in the center of the bite is the result of the venom destroying small blood vessels and causing them to constrict, thereby cutting off the supply of fluid to the bite and causing the bite site to remain flat rather than raised.
It is surprising how many of our houses in the Mid-West have brown recluse spiders hanging around in those dark spots and yet it is rare to be bitten by a brown recluse. According to Rick Vetter, a retired arachnologist and spider “expert”, there was a family living in Kansas that had over 2,055 live brown recluse spiders found in their house yet no one in the house was ever bitten—an interesting fact but probably not a great selling point if and when the house came on the market.
Note: I don’t mean to minimize the severity of the brown recluse bite if it becomes necrotic; one of my law partners defended an emergency room doctor who allegedly failed to recognize and treat a brown recluse bite. Photos of that bite would take your breath away.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].