Fumigate and kill spiders/insects without damaging interior?

M

metroplex

New member
I was driving to work one day and glanced down to see a huge spider on my dashboard. I later looked up photos and I think the spider I saw on my dash might have been a brown recluse. I couldn't find it since it ducked under a panel never to be seen, but it keeps spinning webs inside the car.



What can I use to fumigate the car interior, but won't be toxic to myself, and won't stain the seats/plastic/windows? I need to take care of this problem or else it won't be safe to drive the car.



BTW, I keep my car interiors CLEAN. I parked the car under several trees and the spider must have lived under my Weathertech vent visor because I saw some webs in a corner. I have to roll down my window to show my ID to get into work, so that is probably how the spider got in. It wasn't a coincidence that I first saw the damn thing a few minutes after I rolled down the window.
 
Obviously don't screw around with that spider, most have probably seen (internet), the damage they can do.



If you have a dark colored car and full sun, high interior temp should kill any bug after 120F.
 
I read that the brown recluse can live up to a year w/o eating or something, and they prefer to hide in attics in Michigan (which can get very hot in the summer).



I heard some recommendations to try Raid Fumigator which supposedly does not leave an oily residue and just fumes the interior of the house w/o being toxic to humans. Any second opinions?
 
An obvious answer would be to go to a professional exterminator who will select a product to fit the criteria. There are also several websites that sell professional pest control supplies, and have detailed recommendations and also will talk to you on the phone and make a recommendation.



The bug bombs that you can get in the supermarket or hardware store are obviously used in houses that have furniture and plastic countertops...so they are probably a pretty safe bet, except that a car interior is much smaller than even a small room. I don't know if the standard flea etc. bomb kills spiders, you would have to read the label. Since you have read about this spider in your locale, what was the recommended remediation?
 
I can atest first hand the to damage that spider can do. almost killed me. Spent 3 days in the hospital on intense antibiotics trying to save my leg. (which they did I just had a huge hole in it for a few months) If it really is a reclouse have a pro handle it. But being in Michigan you most likely have another species fumbling around in there. Brown Recluses are not native to Michigan. Although they do travel quite well. they like it warmer than our state usually gets ;) more than likely you have a brown wolf spider. They tend to cause alot of headaches too. Although not deadly like the Reclouse.



edit for pics. This is why you don't want to mess with the reclouse

reclouse_1.jpg




reclouse_2.jpg




reclouse_3.jpg
 
F'in A, I'm not that skittish around spiders or snakes, but if it is poisonous then it presents a problem for me. I saw a few Wolf spiders in NJ, and this definitely looked smaller. I pulled up a pic of a Brown Recluse that was more tan, but had a gray? ish butt. I thought I saw a few of those in my garage or yard. There are plenty of those light green/transluscent yellow spiders all over the place, but the one that crawled into my car while I was driving was about the size of a silver dollar. Since I was actually driving at the time, I didn't want to just smash it and risk getting the gunk all over my dash. I didn't have any napkins close by and I couldn't stop to toss it out.



I suspected that it came in through the window when I had to show my ID, because there was a rather thick web under the Weathertech vent visor. I am not sure if I want to remove those visors but they don't seem to really serve a function at this point other than give poisonous spiders some refuge from the weather.



Jakerooni: Wow, that is some serious damage. I'm glad you were able to save the leg. After running some internet searches it seems odd that they don't have a drug that fights brown recluse venom. A series of antibiotics seems like a very long and potentially flawed method of treatment.
 
Yea it was a mess. Although i've seen much worse results than mine. Which I'm thankful for. Still got a nice scar there. This happened to me back in 2004. The other name for the reclouse is the fiddleback spider. Just like the black widow and it's hourglass on it's admomen then Reclouse has a fiddle shape marking on it's back. Making it reletively easy to distinguish between it and other spider than look close. If in doubt though I would always play it safe. You usually don't even know it's there until it's too late. The reclouse is actaully one of the few aggressive spiders out there. Meaning it will actually come at you and attack you rather than run away from you.
 
LOL no I was actually camping out in Kentucky that year racing the Grand National in BMX... apparently the feild that year was full of them and I didn't know it. It traveled back with me in my gear and got loose in the house and bit me in the leg while I slept.
 
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