New York Apartment Overrun by Venomous Spiders

A brown recluse spider, or Loxosceles reclusa, similar to the ones Gail Ingram found in her New York City apartment. (CDC)

The poisonous brown recluse spider is a very rare sight in New York City. So imagine one woman's surprise upon finding the venomous creature in her sink.

Gail Ingram claims she found the first recluse spider in the sink of her apartment on Gramercy Park in Manhattan. And despite the wave of bedbugs sweeping through the city -- the latest such infestation was discovered in shock jock Howard Stern's office -- poisonous spiders are a different story entirely.

Yet there it was.

"I discovered a brown recluse spider in my kitchen sink," Imgram told MyFoxNY. "It got stuck in pesto oil." Ingram, who works as a nurse, alerted the building's management company, which contacted a pest control company. They told her it was an isolated incident.

"My neighbors don't know the difference between garden spiders and brown recluse spiders," she said. "I fear for their safety."

Ingram saved a voice mail message, which she claims came from Siren Management, the building's management company, which gave her the results from the exterminator: "Basically, he said it was a brown recluse spider, but he doesn't think it's from our area, he thinks you brought it back from Illinois or wherever you went to."

Ingram says that's impossible: She didn't travel to the Midwest or Southeast, where brown recluse spiders are found. She put out sticky traps and quickly trapped two more in her apartment -- and nine more in the basement and apartment next door.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation cited the building for vermin spiders. In the end, Ingram sued the landlord, settled, and was able to break her lease. She moved out and just wants people to be aware of the possible dangers.

"I lost a lot of work moving, lost sleep, couch surfing," she said.

For more information, and to see Ingram's spiders, read the full story at MyFoxNY.com.