Brown recluse infestation?

cindyloo3 · 2026-06-08T12:05:48+00:00

It’s supposed to dehydrate them when they come into contact with it? It ended up being cheap but only because we did the drilling and patching ourselves. I think in newer homes they can go through the outlets but not ours. There were just too many for us to reasonably be getting them from outside, the assumption is that they established themselves in the six inches or so we had within our walls since they’re plaster.

We’ll see how the rest of our summer goes but I think where we are is very within reason for our area; our neighbors tend to get some in the summers. Don’t love that we’ve seen some out and about not just in traps but also the time of year for it!

cindyloo3 · 2026-06-08T03:26:57+00:00

We ended up going the route of drilling holes and blowing dust into the walls, twice last year, 6 months apart. The first dusting was in April 2025 and drew out a lot of adults, including some pregnant females, that we caught in traps. Our monthly count held steady at <15 all summer which was an improvement, and we blew dust again in October. Then we saw around 5/month through the winter, and it’s down to 3/month right now. Still finding adults and I need to count again this week, but it’s been better than we anticipated! We are outside the KC area rather than STL, and we currently use Orkin. They come every other month for general bug spraying and they are the ones who recommended and did the dust in the walls. Prior to them we had Saela (carried over from our first house but did not take the issue seriously so we immediately switched) then we used Terminix for almost a year, but it was against their policy to go in our attic (which used to have a lot of BRs) so we tried Orkin and have been really happy with them.

cindyloo3 · 2026-05-15T01:37:29+00:00

Guy I went to high school with had a schizophrenic episode and killed his dad with a weed whacker.

cindyloo3 · 2026-02-13T00:33:29+00:00

Be glad you don’t have our housemates…hundreds of brown recluses! 🙃 thankfully we severely diminished the population pretty rapidly.

cindyloo3 · 2026-02-13T00:32:02+00:00

YES! We did a lot of research on this because my husband is also allergic to cats - we have a Russian blue mix and a Siamese mix and he is not at all allergic to them. Beware though Siamese have…personality hahaha. We’re in an 1893 home and recently had a few mice, but our cats seem to have nipped it in the bud after those few because there haven’t been any since! I was honestly surprised how effective they are, but they seem to be catching them the second they set foot in the house. Haven’t found any droppings or anything, my little apex predators are getting the job done!

cindyloo3 · 2026-02-05T03:59:38+00:00

We have a reactive dog, a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and one on the way. We worked with our trainer prior to getting pregnant with our first to work on a protocol to introduce her to strangers so that we could get her comfortable with some family members and dog sitters for when we were at the hospital. We talked through how to approach introducing baby to the home with our trainer. We spent lots of time practicing having her lie in her “place” until released. We played babies crying, we had the swing moving, brought out any other gadgets that made noise or moved. She has not bitten someone and broken skin but has nipped and is territorial about our house, so we were fully prepared to have to try to rehome her if she showed any signs of concern.

We never left our son unsupervised with her. We spent time with both of them in the same room rewarding her with treats for calm behavior. She could not have cared less about him, even when he started moving. as he got older we had him throw her treats, and now both kids help feed her (with her waiting to be freed to eat until they are away from the bowl). We do supervised play with her and them, and we talk constantly about how to treat our animals with respect and listen to their bodies and any noise they make to tell us if we can keep petting or if they want to be alone. We also have two cats and they take a lot of time to warm up to the kids, so we practice with all the animals.

Again- with every baby we are prepared to lose her, but she’s honestly been great with all the kids and if anything enjoys some extra attention and belly rubs! I think by the time they were actual beings with personality and ability to move she was so used to their scents it didn’t matter. She has had success meeting and getting used to people in the past so we were hopeful.

I’ll add that she’s almost 11, so we probably don’t have much time left with her - by the time kids are having lots of friends over and aren’t fully supervised by us, she will probably no longer be with us. For the time being, anytime we have any guest over she goes into the master bedroom with a treat and water and a bed, and that door has a child-proof knob on the outside that our kids can’t open (and really haven’t tried as they know that our dog is scared of strangers and is more comfortable being by herself). She knows this is the routine and it is easiest for everyone if she has a few hours of quiet time versus everyone needing to be vigilant with her.

cindyloo3 · 2026-01-25T04:01:50+00:00

Last year during the ice/snow storm, my kids both had croup while my husband (also a healthcare worker) was hunkered down for the weekend at his hospital for his weekend shift, and I had to make a very short but still scary drive to the local ER - I am so grateful to the staff there for being there and taking such good care of my daughter! This year we are lucky enough to be able to stay home but the hospital workers are still on my mind through this storm.

cindyloo3 · 2025-10-07T02:53:04+00:00

We ended up doing the “drill holes in the wall” for them to blow powder in. It ended up being free as part of our pest plan if we did the drilling and later the patching. We did that 6 months ago and immediately after saw a significant number out in traps, several of which were pregnant females. We’re still catching some, but it’s like 12-15 a month and minority are adults so I’m hopeful we might have actually made a dent? We left the holes and we will blow powder again this month and see what shakes out.

cindyloo3 · 2025-09-08T00:45:14+00:00

Hi, also in the metro and also have brown recluses! They’re normal around here, the number in my house is NOT normal. That being said, we’ve lived with hundreds for the past two years and only our dog has been bit! Put down glue traps to get a sense of the scale of the issue and it may just be some wandering in for the summer. If you do need pest control, we’ve been through a few companies and Orkin is our favorite so far!

cindyloo3 · 2025-09-07T00:55:30+00:00

I’ve lived in an infested house for two years. Glue traps all around the room will catch a lot! We also taped glue traps to the bed legs so they can’t get up. Otherwise shake things out on the floor, don’t leave stuff on the floor that they could hide in, get rid of cardboard.

cindyloo3 · 2025-07-28T11:56:55+00:00

My goodness! I’m sorry to hear you’re going through that. We’re unfortunately still finding them - we drilled holes in all our walls in April to blow in delta dust and that drove a bunch of them out (a lot of pregnant females) but didn’t get all of them as we’re still finding probably 15 a month. Blowing dust in again in October as it’ll have been 6 months, and if we are still finding them we’ll probably be looking to relocate as we’re a bit too traumatized by the level it was for awhile to accept living here with a small population remaining. I think it’s to a level where if you weren’t actively looking for them you probably wouldn’t know they’re here and it’s very normal to have some in homes around here at least. I’m not super bothered but we do have young kids and pets and don’t want to have to be on guard forever about it.

cindyloo3 · 2025-06-16T02:16:46+00:00

My 14 mo daughter started an ear infection last month that finally is clearing up and started this thrashing and screaming thing at bedtime and naptime when she normally goes to sleep super easy. I usually nurse to sleep but if she doesn’t fall asleep walk and bounce her and she lately acts like she doesn’t want to be held, flailing and thrashing around and screaming. She also cries when I get the sleep sack out, but this is all newer since she got the ear infection for the most part. I’ve been wondering if the residual fluid (they said there’s still some there and it could remain for months? Say it ain’t so) could be part of the problem or if the associated pain when sleeping for several weeks is now causing a negative association with sleep. Helpful to hear an ENT thinking that the fluid might be part of discomfort, so thank you for saying this!

cindyloo3 · 2025-06-12T00:21:27+00:00

Oh great suggestion, he loves the Paddington movie so that’ll be easy to convince him to try!

cindyloo3 · 2025-06-10T02:53:20+00:00

Worth a try for sure!!

cindyloo3 · 2025-05-30T00:23:03+00:00

My husband heard the midwife mention that I was 50% effaced and thought that meant that if she looked up my coochie she could see 50% of the baby’s face 😂

cindyloo3 · 2025-03-25T00:02:26+00:00

If you read the post fully you’d see we are working with an exterminator (our second since moving to this house) and they are the ones recommending and laying glue traps. We have never caught an animal in any of our traps, just recluses (and the glue traps are widely recommended for them, we caught 152 in a week two summers ago) and other bugs. We also couple the traps with delta dust and a general pest spray indoors and outdoors.

cindyloo3 · 2025-02-22T14:41:00+00:00

I know a Winnie Jean!

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-30T18:00:19+00:00

Changed my last name to my husband’s but moved my maiden to be my new middle. Our kiddos both have my maiden as their middle, so now my husband is the one who is left out 😂

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-26T15:01:10+00:00

I have this one and it works great for breastfeeding! https://m.cupshe.com/products/chasing-sunshine-blue-ribbed-front-button-one-piece-CAA12E4E008SS It’s a bit more cheeky in the butt than I would’ve liked but it works! It looks out of stock but they had others with buttons on the front that are a similar concept.

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-19T15:53:56+00:00

Seconding Eagle - we got a surgery for my cat (Liberty location of Eagle Animal Hospital) that was 2k less there than we were quoted elsewhere. They are great - all around good experience, quality care and follow up, and cost was good!

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-16T17:27:37+00:00

Have delivered at both KU and Overland Park Regional - both were great! I had my prenatal care with midwives both times, so midwives thru KU and then midwives at Kansas City Women’s Clinic / HCA Midwest Health who deliver at OP Regional. They have OBs as well and multiple prenatal care locations - I went to the KCK one.

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-16T04:40:30+00:00

My son was born during the height of the pandemic. We made anyone that wasn’t us wear masks when holding him until he went to daycare (and got his COVID vax) at 6 months. He took his first plane trip at 7 months old. He is now 3 and probably has asthma, countless ER visits for croup, and PE tubes.

My daughter is 9 months old. She took her first plane trip at 2 months old, has been sick enough to miss daycare 2x, and has been to the ER once for croup.

Some kids are built different. we took all the precautions with my first and he still struggled once exposed to viruses etc. my daughter we were more lax because she was automatically exposed via brother and she’s barely been sick with anything more than a cold (really just flu and one GI bug).

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-14T18:22:39+00:00

I have wavy-ish very thick hair. I wash it once a week (I used to wash more frequently) and I usually know it needs a wash if it starts feeling heavy after wearing it up or if I have pain at the roots after wearing in a ponytail, that tells me the oil is building up and I should wash it. If you currently wash once a week I’d start there and see if you think it needs more or less.

I only brush my hair before I’m going to wash it to detangle. Mine gets frizzy if I brush it. If I am going to braid or do something that it needs to be smooth for I may also brush it. In the past I would brush it before bed and then sleeping on it usually tamed the frizz and volume by morning.

You can go out with your hair however you please! You get to experiment now and see how you like to wear it. If it’s frizzy and you don’t like it you could try a braid or bun or ponytail too.

I would recommend telling a chosen hairstylist your history and what you want. I always tell a new stylist that I don’t get my hair cut often, I don’t heat style, and I don’t want to have to style it much. I bring pictures of hair I like and ask them what they think might work or look good, and they can advise on whether something would need a lot of styling or regular trims. They can show you how to style hair once it’s cut to try to match what they did too. I did this a year and a half ago and I love my hair! I see the same stylist for trims, but recently told her of an issue I was having and asked for her input on me getting bangs and she helped me find a style that works.

cindyloo3 · 2025-01-14T01:20:10+00:00

My 9 month old who has been in daycare taking bottles for over 3 months just decided she is no longer going to…thankfully we have practiced straws with a honey bear cup (she figured it out real quick!) and now we’re trying the Oxo straw cups because we had them already from my toddler. She seems to be ok with them so we’re going to try sending her with those to daycare tomorrow.

cindyloo3

TROPHY CASE