Deterring Spiders?

For people who know about spiders- are there brown recluse spiders in southern Ontario?

• I lived in a dusty old basement in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada for eight months as a student and twice I saw spiders which resembled the brown recluse. I've googled whether or not these kinds of spiders are found in Ontario, but some sources say yes and some say no. So I'm confused. Both spiders were seen during March, when it was still cold. The first one was in the basement bathroom, moved very quickly and was good at hiding, I spotted it during the day. The second one made a web-like shelter in a bottom corner of the room. So I'm wondering, could these have been brown recluse spiders? Or are there any spiders in Ontario which resemble the brown recluse but aren't?

• Answer:

  Recluses are noted travellers, but the normal range is pretty far south of Ontario (think middle of the US and southwards). I wouldn't say it's impossible, but barring a recent load of boxes or furniture from recluse country, it's pretty unlikely that you could have a recluse up there, especially in the colder parts of the year. Most people don't really have a good grasp of what recluses look like, so you often get Tegenaria house spiders and other 'wolf spider-like' types misidentified. Next time you see one, try to catch it and get a photo; even a poor photo can be very useful for identification.