This turned out long so I’m putting this at the top because it’s that important in my opinion: best thing ever is a SansBug tent.
https://www.sansbug.com Your daughter CAN’T get spider bites inside here, as long as you’re careful to keep it zipped up all day and you don’t bring the spiders into the tent. In my experience of living with these infestations, nothing provides the comfort and peace of mind like sleeping in a SansBug. My specific setup in the worst infestation: SansBug with all bedding and pajamas kept inside tent, tent sitting on top of mattress, mattress on metal bed frame (I read brown recluse don’t climb very well—don’t know if it’s true—so I thought the slick metal is better than wood), and at the base of each bed frame leg is a glue trap. In a lesser infestation, SansBug on the floor with glue traps lining the baseboards.
Ok here’s the rest of the post I wrote before putting that first. I hope any of this helps you.
I have had way too much experience with brown recluse, so I wanted to mention a few things in case it helps. Both infestations I have dealt with have been so bad that I ended up getting professional grade pesticides and spraying the houses; I didn’t like it and I’m not promoting it, I just couldn’t find an alternative that worked as quickly as I needed at the time, and both situations had extenuating circumstances that made them even more difficult. That said, the site I got them from had some “eco-friendly” pesticides I believe, but of course who knows what that means. The site is diypestcontrol.com if you want to check. As part of my approach, I removed all outlet covers and light switch plates from the walls and blew pesticide into the wall voids (where the spiders often live), and I think the pesticide I used for that specific application was an “eco-friendly” one. I also think I remember reading that citronella, eucalyptus, and some other essential oils repel spiders. I diffused eucalyptus and burned citronella incense.
I also bought an electric blower from Amazon, full-body PPE from the diy pest control site, and I blew diatomaceous earth all over the attic. I used diatomaceous earth instead of pesticide in the attic because components of our hvac system and other systems were housed there, and I didn’t want anyone hired to work up there to be exposed to pesticides in such an enclosed area.
But in all my research (which has been years ago, so I’ve forgotten some) and ALL my experience, I’d put the two most important steps to control an infestation as 1) seal every crack and 2) store nothing on the floor. To seal cracks I stuffed backer rod (comes in different sizes and is fairly easy to stuff) into big gaps between the floorboards and base boards. (This house didn’t have the small finishing board below the baseboard, whatever that’s called…it just had gaps everywhere.) I caulked any cracks, I used great foam to fill giant holes left by previous owners behind the refrigerator and around all pipes entering the house, I replaced weather stripping around doors. Look everywhere. Old houses seem to have cracks everywhere. The spiders live in the attic or in wall voids (or basements I guess, I’ve never had a basement). You want to seal those areas off, away from you and your living space. In the house I rented with an infestation, I couldn’t take permanent measures to seal, so I sealed every crack with blue painters tape.
And to keep items off the floor, I used a ton of plastic bins. I read these spiders aren’t great climbers, so those clear plastic bins may be too slick for them to climb. I have NEVER found a recluse inside of a clear plastic bin with a good-fitting lid. In bad infestations I even keep my shoes in bins and my hanging clothes in bins. I make sure there is NOTHING on the floor except bins, basically. For bins with longer term storage in them (don’t need to access until next season), I tape around the lids of the bins. (It’s worth mentioning I don’t own furniture, except that metal bed frame I mentioned. I don’t know what I’d do under couches and such, except glue traps. I’d definitely empty dresser drawers and put those clothes in plastic bins.)
I can say from experience that even if you DO spray poison and DON’T seal and remove items from the floor (aka hiding spots), the poison isn’t enough to defeat the infestation.
My advice on glue traps is add more glue traps. Glue traps are invaluable in my experience. I’ve had outstanding success with catch master from Amazon. (They make scented and unscented, so heads up to decide which you want.) I put them EVERYWHERE. 20 of them in a 10x11 bedroom, for instance. These are a critical component of fighting an infestation in my opinion because you trap AND, if you watch the traps closely, you can monitor how your interventions are doing based on how many you catch. With glue traps everywhere in the house, for instance, I was able to see in real time how much the backer rod helped reduce the numbers of spiders in the house—far fewer spiders caught as soon as this step was taken.
I read that recluse, by their nature, don’t want to be anywhere near us, so if you see 1 you have at least 10 more you haven’t seen. I personally think people don’t take it seriously enough. I know they don’t typically bother humans, but I’m starting to think every house in TN is infested with them, and I, for one, don’t enjoy my house with this problem. **if you get a cat, be careful to fold your glue traps and try to keep the cat away from them. My cat has learned the hard way not to go near them. (She got it off but it took a little hair with it. I would have helped her but I couldn’t catch her mid-freak out. If you catch something on them you didn’t mean to catch, I’ve used vegetable oil to unstick it.) Also, my cat doesn’t eat or kill bugs at all…hope yours does! Best of luck with your situation. I would encourage a strong, multi-faceted approach. My OCD tendencies don’t help with much in life, but I think a little OCD for this problem is helpful.
