A Black Widow spider is classified in the genus Latrodectus and in the family Therididae. All together there are around six different species of Black Widows and all of them are venomous.
A Black Widow spider is also referred to as the “hourglass” or “shoe button” spider. The Black Widow is a shy and a nocturnal spider. All species of Black Widows are found in warm climates of the north and south, which are approximately 45 degrees north or south of the equator. The Black Widow spider can also be found in four of the American southwest deserts as well.
Black Widow
The Black Widow weights about one gram; they are anywhere from one to one and a half inches long and their leg span is anywhere from one to three inches long. There are several differences in appearance between the male and the female Black Widow spider.
Both have a spherical abdomen, but the male is usually half the size of a female. The female is a shiny black color and on the underside of its abdomen there is a reddish colored hourglass shape. On the other hand, the male Black Widow spider has yellow and red bands with spots on their back. When males are newly hatched they are a white, sometimes with a yellowish tint. Newly hatched Black Widows are harmless and resemble the males more in appearance. The Black Widows do spin webs, however their webs contain no specific patterns or shapes but their silk is stronger than any other spider. Also, the female spider will rarely leave the web.
It takes anywhere from 70 to 90 days for a Black Widow spider to sexually mature. The Black Widow typically mates during the springtime. A sac will contain anywhere from 250 to 700 eggs. A Black Widow typically lives up to three years and their main diet consists of a variety of insects.
Black Widow Spiders – Bites
The adolescent and male Black Widow spider is harmless; leaving the female as the only one that is venomous. The female Black Widow spider’s venom is deadly and is even more so than a rattle snake or any other spider.
The danger of being bitten by a Black Widow is that the victim most likely will not feel it. However, there are some symptoms to look for, which may include but not be limited to: abdominal pains, sore muscles, especially on the feet, a dry mouth and paralyzed diaphragm, excessive sweating, and swollen eyelids. If a Black Widow spider bites somebody they should seek medical attention immediately. The victim is usually given antivenin or calcium gluconate.
Mine began with a lump under the skin, the next morning still a lump under the skin. the next afternoon it swelled and looked like blisters and then red lines appeared going up my arm. Since i had taken an antibiotic the night before and the symptoms got worse went to ER. Er began IV’s immediately and stated it was some type of spider bite but were not sure what kind. I was almost admitted to the hospital because the infection was beginning to travel but they think they caught it in time. Currently on 3rd day and swelling is down but still puffy and sore, must go back tomorrow for a recheck at the ER. If this happens go to Doc or ER immediately!
The data presented here was indeed valuable. I hope that you guys continue performing a good work so that a lot of other people today can benefit from it.
I never actually saw anything but the other day I went to work and felt minor pain in my right upper leg. I went to the bathroom to check it out and saw two red dots on a large bump. I went home and researched insect bites and the only thing that matched was the black widow. Although the minor pain is the only symptom I would really appreciate any advice.
I live in southern Mo. I have seen and killed lots of black widow spiders. when I was a kid back in the 50′s I saw something shiny in a small knothole near the top of a fence post. taking a closer look I could see something brown and very shiny. I poked a long stick into the hole and out came a very aggressive widow spider with a red hourglass on its abdomen. it did not look like the brown widows posted on other sites. Is it possible that a black widow could also be brown.
I can honestly say the venom from the Black Widow was the most intense pain in my young life. 2 weeks of agony from a tiny pinch-like feeling on my hand.
I was making my rounds at work, when I set my hand down for a bit. not moments later, it feels as though someone had pulled a single hair from my hand. When I looked at my hand, I see a shiny spider, which I flicked away. I immediately informed my SGT, who said there was nothing to worry about.
20 minutes later, there is a strong pressure in my chest and back making it difficult to breath, and my thighs are cramping. 10 minutes after that, I’m curled on the floor, unable to stand and gasping to exhale a breath. Finally my SGT realized it was time to call an ambulance.
While at the hospital my Dr did not believe I was bitten, but said I was experiencing an “anxiety attack”. During recovery, I experienced arm spasms, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and the feeling that my hands and feet were on fire. It took 1 week before I could walk on my own again, and 1 week after to return to work…to this day, my arm still twitches
My advice: if you are bitten, try to safely catch it for identification.
p.s. I don’t agree with disturbing their webs and going on a Raid spree. I, personally, enjoy the fact that they kill the roaches, ants and water beetles in the house. They almost rarely leave their web and will not disturb you unless your not careful where you reach.
A good book on BWS bites is. “kilo-Quad tucker treasure.” Billy you ask” Would anti-venom have helped.” Perhaps. The reason anti venom is rarely used is because of the possibility of morbid immune system interaction to the antivenin making the cure worse than the bite. Sine 1956 there have been no recorded fatalities in the US from BWS bites but some from anti venom. Therefore, a doctor will not give anti venom unless patient shows life threatening signs.
I was bitten once, though I’m not sure if it was a black widow,i did not see it.I was on a trampoline, and I felt something on my hand, right behind my thumb. two red welts appeared, and i looked on google and as far as I can tell I was bitten by a black widow. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the thing did not inject to much venom, all I got was a sore hand!
I live in Northern VA on a wooded lot. I have positively identified black widow spiders in my garage over the past few years. I got bit by SOMETHING small this past Saturday at 4pm. I was fixing a fence outside, shuffling leaves and brush with my feet, I had on boots but they had become untied and loose at the top.
I felt a sharp pain in my ankle inside my boot, took off my boots and shook out some leaves. The bite was small and red – thought it might have been a tick since Nov is heavy tick time around here. The NEXT morning I woke up at 5am (about 12 hours after the bite) very restless and started feeling pain in BOTH my lower legs and flu-like symptoms. The pain felt like shin-splints I used to get in football. I started to research bites on the internet. While researching, I started to feel pains in other areas like my lower back, started to get tremors and was very irritable and restless.
I took my BP and it was 180/147 (typical for me is 130/85) ….time to get to the ER. I told them I didn’t have the spider, but my research led me to believe it was a black widow. By that time I started to feel pressure in my chest. I never had abdominal pain, which I read many people report having. The ER doc gave be something to bring down my BP and something for anxiety. They kept me for 2 hours until my BP got down to 140/100. The Dr said he didn’t think their lab even carried anti-venom, but after he checked he said they had 1 vile that could be used in an extreme case (because side-effects are severe).
Day 3 and I’m resting but still in pain – in my lower legs only.
Hoping it’s over tomorrow.
On Sept. 9th my husband put on his shoes and got bit by a black widow but he put his foot back into his shoe and got bit again. Went to ER with leg spasms and lots of pain. Was given a muscle relaxant and pain meds thru IV. Heart rate was OK. They released him and the next day we went on a cruise and on the second day of the cruise my husband went into an arrest. We were napping at the time. He died the next day and we did an autopsy and they found an aneurym in his brain. It was just 3 days after his bite. Was wondering how much the spider bite had to do with his death? Does a spider bite cause an aneurysm or something that caused his pre-existing aneurysm to burst? Autopsy told us he had a pre-existing aneurysm but did his blood pressure rise and cause this to burst? I sure wish I knew.
I just moved to the Phoenix area, did a walk around our new house tonight… killed 10 black widow spiders around the outside perimeter of the house, near the ground. Came out at night with a flash light in one hand, and a can of raid in the other. I imagine I’ll do daily walks each night for a while until I gain some confidence we’ve got them gone.
Where I live at we are prone to have a variety of spiders but one always gets my attention and that is the Brown Recluse spider and two days ago I woke up and noticed a mark on my left inner thigh and another little mark on the same leg but on my calf but not as red. Now the one on my thigh has gotten more red and more tender.
When I first noticed it it had a white head and I scratched it off and two days later it turned black in the middle and I popped it and at first blood came out and then a head came out and it bled some. I cleaned it with alcohol and it has gotten harder and more tender. The one on my calf hasn’t changed much and I don’t really know if it is a bite. Have spiders been known to bite twice at the same time?
I don’t know what else to do but keep it clean but other symptoms I’m not feeling thank God so maybe it wasn’t a lot of venom. How can I get rid of these recluses? I have the smashed bodies of numerous spiders that have been killed in hopes that it would send a message, but maybe they ate getting the wrong message. Sincerely from one who is in a battle.
October 29th I reached into a milk crate that had been sitting out side for a month full of knickknacks, and unrolling a black Clomeman fabric firewood carryall, a black widow pounced out to the right of my knuckles and ran off to the nearest dark spot.I jerked my hands back and cried out my mans name but he was 1/2 a acre away. I looked at where I feel a pin prick and both spots have a so tiny drop of thin blood.
I lick it out of instinct and spit.Within 5 minutes there looks like a black sliver in the center of a zit,so tiny though.Ring finger bite swells tight and largely raised.Pinky bite black dot, that’s it. I went to work for an hour sweating with anxiety Dreading the haunted house later.Now home I will tell u I have and am experiencing low temperature,shaking since shortly after bite and a {little ga ga dizzy} and nauseous. 4 hours into it what should I do.I think I’ll go to bed.
i was bitten on august 6 2011, i had all these symptoms i actually thought i was going to die. she bit me on the ear when i was standing outside at dark she had drop down on me while building her web i thought it was a bug of some sort when i went to knock it off i felt a prick on my ear, i am still not recovered fully from it.
i still have paralysis in my face still have spasms in my foot. and still feel like crap and its been two months now. the bite finally healed after about two weeks but the long term affect off the bite is still with me, believe me you will know you have been bitten by a brown widow when the pain starts i don’t think i could have been in that much pain if i had been bitten by a rattle snake.
4.5 weeks ago, I stepped outside to let the dog out the slider glass. while standing there I felt a moth on my knee on the soft inner top. I brushed it off. 2 days later the knee swollen tight and shiny with 2 red round dots. then it felt extremely painful overnight, and I used crutches all of a sudden. Ice, heat, wraps nothing helped. I used magnetics right away, and after 2-3 hours were actually doing something so that I had in-tenseness and removed them, and administered them again later on the area. (Nikken) It has been a long haul using minimal overthecounter pain killers. I am not on crutches and have a limp. Electric heating pad is used often, lots of water, lots bedside. 3 am is when I get up and massage and move it.
the back of the knee is tight, all nerves and muscles, hamstrings, calves, felt like I ran 100 miles on one leg. All is slow progress. The nerve in the knee cap is excruciating at times only now. I hope this helped. Nutritionals are being used now, and lots of water still.
I have killed 15 black widows in our backyard this season. Most were females. I spray around the outside and everything outside with Home Defense. It kills them slowly. Sometimes I find a dead one a day after spraying where none were seen.
But the BEST thing to kill them with is Wasp/Hornet spray – the stuff that shoots 20 feet. This stuff kills them quick and for certain. No survivors and quick kills. Next best thing to a well aimed hammer. I’m in Sacramento area. We have had twice as many as usual and I attribute this to the heavy rain season which I think produced more bugs, hence more spiders.
I believe I was bit on Sept 31, It is now October 5Th and the pain can be unbearable, some of the worst ever. Unfortunately I had to work and have been unable to remain still for much of the days. It started out looking/feeling like an ingrown hair. I did not think much of it as I did not feel a bite and the area was too red to see any bite marks. Like many of you I found it difficult to find much on the web about the bites other than webmd.
What i have experienced: is high intensity pain after being up and moving around for any prolonged periods of time. The bite is on the top of my knee so if I am moving it is becoming very agitated. My leg also tends to swell up from my thigh to my ankle. I am taking benadryl and aspirin which helps for a little while however what helps the most has been when I have kept the leg elevated with ice on the bite and no movement at all. Which is not easy when you have to work.
It feels the best in the morning after it has had a chance to relax and not be so angry. The red area is still growing, the tissue is stiff and very sensitive. Anything brushing against it feels like a splash of hot grease and lasts for about the same amount of time. hopefully I will repost soon with a time of complete reaction. Good luck to the next person reading this and I feel for those who posted before me.
Hello. I have a mark on my back that kind of looks like a bite and has a swollen line on it that comes around the side. I’ve had it for 2 days and it just seems to be getting more sore and my entire back is stiff feeling. i went to bed last night with a bad headache but i think that most of my symptoms are from worry.
i plan on going to the er tonight but i’m not sure how much of a rush i should be in. it feels like a big swollen bruise on my back and side but there’s no blue. just red. any comments would be appreciated. my email is eisha92peanutalicia [at] yahoo.com
I’m not going to say I was bitten by a BW since I didn’t see what actually bit me. I was working out in my yard Labor Day Weekend. I was hot and tired and pulled out a lounge chair from our shed to rest awhile. NOTE: I’ve had to dig cotton like sacs from the crevices of these chairs that was like pulling out a tooth. I didn’t check the chair this time because I was tired.
I dozed for awhile. Woke up and had 4 sets of these fang like marks. Three on my left arm around the elbow area and one set on my neck. The little bugger traveled and had a field day. The worse “bite” was right on the elbow. Initial reaction hours later was itching, swelling and redness around the sites.
The next day we had this Popeye arm thing going and it looked like I was sporting an Adam’s Apple. Off to the doctor (wouldn’t confirm what bit me) and put me on a steroid medication to take that swelling down. After 12 days of that, no swelling but those fang like marks were pretty visible and the worse area was sporting a pretty deep scab and still itched. However the symptoms started emerging AFTER the steroid use.
Tired, lethargic, I’m talking rubber-necking, disoriented, can’t concentrate, sweats, nausea – comes on in waves, joint pain and no I’m not a hypochondriac..I think I tolerate pain pretty well but this is the pits! I’m more frustrated with the medical help I’m getting, or should say lack of it. Oh and did I mention headaches? Some doozies let me tell you, and that whole metallicy mouth thing going on. What’s up with that? Oh I’m not done…one of the bite sites I had scratched and the little bite scab came off! Oh my gosh I thought I ripped half my arm off!
It burned, it hurt, it irritated me all day! Scabs have come off from cuts and nothing…this was like someone poured alcohol in the open wound and now I get this red streak under my arm where whatever was under that scab oozed out and now has irritated the area all over again. So I take Tylenol for the headaches, I rest when I get sweaty (even though I’m not doing anything to begin with) and Benadryl to help with the itching along with hydrocortisone cream and cocoa butter to help with the scarring because I’m going to have a nice one at the real bad spot.
My dad works on swimming pools here in Mississippi. I have been with him on many calls and know tons about black widows as they adore swimming pools. The females are black and shiny with long, slender legs. They have red hourglasses on their UNDERSIDES, not the top. Black Widows love drained swimming pools.
I have often seen them sitting in the jets. They will also get down in the liner, if you have a hole in it. If you find a Black Widow, it is best to spray their webs and fill your swimming pool back up a.s.a.p. They love the skimmers most of all, drained or filled pools. If you live in the South, and your area is known to have these spiders, please lift up your skimmer with extreme caution, even using leather gloves or a hook. My dad once lifted up a skimmer and found a huge female Black Widow sitting right next to his middle finger.
I had brown recluse bite me a few times!
There was a woodpile and i kicked it over to play some frisbee golf. It was like two stings (not at all like a bee sting) or just pains. Not just pains…. Well, my wife had noticed I had gotten sick about a week later, then I decided to show her my “bee stings”.
I just found 2 black widows today at my house in my yard. I’ve been having to catch bugs for my sister’s entomology class, which what we must do is capture the bug while it is still alive and put it in ethyl alcohol. So we decided to catch the bigger widow.
We threw it in the alcohol and it nearly escaped out of the jar. We put it back in and closed the lid, and to our surprise, it stayed alive for about 10 minutes being submerged in the alcohol. These things are tough, NEVER underestimate them, it’s no wonder why they are so deadly.
Nancy,
I hope your fiance’ is doing better now. My cousin got bitten on the chest by a brown recluse and about a month later he died from it. He was showing the same symptoms as your fellow was before he went into a coma and never woke up. GET HIM TO THE HOSPITAL!
I live in Tennessee. I found a black widow just hanging out on those new garbage containers the city provide us a few weeks ago so I caught her and put her in a controlled environment. Last night I Notices she was hanging beside a 3/4 of an inch the chick pea the color of a paper bag. So today I removed it. She was very protective. Then it made me think to clean out my garage monthly. FYI I felt pretty bad about killing her babies but hey then again I don’t want to die.
I’m very confused, see i got a bite the other day but i didn’t think anything of it because it didn’t hurt bit i got in the tub and it burned soooo bad so i looked and there were two little holes so i looked it up and the only thing that does that is a widow so why doesn’t it hurt?
Hi, Out There. I was bitten by spider at one the southern ca hotel. I spoke to the manager
and he show no concern, other investigating the matter. He call security and they took
pictures and that end the matter. This happen on Sept 4 2011 [ sun ] between 3:00am
and 8:00am. Which was the time that I got up to take a shower and notice the bite. I had a
headache and felt dizzy. I took 2 aspirin and went down to have breakfast. Ate well and
left for Palm Spring.Ca [ Casino ]stayed there till 4:00 pm and return home to [Rancho,ca ]
I stater to take shower and my wife notice the big bite behind the right knee.
It was 1/4 in by
the 2nd day it turned to about an 1.00 in and very red. I try to applied [ Antibiotic ointment]
and the skin came off.What a shock!! I was scare. My said you want go to hospital and I
said less wait till tomorrow. [Tues Sept 6,2011] It is healing well. Thanks God.
I haven hear any thing from the Hotel Manager yet. place you faith in God and pray a lot…
I was bitten here in East Texas while picking up something in the yard that had been laying there a while and leaves were all around it. I felt a pain in my finger. Later I saw two very small holes. At that site it was white, with a red circle around it. The bite was on the first knuckle of my middle finger.
I went to the doctor and he gave me something, and don’t remember what it was. I had to go take care of grandchildren four hours away, and did not take the medicine. I could not sleep at night the pain in my finger was so bad — just throbbing. This happened more than six months ago, and I still have a hard knot on that finger that is noticeable. I am assuming it was a black widow because I have seen them in toys, etc., that the kids have left outside for a while. I usually don’t have such a severe reaction to anything. Maybe when you get older, your resistance is lower. I don’t know. I could not use my hand at all because of that darned finger. Very, very painful and a big waste of time when I had things I needed to do. I could not pick up my grandchild, use a utensil with that hand…not even write. I can understand something like pain and swelling lasting a few days, but this went on for weeks.
This is day three after being bitten. I live in the Bay Area here in CA. I was out trimming a bush when
I felt this sharp burn on my chest, like someone was holding a match on me. I dropped the hedge trimmer and then felt on my breast more sharp pains. At that point, I knew something had bitten me.
Ironically I had just started to cut off a branch by a raggedy looking spider web. I understand from what Ive read that is how Black Widow webs look. Went in the house and looked in mirror, Saw an inch long red welt with the two holes and then further down there were two more bumps. Didn’t feel too bad that first night, just a little burn radiating from the bite. However I woke up yesterday, with a headache, then I got severe stomach cramps that went on until noon today. I still have some cramping, headache and a queasy stomach. No good times here.
I believe we are currently dealing with 3 black widow spider bites on the chest of my fiancee. He has been down for two days now. Sweating profusely, thirsty but not able to drink very much. Loss of appetite and extreme lethargy. His feet hurt and his skin hurts, he can’t get comfortable and his eyes are swelling, he says he feels like he has the flu, I am monitoring him in case his breathing becomes affected. He has three crater-like bites, white in the centers and red swelling orbs around them. They are getting redder and if not better by tomorrow he promises to go to the hospital.
this is what my friend says could this be bad?……..Well i got up this morning and went to cooking breakfast and went to the silverware drawer to get a spoon a they was a spider web, even though i hate spiders i thought it would have been a little house spider, NOPE it was a black widow and i took and swiped the web and it fell to the floor and i killed it but i am worried it bit me as i went and wiped under the counter to knock the web down, i am feeling nauseated but i hope it just from worrying I HATE SPIDERS and why was it in my house, those things are poisonous, Exterminator will be here this week!!!!!
please contact me on favcbook ambertate13@yahoo.com it should pull right up thank you
@Miranda, I also thought I was going to die…
On Aug. 1st, an insect bit me 2x; my r lower leg (near ankle) & on my the right side of my face above my jaw, near my ear lobe. Today is Aug 27th and my leg is still bruised and feels it and my face still feels very sore and burns it felt orig. like I got punched in the face by a brick. Now it feels like I have been punched, no redness just internal soreness and muscle aches. Last week I found 2 black widows downstairs and just found another one (male this time) upstairs near me…:( looks like I need a bomb or something. I am posting this to help anyone as the medical Dr’s seemed to know or care little about black widow bites unless you had a flesh eating disease.
(I was also bit last year 2x but on my tummy and my leg or arm…was fatigued and short winded but nothing like this round. Did have the 2 pricks of scarred blood visually last year. This year there were 2 small marks but no blood visibly scarred on my face.)
Note: Hydrocordisone DID NOT HELP this at all.
I tried it and it did appear to make it worse.
SYMPTOMS:
*extreme fatigue
*night sweat
*kind of short winded or out of breath feeling.
*extreme burning and throbbing that radiated up the right side of my face, down my neck,up behind my ear on to my head.
*Redness and swelling on site of bite spread largely. Itching and hives continued in the area intermittently for 3 weeks approx. Still itches at times.
*Sometimes it would get red and slightly blue-ish behind my ear also. *Allergies worsened majorly nose adenoids became really swollen
*Swollen lymph nodes especially right side.
One near my ear/neck was the size of a large grape!
*Abdominal pain which the dr’s wrote off as GERD…WRONG! The antacids made my tummy worse and sick. (mainly within 1st 2 weeks of bite)
*Quizy/light headed feeling at times. (also mainly within 1st 2 wks of bite)
*Hard time sleeping due to pain (which wasn’t well for my mental/emotional state)
*Neck and or front throat stiffness rigidness, head and neck pain in general.
*Nervousness/worried
*Any stress made the pain excruciating and unbearable
*My blood pressure was higher than normal even a few weeks later of the bite at my dr’s appointments.
*Some heart palpitations as if I had been running.
*PAIN & burning…If I had to describe it, it felt like something was eating away at my muscles internally on the right side of my face/neck/head area. It would even radiate to my right side of my collar bone, shoulder and mide scapula area.
*Some hand zinging sensations down my r hand and weakness also was present.
*General weakness.
*There were no skin lesions or flesh eating disease present.
TREATMENT:
*Besides the Cleocin (antibiotic they gave me diagnosing me as having strep or a staff infection) was REST, rest and more REST.
*Drink alkaline water or just more water in general.
*Himalayan Sea Salt baths helped.
*Seeing a Natural Holisitic Dr. in the Denver area (Deb Zepf she is wonderful!)who made some oils and gave me some drops to cleanse me and draw some of the venom out which has also helped. She also had me do an IONIC CLEANSE which did seem to help with the neck tightness and felt better immediately.
*For my allergies/hives/craziness: Hydroxizine helped only 12.5mg a night. Perscribed by my allergist. It helped relax the muscles in my neck, in my throat and helped with hives on my r side of the bite area and with anxiousness.
*Benadryl (before the Hydroxizine which is similar to benadryl the benadryl would help a lot I found out on Aug 5th)
*Allegra (which I take daily but any anti-histamine would help esp. those who suffer with allergies/asthma)
*Of course my saline nasal rinses helped now with the adenoid swelling and Rhinaris (salt spray)
*I event tried chewing a garlic clove untill I couldnt take it then swollowed it.
*Oregano oil; few drops in water.
*Probitoics from Nutri-West (Dr. Jeffrey Parker who is also wonderful!) to help with antibiotic side effects on tummy and in general.
I will be getting more Ionic cleanses to draw out the impurities and will be taking more sea salt baths, (epsom salt will suffice) as I feel I feel like there is still some venom in me it feels bruised when I touch it, and I don’t like it at all. I’m very sensitive and It’s still there. I wonder if I need another round of antibiotics but they Holistic Dr.’s oils feel great the oil is put on the bites and have some healing & soothing properties.
Finally my immune system is now responding better…I’m getting my energy back slowly and my sanity also.
I am moving soon and will be bombing the house and if there are any other recommendations on how to not bring them with me to my new place. Please advise!
Thanks for reading and advising~
I was bitten by a black widow 8 days ago… What a ride! I started with flu
Like symptoms day 1 next day I could not breathe, my lungs were full
And stiff, runny nose too. Slept all of day 3 tremors, fever, muscle spasms
I told my husband day 3 that I felt like I was dying ( disconnected from
Myself) I also made mention that I felt like the dentist had given me
Those numbing shots all over my body. Day 1 – Now Intense headache
Chest pains, dizzy, exhaustion!
BW bites are no fun! Hope I do not run into one again any time soon.
Wound still looks bad. Hope I get well soon!
I needed to add that the black widow spider was small. I had fever and sever aches the first 2 days but feel normal now on day 3. I’ve taken the charcoal tabs every 2-4 hours. I live in southern middle Tennessee.
I was bitten Aug 19, 2011 at 6pm in the evening. I saw the spider and trapped it. I have actually been bitten by brown recluse spiders 4 times over the course of 7 years. The first time I went into arrest and was life flighted. In the years since that first bite, I’ve educated myself extensively about treatment. Activated charcoal tablets and a plant called Plantago (locally called dock) are the remedies. I swear by it. It has saved my life, my skin, and numerous other people that I’ve told and treated for bites.
I was bitten by a black widow on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at approximately 9 p.m. I live in Northern California – Sacramento area. We have always had an abundance of black widows in our area. They have always scared me and I kill them whenever I see them. We seem to have more than usual this year. My friend and I used to drink a few shots and go black widow hunting with our can of Black Flag, flash light and long torch Bic lighter…oh my what fun!
It is ironic that I was actually pulling my American Flag out of the rain gutter because I thought it had blown up there and gotten stuck by the leaves or debris in the gutter and wanted to bring it in for the night because the light below it had burned out….not knowing it was actually trapped in a widow web. I was pulling on the flag to bring it down so I could bring it in for the night, when I felt something like a hot pin prick or a small cigarette burn on my arm. I kind of jumped and saw something fall but more like slowly glide to the ground (probably still attached to it’s amazingly strong web). I looked with the light of my cell phone and found nothing, but I came back out with my infamous Mag Light and sure enough, there she was already starting up her new home just under the flag but right next to my sprinkler on/off valve. Needless to say, I killed her with my Black Flag Ant and Roach Killer (It took nearly half the can). I came in the house and noticed my skin turning bright red and it felt like it was on fire. The area continued to burn hotter and turn redder. I was on the phone with the Doctor’s office when I started to feel sweaty, shaky and nauseous. I drank another shot and smoked a little and then felt better. The next morning I had forgotten about the bite but my shoulder (just above the bite) hurt like I had slept on it wrong and my neck glands felt swollen and tight. I did not have any appetite all day and have not had an appetite for three days now. I feel funky if I do eat. The redness in my arm was almost completely gone that very next day. Later that day, the bite started to appear again and I noticed to little like vampire bites. It started to feel irritated and itchy. Later during the day, my whole arm started to feel weak and I felt a little agitated. It is now day three and my neck hurts and my whole arm ( I was bitten in the Triceps area of the right arm) feels extremely weak. I find it difficult to lift arm or even typing as I am doing now, feels foreign. I feel like I am having some sort of neurology issue.
I know for a fact it was the black widow because I had just cleaned out the area she fell (or should a say gently parachuted to after biting me because she was still dangling from her web). I had just cleaned that area with my bare hands the night before (yes, i am crazy) and I would have seen or felt her web for sure. She had just started making her new home where she had landed and I was not about to let her turn that area into her own little paradise mansion. Therefore, out came the Blag Flag! I killed that little B-tch right then and there!!!
This is a scary type of bite because I can feel it messing with my muscles. I forgot to mention that the entire next day, I felt like I was going to start my monthly duty but never did. Just cramped over and over again, then it too went away. The only thing that is scaring me is the lack of muscle control in the arm, neck, and shoulder as well as some slight chest pain (can’t seem to take a deep breath) and the redness and little raised bumps all over the bite. They look like little pin prick puss bubbles. I will not break that skin open ever! I am being so careful because I have seen what happens if the skin breaks open and is not properly cleaned. I am too vain to cause unnecessary damage to my skin. I will pamper and baby this bite until no scar is left behind. This completely sucks though because I have the biggest desire to just scratch it to my little hearts content. What are Black Widows even in our ecosystem for? What good do they do? I much prefer my preying mantis friends and their little groupies. As far as I am concerned, the Black Widow can kiss my skinny little butt! I HATE THEM!!!!
Look for a trained practioner in your area using the Electro-Acupuncture of Voll machine (EAV). The EAV or Electro Dermal Screening (EDS) offers a non-invasive method for determining health imbalances in the body. The machine test acupuncture points and determines what level certain toxin are at in the body. i.e. in the extracellular fluid, on the cell membrane, inside the cell, inside the nucleus of the cell or inside the DNA of the cell. Its facinating. I recently saw Deb Zepf in Denver, CO she was able to find the right combo of formulas to balance my system and correct symptoms.
Hi, I was bitten 2 weeks ago on July 21 by a black widow spider in my home in Ajijic. I didn’t feel the bites but I felt it crawling down my leg. I killed it and immediately went walking to the doctor that works a block away. Within 10 minutes of having been bitten I was paralyzed from pain from my waist down. The worst possible pain from my back because of the cramping. 20 minutes later the ambulance arrived for me by then I had 2 IV’s and my blood pressure was 150/110 when it’s usually 90/60 and my pulse was at 50. 6 minutes later I arrived where they had the antivenom and my pulse was 30. I was given the antivenom and I left after a couple hours. The doc told me it would take a couple weeks for the venom to fully leave my body. It’s been a couple weeks now but I’m so exhausted it seems I don’t get enough sleep and today I woke up with a severe headache and I’ve never had headaches.
Hi,
This evening, after my sons found 2 black widows hiding under some rocks, I came across this page, and can’t even begin to read all the comments. It’s so sad what some have had to endure! My first line of defense if any of our family were bitten would be to take OIL OF OREGANO until symptoms subsided. Do a search, there’s lots of information out there on it; and a great book by Dr. Cass Ingram, “The Cure is in the Cupboard”. I hope I can at least help someone on here to get relief!
I got bit last week by a black widow spider. I was sleeping when I awoke to a pain in my right hand. I am not sure if it was at that moment or earlier while cleaning out my daughters apartment. I thought maybe I slept on my hand wrong, but that was definitely not the case. I got up to take pain med when the pain began going up my arm to my elbow. At that point I knew I might be dealing with a bite of some sort. By the time I arrived at the ER the pain was up to my shoulder. This was the worst Pain I have ever felt (since childbirth!). I had tremors which began in my arm, but traveled through my body for the first few hours. I had a terribly dry mouth and a chemical taste. My family and I prayed at that moment for the pain to not keep moving and it did stop in my shoulder and not spread into the abdomen or chest as the doctor had expected it would. Thank the Lord! The ER treated the pain and sent me home in a state of “feeling no pain” which was best.
The pain lasted a few days as it diminished. I also had nausea which has decreased but not gone away. The first few days I was out of it and very tired even after not taking the pain meds. I would compare it to flu like symptoms. In the last week I have had terrible muscle cramping and pain mostly on my right side. My hands and feet go numb periodically and I have had bouts with the chills when it is 100 degrees here in Texas. I too have had very strange and vivid dreams, unlike I have ever had. Very odd! I never found the spider, but did see the bite on my right hand. Just two slightly red marks that never got swollen or irritated.
I too found that there is not a lot of info on the internet about these bites so I wanted to share my story to help others. I am just a week into this and am not sure how long things will go on in my body but all I can do is just go with it until it has worked its way through. Just taking it day by day!
I was bitten during the 4th of July weekend, 2011. I believe the thing was in our tool shed and hitched a ride on something I’d gotten out to do some maintenance work with (shovel, rake, hoe, etc.) and got up under my shorts as I was carrying the load to our JD Gator.
We live in a rural area west of Phoenix on 10 acres with horses and ponies. We have numerous venomous critters around us (rattlesnakes, scorpions, and hundreds of Black Widows). I’d always had respect for them, but never really paid them any mind. When I’d find a web in an area we frequent (back porch, garage, etc.), I’d go out at night, find the spider and kill it. But in areas that we don’t spend a lot of time in, I never really minded them.
I never felt the bites. We typically feed Paco Verde hay, which is a grass/alfalfa mix which causes me to itch and feel prickly pretty much most of the time. You get used to it. So if I did feel the bites, I probably didn’t pay any attention to them. Around late morning (say 10:00 or so as we usually start doing things not long after sunup – I’d gotten the tools out around 0700 or so), I started feeling some pain in my groin area. Particularly when I bent over. I was in an animal pen and I unzipped my shorts and looked down and saw two large beet-red welts (oblong and about the size of a nickel at that time) about 4-5 inches below my bellybutton. They hurt like hell, particularly when I touched ‘em. The pain got so bad that I went to find my wife who was in our barn area and she looked at them and thought they were nasty boils (and she poked one of ‘em which nearly made me come undone). I could not figure out what had happened, as I’ve never had boils and am not really prone to that kind of thing.
She got to looking closer and found several more red marks around my groin area which hadn’t swollen up and said that she thought I’d been bitten by something. I looked all through my shorts and there was nothing there at that time. I really didn’t think that much more about it and went back to what I was doing and just went slower and was more careful about bending over and tried to keep my shorts from rubbing or contacting the spots. A little later on, I started telling her that I thought I was going to throw up and that I wasn’t feeling so well. I went back up to the house to cool off for a bit (it was around 110 or so – which is why we start doing things early here).
I went into the bathroom and stripped down and looked in the mirror. I could see the welts easily and some other small red spots. Still not knowing what was going on, I wondered if they weren’t being caused by in infected hair follicle or something, so I pulled some hair out from one of the welts. Wrong thing to do. The pain was intense. So I didn’t do that again, nor did any of the follicles I’d pulled out look infected. So I decided to shave the hair in the area, as even touching the hair was painful and the hair rubbing on my shorts was causing pain (TMI warning – I wasn’t wearing underwear because it was so hot).
I used a beard trimmer to carefully remove the hair and it exposed the smaller red spots more clearly. There was one in particular that hadn’t inflamed that I could see two little spots on and it sure looked, from what I could tell, like they were little fang marks, so I was pretty sure they were some sort of bites. I took it easy the rest of the day.
The pain was pretty incredible. I have a fairly high pain threshold, but this was pretty incredible. Not long after that I noticed some other effects. I still felt sick and also noticed that I seemed to be having shortness of breath and that my chest felt tight. And not long after that my back locked up and it felt like I’d thrown my back out on the right side.
I still hadn’t put things together. I was putting all of the symptoms down to being overheated and working out in the animal pens. I was still sweating, even though I was back in the AC and it felt like I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, even though I wasn’t sleepy or even feeling sleepy. It was really weird. At the time, I had no clue what it could have been. Later, when some of the other little red spots began swelling up, it began to sink in that this wasn’t a normal type of bite.
I got on the internet and simply typed in some of the symptoms that I had been experiencing (painful welts, nausea, etc.). Google turned up a number of hits on Black Widow bites. And that was when it came home that was what had happened to me. The thing must’ve been on a shovel or rake or something and when I carried ‘em out of the shed, it got under my shorts and hung out there for a while. I have no idea what happened to it. I never saw or felt it.
The bottom line was a total of 6 bites that were envenomed and two or three that seemed to be dry bites. Let me tell you, it was miserable. The pain in my back, thankfully subsided a day or so later, and then resurfaced, only this time, on the left side (that cost me a day off work – the Tuesday after the holiday weekend). The tightness in my chest and shortness of breath lasted about a week. The nausea went away after a couple of days, but I lost a lot of my appetite for nearly two weeks (side note: one odd thing that I experienced was that I wouldn’t feel hungry or thirsty – I would suddenly feel faint or my voice would get raspy and I had difficulty swallowing because my mouth and throat were so dry – after I realized that I had to consciously make myself drink – especially at work).
We considered going for a medical evaluation, but while painful, what I’d read seemed to say that there was little that could be done other than to treat the pain. Never really considered the anti-venom thing as the side effects I read about from that rendered it a non-option (adverse reactions to rattlesnake anti venom, which, given where we live did not seem to be prudent) and I didn’t ever really feel it was warranted in the first place. It hurt like hell, but I never felt like my life was imperiled or anything. In fact, I only missed one day of work due to it. It sucked going in and days were extremely uncomfortable, but it wasn’t totally debilitating. I just kept an eye on the bites to make sure they didn’t turn necrotic.
I’m now in the 4th week since I was bitten. I went through the “rupturing and sloughing off” stage of all the bite welts (the second and third weeks – some of the welts were slower than others to rupture). There’s one bite site that looks like it will leave a scar, but it’s not that big a deal. Not like anyone’s really going to see it. And it could have been so very much worse.. A couple of inches and it may have been a very different story.
Now I’m in the itching stage. The welts are pretty much faded, but you can still feel them under the skin and Lordy, how they do itch. And they do still hurt if you scratch them too hard.
A couple of other things I noticed about my case.. I had some of the strangest dreams I’ve ever had in my life during that first week. In bold technicolor. And also, I noticed that there was one bite site (one of the first welts I noticed) that when I put ice on it (which really was the absolute best way to alleviate the pain) my right leg would go into odd spasms. My wife thought it was very entertaining..
One thing I noticed during my internet searches was that there are very few places where there are anecdotal stories about what happens during a BW bite. This site was one of the few. So I decided to post what happened to me, in detail in case there are others out there that are also looking. I was, I gather, pretty lucky in my bites. I’m a big guy (6′ 270 lbs) and from what I can tell my symptoms weren’t as bad as some, and it appears that my bite sites are going to heal up. Reading what others experienced really helped with some of the anxiety (yeah, I did feel anxious also, the first couple of days – I attributed that to the shortness of breath thing). And things could have been much worse. Mrs. Spider did me a big favor in staying where she did and not gravitating a little more south.
One last note. During my initial searches, I found a post from a fellow who stated that he’d had been bitten 19 times right around the date I was bitten. I cannot re-find that post or the site where he made it, but he was doing the same thing I was – looking for information. His post really made me realize how much worse things could have been. I was floored when I read that a man in CO recently passed away after having been bitten 19 times by a Black Widow. If I recall the post correctly, the author said that it was in his bed. My heart goes out to the family of the gentleman in CO. Regardless if the BW caused his death or not.
Kinda hit home with me.
In answer to how long the symptoms last, it can be months or even years for some of them. I was bitten 5 times at the base of my neck by a black widow (I found it in the sheets after being bit) and went to the emergency room where they gave me a tetanus shot…of all things! I went home and went into cardiac arrest. A Dr. friend happened to come by and resuscitated me. It took months to recover the numerous symptoms as the nurotoxins traveled about my body.
I took Epsom salt baths to speed the process of detox. I also had a staff infection at the bit sites that eventually became necroptic, losing some flesh . I suffered partial paralysis for a week, arthritis like joint pain off and on for months. The pain from the bottom of my feet lasted for years, finally leaving after some acupuncture. It has been over 10 years now and I occasionally experience minor symptoms of pain in my joints. I also have short term memory loss.
All I can say to those who suffer from a bit is try alternative therapies, they seemed to help more than anything the Dr’s tried, which was basically antibiotics and pain meds.
Several years ago on Labor Day I was moving firewood to a pile in the back yard. The next day I went to a barbecue and felt really nauseous and not quite right. I spent the better part of the day laying in a lawn chair thinking I had a hangover. As the day went on finger started to feel sore and I could see two small holes, which looked like fang marks. By mid-afternoon I grabbed my husband and said we had to go because I was sick and that I couldn’t drive. He drove home and by the time we got there I was in pain all over my body. My hand and arm hurt so bad.
I soaked my hand in the sink in antiseptic and started throwing up in a wastebasket. The two bite marks now looked like volcanoes. Soon I could only lay on the bed and howl in pain. Nobody could touch me and I couldn’t open my eyes and see light. Finally my husband made me go to the hospital. He drove like a maniac. All the while I was sure I would be dead before I got there. They took me right back and put me on a demoral drip and showed my husband the red streaks that were now going up my arms. They admitted me and started pumping anti-venom and antibiotics intravenously.
My arm swelled up the size of a basketball and eventually all the skin peeled off of it (a week later). I was in the hospital for 5 full days with the first two on demoral. I can’t imagine a child going through this because I know what kind of pain I was in.
I have kept black widow for years…there’s something about their simple beauty that captivates my soul. My friends always call me crazy, but I am very careful and never bring it indoors…they prefer the garage anyway…
I do not know if I have been bitten by a black widow or not but I’m having major issues. Last week I went to the doctor because I had been hurting in my sides, abdomen and back. I thought I had a kidney infection. They said, that I did not have a kidney infection but I was so, dehydrated that the reading went off the grid and that they believed I may be constipated. They prescribed me medication for being constipated and told me to drink plenty of water. I have taken the medicine and I am clean was never constipated to begin with and the pain has gotten so, bad its unbearable.
I now hurt in my mid back, stomach and in my chest where my ribs meet. The pain is so, bad I started feeling nauseous today. I also started feeling weak and having headaches today. It is like each day has brought on something new to add to everything else. Yesterday, I took a shower and I noticed that I had a red patch on my cheek of my behind. There was several little bumps that were filled with fluid that I popped. Now, they are dark red spots with no fluid and today a reddish has formed around the spots and is getting bigger as time goes on. It hurts horribly if touched, if I sit on it or even when I take a shower and the water runs over it. I did not start thinking about bug bites until I first seen the place. I never knew I had it until I seen it yesterday. So, I have no idea how long I have had it to begin with I just know all the pain and problems started last week. I’m 22 years old so, hopefully if that is what it is I will be ok. My mother told me to put peroxide on it to dry the spot out and wait a few days to see if it goes away before I go to the doctor and bring the place to their attention.
The pain and everything is getting unbearable and I have gotten to the point where I do not have an appetite at all or even care or think about eating. My mother and my fiance think I’m a hypochondriac and that I’m making up the pain and issues. I have researched bug bites, spider bites you name it online all day and a black widow bite seems to fit right in with everything and I strongly, believe that is what is wrong with me. I’m going to call the doctors nurse in the morning and see what she says. What do you think it is?
@L. Owning: I actually experienced the EXACT same thing you described, bite was on my abdomen as well. I also live in Northern California. I thought that maybe it was a tick bite or something, but my MD ruled that out. She said that it was most likely a black widow bite, but that as long as I’d had it, it wasn’t any use to treat it at that point (it had been a week). I didn’t expect to have any symptoms, and when I started having panic attacks and an irregular heartbeat, I didn’t put it all together until much later.
I’ve been told that not everyone responds the same way to a black widow bite, but I’ve also been told it’s best to be extremely careful, because the second time could kill you. If the immune system has been trained to recognize the venom (from the first bite), there is a chance it could overreact (such as with someone allergic to bee stings), and then the individual might end up in anaphylactic shock.
I live in Delaware, so I didn’t think I could ever have to worry about a black widow. But this morning I wake up and feel something crawling on my arm. It was a black widow but since I have been around spiders before I didn’t jump or anything. I immediately crushed it though. I’m just hoping there aren’t anymore.
My whole life, I have been fascinated by animals and nature, and the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen is a Black Widow spider. Even though I’ve only seen pictures and read a few articles about them, I have a very great fear of them. I live in northern Missouri, so you can probably see why. I would like to know how you can tell what is a Black Widow bite and how to prevent getting one. My Dad’s house has quite a few spiders in it, and so saying I would also like to know of some spider killer. I have researched Black Widows and prevention, but I would like to get the opinion of someone who is either an expert or has been bitten by one. Thank you for your help!!!
josh, just in case you know they are deadly they can kill you. was it a big one or little one?
and i realized that black widow are very powerful and did u know the baby one are most powerful and it is weird that if they see u like 3 feet away they will jump on you really jump and to know they have a red minute glass on the belly
i found one in my baby sisters toy and one lives in my pool slide it is HUGE
I found a Black Widow in my backyard. The good thing about the Black Widow is that she is unmistakable, unlike the Brown Recluse which is harder to identify, and they rarely come in doors. But the widow is jet black with a red hour glass on her belly. In her web, she is usually is turned belly up, so you can see her warning label, the red hour glass. It means leave me alone or suffer the consequences. I thought about killing this spider, but instead I let her live and just observed her. She basically just hid near her web and never came out. She was totally timid, as long as she was left alone. A person would have to try really hard to get bit by a Black Widow, but they are much quicker than they appear. I saw one move very quickly in a tool shed once. She was fast.
In November of 2010 I was making a call 2 my doc 2 make an appointment for a routine check up and went out on the front porch while I was put on hold and I was re folding a blanket on my rocking chair, when I reached down and put one hand underneath the blanket and felt a sharp pin prick, so then I turned the blanket over 2 find out what had bit me and it was a black widow spider. Right after that the nurse came back on the line and 2 say the least I was n a state of panic. How crazy is it that I was on the phone with the clinic the same time I was bit! Weird. Anyway I went straight n and I was actually feeling normal. The only thing that happened was, my hand was really hot feeling and red and my index finger (where I was bitten) was just the slightest bit swollen. No need 2 go 2 the er. But late that night I woke up a lot with my leg muscles jumping-with absolutely no pain tho. I’m very thankful that is all that happened! But wonder y so many others suffer a great deal more from black widow bites while some barley have a reaction like myself.
On reading several of these comments, I see descriptions of Black Widows that differ from the species definition (Latrodectus). There are several variations (Southern, Northern, etc) in the US with slightly different markings – not all of them actually have an hourglass on their underside, and some have red-ish dots or stripes on their backs. There are 31 species worldwide in the Widow family.
I was bitten in SW Arkansas while at a Scout camp on June 16, 2011 when a Black Widow got under my shirt and bit me 3 times before I could get it out. I remember being admitted to the ER and discussing the situation (I bagged the critter and brought it with me) and that’s the last clear memory I had until June 19 when my Wife showed up to drive me home.
No disrespect to those who claim these are “harmless pests”, but I have never in my life had pain like that or any of the other symptoms I experienced; slow breathing/heart-rate, convulsions, night-sweats like you wouldn’t believe and generally feeling like the loser in a baseball-bat fight. I’ve had major surgery before and honestly felt better on coming out of the anesthesia than I did that entire week.
I’ve always hated spiders, now I know why.
do you really need to freak out of a black widow? i have dealt with many spiders including black widows i have let them crawl on me and they have bit me but nothing severe and i have not yet been bit estimating around having 100 spiders on my arm in the last year but every time a spider is on me i don’t move and it just crawls around and leaves and i don’t understand why i am always the killer of insects at my house and it stinks but i also saw a spider today that’s was black (no red like widow) it was maybe the size of a baby palm (newborn like 1 week) it was all black can anyone identify this i haven’t killed it but flushed it so it has drowned guess it killed than) and if you know please tell me
Okay, so I was never actually bitten by a black widow but I have a pretty scary story about some. And If I had gotten bit I would have died because I was only six when this happened. (I’m fourteen now)
I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada when this happened, Our kitchen door had become a black widows home. First it was just a web in the corner… but it grew. By the time we realized that there was actually two mother black widows in out door the whole thing was a web, top to bottom. I have no idea why my grandpa didn’t spray it or something because I would have right there! It gets worse though, they were both female egg carrying black widows.
So we had a door sized web, two black widows and two huge egg sacks on our kitchen door. Yes… I know just that sounds freaky but imagine what happened when they hatched. We had so many tiny white spiders crawling around everywhere. Hundreds maybe thousands Crawling around our small kitchen and door.
By then my mom had realized what was going on (who wouldn’t XD) and was screaming at me to get out of the house, it wasn’t safe. Me, being a six year old, decided to take the kitchen door. It. Was. Horrible. I had bugs on me everywhere, my face, nose, ears, hair, my poor hair was so long and thick (down past my knees at least) and it was covered. I was screaming and screaming so was my mom. She herded me to the brickwall next to our house and started spraying me with the powerhose until most of them were off of me.
My grandpa proceeded to spray the area himself them call and exterminator for help. Me, I was STILL finding black widows in my hair and everywhere… Its scary that baby black widows are more poisonous than adults and thank god that none of them bit me. I think they were too small to successfully bite me or I’d be dead right now.
Moral of the story, you see a black widow in your house, KILL IT. Don’t watch it, or leave it be. It could get bad like this did and could hurt someone in your family or even you. I’m sorry if I see one its dead. Black widows have scared me to death and please… Just get rid of them before they multiply.
the black widow is one of the most dangerous spiders in the US if you get bit you need to go to an emergency room but the most dangerous spider in the world is actually the wandering spider native to Brazil. but you cant get bit by a black widow or a brown recluse and live unless you go to the ER or clinic or somewhere to get the anti venom
So, I was walking barefoot, at this HUGE LAKE and what happened is, I stepped in this web, and a Black Widow fell out of the tree, when I hit the web, and bit me on the forehead.At first I was just thinking, Oh gosh… and then a few minutes later, the bite was just looking horrible and I had extreme pain in the head, We were a good couple 100 miles from the nearest hospital.
So, I tried different techniques to stop it from hurting, I guess Black Widows, have nerve venom? Because I was throwing up and had a horrible headache, we spent 2 nights at the camp, and the third day, my symptoms started to decrease. I was almost happy. If took a total of 6 days for all the venom to go away. Believe me, avoid theses spiders, at all possible. And I woke up this morning with a spider bite on my lower ankle, I’m pretty sure its Black widow. I hate Black Widows
I want to address the issue of the seriousness of a Black Widow bite. First, it entirely depends upon how much venom is introduced by the bite, as to how your symptoms are. The black widow bite is much more venomous than some snakebites; a BW bite is not to be treated lightly. Symptoms range. The bite in my experience – 3 of them – does not ooze or crater, but a crater infers a necrotizing (killing the tissue) venom. Brown recluses do this, and so do Wolf Spiders.
A bulls eye ring around a pale center has been my experience twice with a BW bite. The third time, I had a purple bruise that did not improve. Respiratory trouble, abdominal cramping, body pain, joint pain, extreme chills, racy heart, and blood pressure issues, all of varying degrees. In the extreme, the stories here about hospitalization and agony. SO, if you start to feel really bad, off to the ER. THE BIG ISSUE: possible bacteria introduced from the bite – antibiotics needed for that reason. Benadryl may be suggested if you are an outpatient at that point. Anyway, see a Doc. And, although your symptoms may vary from the extreme, it is only because the spider did not bite you well.
Just to let everyone know – there are eight or so types of Lyme disease; the Western Medical blood panel tests for the most common; if you are experiencing symptoms that are now chronic – joint, neurotic, cognitive, consider getting a Lyme test through a Naturopath – be sure that he/she uses a lab and a test that looks for all eight to exclude.
I have now seen this twice as a health practitioner, and think it’s important to share.
my daughter was bitten by a tarantula baby spider i didn’t know what to do it was huge red swollen up with a little red spot in the middle it was behind her leg i was so devastated she showed it to me when i was about to go to work we showed it to my boss he said don;t worry about going to work just take her to the doctors they had to take her blood pressure she went to school the next day it was field day the doctors said don’t give her sunlight. she gave it sunlight it got bigger she got wet of course it didn’t irritate her it calmed down then when field day was over they went inside and it started itching the teacher is mean so he wouldn’t let her go to the nurse for the cream so then it started pumping up like it was having babies come out of it so then that is when she had to go home well that is the end of the story of my daughter getting bit from a baby tarantula.
On Tuesday, 5/17/11, I was bitten by a Black Widow while at work. I wasn’t going to go to the ER, but had to due to work liabilities. There was some pain in my finger and a little swelling, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. Within 2 hours the pain had made its way to my elbow and within an hour after that it was to my armpit.
At that point, the ER decided to admit me into the hospital. Within about 3 hours after being admitted, I had THE most intense pain over my entire body that I had ever had. They started giving me Demerol, which was doing jack for the pain. Finally, they started high doses of Morphine every hour, and I must have finally passed out around 3 the next morning.
I was discharged yesterday with some Xanax and some pain medicine. Fast forward to today. My hand is swollen, black and blue, and as painful as @#$#%. It was back to the ER, first for them to say, it all looks like it’s supposed to. We’ll give you a bit more pain medicine and a shot before you leave the ER.
If I had been given antivenin, could this have all been avoided?
I moved into a duplex with a new baby. When I had them fumigate for bugs because I’d seen so many in the garage, they found black widows in the garage, the baby’s bedroom, the bathroom the crawl space under the house and in the woodpile outdoors. This was in Colorado and I had never heard of them before coming from the Midwest.
I live in California and I handled black widows in kindergarten and also put one in someone’s hair knowingly poisoning them.
L. Owning:
What a horrible story of medical malpractice. I think you just need anti-venom, not Vitamin C. Go back to your doctor, tell him you have BW bite symptoms, and get him to administer the anti-venom.
black widow spiders do not kill people ( usually ) if medical treatment is applied. also the funnel web spider is the most dangerous spider in the world not the black widow at age 11 i love animals and the black widow has been a marvel to keep.
Haha Just spray the Raid insect spray in their webs, and when they come out at night somehow they are effected and die. The next morning you will see one just hanging that you never suspected or seen before! It pretty cool! My neighbor tried to scare me by saying, “Don’t trust them! They’re just holding their breathe and waiting for the right time to strike!” lol So… I waited about a week and it was still their hanging dead in the web so I finally just squashed it! XD I love them and yet I fear them…
O_O
I was bitten twice by black widow spiders. Both times were on my ankles. And both times were when I was wearing BLACK STRAP SANDLES. I think the spiders thought my sandles were a large spider.
Thank You,
Dana H.
Wow….. does any one have any pics? I need some for my report. Or at least some info. Thanks!
I live in far Northern California. I was bitten yesterday when moving hay in the barn. I didn’t really feel the bite, but noticed a big blister that hurt on the lateral aspect of my R index finger at the second joint when I had to pick up my son from school. It quickly formed a bright red ring around the entire outer rim-about an inch in diameter. The blister broke about 3 hours later and serum oozed out, then a big red and very painful “crater” formed, again with this super red ring around the circumference, now the red was about 1/4 inch. My son and I went to pick up some feed and I started to leave the feed store without having the feed loaded. I was having difficulty concentrating!
Today I took some Tylenol for the pain, scrubbed the bite with Physoderm, applied triple antibiotic ointment and put a bandage on it because it looks really gross-oozy, bright red with a crater that is really deep in the middle. I teach and play music and am finding it impossible to move the joint, but do not feel any other symptoms other than lethargy and a slight fever. Should I go to the doctor?
I don’t want to be bitten by that blacky little thing. But I want to see it on a museum like spider-man.
A few days ago I was on a class trip. We went to this science lab, where they had a bunch of genetically modified super-spiders. One of them bit me on the hand, and I immediately fainted. For several hours afterward, I felt extremely cold and clammy. The next day I noticed I no longer required my glasses, as my eye sight had improved. I also bulked up a little and now have the ability to stick to walls, and shoot webs from holes in my wrists. Is this normal with genetically modified super-spiders, or am is the spider’s venom making me really high?
I work in an industrial laundry in Hawaii. People have told me “we don’t have widows in Hawaii!!” and I tell that that they are wrong. We’ve been fighting an infestation for about 2 years now. They are in our building, and after we spray, a few months later they always seem to make a come back. We have the brown widows here, but the very first one that I found in a computer cabinet was black and HUGE!! Since I’ve spoken with people that pick maile in the mountains, and people that walk the shoreline picking opihi. They are everywhere on the Big Island. Beware people…there are widows in Hawaii….
The headlines of this page show that black widows are very small. This is often true, but not always. In my life I have seen five or six black widows that were the size of tarantulas. I know at least one of them was a black widow because she was hanging upside down and I saw the red hourglass. Widow spiders are the only spiders in America or maybe even the world that have an hourglass marking on their underside. I also saw a fairly large brown widow once. I have never seen a red widow, even though I have been to Florida many times.
i was born in Italy moved to South Carolina where there are plenty spiders! i saw one one day geez le weze i was scared!
To L. Owing:
Some of the symptoms you mentioned, such as the heart racing and chilled feeling, are indeed symptoms commonly associated with the bite of the female black widow spider. I do not think the urine and bowel movement issues are related but I am not an expert. I only know the common symptoms through research and training with the boy scouts and the red cross. I was bitten by one a few months ago and when I went to the hospital all they did was give me some anti-biotics and they sent me home. So they were not much help. But I can tell you that if it was indeed a black widow that bit you, the symptoms will go away over time if they have not cleared already.
So, that is my advice for you. Good luck and I hope this helps you, of nothing else, at least to feel better.
Just read this book Kilo_quad tucker treasure. It has just about everything you would want know about Black Widows and there bites (Amazon.com)
i live in the south, so naturally i see a lot of black widows, or at least in mid Tenn we do. well one morning i woke up and was getting ready for work, my son, who is 4 but at the time 2, was playing in the floor. he came running up 2 me saying “mommy mommy its dead its dead. i throw it away?” i told him to hand it to me, not really knowing what he had cupped in his little hand. so he drops it in my hand i see the red hourglass, scream and drop it. luckily it was dead, and i searched my son’s hand to make sure he hadn’t been poked by the fangs. after making sure he was OK, i picked it up with tweezers, put it in a cup on the counter and called my landlord. she sent out a bug guy, he came by check the place out, and to my horror, in my utility room behind the water heater was a massive nest! i nearly freaked out. there were several webs and numerous egg sacks. I’ve never heard of them gathering like that. luckily he sprayed and killed em.
but is this normal for black widows to gather like that? there were 5 grown female widows and had to been 3 egg sacks a piece.
Hello all. I just took a fly swatter to a black widow in my kitchen moments ago. I didn’t get bit by it, but when I swatted it, I felt some of it’s remaining land land on my arm. I don’t know if it’s poisonous or not, it was just a little tiny drop. I flushed my arm under water for a few mins. So my question to you all is, whatever that was that landed on my arm, is that going to have any effect on me as if I had gotten bitten by the black widow? Thanks in advance.
I have read many of the comments here, and am suspicious that I may have been bitten. For the last week, I have been having hideous stomach cramps, and, before that, had a mysterious “sore” on my hand that is now healing, but that seemed to have had a little crater and was quite sore and deep, then slowly healed. We live in Northern California and have a very sturdy population of black widows, mostly outside the house, but they have been known to penetrate indoors. I am not overly afraid of them, but respectful. However, starting last Friday (one week ago), I got up from the sofa and felt a terrible pain in my back. I thought it was just stiffness and would settle out, but it kept getting worse, and by Saturday I was incapacitated, in bed and in agony, with stomach pains that felt like I should have diarrhea but I was in fact constipated.
My daughter thought it might be a kidney stone, and tried to get me to go to the hospital, but, frankly, it hurt too much to move (and I don’t get kidney stones). I found that if I could find a comfortable spot, and not move an inch, I could avoid pain for some time. I also took some pain meds, a little hydrocodone, and some ibuprofen, for a few days. It did not subside at all for several days, and now, a week later, I still have trouble lifting my right leg more than a few inches, but it is getting much better. The pain, however, has been the worst thing I have ever experienced, and I have given birth to two children. I am 60 years old, and in good shape with no health problems. Trying to self-diagnose, I came up with appendicitis, kidney stones, cancer, and severe gastroenteritis. After reading this, I think it’s the bite. As much as I would like to urge people to go to the hospital, I am not sure this would have helped me. But I do think my bite was small, not like some described here. If it had been much worse, hospitalization probably would have been necessary.
My cures were: lots of water, small meals, light pain medication, hot tub or hot bath, ice pack, and sitting up with legs out straight and lying flat on my back at intervals, plus getting up and walking around as much as possible, to keep blood flow going and getting fresh air. I also suggest eating citrus, as vitamin C has a nurturing effect to help with healing. Also, if you start feeling better, TAKE IT EASY, as I thought I was better, overdid it, and wound up back in bed the next day. It took me a couple more days to even partially recover. What I did not have that others have mentioned were night sweats, asthma, infection, headache, or pains in other areas besides my back and abdomen.
I don’t know what you people were bitten by but it sure wasn’t a BW.
I was bitten by a Black Widow on my ankle last year in Torrance, CA.
It had plenty of time to inject a lot of poison and all it left was a two inch by half inch wide raised area that felt like a burn. Maybe 5-10 minutes after the bite I used my fingernail to scrape across it and to my surprise it squeezed out tons of clear puss. After that it just felt hot like a burn from an iron. It still felt like a fresh hot burn even days later when touched.
It finally healed into a scar. I think most people ASSUME a BW has bit them when in fact it was another spider like a brown recluse or similar.
I had seen the spider as I do others with webs on a car parked in my driveway.
I would usually wait until night to step on them because they come out and sit in the middle of the web. I had made a note to take care of this one but had forgotten.
It happened while I was leaning against the car talking to a friend for about 10-20 minutes.
It had a web on the rim of the car and was fully grown and fairly large but not the largest I have seen/killed.
During the time I was standing it crawled up to the top of my pushed down socks (I don’t like them pulled up high) and hung out there while it bit me or injected me, whatever you want to call it.
I never noticed or felt the bite so it wasn’t more than a tiny prick.
It was only a minute or two later that I felt something itching and burning on my leg and knew I had been bitten by the BW. I am 100% certain it was a BW. Not a doctor’s guess or some neighbors paranoia. I would gladly volunteer to be bitten again to end this BW wive’s tale.
There are round spikey egg cases all over the place.
Usually two or three found in one location.
The BW’s here eat a lot of the crickets and seem to be at their biggest in numbers when there is a heat wave. The largest I have seen had a marble sized abdomen.
They a have never been a problem and I am the only one I know who has ever been bitten.
Don’t believe the stories about BW bites. It’s clearly a case of mistaken identity.
Black widows are ALL BLACK with a red hourglass on the UNDERSIDE.
It kind of resembles the Budweiser logo in shape.
There are NO other markings. Nothing on top and they are not brown.
If you are bitten, try to retain the spider that bit you if possible as it will help you determine what medical action (if any) is needed.
It will also help the BW’s bad rap. I am even considering leaving them alone since the bite wasn’t enough in my opinion to go crazy and spray poison everywhere.
CR
I was bitten two separate incidences about 2 weeks apart this past summer. The first time, I had metabolic reactions: diaphragm spasms, chest pain, headache and lethargy. The second time, the spider bit me numerous times on my upper thigh. I had intense and widespread swelling of my entire thigh down to my knee, with pain throughout my body.
With the first bite, I hadn’t noticed getting bitten while sleeping. When the spider bit me the second incident, it felt like a series of acidic stings, not at all like any of the scorpion stings I’ve experienced. (Those feel like being zapped with low voltage electricity)
Black widows are to be well respected…. and avoided.
L. Owning
I am not an expert, but from my experiencing black widow spider bite a year ago I can say that some things you mention are similar to my reaction, and others are not. Everyone reacts differently, but it does appear that some reactions are consistent, such as unbelievably painful cramping, and reaction to the bite appearing usually within about 20 minutes. But really, who knows? I totally understand where you’re coming from, though- there is NO information anywhere about how long the effects last. For me, it was about 5 weeks, but I thought the weakness, itching, heart palpitations, and difficulty breathing might last forever. (The other effects- sweating, extremely painful cramping, unable to eat/drink, shaking, etc. started to subside after the first week.) I didn’t have a rash, just the bite marks (which I still have, over a year later, since the skin is necrotic). I find it odd that you are hyperactive… I could barely move due to weakness, and once I was able to move I couldn’t go very far or very fast because my heart would beat so fast and I couldn’t breathe very well (like I had just ran a marathon after walking 25 steps). While it could very well be a black widow spider bite, I wonder if it could be something else whose venom is also a neurotoxin… in any case, I wonder how you are doing now? I feel for you… it is unbelievably difficult to find information related to bites; particularly how long the symptoms last.
This is for L. Owning 8 Nov 2010
I too was bitten and seem to be getting better and then relapsing. I have most of your symptoms and have started feeling desperate. I think that everyone’s bodies react slightly differently depending on our individual body’s strengths and weaknesses. It sounds like a brown widow. Doctor also not much help… I feel really toxic and so I decided to Google ” detoxification of spider venom ” I found a website and I’m gonna go to a health shop and try the remedy. From what I got, the neurotoxin stays in your system and you need something that binds to the toxin in order for your body to flush it out. Read the article and see if it helps. Its on the website www.indiadivine.org and the article is “Detoxification secrets and the shocking truth about toxins & Lyme” I hope you read this and I hope that we both start feeling much better. I would get off the Prozac, because as you said, its not helping and is also just another toxin your body has to deal with.
I have had two known black widow bites. I just received another unknown bite in the same corner of the basement. From the reaction, I am assuming it was another one of my little friends. I really do not want to play this game again. Any tips on bite attenuation or treatment? I have gone to a doctor for this; therefore, I know the standard drill. Is there anything that can slow the spreading or reduce the pain? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Stu
Well I never met a black widow spider before in person until today. I work for a pet store and we receive crickets from Florida, and I was dumping the crickets in the bin and a black widow was in the box. Thank God it was dead! Thanks for all the posts on this site, it gave me the information I needed. I wanted to know what to do if ever bitten by one as where I live black widows are not a common site for us. The only thing I didn’t see in any posts but I could of missed it, is you need to call ahead to ER as some hospitals do not have the anti-venom needed for a black widow bite and it has to be air med in. Not sure on the truth to this I hope I never have to find out.
How do I know if I was bit buy a male or female black widow?
i found a black widow spider on the corner of my gym, i was practicing there and then i noticed ants i sprayed some poison and then after a while i noticed a black spider coming out of a hole in the ground! it was very weak because of the poison and wasn’t able to move, i stuff my pants from fear when i saw the red hourglass on its body. it was shiny black with red marks on its back, i burned my jacket with gas and fire because i was afraid it had gone in it. and then earlier today i found one in the corner of my garage , they weren’t even bigger than a penny. we confirmed its a black widow, both of them were male since their legs weren’t 3 inches long. where do females hide ? where can the egg sacks be?!?! i am dead scared of spiders.
I was bitten on November 11. I was sitting at my computer desk with my left leg crossed over the right. I felt something crawling on my left shin area. I felt a stinging/burning sensation so I grabbed that particular area of my leg. I rolled my pant leg up after I stood and did not see anything. The area was red but I could not see and bite marks. I guess about twenty minutes went by and I began feeling like I had been kicked in the growing. It was not severe at this point but was gradually getting there. I never imagined that it was a black widow that bit me. I guess it had been an hour and I started having chest pains. My wife decided it was time to go to the hospital. The bite area was still not very remarkable so the Doc was more concerned that I may be having a heart attack. I told him I was fine before this took place but he did not seem convinced that the pain I was having was associated with the bite.
The bite took place at about 7pm and by 2am I was in sever pain, spasms in my lower back, abdominal cramping, sweating, respiratory difficulty and joint pain all over my body. I guess after three EKG’s several doses of Nitroglyceron the doc decided it was not my heart. My wife, being who she is, had suspicions of a black widow because they are around our house and she looked up the symptoms and called poison control. They seemed to agree with her and called the hospital to check on me. They were going to keep me over night so she took it upon her self to go back to our home and search the area where I was sitting to see if what had bitten me feel out of my pant leg when I stood up. The Doctors and I were quite shocked(especially me) when my wife brought back with her in a sandwich baggy a squashed Black widow she picked up right were I was sitting. It has been two days and I still have some cramping in my abdominal area still and slight pain around the bite. I have much more respect for that spider now than I ever have and really do not want to go through that again.
I’ve never seen a black widow spider in my life.
I need to know were it is located and my sister got bit by one.
I live in Northern California. On September 26, 2010 while getting into the shower, I noticed a large bright red rash on my lower abdomen (about the size of a medium sand dollar). It caught me by surprise, as it didn’t hurt or itch. Later, I found another bite on my arm; it never got the rash around it. Because the areas didn’t bother me, I decided to ignore them.
Forty-eight hours later, while driving, I suddenly felt an ice cold sensation come over my body, then it felt as though my blood pressure dropped, I got faint, my limbs started tingling, my heart started racing, and my body began shaking uncontrollably, with my jaw clattering as if I was freezing cold. I drove myself to a parking lot to recover. Instead of recovering, the same symptoms repeated themselves. I then drove myself to urgent care, as another one of these episodes occurred again, this time I had the urgent feeling to have a bowel movement (without any cramping or gas). They inspected the bite and thought initially it is was an MRSA. They called later that night to say all my blood work came back fine. I never recovered from the full body tremors.
The next morning I awoke feeling faint, weak, and still shaky – Parkinson symptoms. After showering and exerting myself, the symptoms from the day before happened again. One attack after another, debilitating me. This time I not only had to have bowel movements after each episode, but I would also urinate as if I had taken a diuretic. Excreting much more fluid than I had taken in. I called 911 and had an ambulance take me to ER. I was diagnosed with dehydration, as I had low potassium, elevated protein, and bacteria in my blood. They never examined the bite.
The following day was a repeat, with me being awoken by my body uncontrollably shaking. This time, I called my mom to take me to my doctor. The symptoms seem to get worse upon rising out of bed. They intensify, when I do something physical. My doctor wasn’t in so I saw another Dr. who immediately diagnosed the bite as causing me all my problems, thinking it was a tick bite and gave me a strong antibiotic and steroids, promising I would have no more of those attacks.
The next morning, the same thing happened. A CT scan was ordered by my PCP and showed nothing. I saw a neurologist, three weeks after my bites, who said my physiological tremors were due to stress and I needed to take Prozac. I also saw a cardiologist, who was dumbfounded, as I recorded my heart rate during an episode on a monitor (120 bpm) and it even registered my tremors – meaning my heart is tremoring too. However, my echocardiogram came back wonderful.
After 7 doctors and no answers, I started the Prozac 5 weeks ago out of desperation to relieve my symptoms, but have had no success. I still have tremors, to the point it even feels as though my eye-balls are quivering. Since two days after the initial bites, I have felt chronically weak, faint, tingly in limbs, have chronic tremors, as well as dilated pupils and feel hyper-active. My attention span is minimal and I have no appetite – I have lost 9 pounds, am 47 years of age, 5’5″, and am down to 118 lbs. Prior to the bite, I was having to drink a cup of coffee each morning to get going. Now, I wake up rearing to go and have an unexplained nervous energy all day, along with the chronic tremors, faint, and weak feeling.
We had an exterminator out last week, for the first time since we’ve lived in our new home. The following morning we picked up over 40 dead black widows (both brown & black) around our exterior perimeter. We only found two other insects. I think the widows have been eating everything else. This weekend, my husband and I tore our bedroom apart with the hopes we could find the spider, but had not success. Not to mention, it has been almost two months. I have changed the sheets numerous times, washed my pajamas, and the cleaning crew have been her numerous times since my bites.
I suspect I was bitten by a black widow, as they inject neurotoxins that affect your nervous system. I didn’t have any of the stomach cramps, but I did have a neck ache for about a week, and my joints in my left hand fingers still feel arthritic. I have also experienced the heavy leg syndrome, a few times. I’m wondering if the damage is permanent? Does anyone know what type of doctor to see who specializes in spider bites and toxins?
I have always been healthy and a good eater, and have never had any psychological problems or disorders. I find it rather coincidental that two days following my bites, I would begin having panic attacks one after another and now chronic tremors. I truly believe all my symptoms are related to the neurotoxins in my body. My PCP doesn’t think this is the case, because I never got a fever or the severe cramping.
Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this? Can you tell me if your symptoms ever subsided? It will be extremely challenging if I have to live with chronic tremors, feeling weak, yet always hyper. It feels like I have low-blood sugar all day long, which is not the case as I have had numerous blood tests and they all come out fine. Not fun!
I recently found a nutritionist who is attempting to neutralize the venom with high doses of vitamin c, as well as detox my liver. It’s been 3 days and I’m still not getting relief. Does anyone know the life of the venom? I can’t find anything on-line to answer this question. Again, I wonder if the damage to my nervous system is permanent?
Any encouragement, support, or informative information would be welcomed.
I grew up in the Sacramento Ca. area and am very familiar with the western Black Widow.
The Black Widow is shiny black with long sharp looking legs and really can’t be mistaken for anything else once once you have become familiar with her. The abdomen is rounded on top and tapers towards the rear but can become as big and round as a shiny black marble when she is full of eggs. The red hour glass is especially prominent at this stage.
The Black Widow’s web is disheveled and messy looking and extremely strong. If you walk through or touch it you will definitely know for the pronounced snap and crackle noises it will make. If you run your finger through the web you can actually feel the strength of the silk. During the day she will hide in a dark place but will come out and sit in her web at night. Her web will glitter in the beam of a flash light making her easy to find. just look in low traffic areas of your yard. If you see a marble sized egg sack in her web heed my advice and do not mess with her as she will become quite vexed with you.
Most people will not even notice the bite but will definitely take notice when the symptoms begin to appear; worsening pain at the bite site which travels towards the torso, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, etc which can last days or even weeks if not treated with anti venom. If you suspect a Black Widow bite it is foolish to indulge in the ” scared of the doctor’, or the ‘macho man’ attitudes as a simple dose of anti venom can alleviate the symptoms in fairly short order saving you days or weeks of awful misery. Most people do not have an adverse reaction to the anti venom. But hey, if lying in bed rocking back and forth and moaning is your thing….
Black Widow spiders are beautiful, in a sinister sort of way, and I get the shivers when I look at one and yet they can be fascinating to observe. Look, but don’t touch!
If you find a black widow in your home or work area than, as far as I am concerned, it should be viewed as a criminal trespasser and treated accordingly. If you find one in some out of the way place than it should be left in peace to continue it’s job of reducing the local bug population.
My 7 year old son was bitten…my husband thought maybe he had gotten poked with a stick but I thought it looked like perfect fang marks on his thigh. Poor child screamed. He had been rolling around in the grass in the daylight, so that didn’t seem suspicious, but we immediately washed the area and put ice on it. Within 1/2 hour, he started sort of crying more and saying he was tired and didn’t want to do his after dinner chores but go to bed instead. He cried more and said his throat hurt. I became suspicious of his throat…either a “tight” throat from crying/emotion or maybe an allergic reaction? I gave him Benadryl and he slept through the night. The next day, no complaints, until later that evening…pain. No real change in appearance of the quarter sized welt with two blackish (dried blood) deep-looking fangs. Poor kid. I decided to look online and sure enough it looks like a black widow bite. Then I’m freaked and call the Dr. and they say if it’s been 24 hours without a severe reaction, he’s probably ok, but keep watch for “x” and “y” like streaking, cramping, vomiting, fever, etc. So I wonder if giving the Benadryl was inspired and I’m so glad I did! If you get bitten, take Benadryl right away! I am so worried right now he will have ongoing problems after reading some of these horror stories, but hopefully not since it hasn’t been severe yet. Like I said, take Benadryl! It can’t hurt only help.
I was recently bit by a black widow on the cheek (we believe) since I had intense swelling to left side of my face, tongue, lips, eyes and felt excruciating burning to by cheek (like a chemical burn). Intense symptoms initiated after 20 minutes, I was rushed to ER, admitted to ICU and tele for 3 days.. The venom affects everyone differently.. with me, it sent my heart into a dangerous heart rate called SVT (HR >150), I was on IV antidote Calcium Gluconate, dilaudid, steroids, benadryl, etc.. I also had intense mid back pain, cramping like and numbness/tingling to my hands. It has been one week, and I am still on medical leave (I am an RN myself) due to chest pain and back pain I continue to have. Anyone can tell me how long your symptoms lasted?? I hope this goes away soon..
I think that a female spider is scary cause I am a child and I do not want to die at the age 8. I Think you could still die from a male black widow. I love to learn about insects and animals.
Hi Jeremiah, of course I live in the west and our critters are probly different and I’m not a expert and I could be wrong without seeing it but I do like spiders and it sounds like a type of jumping spider that we got here too. They’re harmless but will bite if you mess with them it will sting but you shouldn’t get sick or nothing. Thier actually good spiders they eat bad bugs around your house. I would either leave it or catch it carefully and let it outside. Jumping spiders have very good eyesight because they don’t use webs to catch thier prey. If it had a web than disregaurd anything I just said and I have no idea?
I felt pain within ten minutes, intense pain in about 20 minutes.
I had a question for anyone that has been bitten. How long after the bite do you start to feel the side effects? The pain, nausea, or any other symptom. I’m wondering if it’s instantly or if it could be within a few hours of the bite. Thank you.
I live in Grand Rapids, MI right now. A few days ago I saw a black spider in my closet. It was no larger than a dime, it did not have the large venom sac I’ve seen in all the pictures of black widows online. It had the longer thinner body shape with thicker-than-spindly legs. It was slightly hairy, but not fuzzy like the pictures of jumping spiders I’ve seen. My only concern is that it was black with a pin-point sized red dot on it’s back. And by pinpoint I mean barely visible unless you were looking from a foot or closer. Unfortunately I have no available images of the spider. I’ve looked all over, but I can’t find anything remotely like the spider I saw. I’m not versed in spider description, so the best I can say is it was a black, pygmy-sized tarantula with an infinitesimally small red marking on it’s back. This website seems to be more about spider bites, but if anyone can tell me what spider this is, and if I should be concerned, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks.
Hello, I live in Yerington Nevada and I’m not a college student and I like spiders but I hate black widows and I’ve been studying those little suckers for ten or fifteen years.Here’s something I can’t find info on but I know it’s true because I’ve witnessed it. I sometimes walk 3 miles too and from work to save gas, get exercise and it’s beautiful and private walking through the hay fields. Been doin’ it for about 15 years or so and every September 24th-October 14th the black widows leave their webs to find a warm place for the winter.Like totally walking out and about every couple hundred feet or so, of course in the fields where there isn’t any humans,hundreds of them all the same size.I know females can live 5 or 6 years if they can survive that long.
So I think all the ones I see are mostly this years batch.Now the date I gave you doesn’t mean their out of their webs walking for 2 weeks but every 1 or 2 days in that time period their out wandering every year.Crazy huh!I saw it last year, this year I missed it but last Saturday October 9th a black widow climbed up my heater vent in my room on my dresser on my light right next to my bed.Thank God I saw it there before it dropped into my bed and bit the crap outta me.It was a big one, defiantly not this years crop.Probably 2 or 3 years old I’m guessin’. The biggest one I saw was under a swamp cooler about 8 years ago in my back yard.This swamp cooler hasn’t moved in about 5 years and I lifted it.There was a hole much like a tarantula hole(I like tarantulas)with the web all surrounding a hole I dig it up and wow this black widow was so big it didn’t even use a web like a normal black widow and it was so big you could see white in between the leg segments or ligaments because of it’s huge size.
The symptoms of a bite depend a lot on the individuals immune system and genetic makeup. Some people are naturally resistant to certain toxins, and possibly if you let a black widow bite you every day you would become immune. People have done this with scorpions for whatever insane reason.
My 4-month old Granddaddy just got bit on her hand by a Black widow this morning while in her crib. My son found the dead spider in the crib. She was screaming in pain early this morning–they took her immediately to the hospital. She is stable but could not keep nothing down and has been on IV fluids and morphine. I hope and pray she recovers well. My son and daughter-in-law have had a lot of trouble with the these spiders in the Garage but thought they did a good job killing them earlier in the summer. Now that the weather is getting cooler wondering if they come into the house?–very upsetting…
I live in South West Ohio, and we are being told that my husbands bite was from a Black Widow. He was mowing the yard one evening through a clump of trees. He knew he had driven through a web, but didn’t think anything about it. After mowing the yard, he went up to get a shower…when he came back down, he looked at me and said “I don’t feel right, and something has bit me on my shoulder”. He showed it to me, and it was a large, raised bump. He is allergic to bee stings, but there was no stinger and he never felt a “bite”.
He was complaining of fatigue and nausea. He laid down for about 15 minutes and when he woke up he said he had shooting pain down his arm (on the side he was bitten) and into his 3 middle fingers. A little while later he had a headache and muscle pain/stiffness in his knees. The fatigue continued to worsen and the vomiting and diarrhea began. Of course I tried to get him to go to the dr., and he refused. The next day, he was tired/sore/nausea/heachache/sweating/clammy, but he went with me to help my mom move some things. Mid-day he finally looked at me and said he thought he should go to the hospital. He was having chest pains and thought it was a heart attack! After the EKG and some other tests at the hospital, the dr. came back with the diagnosis of being bit by a black widow. They pumped him full of fluids and sent him home with antibiotics and steroids. That was a month ago, and he STILL has most of the symptoms! Diarhea, headache, chronic fatigue, nausea… I finally got him back to the dr. last Friday and he believes he may now have Mono due to his system trying to fight off the venom from the spider bite! Dr. told him that if he doesn’t feel better in 2 more weeks to come back. So we will see what happens! It makes me not want to offer to cut the grass!!!
i was bitten by a spider and i’m not sure what kind it had an hour glass but was silver instead of black.
WELL I LOVE YOUR COLUMN I WAS BITTEN BY SOMETHING ON 9-11-10 NEVER FELT A THING BUR MORNING I HAD FANG MARKS.
Doctor brilliant told me I had shingles I talked to 6 people that have had the shingles and they said never had what I have, the worst pain O have ever had in my life the ugliest thing I have ever seen and size of golf ball!!!!
I live in GA, just south of Atlanta. We have black widows & brown recluses on our property, but I had never known anyone who got bit by the blk widow, thus I carelessly went into the crawl space of my house to dig thru paint supplies, knowing it was infested w/spiders. All was well, until 1 1/2 days later, in the shower, as the shampoo washed down my body I felt a sudden prick in my foot which I clawed at without looking down.
Got my hair rinsed, got out of the shower & looked at my right foot; there were 2 tiny red marks beside each other, & another bite, more like a hole, about an inch away, on the top of my right foot at the joint to the leg. I joked to my husband that it looked like a tiny snake had bitten me, & that a brown recluse had bitten me also. Thot nothing more of it. During church that morning a friend must have noticed an unusual amt of wiggling & squirming & trying to stretch out my neck because she rubbed the back of my neck hard for a few minutes; I just assumed I was being too restless in church! By the end of the day I concluded that a spider had bit me in the shower, & began to suspect that my neck discomfort was a result of the bite. The foot began to hurt; a large bruise developed.
The foot got more painful in the days that followed; the wound became a slight indentation about the size of a quarter which began to ooze yellow, with a red arced streak toward the front of my foot about 2 inches away from the fang marks. A green, tender, puffy area developed on the other side of the fang marks; I began putting antibiotic cream on the open wound, because I reasoned that I had really scratched the foot hard in the shower, breaking the skin-it looked terrible. I found myself unable to sleep because of a need to always be moving; I seemed OK during the day. The bite site got infected & made walking very painful. I had a slight fever & kept the foot propped up as much as I could, tho my mother was visiting from MI, I have 8 adopted children who need constant supervision, & we made a trip to south GA to visit with our 8 very young grandchildren.
On the 7th day I felt like I had the flu & stayed in bed all day; I slept until the next afternoon. On the 8th day I went to the dr.; she agreed that my problem bite, the one w/2 tiny red fang marks, was not brn recluse, but definitely poisonous, so apparently was a blk widow. She prescribed naproxen, sulfamethoxazole & vicodin. I have not filled the vicodin, but am considering it. I cannot sleep at night, tho I do fall into an exhausted sleep during the day. I’m up right now in the middle of the night, trying to figure out why I’ve just spent the last few hours writhing & crying; this is an extreme version of the feeling of needing to move constantly that I’ve experienced for days now. The middle fingers & toes of both hands & feet have been alternately throbbing & then going numb. I rock back & forth all night. My stomach is distended & painful;
I am constipated (unusual for me). I am terribly thirsty, & am drinking tons of fluids & running to the bathroom w/strong desire to urinate but with little output. I have a metallic taste in my mouth; sometimes I can’t eat (very unusual for me) & sometimes I feel like throwing up, but never get near to doing so. My foot throbs, but the left foot-not bitten by anything at all-also throbs in the exact same location as the bitten-right-foot. My husband thinks some, if not all of my symptoms are from the naproxen Rx, but I think it is from the venom, nevertheless, I’m going off the naproxen to see what happens, as one of its side effects is renal problems & I seem to be developing those. I’m sitting here at my computer in the middle of the night rocking back & forth slightly (I don’t do this); something is messing w/my nervous system. Apparently i got bit a day & a half before I even felt the sudden pain from the bite, tho I now remember waking up one night recently freezing & shaking -it is Sept. in middle GA; our highs are in the 90′s still every day, with low’s about 70, so I should have known I was not just cold. My hubby tucked the blankets tight around me, tho the air conditioning was running, &
I went back to sleep; I didn’t suspect anything at the time, so am not sure what night that was, but now suspect it was the 1st or 2nd night after I crawled around under the house. I also had a bite of some kind on my right thumb that was very much like a huge pimple, but never painful; it burst w/pus one day. Guess i really got into the spiders, huh? At this point, i think 3 different spiders bit me under the house that day as I squatted in the dirt, but the only one that apparently is giving me trouble is the 2 fang-mark bite that appears to have been a black widow. I’m wondering how long I’m going to be sick.
I was bitten by a black widow when I was about seven years old. It happened in an out house on a farm in Iowa. The out house was rarely used any more since the old farm had gotten new plumbing indoors. I was outside playing when nature called and the old toilet was conveniently located. I will let you Assume where the spider bit me. I knew nothing about widows at that age.
I had what felt like an incredibly, painful, electric jolt hit me in the rear and I reached for the spot that hurt. I saw a black spider in my fingers that had a “red dot” on it. I got a very good look at the spider. It started to bite my fingers but I shook it off to the floor. I ran as fast as I could with ones pants about their ankles, into the house.
I was sweating and sick at my stomach and threw up a few times. I lay quiet for a few hours before I felt better then I went back out to play. Later, there was a pink spot where the bite had been. I did not go to the doctor or take any medicine. I think I was lucky. I still remember how painful the bite was.
My husband was bit by a black widow about 3 days ago has had headaches, swollen joints in his fingers, one eye swollen shut, and pain at the bite site. He is unable to see a Doctor because its been too long since he has been & doesn’t want to do the ER does anyone have any proven remedies that will help him so I can quit having nightmares and being stressed out?
I’ve lived in Southern California my entire life and I’ve seen some HUGE Black Widows! Huge! So big they can’t even move. I suspect they were full of eggs. I used to have photos of them but I got sick to my stomach looking at the pics.
And…the babies are worse than the adults. From what I understand they will bite over & over while the adults tend to be more conservative with their bites.
These spiders can be aggressive if they have an egg sack so beware.
Two days ago at about 4 pm I was riding my mower and felt what I thought was a thorn or foxtail sticking me in the upper left butt. Just irritating at first, but started to sting like a bee sting bad enough for me to get off the mower and actually drop my pants to brush off whatever it was. Didn’t see anything, but within a half hour my groin lymph node started swelling and hurting. By 9 pm I had stomach pains, a bad headache, and all my joints hurt, especially low back, hips, knees, and ankles. Got a mild asthma feeling. I took Avinza (a morhpine pill) — didn’t touch the pain. Up all night no sleep. Next morning took a Vicodin, which helped a little. Pain pretty strong all over. Took Sudafed. Another Avinza, more Vicodin, some Advil, spaced a few hours apart. Took the edge off, but pain still enough to make sleep impossible. Ice packs on knees, hips, jaw, and temples helped. Down all day yesterday. Went to the doctor this morning. Still had headache and joint aches, especially knees, ankles, and feet. Got antibiotics and more powerful Vicodin. Went home, took all my pills, and finally got some sleep. Not much fun.
I figure I was bitten by a Black Widow. The bite site has three red marks, with one main spot. Of course, I can’t see it very well. Sore, but not much swelling. After two days, it developed a little head. I know the mower has had Black Widows on it before, because I killed one under the seat a few weeks ago. They’re pretty common on my property. I won’t take them lightly in the future.
Today me and my dad just got home and we found a black widow and it laid eggs my dad of course killed it, but I freaked out a lot!!!!!
hi my name is jose I live in san jose ca. About 3 days ago I believe I got bit by a black widow at first I didn’t know what it was the bite was on my right calf, I didn’t think nothing of it but the next day I noticed my calf started getting red & swollen again I didn’t think nothing of it I went 2 work as the day went on I was feeling like I was coming down with the flue so I came home took some Advil for my head ache next day wich was Friday went 2 work again I wasn’t feeling good flue symptoms again through the day it was getting worse by the end of my work day my whole body hurt I felt hot felt like vomiting now I’m sure I’m coming down with the flue so later that night I couldn’t take it any more so I went 2 urgent care.
sure enough I had a high fever blood pressure I showed the dr my leg told him I think I might have got bitten buy something so after a little research the dr said I had all the symptoms of a black widow bite. So even after seeing the dr I was still worried about my leg so that’s how I found this web site buy reading all your stories made me feel netter so I decided 2 share my story. So the symptoms of a black widow ar correct if u feel nauseous body aches really flue symptoms but a little worse hopefully this helps anybody that thinks that got bit by a black widow & has all these symptoms.
Hi I live in Okla. and in the last week I have found 5 adult black widows DEAD on my patio and just this evening I found at least 4-5 very small ones also dead . The only thing I have done is spray for mosquitoes,why would they be dying? Not that I’m sad or anything I would just like to know.
I had two on my smoking chair in the detail bay where i work. Every day I sat in that chair and noticed a messy web growing from the chair to the corner. I live in Colorado and I guess they maybe tried to use the bay for warmth as fall hit. But one day I saw both of them on the chair and ended up spraying tire shine that we use (which is flammable) and I lit the chair on fire. Chair is still usable but they are gone. Now it looks like there is another one, but it has been a year since the first incident. I really wouldn’t have minded if they weren’t on my chair. They are so interesting to watch.
I located a black widow spider when i was working today,,,,,The female spider was in a bait box that my company uses for rat control……she had her web strung all through it and also inside was several crickets(chirping little burgers),,,,I read in a post earlier that the black widow spider is good for pest control herself…..so now i feel kinda bad that i took her home with me,,,in a bottle of course…i will show the kids in the neighborhood what one looks like and to stay away from them and all spiders,,till they get older and can tell the difference between grand daddy long legs,,,and all other spiders…..I feel bad for going to kill her,,,but then again i have a 5 month old i have protect,,,,,i may take her if you will for a ride!!!! it is true,,,the spider will not attack you unless you provoke it,,,,,i have been lucky so far today,,,,,,,until i post this and release her,,,,,,probably get bit…..if i do i will post pictures.lol
i live in paducah, ky and work at whitehaven. been there almost a month. i change the trash cans each day i work, about20 of them. underneath almost all of them i can find a black widow with egg sacks. i’ve found 10 under one trash can about a week ago. in any other situation i wouldn’t bother them, but i have a great fear of being bit so when change a can i make it a point to kill all i can. but more seem to come soon after. today i killed 7 or 8. ive always had a healthy fear of spiders. any time i feel something on me i always assume its a spider and freak out. it has keep me from sleeping at night. today i had sever lower back pain and felt drained. i thought it was just the heat and that i strained my back bending over. i feel nothing now and haven’t saw any signs of a bite after checking real good. i had no idea of what the symptoms were until reading all this. if i have anything in the way of any signs when i wake i will be sure to get to the er asap. thanks for the help. i know now what to look for. and remember they like trash cans too so please be careful!!!!
I forgot one other thing about the black widow that I learned. There are over 30 species of black widows in this country and some species’ bites are worse than others.
Two things significantly affect the bite and reactions.
1) Individual tolerance varies. Some have severe side affects(seizures, racing heart, etc), others don’t.
2) Some people have just as severe reactions to the anti-venom as they did to the black widow bite. For those of you who don’t know, the anti-venom comes from horses.
It’s been very interesting reading many of your messages about black widow bites. I had the fortune/misfortune of getting bitten myself about a month ago. I woke up one morning and was to drive to Dallas with my daughter. I told her I could NOT drive! It felt like I hadn’t slept in days…LETHARGIC!!! Didn’t think too much about it though. She drove us to Dallas and we even stopped for lunch, yet still exhausted after doing NOTHING. 3 hours later…instantaneous vomiting accompanied with sweating and chills. Felt like the flue. Was starving later that evening and ate a few very light foods and water and vomiting again. Then diarrhea set in…that was precious! Both continued thru the night and in the morning. Nausea accompanied with sweats/clamminess and shivering ensued. The next day, while in the car, I just happened to feel my leg while driving and it felt like a scab on my calf. I looked down and there were what appeared to be two fang marks(about 1/2 an inch apart), with a white halo around them, then a greenish/black halo around that.
Yep…black widow bite! Yet….never felt the bite and the bite area never itched or turned red and by looking at my calf today, you’d never know I’d gotten bitten.
After finding out that, only the major hospitals in my town, had the anti-venom…for better or worse, in lieu of spending 8 hours and $2,000 in the ER, I opted to tough it out.
Never had the severe symptoms…seizures, racing heart, etc., but to this day(a month later) I still have some of the original side effects…random vomiting, occasional nausea, muscle twitching, etc.
It’s amazing that such a little critter can pack such a huge punch!
Hey, my girlfriend just got bit by a Western Black Widow. She can’t move any part of her body except her pinky and hand. She refuses to alert any one and won’t call a doctor. And she won’t let me do that either. Also, she is unnaturally tired. I know symptoms can be severe pain and trouble breathing. This happened a few hours ago. No pain or trouble breathing has occurred. Will she be OK? Does any one have advice? I couldn’t stand to be without her in my life. Someone please leave comments. It is much appreciated.
i saw a spider under my mail box and it was fat and brown and just a dot of red i’m scared my neighbor told me it was a black widow and got a stick an poked it a couple times until it got on its web to the ground what should i do please help!
I wasn’t sure what it was at first, and didn’t realize I had been bitten the first day. My property had been recently burglarized, so I was checking my yard in the wee hrs when I walked into a web so big it stopped me in my tracks. I backed up and went back in the house. I’m not sure if it happened then or the next morning when I was mowing the grass. I didn’t even find a bite mark until several days later. I haven’t had it looked at. It’s been a little over a week now. I’ve been packing it with ice a lot, which seems to help.
My boss boss kinda pointed me in the direction of the widow. After doing some reading here I’m pretty sure it was indeed a black widow as the symptoms sound like what I’m reading. Man is it excruciatingly painful. It’s kinda just below my butt, probably why I didn’t see it right away. From my hip down is on fire. My foot is tingly, sometimes even my right shoulder. My knee & hip are locking up, and the surrounding muscles ache like nothing I’ve felt before. I have hurniated disks in my neck from a car wreck back in 01. One day all that pain came back in full force and I was vomiting. I’m toughing it out, but it is brutal! My immune system is getting a work out that’s for sure. I have a tens muscle stimulator, which also seemed to help quite a bit. Is it bad to use this for the sore muscles? Will it spread the venom or something?
I was bitten, several years ago, by a black widow while at work, Everyone’s reactions and tolerances are different. I personally felt the bite when it happened. It felt like a bee sting. I looked at the bite and there were two tiny red dots typical of the spider bite on my lower left wrist. I had stuck my hand in newspaper packaging at work where it was hiding. within an hour I developed strong stomach cramps and blisters followed from the bite area on my wrist, clear up to my shoulder as if they were following my blood stream. I developed a very high temperature and flu like symptoms and became delirious. I was taken to the emergency room and given a shot of antivenim but it effected my diagram and kidneys and I passed blood for 3 weeks. I felt ill for that period of time and developed a blister at all future spider bite areas as if an allergic reaction for about 3 years after that. I am now terrified of spiders. I did not developed the wound with crater like many get and it effected me totally different than what I had seen most reactions.
Last Thursday night I discovered a spider bite on my neck (actually a couple). It didn’t hurt to get bitten but the bites hurt/itched/was irritating that evening. The bite swelled right up…the swelling was at least a finger length in size and my lymph nodes also swelled right up. I experienced fatigue but I thought it was just because I’m stressed and exhausted. I experienced insomnia but I didn’t think much of it because I often have problems sleeping (usually I have nightmares about spiders!). Then Sunday came around, I was busy busy with cutting the lawn, raking, cleaning the barn, etc. I worked up a good sweat and then Sunday night I had extreme muscle pain, cramping, muscle spasms, insomnia, joint pain, etc. I was so sore I couldn’t even roll over in bed. But I don’t think I had any breathing problems.
I think it may have been a Black Widow but I’m open to suggestions. The symptoms are gradually subsiding, as is the neck swelling. It definitely wasn’t fun.
I believe I got the bite while walking through one of our overgrown fields. I know I accidentally walked through at least a couple spider webs. We live near Belleville, Ontario, CANADA.
I was bit by a baby black widow this past weekend and sought immediate treatment at the e.r. but to my surprise all they did was give me something for pain management. and even that did not work! I was incredibly in pain until the evening on Sunday and today it bothers my feet and lower legs more. The bite it self is somewhat tender but it has no real red mark. I know for a fact it was a black widow spider as i shook it out from under my shirt. all I can say is it hurts
I live in the Hamptons- in NY on Long Island. I have never heard anything about anyone coming across black widows around here before. However, we have just come across 2 adult females with egg sacs in our backyard. They are northern black widows- with 3 red dots on the back. The first was under a pool float that we turned over and thankfully noticed immediately. The second (found a week later and after having the place sprayed!) was inside the pool heater cover. We have 4 small children so we are especially nervous about all of this and are considering moving (this is a rental house). Any advice?
Today I killed an adult black widow in her web. She was protecting 3-4 egg sacks. The pressure and sweeping motion of the flat bottom shovel killed her, but burst the egg sacks. Many,many baby spiders went every where.
A few minutes later I felt a mild sting on my leg, almost like a mosquito bite. When I went to get the insect off, I discovered that there were several baby widows on my leg in the area. After reminding my self to stay calm and calling poison control, I took a bath. There were additional babies in the water.
I waited the three hours that poison control told me that major symptoms would present if I was having a reaction. Nothing major happened except for a burning sensation and cramping in the muscles surrounding the area bit that continues unrelentingly but not so bad that I feel I need major pain medication… though tylenol and motrin haven’t really helped either.
Several sites state that males and babies are considered harmless. I question that. I know it was a baby that bit me. I have had symptoms now for over 12 hours. Mild by comparison to some of the postings here, but symptoms none-the-less.
Thanks for the advise of using boiling water. I found the widow and web in my organic garden. Was attempting to smash her and babies to avoid putting chemicals in the soil. Now I know, and I hope others heed my advice, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SMASH EGG SACKS.
I got bit by a black widow spider earlier today at work, no doubt about it. I’ve still got it, i was wiring up a piece of equipment and the spider was under the corner of an electrical box.it had a web there and egg sacks but at the time i didn’t see the spider. i brushed away the web and egg sacks and proceeded to wire up the equipment as i was finishing up i felt a slight prick and i jerked my hand back very quickly. I stepped back and got a flashlight and sure enough the biggest black widow spider I’ve ever seen was hiding in the darkness of the corner. the odd thing about all this is I don’t have symptoms other than a slight headache that occurred about an hour after the bite. and now its been about 5 hours and my hand is starting to spasm a little bit, the spasms are localized to the hand that was bit. other than that I feel completely fine. Is such a mild reaction common?
My brother and I have caught 5 black widows in the outside windowsills of our house today. We plan to catch more. Their are 2 more by my window and then one in a bucket by the front door. we have even caught one male one. we’ve put them in a clear bucket with little houses. We call it black widow village
I have seen plenty of black widow spiders about 9 full grown ones. my dad is a Doctor and he said one of his patients who was bitten by a black widow asked my dad to put him out of his misery with a shotgun right then, he was about 30. this is Arkansas not one of the deserts and they are pretty common here so they don’t just live in the deserts of N. America. they are more venomous then a rattle snake but not more dangerous, a rattle snake injects a lot more venom the a B. Widow.
I have a black widow in my house it can go under my furniture the web is on I do not know what I should do I am terrified of spiders.
OHH MAN MY BROTHERS FRIEND GOT BITE BY THE BLACK WIDOW AND IS IN THE HOSPITAL RIGHTS NOW….. I FEEL REALLY BAD :.(
I was at my son’s Little League Baseball game and went to the Bathroom. The lights had not been turned on so I couldn’t see very well in the bathroom. I went to wash my hands and turned the sink on blindly and felt a pinch and then my hand started burning and within an hour I had a burning/tingling sensation in my right hand. We had lunch and the feeling continued but it was tolerable.
I washed my hands again and this time when the water hit my skin it just shot these intense burning feeling up my arm. By the time I got home my left arm started feeling funny. I have really bad leg cramps now and my shoulders are aching. I have a feeling of anxiety and my whole body is tingly. My muscle are jumping a bit in my legs too. Well cant let this get me down, I have to go and volunteer at our local Rodeo. I am just thankful that its mild.
I was bitten doing yard work at the front of my home where the bushes had become overgrown. We had previous problems with Black Widows at our home and in the crawlspace under the house. Terminex had treated around and under the house. I did not even feel the bite and had gone to the grocery store. I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded and my feet hurt very badly.
By the time I got home I felt very warm and laid down to rest. I took off my shoes and socks and noticed a small bite two inches above my right ankle. The calf and leg began to discolor and swell and was very dark red. I had a temperature of 102 and abdominal pains. I got ice to put on the area and took several aspirin every four hours. I was weak and dizzy the entire time and then vomited several times. I also put some silvidine cream on the bite. I was feeling better the next morning (Sat 6/19/10) The swelling was a little better but did not go down until Monday, 6/21/10. The area remains slightly red in appearance. If you get bit go to the Doctor for treatment.
It’s been 10 1/2 months since I was bitten and I still have neurological symptoms.
I would say my experience with being bitten was atypical. I went to kill one at the end of last July 2009. It was in it’s web, not particularly big. My kids were goofing around and hiding in the yard. I knew the web was there and of course that’s where the kids decided to hide. Thankfully they didn’t get bit, but I went with a flashlight and a short stick to kill it. Of course I missed ( I was in flip flops and shorts). Typical Los Angeles evening wear.
I never felt the bite, had the distinct creepy feeling something was on me, so I backed out of the area. The next morning it began with the leg cramps, nausea, chills, crazy sweating (had to change my pajamas twice, and even some drooling. and after 2-3days was feeling better.
Here’s where things got atypical.
6 weeks later more symptoms followed. I should state that I’m a 43 year old guy in good shape with no medical problems.
I started feeling aches in both armpits and a burning sensation in my stomach, not like heartburn, but more like if you had jalepeno sauce poured on your belly. This burning extended to my whole digestive tract and was terrible before and after BM’s.
Then panic set in, not like a justified panic, but like paranoia panic. If you look on the Merck(mfg of the anti-venin) web page for latrodectism (black widow bite poisoning) you’ll see the bit about “nervousness” lasting for weeks or months. Lucky me, I got that one and a host of others. Also Ortho has a list of symptoms including panic attacks.
Other symptoms that have dragged on tingling in my tongue, burning sensation in my eyelids, sporadic burning like whack-a-mole throughout my body, though with the passing months these symptoms have lessened to where my tongue and eyelids have stopped bothering me, but the pop up burning still happens, but much less severe and less frequently.
My abdomin right under the sternum still feels rotten. I used to be able to take a pretty heavy punch to my stomach area, not now, no way.
So 6 weeks after the bite in Oct. 09, I had lost 8 pounds which I didn’t have or need to lose. I went from 155 to 147. I ended up in the ER gagging and freezing cold. End result the ER couldn’t find anything and sends me home.
I see a gastroenterologist who runs me through an ultrasound of my gallbladder pancreas and kidney, endoscopy with biopsy, colonoscopy with biopsy. All perfectly normal.
He sends me to a cardiologist and neurologist, I also see a pulmonologist and get chest CT scan, MRI’s and ekg’s and heart ultrasound, all normal (med costs rising and still feeling crazy lethargic, panic and burning neurological pain).
My regular Doctor runs 50 plus blood tests and a few extensive 24 hour urine collection tests, still nothing abnormal.
Jan 2010, I end up in the ER again after vomiting and feeling like someone is pushing a broomstick , dull and heavy, through me right at my sternum. Again the ER finds nothing and the next day the pain is gone.
My doctors couldn’t find a single thing wrong (thankfully) and they have even come around to accept that this may all be due to the black widow bite.
The weird thing is right when everything seemed to clear and I was feeling 95% better for a good month or so (gained my weight back), I had a minor relapse with a lot of the same symptoms, but milder, after I see the first black widow since I got bitten. I was cleaning my BBQ, where an enormous one was making her nest. I did not get bit this time, and I killed it, but the sight of it seemed to trigger something in me.
So in short, I think it’s safe to say that there will variation in every persons reaction, sensitivity, to the venom within a general range, as well as everyspider’s toxicity level bieng slightly varied.
The toxin’s purpose is to stun, kill the insect prey and melt its insides for easier digestion, i guess it did a little of that on me.
I was hoping to get this long year behind me, but it looks like I’ll have to be more patient.
Anyway, It’s not a bad idea to get medical attention when your bitten. I didn’t, I don’t think it would have made a diffence for me, the frustrating thing is all the other residual symptoms that are still (though thankfully less so now) lingering.
I hope this helps
@Tim (post 82) – Black widows are only 15 times more toxic than rattlesnakes, NOT 10,000 times.
Not many people die from Black widow bites. Most who get bitten suffer no serious damage. Only in children and the elderly can they be fatal. In saying that there have been little fatalities with Black widow bites.
Also nobody has ever died from Red back bite. Usually people will only suffer from extreme pain from the bite to which you apply an ice pack. Only if an allergic reaction occurs should you go to the hospital for treatment.
i live in Australia and have just found a black widow under my half cut old wine barrels, as far as i know we don’t have them here and has never seen one here before. we get lots of red backs but never these. anyone know if i can take it some where to get it checked out? I’m a little in shock.
The truth of the matter when it comes to spider bites is this: If you begin suffering systemic reactions (i.e. nausea, vomiting, rigid muscles, etc), or if you notice the bite area turning strange colors and hardening up, it is probably best to get it check out by a qualified member of the medical community. It’s really just a matter of common sense. Most research shows that the venom of a black widow is roughly about 15 times more toxic than that of a rattlesnake. Again, the severity of the bite would have to depend largely on the size of the spider, and in some cases, how many times the person was bitten (a frightened spider can bite multiple times).
I live in Iowa, and in the 12 years I have lived here, I have never seen a black widow spider anywhere (although people have swore to me they exist). But I am all too familiar with the creatures because I grew up in Northern Nevada. I lived in a house that was infested with black widows for almost 2 years. We kept a pretty large stock of RAID on hand just for the occasion of finding one of those poisonous shoe buttons.
Here in Iowa, the two most menacing spiders we have (poisonous that is) are the yellow sac spiders and the occasional brown recluse. Matter of fact, I believe I was bitten by a brown recluse about 7 years ago. I suddenly developed a bump on my left ankle that I mistook for a developing cyst (I’m very prone to cysts and boils). That was until it turned purple on top and started to harden up. It was too painful to wear a shoe and every step I took was a new adventure in pain. Still thinking it could be a cyst, I started treating it as such. I began putting hot compresses on it, and using drawing salve to bring it to a head. Lo and behold, about 5 days after I first noticed the lump, it opened up. There was a ton of black stuff coming out of it (obviously dead tissue). It looked like a caldera from a volcano. I went to the doctor, and he said more than likely it was a bite from a brown recluse. He gave me an antibiotic, and told me to keep up the salve treatment. He also said that by treating it as a cyst I may have saved myself an amputation. So I continued the treatments and a week later I could walk again. Two weeks later I could wear a shoe again. Within a month I was able to stop covering the wound and live life normal again. Seven years later I still have the scar on my ankle from that bite.
Yellow sac spiders (which are often mistaken for brown recluses around here) are very abundant here in Iowa, and there bite (although not near as detrimental) can also cause minor necrosis and is extremely painful. I’ve been bitten by a few of those since I moved here.
But getting back to black widows, yes, even though I have never seen one here in Iowa, I still have never ruled out the possibility that there could be one lurking in some dark area that I could be entering. So I always approach with caution in garages or buildings that are dark for that reason. I am terrified of spiders, but I find them fascinating to study.
I have seen online, however, that there are some species of spiders that are more indigenous to certain areas and not so much in other areas. For example, I see a lot of posts that relate to brown recluse bites in coastal regions particularly. While I’m not saying that is totally impossible, I do know from living in the Midwest that brown recluses are more native to Missouri and its surrounding states, and a few places in the south. However, just as there are at least 5 species of widow spiders in the USA, there are at least 7 species of recluse spiders known in the USA, all of which are poisonous and cause deadly necrosis. It is possible however, that a brown recluse could have been transported from the Midwest to a coastal area, such as New Jersey, and survived outside of it’s normal environment.
Jamie in post #68 made mention of a hobo spider in Michigan. Typically these spiders are native to the Pacific Northwest, and in particular found in the states of Oregon and Washington. However, it is possible that a hobo spider could have been transported all the way to Michigan, and survived the new environment. If the new environment was as hospitable as the old one, and if the spider happened to be carrying eggs, it is entirely possible that hobo spiders could be starting to take over Michigan and the Upper Midwest.
Florida has actually long since been home to two species of widows not found really anywhere else in the country, the brown widow (L. Geometricus) and the red widow (L. Bishopi). However, I have read online a handful of articles that have placed brown widow spiders as far up the coast line as New York, and red widows as far inland as Northern Arkansas.
Widow spiders a very interesting spider to study. There is actually a white widow spider that exists in some parts of Russia, and Eastern Asia (L. Palladius I think), and there is also one called the redback widow (L. Haselti I believe) that is believed to be the most poisonous species of widow spider in the world.
For those of you who enjoy learning about black widows and other spiders, the web is full of information. Just use the search query “Latrodectus” if you want searches related to widow spiders, or “Loxoceles” if you want searches related to recluse spiders. You can even read about the Chilean Recluse, which is purported to be one of the most deadly recluses on the planet.
Have a great night everyone!
I need some advice on how to get rid of black widows. In the past week I have found 12 all together in my backyard and front of my house. I am very concerned because I have a 2 year old who likes to play out there. He has a slide and cars that I am terrified have black widows hiding in them. I have not let him play outside since I started finding them. Please, can someone tell me an affective way to get rid of them.
Thank you
I also kept and bred these spiders and had one that could remember what time she was supposed to be fed at 6:00 every three days so it is possible for them to recognize humans and recognize them as a threat to their survival .
I live in Hawthorne Nevada and there are three different species here. The standard gloss black you all know and love(or hate) the white faced which looks like it has a white smiley face on the front of the abdomen and one very similar to the red back of Australia.
Except, of course, when the spider has insinuated itself in domestic situations. No offense to those who have here been bitten
As far is how dangerous this spider is, all I can say is that she seems just as shy and retiring as any house spider. Except if she has an egg sac, and you begin pulling up the web– I had to do for the purpose of cleaning the rain water out of the bottom of the terrarium– she’ll become so incensed that she’ll run up the stretching web into the direction of the upheaval (in this case my hand) and…. well, I didn’t let it get that far. I placed an inanimate stick between her and me! If I didn’t, I’m sure when her palpii reached flesh and blood, there would have been more than one bite. . . . .
Bottom line is the Widow is not going to run off the web or away from a threat when the sac’s there. I guess that’s her “Raison ultra plus” you might say. But how many people inadvertently find themselves so delicately blundering, especially since outhouses have been gone for so long
Facinating Spider to Watch. I Kept one in Chattanooga in a small plastic terrarium that she seemed to love. (If she has a spot to hide in darkness) The fascinating thing about the widow is to watch her work at mobilizing the prey. She does whatever she has to do. If the prey happens into the web when there is an egg sac, Mom makes sure that death is quicker; somewhat unnerved, she tends to make repeated bites– Haven’t seen an insect linger too long when Mom’s been guarding, as it seems to turn into more of a defense thing, than a food issue. I’ve seen her actually subjugate larger beetles with pinchers by going for the legs first. A web is enmeshed around the end of the legs where the two claws are, the leg shaft just above the claw is bitten, and a generous dose of venom “spittle”(yellowish)is introduced like dew all around the web that has surrounded the claws. Since its not a direct bodily dose, the toxin is thus able to progressively enter the cut. Easy when you know how.
Last Tuesday, I think I may have bitten by a Black Widow. I was working in and around a storage facility that day. My left wrist started almost as an itch and progressed within an hours time to extreme pain and an inability to bend or rotate it at all. There was some swelling especially of the veins and blood vessels around my wrist and even up my arm and in my hand. However there was no real noticeable redness. The pain was extreme and even made me feel nauseous and took my breath away periodically. I finally gave in and went to the Hospital ER. X-rays and blood samples came back negative. They gave me a shot of Motrin in the arm and within 20-30 minutes I felt stupid for having gone in. I hadn’t suspected a bite until the gal drawing my blood said, “you must have gotten bitten by something…” On the top of my hand I remembered removing a small black spec in a small scratch about an hour or so before I felt that first itch. I shared this with the Doctor and nurse. They sent me home with a wrist splint and pain pills. Literally, my wrist felt 99% within 24 hours. I never saw a spider, though have seen a Black Widow on several occasions in the past. I’d like to to put this incident to bed. Does this sound like a Black Widow bite? I’m assuming even if it was, I would not need to follow up at this point. FYI I’m middle aged male with above average health.
Throw a pan of boiling water on black widow spider. It’s quick, 100% kill, and there’s no poison like with insecticide or carburetor cleaner as I saw one suggestion.
Obviously my recommendation is for outdoors and only when the spider is near ground level, which most are. You would never throw boiling water UP where it could splash back down on you.
I keep reading online 2 things that are very wrong one is that Black widow can not bite through the hair or a bog or can and 2 that they are shy. My great dane was killed by a black widow and it bit her on the ankle as they are one of the most aggressive spiders I have ever seen. We had many in our home in the mountains of Colorado you could not pick up a rock without finding one. I had one chase me across a room when I was moving a dresser.
They also play dead for hours. I had one in a cup over night as I was trying to make sure what it was and I kept flipping it in the cup as I was doing online research to insure that is what it was. After I confirmed it I place the cup on the refrigerator with a book on top to show someone the next day. It was still on its back like I left it but when I shock the cup it sprung to life.
Many people mistake black widow because they don’t see the red hour glass but what they don’t realize is it in on the underside of it. From the top it is shiny black and looks as if some one has pushed a ball point pen into to points on the body, leaving 2 tiny divots. If you have them in your home you need to treat your house and around it because as I said they are highly aggressive and if you are close enough they will strict with the speed of a rattle snake. The ones we had are exactly like the ones picture above. While spiders have their benefits so do snakes but it is foolish to have them in your home.
Blessings,
Jennie
The reason some people only get a red dot at the bite site from a black or brown widow bite is because these spiders will commonly start with a “warning bite” meaning that it will only inject a mild section pain and spasms ect. If you disturb her and tiny amount of toxin into the bite which will cause only enough to alert you to back off. There will likeasspain ly be none of the symptoms commonly associated with latrodectus bites. If the spider is forced to assault a second time which is rare, she will inject a full dose of her triple acting neurotoxin which is what causes the extreme pain and such
Ok I just want to get a few points straight. As you are obviously reading countless variations what the bite of a widow is like and other things, I hope you will believe this. I spent many years of school using my free time to hunt and study Black Widows and my science teacher happened to know a great deal about arachnids (The family that includes spiders. They are not insects).
The Female black widow spider (Latrodectus Mactans) is a small to medium sized spider. It can be tiny but not always and I have yet to spot one tarantula size. All though I have seen widows big enough to make me run like hell. She is shiny jet black with a small thorax and a corrispondingly huge abdomen. It is usually ball shaped but I have seen some that were more like an arrow head. She is always shiny black and will always have a marking on the lower underside of her abdomen. Usually blood red but sometimes kind of burnt orange like the brown widow. It wont always be a solid hourglass. Sometimes two arrows pointing towards each other. Sometimes two spaced out horizontal bars.
She will USUALLY do whatever she can to escape danger and not attack, for fear of being crushed. But if she is guarding her egg sack (several tiny silky spherical shaped web pieces at the back of the web) YOU BETTER STAY BACK AND KEEP YOUR FINGERS TO YOURSELF! If she does attack her venom is deadly and she is extremely fast. I have been bitten and it is extremely painful and I wanted to die.
People please do not post information on black widows based on your opinion. Your opinion is not going to save anyone’s life if they are bitten. Please make sure your posting proven fact. To bite victims reading this, the information published on here can mean their life or death. People if you are bitten by a spider that meets the above description, get to an emergency room IMMEDIATELY.
A big thank you to this site and all the helpful comments. I was camping in central Ontario last July and didn’t see what bit me but from doing much research have concluded it was some variety of black widow. I felt a very sharp pinprick/pain on my left temple, then numbness almost like novocaine on the left side of my face for maybe 20 minutes. Didn’t think too much about it because I camp a lot and get bitten by various critters without severe symptoms.
That afternoon and for the next few days I had a bad headache and flu-like symptoms, but as I have fibromyalgia and am 57 thought I must just be overtired. Two weeks later I had whole-body symptoms, very bad cramping in my arms, not as severe in my legs, and it took some thinking to connect that bite with the symptoms. Went to my doctor to get her opinion, and from her and other medical folks was pretty sure I was right, especially after finding the Ontario Outdoors website which confirmed the presence of back-widows where I was.
I am still suffering from muscle cramps in my arms, and very tired from all these months of discomfort and trouble sleeping,etc. Have been enough better the past month or so that I only need painkillers at night for sleep. The symptoms seem more or less random now, sometimes my lower back, sometimes legs, but always arms.
Reading all these comments gives me the most reassurance that I will get over it eventually. Thanks!