Family forced out of upscale Missouri home by thousands of spiders 'bleeding out of the walls'

Researcher: Up to 6K brown recluse spiders in home

EEWWW Spiders!

She told St. Louis television station KMOV-TV in 2012 the spiders "started bleeding out of the walls," and at least two pest control companies were unable to eradicate the infestation.

The couple filed a claim in 2008 with their insurance company, State Farm, and a lawsuit against the home's previous owners for not disclosing the brown recluse problem.

At a civil trial in St. Charles County in October 2011, University of Kansas biology professor Jamel Sandidge -- considered one of the nation's leading brown recluse researchers -- estimated there were between 4,500 and 6,000 spiders in the home. Making matters worse, he said, those calculations were made in the winter when the spiders are least active.

The jury awarded the couple slightly more than $472,000, but the former owners declared bankruptcy, the insurance company still didn't pay anything and the couple moved out two years ago.

The home, now owned by the Federal National Mortgage Association, was covered with nine tarps this week and workers filled it with a gas that permeated the walls to kill the spiders and their eggs.

So, the previous owners declared bankruptcy and they could collect nothing on the undisclosed spider problem. I assume they let the house go into foreclosure as it is owned by the bank.

Link



Here is another photo I found of a brown recluse - I'm not sure the photo they provided (avove) is really a brown recluse

What happened? Did the construction materials become infested when the home was built, and the spider population just grew and grew?

Or is the home built on top of some ancient crypt protected by a spider curse?

What happened? Did the construction materials become infested when the home was built, and the spider population just grew and grew?

Or is the home built on top of some ancient crypt protected by a spider curse?

We live with a population of recluses in our home, but nothing like that.

Really, they aren't that bad. You see about three or four of them upstairs every summer, usually in the bathtub. The rest stay in the basement and garage where they eat the bugs that come in through the garage door. So long as they stay down there for the most part.

We just turn our clothes inside out if they've been sitting somewhere for long time.

I would probably pass out and be spider food if I saw a 1/10th of them running around.

a reply to: stormcell

when a species booms in population, it is because of either an increase in the food they eat, or a decrease in their predators.

Brown Recluse are prodigious breeders that can carry a devastating bite.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I think more people live around them than are aware of it. They are actually fairly shy and retiring and usually don't come into conflict with people. The problems occur when you go into places like storage where they will be on boxes or into clothes that have been left to sit for a long time.

They tend to avoid places that are disturbed regularly. It's not 100%, but for the most part, that's what they do.

a reply to: ketsuko

I read somewhere once that there is 1 spider for every square foot of a persons house.

If poisonous spiders started bleed out the walls and ceiling though I'd have a heart attack. I'm very afraid of spiders.

a reply to: tinker9917

Oh, yeah, if they overpopulated my house like that, I'd have no tolerance for the resident recluses, and we kill the ones we find here.

But we do know they're here and we know there are more. There's just no point in freaking out over it ... until the walls runneth over with them, of course.

originally posted by: jude11
6000?

This is what only one can accomplish....

[graphic imagery removed]


Peace

Stuff like that makes me even more paranoid of spiders, lol

6k of them? oh boy that is scary I can't even... they look so nasty damn I can't even imagine having 1 of these in my house let alone thousands in the walls

originally posted by: tinker9917

originally posted by: jude11
6000?

This is what only one can accomplish....

Peace

Stuff like that makes me even more paranoid of spiders, lol

Got a warning for posting the pics.

I guess this isn't a thread about the brown recluse?

But if you have a phobia...share it!

ATS Members Phobias
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Peace

So, 100 or so female spiders had been hanging out in this house for a while, when a male spider came around and said hi in a seducing way, they all fell for it except for the last female who ate the male spider....RiP.

They then had 6000 kiddy spiders and a new house and lived happily eve....for a while.

Female brown recluses generate one to five egg sacs which can contain 31-300 eggs. Eggs usually hatch in about a month. Development from egg to adult is approximately a year.

Source

a reply to: tinker9917

I don't mind the company of a few arachnid buddies, but I wouldn't share my home with six thousand of them.

The sporadic breeding must have a reason behind it, Killing them all might not solve the problem until the source is identified.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: stormcell

when a species booms in population, it is because of either an increase in the food they eat, or a decrease in their predators.

Brown Recluse are prodigious breeders that can carry a devastating bite.

Yeah, that's the question, what are they eating? Things may be worse than they thought, the 6,000 spiders only being the tip of the iceberg of the million cockroaches living under house somewhere the spiders prey on...

a reply to: ketsuko

Except in Ohio where they climb into bed while you're sleeping and bite.

Seriously. Two of my neighbors (in different houses) were bit while sleeping. One on the knee, one on the finger. Luckily, neither lost their limbs, but they were both close calls. Severely infected with long, painful recoveries.

Bites from these spiders are no joke. Do a search. The results are too gross for me to post in the thread.

a reply to: tinker9917

So disgusting but I really love the description of the home bleeding spiders.

I would sue the previous home owners too! That information should have been disclosed to the buyers and the home cleared of infestation prior to the family moving in. The Brown Recluse is no joke, it does major damage.

The couple filed a claim in 2008 with their insurance company, State Farm, and a lawsuit against the home's previous owners for not disclosing the brown recluse problem.

I wonder if they'll ever recover anything? These people were completely screwed over!

The jury awarded the couple slightly more than $472,000, but the former owners declared bankruptcy, the insurance company still didn't pay anything and the couple moved out two years ago.

OP source

Thank goodness no one was seriously injured or died from this infestation. Yikes!

I'm getting itchy......
a reply to: tinker9917

originally posted by: halfpint0701
a reply to: ketsuko

Except in Ohio where they climb into bed while you're sleeping and bite.

Seriously. Two of my neighbors (in different houses) were bit while sleeping. One on the knee, one on the finger. Luckily, neither lost their limbs, but they were both close calls. Severely infected with long, painful recoveries.

Bites from these spiders are no joke. Do a search. The results are too gross for me to post in the thread.

See, I've heard that they do, but we've never had them in the bed at night with us.

And they are in the old farmhouse where about five generations of my family has lived and died, and no one has ever been bitten that anyone has reported.

Now, the neighbor kid where I grew up got one in his undies, and that had bad results for him. But, those had been in his drawer for a while.