Adding on to Marks public service announcement: You'll know it if you ever get up close and personal with a Brown Recluse spider.

I was at Boy Scout program several years ago and all of a sudden the guy next to me is brushing something off of my shoulder. It was a spider that had just rappelled from the ceiling onto me. We took a look at it on the floor (it did not make it) and sure enough, it had the telltale fiddle on its back (See picture below).

Another thing, I have read about these critters is that they like to live in cardboard boxes, paper sacks, etc.. in basements, storage rooms, and other dark places. So if you are ever sorting through these kinds of containers, especially if it has been undisturbed for quite a while, exercise caution.

I have even heard stories of people being bitten in a bed under the covers. Typically you will never even know you have them living with you unless you get bit or you put out sticky traps and find them dead there.

This concludes this public service announcement from the Chipboard network.

Cheers!
Bill