Brown Recluse Spider Bite
 

Here's the culprit.

The early consequences.

The ugly result.

Izzat you Kerry? Ouch!

Have a distant friend who was bitten by a recluse and then suffered toxic shock as an added complication. Bad neurological damage and has been out of work for a couple of years now. Basically, it ended her career as an MD.

Did somebody get bit?
 

I seem to have stumbled across the middle of this thread.
I was once bitten by one of these bad boys. Didn't know what had caused it at the time, but my hand swelled up and began turning black from necrosis (I think that's the correct term for it).
It took several days for it to turn the corner, but my immune system won in the end. It was a *****, though! I had a huge hole in the back of my hand immediately after it broke open. Pretty gross:( I still have a scar from it 30 years later.

Not me, thank God.

Kerry--is that your hand? I had a similar issue last year (to the month) that kept me in the hospital for 10 days. Brown recluse was one possible guess, but it turned out to be a rare flesh eating virus I had most likely contacted from a fish in Bot's backyard. I missed having my finger amputated by several hours before they arrested the virus (78 bags of IV). The bi -weekly debridements during recovery are the fun part. I did escape having to have any reconstructive surgery though. Hope that's not you. If so, I'll pm you some of my lovely pics.

Well, sob , as soon as I posted my anecdote, you replied it was not you. Good news, even if I did waste a minute and 1/2:D

People should keep in mind that the brown recluse doesn't lilve west of Texas. If you are bit by a similar-looking brown spider on the west coast, it's a hobo spider. They're also poisonous; I think the effects are similar but possibly not as bad. I hope not, they are all over my house and yard! :eek:

Not sure if hee bee gee bee's is the right term but that what this thread gives me.

A hobo spider?
 

Damned vagrant and anti-social arachnids. . .

Hee bee gee bee?
 

Is that a spider, too?

Someone sent me the pictures, I don't know who it is. Just gruesome enough to post.

Info on the creature:

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef631.htm

I should have mentioned that Hobo spiders make funnel-type webs that are usually on the ground. They're not good climbers. They came from Europe, probably in a shipping container that went to Seattle. In Europe a bigger, nastier poison spider eats them, but here they have no serious predators.

On the plus-side, the ones in my house seem to catch more flies than your average spider. Also, I've read that they're reluctant to bite unless they feel threatened, so most people are bit due to tossing and turning in their sleep after the spiders climb up the sheets.

They are also very good at avoiding swatting. I used to try and kill them all; now I just leave them alone and so far, so good....(knock on wood).

Also, did you know...
 

The most poisonous spider in the world is the daddy longlegs. Don't worry, though, their mouths are such that it is impossible for them to bite humans.

Hee bee gee bee's is like having the willies but worse. I guess it's like a guys version of being grossed out. Does that make it any clearer? It's hard to explain.

It went beyond the hee bee gee bees for me. It gave me the screaming willies.

I had heard that...

but I also heard this: http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

Snope, that snot true. Its venom is entirely harmless to humans.

Remember, this thread is on a one minute delay.

Well how about that!
 

Ok, I stand corrected on the matter of the daddy longlegs...I did think about googling this before I posted it, and I obviously should have! I didn't bother because this isn't a political thread and I wasn't likely to get reamed for it.

The hobo info. is real, at least; I've done a lot of research on them after realizing they are all over my house.

Sorry:wacko:

recluse can also kill you. they are named the name for a reason. most humans will never encounter one. they don't like busy places. their range is bigger then one of the links seems to say.

I came face to face with two brown recluse spiders once years ago. We decided to leave each other alone and went on our way. Lots of black widows around here, but a black widow is like a piss ant next to it closely related brown cousin.

Besides, the creature I've always called a daddy long legs isn't even a true spider (10 legs and no silk, IIRC).

Man, I thought it was true, too. We must get the same idiot email. Worse, I often keep the meme alive by forwarding it. I try to resolve to kill the memes and have no idea how many people have suffered ugly deaths and bad luck because I failed to forward some plea for St Jude or a business card.

But I slack on some that are amusing or interesting.

B

S'right, Arinida, IIRC.

DAMN that's nasty. I had a friend that got bit by one on his right hand. He said he woke up the next morning with his arm paralysed and a nasty black streak up his arm and halfway accross his chest. Doc said if it had been on his left side and that much closer to his heart it might have killed him.

Not too sure about that. Last I checked, California was west of Home (Tejas) and the brown recluse is known to reside in the area of my California house, along with about a billionmillion black widow spiders. Lady from the region died from a brown recluse bite a few years back - bit on the foot, dead brown recluse found in her shoe. It was an agonizingly slow death as I recall, took almost two weeks from her to succumb IIRC.

Brown Recluse
 

http://muextension.missouri.edu/expl...nrecluse02.jpg
...
http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp...lusabrown2.jpg
...
http://www.critterridders.com/brown_recluse1.jpg
...
IIRC

I HATE!!! spiders!:flamethro Burn them all!

Good thing none of those live around me. Actualy I can't really think of any posiness insects that live in my area.


I'd rather deal with a snake then a spider! I hate spiders give me a nice deadly snake to avoid.:D

Well from what I read, they are not on the west coast. Most people in Oregon call the hobo spiders brown recluses and believe that's what they are.

http://www.critterridders.com/p1120525.jpg
"Brown Recluse

This spider has a light brown body and legs. The cephalothorax (head united with thorax) has a darker brown violin-shaped mark on the upper side. The female constructs an irregular web outdoors and indoors in undisturbed dry locations such as basements, garages, closets, and farm outbuildings. The web is not usually used to trap insect prey. Instead, the brown recluse is a hunter, emerging from its hiding place at night in search of small insects for food. Favorite hiding places are in seldom-used clothing hanging in dark closets, in boxes of magazines, papers and other stored items, on the underside of furniture, in cracks and spaces around baseboards, around window and door facings, and in dark cellars and garages.

...

Most victims are bitten after they put on clothes stored in a secluded closet or that have been laying on the floor, when cleaning closets or storage areas, or when they roll on a spider while in bed. Initially, there may be little or no pain from a brown recluse bite, but, over the course of several hours, an intense localized pain develops, followed by inflammation of the area. Within a few days, a large ulcerous sore forms around the bite. This sore heals very slowly and leaves a large disfiguring scar. There is no specific anti-venom available for brown recluse toxin, but various other treatments are used to promote healing. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential to alleviate pain and speed healing of ulcerated tissue. It can be important to know what spider caused the spider bite to assist with an early diagnosis and treatment. Without a specimen, there is really no way to determine what spider caused a spider bite, but medical personnel assume that if the bite becomes ulcerous, it is the bite from a brown recluse spider... "

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.critterridders.com/brown_recluse1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.critterridders.com/spiders.htm&h=400&w=450&sz=195&tbnid=83-8z3Oe2m8J:&tbnh=110&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrown%2Brecluse%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1

Found one of these one day outside in a box....anybody know what kind that is?

btw...this is giving me the willies too.

If there's a shortage, I might be able to help you out...

Just looked at a U of Kentucky website on the brown recluse. The DO live in parts of the SW, including southern CA.

I will not be passing myself off as an expert on spiders anytime soon!

I encountered one in 1991 in some boxwoods outside of an extremely busy downtown nightlife strip in Chas., SC. I got lucky and was at the hospital w/in one hour of being bitten and got really lucky.

It is a colloquial tag in many places. In Sud America there is a mosquito like creature that is referred to as "daddy long legs" that is fairly dangerous.

Are you sure that they were claiming that the range of the brown recluse extended that far? Or were they also discussing related species?

Recluse Spider Populations
The darkly shaded area of the map shows the distribution of the brown recluse spider (modified from the distribution map of Gertsch and Ennik, 1983). Additional limited populations may be found around the margins of the shaded area. The other 10 species of native recluse spiders are found in the striped area in the southwestern U.S.

Busted on Mythbusters. :D

Very entertaining episode.

Oh, and here's a gruesome Brown Recluse bite site. I question some of the 'reports' but it is entertaining nonetheless (in a morbid sort of fashion).

http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/default.asp?Picture=Yes

From the map it looks like you're making them in your basement and exporting!

We have wonderful natural conditions for the little darlings and they adapt easily to urban life. We also have a fine supply of Black Widders. This summer the 9th Ward should be an arachnologist's happy hunting ground.

I hate spiders.....:eek:

Holy jesus, poor kitty http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/bite.asp?Msg=2310

Indeed.

That site is enough to make you run out and get your house fumigated just for good measure! :eek: :D

That story's enough to throw a wrench in the argument from intelligent design. How could a benvolent deity create a world in which that kind of thing happens.

It was a kindness, meant to distract the poor fellow from his Candiru infestation.

Poor kitty, hell!
 

How easy would it be to sleep at night in this house?