You're WRONG About the Brown Recluse Spider

The brown recluse spider is easily among the most infamous arachnids in all of North America, with horror stories of their flesh-decaying bites being so pervasive that even medical doctors have confirmed the myths about them. But how much of the crazy stuff you hear about these spiders is actually true? Today we are going to separate the facts from fiction, and show you why everything you think you know about the brown recluse is wrong.
We owe a huge thank you to our friend Zach ‪@LifesWildAdventures‬ for making this video possible, and for guiding us throughout our Louisiana trip. We have been exceptionally lucky to work alongside such a knowledgeable and talented educator, Zach's passion for wildlife and conservation is second to none. Another massive thank you goes out to Jack ‪@JacksWorldofWildlife‬ for sharing his outstanding footage with us, his documentation of a brown recluse bite is absolutely one of a kind and it helped immensely in the creation of this video. And last but certainly not least, thank you to Spencer ‪@MyWildBackyard‬ for the additional recluse footage and guidance, as always this video wouldn't have come together so well without his input. Be sure to check out all of their channels for more outstanding wildlife content, if you're a fan of the work we do I'm sure you'll love theirs as well.
Still images courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (creativecommon...)
Please do not attempt to reenact or recreate any events or scenes from our videos. All animal interactions on this channel are performed by wildlife professionals, and we routinely receive assistance from local wildlife experts and guides during production. All necessary medical precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the hosts and crew. No animals were harmed, removed from the wild, injured, or killed in the production of this video.
Music:
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Infados
( • Infados )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - River of Io
( • River of Io )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Monkoto
( • Monkoto )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Expeditionary
( • Expeditionary )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Half Mystery
( • Half Mystery )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Twisting
( • Twisting )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Chee Zee Jungle
( • Chee Zee Jungle - Prim... )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Hypnothis
( • Hypnothis )
Welcome to The Wildlife Brothers channel! We are Harrison and Evan Black, passionate zoologists and conservationists, and it is our ambition to educate and inspire people to conserve our world's wildlife! It has always been our dream to get people excited about wildlife, from the local animals in your backyard to the endangered species in dire need of our help.
By bringing our passion, knowledge, and skills onto a global platform we hope to introduce you to the wildlife we love, and start a conversation that will help make a difference in protecting the natural world. The time to act is now, so join us as we explore our world's ecosystems and encounter the incredible species that call them home! We're glad to have you with us, so let's get going!

[@JacksWorldofWildlife]

Great work boys! You’ve completely changed my mind on brown recluse spiders 👀

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much man, we appreciate it as always! Your footage of brown recluse bites is absolutely unmatched, so thanks again for sharing it with us!

[@MyWildBackyard]

Always fun working with recleese! Quite the big find for you guys, great stuff!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much dude! This one has been on our bucket list for a while, I’m glad to have finally checked it off

[@williamcozart8158]

Suckily, brown recluse are rare in my state (Michigan), although isolated populations have been found in a few counties. I did find a huge yellow and black garden spider, sitting ass up in her awesome web in a gap in the weeds at the edge of our garden. I watched her snatch a fly that landed 8 inches away and snap back into her ass up position at the center on the web in the blink of an eye, holding and biting the fly while it struggled. Then as soon as the fly stopped moving, the spider flipped to a head up position and with some of her legs, spun the fly like a rotisserie while weaving and wrapping silk over the fly. Then she spun back to her ass up position and hung the fly with a strand of silk below her while it struggled a little, so she bit it to envenomate it until it stopped, the she ate.. She's noticeably grown in just a few days. She has such an awesome pattern and colors. Good video Bros!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

It’s always cool to see spiders hunt and eat, we’ve been wanting to get some good footage of that for a while now. Black and yellow garden spiders are some of my favorites to work with, it’s awesome that you have them in your yard! Thank you so much for watching!

[@williamcozart8158]

@@TheWildlifeBrothers I would love to have filmed that, but I was just bending down looking at the spider with my phone in my pocket. I did get some still shots of it with the mummy fly.

[@Shifty69569]

Let you guys, Jack and Spencer be the new Brave Wild channel

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

That’s our dream! I think with time we can reach real success, Brave Wilderness paved the way for a lot of us but there’s much more to be done with wildlife content on KZbin. Thanks for watching!

[@TheWildReportOfficial]

Great work with this episode, so much high quality information and absolutely stunning B-roll! These were way more chill when handled than I was expecting, so neat to see that they behave just like other spiders and have no interest in biting humans!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much man! I was also surprised about how chill they were, I honestly thought they’d be more flighty and try to run away

[@smetlogik]

"Normal" - 👁saw what you did there. YT hid this one from me for some reason. They have quite the reputation, along with widows, amongst the "normal" folks. Great job with the facts again. Tell YT to quit hiding vids.

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

It seems like KZbin hid this one from a lot of people, to the point where it even got restricted… still trying to get to the bottom of what triggers that. We appreciate your support more than we can express, especially when it seems like we’re fighting the algorithm with every upload. Thank you for watching as always!

[@evelinepotter4551]

Actually the Mediterranean Brown Recluse is called "Violin Spider" due to the Markings.

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

That’s true, I believe that nickname can be used for many recluse spiders. Thanks for watching!

[@cnnroutside]

Loved the video, guys! Ngl those spiders were so cute being held lol. Very misunderstood and important arachnids! Love them

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

I totally agree about the cuteness, they’re truly very sweet creatures. Thank you so much for watching!

[@cavemanwildlife]

Great video guys!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much, we greatly appreciate it!

[@JeSuisSatchel]

THIS IS NOT A DRILL. REPEAT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. WILDLIFE BROTHERS POSTED

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

We sure did, hopefully one day someone sees this video!

[@SkiesTurnedGrey]

Ack! Heebie-jeebies! I appreciate the great footage and information, though. Awesome video, as always. You two are terrific.

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you very much for watching and for your kind words, we appreciate it more than we can express!

[@oliviakurtz29]

Nice video ev and harr! What insects do they hunt?

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you! They’ll eat whatever they come across really, but some favorite include flies, cockroaches, termites, and crickets.

[@sydneyhunt6681]

I got pet 6 eye sand spider 😂they are related to the brown R 😅

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

That’s an awesome and crazy species to keep, and they are indeed in the same family as recluses. Thank you very much for watching!

[@joykurtz7355]

Sorry, you’ve not convinced me that they’re anything but yucky!!! However, interesting video about them!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

That’s understandable, we suspected they might be a hard sell for you. Thanks for watching anyway!

[@JeSuisSatchel]

Banger alert

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Means the world coming from the creator of certified bangers himself.

[@fosterfoday]

i admire your efforts to demystify public fear of spiders. however i’m confused why you use that tense, horror-like background music (especially around the 03:40 mark) if you’re really trying to show an non threatening interaction :/

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

This is a very valid critique. We always strive to show the true nature of even widely feared animals, which means showing people that they’re not aggressive or interested in using their defensive abilities without reason, and doing so without drama or danger hype. However, we do often lean into the emotions that these animals typically generate in people (fear, nervousness, hatred even) with our editing choices, usually early in the videos or where narratively appropriate. That is in an effort to meet our audience where they’re at with our subjects so the message of the video resonates more clearly, and to elevate the entertainment value of the videos as well. As much as I wish we never had to lean into the danger element at all, that type of storytelling is often rewarded algorithmically, which ultimately means that we can spread our message to more people. Thank you so much for watching!

[@ThePollaton]

Didn’t even know they existed in Europe. 🤷‍♀️❤️

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

There are recluse spiders distributed across much more of the world than we realized, most continents have a resident Loxosceles actually! Cool stuff. Thanks for watching!

[@chisaquaticvibe6524]

Hi there

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Hello hello! Thanks for watching as always!

[@ThePollaton]

I’m sorry but you guys don’t know what you’re talking about……there’s no way jack is a normal healthy adult 😆🥰

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

You’re definitely right about that 😂