Master Gardner Finds Three Brown Recluse Spiders in Flint Home

Master gardener, Ruth Simon found three brown recluse spiders in her Flint home and took them to the Michigan State University Extension Center in Genesee County in June. Brown recluse spiders are not supposed to live in Flint, according to Howard Russell, an entomologist at Michigan State University. Can the brown recluse spider be migrating to Michigan?

Brown recluse spiders are normally found in the southern part of the United States, it is unclear on how the spiders made there way to the Flint home.

Ruth Simon said: "It's the first time I've seen live ones, It's exciting to get something like this in.... It's not a common occurrence."

An online report published in March by PLoS One raises the possibilites that the brown recluse spider could migrate to the southern most part of Michigan by 2020 and the rest of the state by 2080 due to climate change which is projected to increase temperatures.

There could also be a circumstance where the brown recluse will fail to adapt to climate changes and become extinct, say the study.

The brown recluses venom is highly dangerous and can cause necrosis, it is very rare to be bitten by one of these spiders. As the name suggests, they are a reclusive spider hiding in dark, dry places where a bite might be caused by accident.

I am an arachnophobe, I would not like to run into this spider or any other for that fact. How about you?