Can't figure out what spider this is

[dkc1973]

I keep finding these spiders in my house (usually dead, thank goodness) but I'm hoping to find out what kind it is, both for my peace of mind and so maybe I can do better at battling them. Every time I think I have it figured out, I google that type but the pictures won't look like the ones I first found.

I live in central Arkansas and this one I found in my bathroom today. I have previously found them in all areas that have tile or linoleum floors - though I know they are probably other places but I never seem to see them on carpet. My house is made of wood, there are no bushes of any sort within a foot of the house/foundation. Actually my lot is very shady and so I don't even have any grass within 4-6 inches of the foundation.

Any advice on controlling them would be appreciated.

[Ungoliant]

I can't really tell you what it is from those small photos; I can tell you that it's nothing dangerous. (The only two genera that are widely recognized as being potentially dangerous to humans are recluse spiders and widow spiders.)

How to control spiders depends in part on the type of spider. This site is going to have an article on spider management, but for now, here are some general tips:

You can't keep 100% of spiders out of your home, but you can reduce their numbers by sealing off potential access points and reducing their prey (insects).

Some tips on managing spiders in general:

If for some hard-to-imagine reason a situation really does arise where spiders must be eliminated from an area, pesticides are definitely not the way to go. An honest, properly trained exterminator will tell you this, but there are far too many who are trained only in how to market and apply pesticide treatments. Spiders do not react as strongly to "residual" insecticides as insects do; these chemicals will kill the spiders contacted directly by the spray, and that's about all. Spiders are highly mobile and quickly repopulate any area from which they have been eliminated. And spider egg sacs are relatively impervious to pesticides.

Sticky traps remove many more spiders than typical pesticide treatments, and have the added advantage of neither polluting the environment nor making your home toxic. But an even better technique is to physically exclude spiders from the space where you don't want them, by sealing gaps, cracks and openings of all kinds.

Mandy's spider management tips:

The quote from me (above) on "spider management tips" was more of a custom reply to someone else's thread, as they had an issue with one ground-dwelling species and were also finding ants in the home. A more universal one is just to simply seal all entry points into the home, paying special attention to window screens and weatherstripping around doors. Eventually we'll have a whole page here dedicated to "spider management." Depending on the type of spider, other things like keeping the grass mowed and trees/shrubs trimmed to at least 2 feet from the outside of the house also help, as does keeping porch lights off at night.

Rick Vetter's "How to Avoid Bites" article is about the brown recluse (which can be found in Arkansas), but a lot of his advice applies to spiders in general.

[Eric]

dkc1973:

I can tell you the spider in your images is some kind of wolf spider, family Lycosidae. Wolf spiders are very diverse and it is next to impossible to identify them from images alone. One needs to put the specimen under a microscope.

Suffice that NO species of wolf spider is considered by scientists to be dangerously venomous to people or pets. Wolf spiders hunt "on foot" instead of spinning webs to catch prey. Consequently, they occasionally stray indoors. Simply usher the spider into a container and release it back outside.

Thank you.

[Ungoliant]

To add to what Eric posted, wolf spiders don't normally live inside, so aside from removing the occasional stray, you shouldn't have to do anything to keep wolf spiders out of the house.