Here is how long brown recluses live without food.
Like most spiders, brown recluses are known to hunt for prey which includes smaller bugs or insects. However, the difference here involves the procedure.
In other words, black recluse spiders do not use webs to catch prey but chase down their prey before injecting them with venom.
The mode of hunting isn’t our focus but on feeding frequency.
Here, we want to find out how long these venomous spiders can live without food. So, why is there a need to know about their feeding frequency? Simply for purposes of control!
By eliminating potential prey, you’re able to anticipate how long these spiders remain until there’s less incentive to stick around.
Why Live Without Food When they Can Easily Find Prey?
Known as predator spiders, brown recluses will readily hunt down prey with insects such as crickets, moths, roaches, and flies being among their preferred prey. These spiders are also known to feed on their kind.
These prey or targets are in ample supply, right? So, why live without food?
It’s not as straightforward as you think. Sometimes, adverse weather conditions such as winter may cause these spiders to move into homes.
Unlike other insects that hibernate, these spiders can brave the cold weather to venture out
Now, your home is an attractive feeding ground for them during this time because most bugs want to be where it’s warm. So, it’s not surprising to stumble across a brown recluse when you open a box or other belongings.
How about a situation where prey aren’t available? For brown recluses that can’t make it indoors especially in locations away from civilization, there’s little chance of finding food.
During winter, most bugs have gone into hibernation mode as a survival strategy.
How Long Can a Brown Recluse Live Without Food?
Surprisingly, brown recluse spiders can stay for extended periods of time without food.
These spiders can live for as long as 6 months without food and water. This is a significant amount of time to survive any adverse weather or environmental condition before feasting on prey.
On average, adult brown recluse spiders live for about 1 to 2 years. Compared to the time lived, the period these spiders can live without food is about half their lifespan.
This is significant as it makes them able to survive in several adverse conditions.
Most Active Time of Year
Brown recluse spiders are known to be most active between March through October.
During this time, there’s the warmth that guarantees an ample supply of food. As hunter-spiders, they easily find prey, thus making such a period (between March and October) a peak period of food availability.
This means that brown recluse spiders will easily survive through winter even without food. As long as they find a suitable harborage, they can stay for as long as it remains safe even in the absence of food.
This could Present a Problem
The ability of brown recluse spiders to live as long as 6 months without food or water makes them quite difficult to handle when they infest homes. Unless professional treatment is administered, getting relief will be almost impossible.
You’ll have to look at the bigger picture by carrying out preventive treatment.
Cases of existing infestation will require taking immediate measures to combat the problem. The services of a reputable pest management service should be hired.
Does Food Attract Brown Recluse Spiders Into Homes?
Considering the possibility of soft-bodied insects present in homes, there’s a tendency to attribute brown recluse spider presence in homes to the availability of food.
However, that isn’t the case as there tend to be more insects to prey on in the outdoors than indoors.
So, what attracts them into your home? It isn’t difficult to see why. Brown recluse spiders will get into your personal space for purposes of safety from the elements.
It doesn’t matter whether there’s food within your home or not.
From our discussion so far, we’ve seen that these spiders can live without food for extended periods of time.
Speaking of their attraction to homes, when you have rocks, construction materials, and woodpile scattered in the exterior of your home, it’s likely to serve as an attraction to brown recluse spiders.
With such clutter are ample hiding spots. It’s important to also know that even with the absence of clutter; these spiders can still invade your private space when there’s a guarantee of safety from the elements.
Don’t Rely on Starving Recluse Spiders as a Control Strategy
It’s easy to want to adopt the starving strategy to make your home less attractive to recluse spiders. This won’t do much to prevent their presence.
No matter how frequently you treat bugs, it will do little to keep these spiders out.
Here, your best bet is to adopt a more comprehensive treatment strategy for brown recluse spiders. Remember, these could be holed up in boxes, shoes, tires, bedding, furniture, storage areas, and several other places.
They’ll need to be properly treated by professional pest control for lasting relief.
Scheduled Inspections will help
Due to their infrequent nature of feeding (especially in winter), we’ve seen that brown recluse spiders could stay for extended periods without food. Plus, their nocturnal nature makes them difficult to discover.
With scheduled inspections by an experienced pest control technician, their presence could be identified and treatment carried out.
Learning Some Basic Preventive Measures won’t be a Bad Idea
In addition to professional brown recluse spider treatment, you can also apply simple preventive treatment to keep these spiders at bay. Your shoe(s) is a potential hideout especially when it’s not been used for long.
Tap out such shoes before sliding your feet in.
For clothes on the floor, shake such before placing them with the others. Never keep clothes on the floor. You’ll also need to inspect for cracks on walls. These are easy entry points into your home and having them sealed up prevents these spiders from making entry.
Consider installing screens and weather stripping as well as door sweeps. These will limit the number of spiders and other bugs getting into your home. It’s also important to reduce clutter.
Eliminating hiding spots helps reduce the number of possible hideouts used by brown recluse spiders.
Now that you know how long brown recluse spiders can stay without food, this key detail about their feeding behavior will help with better treatment.