College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

A family in Kansas lived for years in a house infested with over 2,000 Brown Recluse Spiders yet — remarkably — none of the four occupants suffered a confirmed bite.  Despite many spiders being large enough to deliver a medically significant bite, frequent contact (handling bedding, nightly spider-collection, etc.) resulted in zero envenomation's. The study, led by Richard S. Vetter, underscores that although brown recluses are venomous, their bites are rare and often over-reported — proximity alone doesn’t guarantee danger.

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