Black Widow Spider
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 poisonous.
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.
Written by Jim on August 4th, 2007 with
77 comments.
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The black widow spider is not acctually that big and is ussually about 2cm max. The bite is also not more venomous than any other spider although it is very venomous, and i am not sure if it has more powerful venom than a rattlesnake. In fact the most venomous spider bite comes from a “Funnel Web Spider.”
Hello. My name is Zachari Larsen and I am currently a Biology student at Montana State University getting my four-year degree so I can become an Arachnologist. I may not have any fancy letters behind my name, but I am fascinated with poisonous spiders and have had to misfortune of being bitten by Madames Latrodectus Mactans and Latrodectus Hesperus. Living in Las Vegas for ten years, probably the most Widow (L. Mactans) infested community in America, will tend to do that to you. Moving to Billings, Montana in the Heights where their northern cousins, L. Hesperus, are also quite common was just a coincidence.
However, the fact is that the bite is incredibly painful and produces a feeling very similar to having the worst bout of flu in one’s life. Their is no necrotic damage from the bite, and in both of my cases, the ordeal was over after about 12 hours. For those wondering, I did not go to the hospital as I was told over the phone that the innoculation and stay would amount to over $2,000. The math got me and my wallet stayed closed and 9-1-1 went undialed.
The danger is this, the venom makes breathing incredilby difficult and the feeling of lethargy is something that makes one not want to breathe at all. I took shallow breaths and due to the venom of the animal it still caused a feeling of intense pressure. I would recommend to anyone, so long as they are not as cheap as I am, to bite the bullet and call 9-1-1. It is VERY easy to see how a child under 10 and an adult over 60 could succumb to the venom and go into a coma, or worse if the immune system is dampened, death.
I believe that although these voracious predators are wonderful pest control (I have a slight allergy to mosquitos that makes my skin look like a golf ball if I get bit more than a few times) they are to be treated with utmost respect, the pain is not worth making your dumb buddies laugh or recoil in shock when you pluck one off it’s web. They’re docile and unassuming… Just don’t wreck their house. (How would you feel if someone bulldozed your house? Open fire you say? Shocking… And people wonder why they get bit…) Which is how I found out that even in a life-or-death situation, the American Medical Community enjoys being paid upfront, thank-you-very-much. But to end, don’t wreck their webs and you should be fine, get bit and take the antivenin. Unless you truly believe in the “If you’re going to be dumb, you’ve got to be tough” philosophy.
I don’t know much about spiders, but I do know that they don’t charge. If you see a spider don’t freak out, if you don’t like it then get a thick object and kill it, nothing thin though and for you spider lovers, catch it and let it go. If you intend to have the house sprayed then keep the spider (DON’T SQUISH IT); put it in a bag and let the exterminator see to conform it
I have accidentally caught a black widow and it was bigger than 2, so you should check your facts on that. The one I caught the body measured over a quarter inch.
Could you please get pictures of black widow bites. I am curious to see what it looks like. Everyone always talks about the brown recluse spider but the black widow is such a wonderful specie. If you could get more pics of the black widow’s bite I would gretly appreciate it.
I deal with black widows all the time, and have caught numerous of them about an inch in diameter. They can get quite large. Most do seem to be around 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in size. I can’t help anybody with bite pictures, I haven’t found any yet, either. It seems the internet caters only to the Brown Recluse.
Hey, I was wondering if someone could post a pic of a black widow bite because I’m curious if I got bit by one a while ago. There were 2 fang marks above my knee less than a cm apart. Some symptoms i had was that I couldnt stand, I kept collapsingand had pain in my stomach area. There was more but I can’t remember it because it was a while ago. My mom made me go to the doctor and he admitted me to the ER because he did some tests on me. He said my movement was very brisk and stuff….I wasnt that responsive and could barely walk without collasping every 2 feet….if someone could help, that’d be great
i have a spider bite now it was so bad the doctor had to drawl blood and give me 3 shots will i die?
I recently went into my smokehouse and retrieved a bag of charcol that was stored in there. As i opened it 7-8 black widows started falling out of it. These had more of a whitish-yellow hour glass on thier abdomen. They also were super fast, running all over the place making several of us jump around and dance.
The next day my wife who was there at the time was putting on her shoes and just happened to shake them out before she put them on and had one fall out of her shoe. It’s scarry how close she came to getting bit. I bet she carried that spider around all day and it ended up in her shoe. I live in east Tennessee.
My mother in law is currently in the ICU due to a black wodow bite. She was unknowingly bit on the elbow and with in 12 hours of having irritation was admitted to the hospital. Her arm swelled up 3 times the size and has cellulitis around the lesion that had formed. She is 62, with a weakend immune system.
I believe she could have recovered quickly from it, but our doctor didn’t listen to our suggestions of it being a widow bite. The internet was extremely helpful with the few pics it does have, unfortuatly our Dr. didn’t take them into consideration until it was too late.
The bite has affected her blood pressure, mental status, and site of bite. Hope this helps anyone who may read it. Also, I am in school to be a nurse and have a little addition to this…
Bites from any insect will be different in everyone. If the victim is allergic to the venom the outcome will be more severe than of someone who isn’t allergic to the venom. Some people die from being bit by fire ants, it all depends on how your individual bodies can react to it.
On Friday the 6th july 2007 I was biten by a black widow spider three times. Once on my stomach where she injected venom and then under my arm pit on the same side and then just a little over from that bite on my back.
The bites were excruciating! The welted up, but only a small amout. I didn’t know what it was and I shook the towel out I had put on after getting out of the pool (spider must have crawled into towel). I saw something pretty big and black and my cousin and mother helped me catch it. I was certain it was a black widow because the bites hurt so tremedously. Sure enough it was shiny and black and had red hour-glass shape on it’s stomach.
We called 911 and they said to go to the nearest hospital. It was a 30 minute drive and at that time I could feel the poison spread through my body. The worse bite of the three, the one on the right side of my abodomin hurt enough to have me in tears and I have an amputated leg so i know i have a high pain tolerance.
In a few moments the pain had spread to my groin and I was worsoned by a throbbing ache from my groing down the inside of my leg down. Then it went up into my intestines area and I felt like I had eated something bad an my “gut” felt like they were being wrenched. It spread into my solar plexus and I could barely breath. It felt like my chest was being crushed and I got even more afraid as i felt the venom move until every inch of my body was hurting like the worse flu I can imagine.
At the hopital they started an IV and gave me fliuds and morephine. At this time I was crying and writhing in pain. The first 3 shots of morphne barely helped with the pain
After they admitted me and after asking for some relief from my pain I checked myself out and had my husband drive me home. I figured I could the pain meds I take for my knees and amputatel leg. I then looked on the internet and saw i had a bad enough reaction to the bite that i would have been stupid to just tough it out here. So this time we went to a large hospital about 40 minutes another direction.
IV again and pain meds. also some kind of injection that make my hands and feet feel like they were on fire. It is sunday moring and I got about three hours sleep last nigh. i am tired, but thank god awake and the pain is almost gone. I remember almost nothing but pain, weakness, and well, pain. I am much better today, but must say I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Laura l
by the way , the reason you don’t see any widow bites is that the welt is only there for about an hour and then it just leaves a small pink spot that doesn’t even a whole in the skin you would miss it if you didn’t look for it in it’s exact spot. Also the spot of the bite is not tendor.
For starters I would like to thank all of you that posted comments they are most informative. I’ve often wondered what the effects are to a black widow’s bite. I live in Tennessee and the underneath of my home and yard are infested with these little buggers. I know that they are great for pest control but I’m also scarred to death of them too.
As I was sitting out at my picnic table tonight (July 9th 2007) I was bitten twice by “something” I can’t even say it was a spider let a lone a widow. It was to dark to see anything. It left two welts that sting like crazy but tolerable. I don’t see any puncture marks on either bite. And seeing how they’re only sting like a bee sting I’m going to assume they’re not widow bites. To be on the safe side how long does it take for symptoms to appear? Are immediately?
I thought I was bitten by a black widow spider until I found this website. After reading the comments on this site, I decided not to wait and went to my doctor. The doc couldn’t tell what type of bite it was, but the meds helped and put my mind at ease.
Thank you!
I was out at our pool and killed a large female black widow. However I noticed a lot of small round white spiders when I hit a egg sack. This was two days ago and I have felt flu like symptoms, aching muscles and abdominal pain. Is it possible that one of the small ones bit me.
Donna, you don’t have to worry about adolescent widows because they are harmless. Especially the tiny tiny babies. I think you just have a bout of the flu but if you really feel bad you should go to the doctor.
Hi, I am very scared of spiders - my parents and I were looking at a new house with are realtor and in the garage, there was a spider the size of a half dollar with a red hour glass shape. I could not tell if the shape was on the stomach or the back but I am wondering if they attack in defence? If I am sleeping will they come attack me or what? Also, if I get bit, what are the chances of death? Is there a certain bomb or spray we can buy to rid us of these beasts?
Thank you!
I’ve been looking at black widow pics all night because I think I cought one but I can’t be sure. I’ve seen the red hourglass ones in my yard but this one is weird. It’s not the size of a pea but more like a caper and its body is the same shape as a black widow, kinda spherical with a slight point (which i assume are the web organs) at the underside in the vary back.
It has black and brown banded legs and it has white spots on its sides with a white stripe running down its back almost to its point but it has no hour glass, if it does I can’t see it (20/20 vision). Basicly it has everything but the tell-tale red markings. Is a spider that is simaler to a black widdow or the real thing. Is it male or female?
I live in Albuquerque, NM and every year from August through December, it seems to me there are black widow spiders everywhere I look. I never realized that these spiders often like to live in places that are more exposed (windows, door corners, under the kitchen sink). I keep finding them right outside my back door in the path of human movement. Frustrating and scary! Anyways, I don’t like using pesticides-does anyone have good suggestions for moving them or any natural means of deterring them near doors and windows?
Thanks!
Just to clear up a couple of misconceptions: first, though the spider itself may be fairly large (I work out in the Colorado foothills and do see my share of big ones), their mouthparts are tiny. A single bite from a black widow (or practically any spider smaller than a tarantula) will not leave two marks far apart enough to be distinguishable as such.
Many two-mark “spider bites” people find are actually marks from flying biting insects that bit twice, but of course watch for symptoms if you notice bites at all. Second, though the black widow’s venom is extremely dangerous, they only inject a tiny amount when biting. Ounce for ounce, a widow’s bite may be more powerful than a rattlesnake’s, but a rattlesnake bite can and will kill people who will only get mildly sick from the widow.
The best advice for dealing with them remains, be aware of your surroundings, and if you don’t antagonize them, they won’t go after you.
I live in Georgia and have found 3 black widows in the 4 years that I’ve lived in this house. One was in the garage, one was in the cracks between stones in a wall, and the one I found yesterday is living under the crack of the siding of my house with it’s web going to the ground in my garden.
I’ve been a nurse for 7 years and have worked in a 400+ bed hospital on med/surg floors and in ICU. I’ve seen many, many patients in ICU who received brown recluse bites, but have NEVER seen someone with a black widow bite. Widows very rarely leave their webs, so if you don’t bother them the chances of being bitten is very rare. They really only bite in defense. Usually people who have received bites have rolled over onto them in bed, or put their foot into a shoe where a widow was. Widows do not hunt you down like someone asked in an earlier post.
I agree with the last post’s best advice as being aware of your surroundings, shake out your clothing, and look before putting your hand in a blind spot if you live where widows live. Be careful!
A Black Widow bite just occred to me. I just got bit by a Black Widow on the inside of my 2nd to biggest toe while working in the yard at dusk. I must have trimmed a bush containing its web and pissed it off. The bite was actually “in-between the toes”. The bite left two little red pin holes about 1/32 of an inch apart in case anyone wants to know what they look like. It looks like this : yes it looks like a colon :: would be two bites.
How did it feel? It hurt like hitting your finger with a hammer but more sharply into one point where the bite occured. I guess you could stick your self with a couple needles dipped in lemon juie to get a feeling for what it feels like.
Side effects. I guess I am lucky so far, No real immediate side effects for me except it hurt like hell for the last 6 hours. I have taken asprin and washed out the bite immediately with water. I also tried to squeeze the “spider juice” out of the bite area as soon as I could. Not sure if it made a difference but so far I have not has any of the side effects.
We just move to the hill side in Ventura Ca from the beach area. If the damn sand fleas don’t get you its the spiders in the hills!
Last summer while working at a day camp in central NJ, I noticed that my arm was itchy and there was a small bump that looked like every other mosquito bite that I have ever had. This was right before a meeting I had and during the meeting, the bite area continued to swell and was extremely itchy, and when I would scratch it would hurt. After my meeting, I went to the nurses office because the bite had at least doubled, maybe tripled in size. The nurse blew it off as a mosquito bite and sprayed a numbing spray on it.
The bit continued to expand until it was the size of a small avocado pit so I obviously went to the doctor, but they believed that it was just an allergic reaction to the mosquito. That was Friday, then on Sunday morning I woke up and the area that had been inflamed had turned a deep red/ purple/ black and the surrounding area was a dark pink/ red and had also begun to get puffy- the entire area was the size and shape of an avocado, but the discoloration was very prominent.
I showed my mom, and the doctor said that they would see me the next day. This area dramatically faded and the inflammation went away within a few days leaving only a red streaky area where the black area had been. During this week I had extreme fatigue where I would lay down to nap at 5pm and wake up at 8 am the next morning still feeling exhausted. I also had a decreased appetite. That Friday (one week after the bite) I experienced horrible stomach cramps and GI bleeds. I told my parents, and we decided that if the bleeding occurred again we would go directly to the ER. Fortunately the bleeding did not reoccur, but the abdominal pain continued.
Monday came and I went to work and was experiencing such pain that I though I had an appendicitis. I went back to the doctor who sent me straight to the ER. in the hospital they found out that I was experiencing hemolytic anemia (when the red blood cells burst) and that my liver and spleen where enlarged and my liver blood tests were really high. The PA felt that the stomach issues were not connected to the bite and sent me home.
I was barely able to eat anything and I continued to go to countless doctors, none of whom acknowledged the bite as being connected to the other symptoms. I was tested for everything known to man, and still they found nothing. About six to eight months later I stopped losing weight (45 lbs later) and I was finally able to eat normally again and the fatigue was gone. This summer I returned to the camp again and I was speaking with the nurse and he told me that they had found a colony of black beauty or black widow spiders on the campgrounds (he couldn’t remember which) and that all of my symptoms seemed to line up perfectly.
If you or someone you know is encountering these same symptoms please try to get them seen by a doctor as soon as possibly. I was subjected to many unnecessary tests, I was a human pin cushion because of all the blood they took, I had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy and a GI series done (am 18 years old should not have to go through that unless it is completely necessary) and maybe the doctors could have prevented all of the symptoms from occurring.
Good luck and feel better!
I got two bites on my belly right next to each other a little more than a week ago…they started out as what looked like normal mosquito bites, which i’ve been getting a lot of recently, but then they turned real red, and swelled just a little bit. they are still red and itchy, more than a week later, and i can see two bites marks.
Last night, i picked at them and something like a whitehead came out, but hard, not pus. i can still see the bite marks and it’s all still red, without any improvement. I’ve also been using anitbiotic ointment and cortizone cream.
I live in central mexico…we have a lot of black widows living in our house (i’ve killed more than ten in the past month), but we just had an exterminator in a little more than three weeks ago. Could it just be a different kind of spider?
Should i go to the doctor?
Hi all,
I live in Southern California the capital for black widows, everywhere I look I see them, and they especially like to live in dark spaces. I purchased the house I live in over 10 years ago and not once have I been bitten by one. I learn to live with them and the number one rule is not to disturb them….if you are afraid of them, just make sure you use a bug spray to dispose of them.
PS, if you are going into a dark section of your house or underneath your bed, make sure you look before sticking your hand in there.
Hi, A couple days ago, I was bitten by a spider in Waterloo, Kitchener, Canada. Where the two fangs went in, it’s red and blistered, around it is all purple and there is a large black bruise surrounding the entire thing. The bruise spreads about 5cm apart and the fang bites are about half a centimetre apart. When I was bitten, I got sick and my arm was numb, by the way, I was bitten above my elbow and below my shoulder. Was it a black widow?
I live outside Albuquerque, NM and apparently got bitten by a black widow spider. Someone had pointed one out to me in my yard last year, so I know they are around here. I took my jeans out of the clothes dryer and got into my car and was driving to a physical therapy appointment. I felt much pain in my thigh and was wondering what was going on and if a plant sticker had gotten caught there somehow. I tried to pull off the road a few times, but obviously could not take my pants off, so waited until I got to my destination, about half an hour later. There, my whole thigh was red and inflamed and also there was an inflamed area on my calf. I have to guess while I was trying to get rid of what I thought was the sticker, the spider was going nuts and kept biting as it ran down my leg.
The physical therapist was quite shocked and put ice packs on the areas right away. This made it feel a lot better, so I did same when I got back home. The whole area was very painful and later that night I got nauseaus and threw up. I kept putting on ice packs and also had a bad low grade headache since then, now 8 days ago. Also, I had trouble sleeping and woke up in a sweat one night. Yesterday was the first day that I did not need ice packs. After all the redness and swelling went down, about 7 bites became visible on the thigh and 3 on the calf. When my physical therapist saw this, she said she thought I should see a doctor. But I figured I was getting better, so did not want to go. Also, it is hard to get a doctor appointment here and I didn’t feel like going to the ER.
Today I canceled lunch plans with someone due to feeling sick and she also thought I should call a doctor. I started calling exterminators to try to find out what kind of spider bit me and reached one very knowledgeable who said it was a black widow, as only they and brown recluses are poisonous here and if it was a brown recluse, this would be getting worse with necrotic skin.
He said it was unlikely the spider got into my dryer and thinks it ran up my leg under my pants. After this, I looked up the symptoms on the internet and saw that I had many of them.
I am curious why I had so many bites, but not such a severe reaction as some people here describe. I think the ice packs helped a lot, but also this exterminator agreed that the fleshy thigh is one of the better places to be bitten, if one must be bitten at all - as opposed to the neck, which is one of the worst.
Two of my cats were also bitten by spiders last year and now I feel sure they also were bitten by the same type, as I read this effects the nervous system. I had one cat near having seizures. I have some medical training and I had him on subQ fluids, Ringers Lactate, for about 3 weeks and liquid vitamins and antibiotics. He had much trouble breathing, which I read now is common with this sort of bite and was panting a lot and other things. Fortunately, he pulled threw and was able to eat on his own in about a month. He went through about 3-4 (maybe more) big bags of Ringers Lactate, which is electrolytes and also flushes the system of toxins.
Same thing happened to another of my cats, but she was less sick and only had to go through the above regime with the fluids etc for a week. Very fortunate they both lived. I never saw these spiders in the house, but they must have been there. The exterminator guy said likely the cats played with the spiders or tried to catch them as to why they got bitten.
I read this venom is more poisonous than a rattlesnake. I wonder how many black widow bites equal one rattlesnake bite, if anyone knows.
I am now dealing with several black widow spiders that I have let be in the back yard/back porch area and have produced webs full of baby black widow spiderlings which I am not pleased about! I hate killing them, but I’m not willing to host a black widow nursey outside my back door!!! yikes!!!!!
Ahhhh. I have so many spiders at my new house. But yesterday we saw a spider like no other. Very large, very long and very black. It did not have a shiney round body like a Black Widow but it was definately very black. Does anybody know what type of spider this might be?
I was sitting on my couch watching a TV program with my two Dachshunds and felt something on my arm…- look down and its a black spider, of course jump up and do the freak out dance and it landed on the floor. I put it in a glass and to my horror it seemed to be a Black Widow. I have only seen like two in my life (I live in Boise Idaho) and I just couldn’t believe I just had one crawling on my arm.
I immediately looked for any bite marks didn’t see anything- that was last night and all seems to be well w/ me today. I don’t know which way it came from but we may have been sharing the same blanket. The one thing that is throwing me off is it appears to have three red dots on its back, it has the classic red hour glass shape on its belly, and it looks just like all the pictures I have seen so far of Black widows (shiny black and the front and back legs seem to be longer, red hour glass shape), its a tiny bit smaller than most of the pics, but I am pretty sure that’s what it is.
So my question is can they have red dots on their back? Also if one bit one of my Dachshunds would that most likely be fatal? I hope not… I found them playing with a hobo spider a long time ago, so I know they wouldn’t hesitate to check out a black intruder crawler on the floor. My mom has a hobo problem at her house, bad- she lives up in our foothills where they most likely are abundant- anyway I read that a lot of pest poisons out there are not strong enough to kill black widows but she has these little sticky traps, that attract insects and she puts them by all her doors and some outside the house, would that be a good idea to try and control Black Widows from entering your house, I know I don’t want a repeat of what occurred last night. Thanks
The reason I looked up black widows is because we have one in our house and i wanted to know how deadly these spiders are. I only meant to look up how they defend themselves. and i did learn something. wow, female spiders i was surprised. i never knew. i though only the male that was much more deadly than the female. i guess i better watch out. and i am really scared of spiders specially the deadly ones.
My husband is as stubbern as any man and as i read all the posts here, he is just like all the other men I have read about, making us wives or girl friends completely worried. What can we do if they dont get it looked at, if not for them, for us at least (that would be the gentle man thing to do).
The picture above (bite on knee) is what i think to be a Black widow spider bite not for sure. I say this because my husband is a at home mechanic and at night he has noticed tons of black widows around the area.
My Gosh I cant even stress the fact i am a major major, not minor like, oh a spider and you hear a cut little girl scream, no i am a major run from a sitting spider that aint chasing me. The fact that i looked on this site or saw one will make me have nightmares for a very long time. Oh my gosh i hate them all.
My husband was working which has him on the ground working around the spiders. At night when he’s working he would see them moving around everywhere. On aug. 26th when the picture above was taken, the day after another bump formed just like this, it was right next to it.
Behind his knee a week before these pics he had one like that and now here they are in the front, one, then two the second day. he has popped them they look like a zit so he pops them and gets the stuff out and then puts meds on. Before it went away the only other symptom he had was his knee locked up and he couldnt move it but now he is fine but he has another one of these blister looking things and he keeps getting them but without the locking of the knee, very wierd and its a huge coincidence for a spider to bite the same knee every time just that one knee. can it be caused by him popping the blister and maybe it’s spreading or something? I dont know but i am worried and he wont go to the doctor at all. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Hi, i live Va. last Jan. I was getting in to the shower when i felt something on my back bite me. it was a black widow spider, did’nt go to the doctor for a few days, became sick and the bite became swollen and had temperature in it. went to the doctor to get antibiotics, got better, but now october, nine months later and still have a place on my back. it is back because I did not finish all my antibiotics, or so i believe. My skin is still peeling, itching and burning where the bite mark is.
Anybody with any conclusions, please post them!
My sister (age 34) was bitten about 3 weeks ago by a black widow. I was told by the doctor that had seen the spider that it’s body was the size of a dime…just the body. My sister was cleaning out her already very clean garage. She was complaining that her pants were pulling on some hairs on her upper thigh and went upstairs to change her pants. When she took them off, her husband saw the huge spider in her pants…immediately forced it into a container and rushed my sister to Williamson Medical Center, a major hospital.
My sister was bitten 3 times on the upper thigh and was completely unable to walk within a few minutes of getting the bite. She spent 3 full days in the hospital and was suffering so much pain that the doctors said that if they had given her any more morphine for the pain, that her heart would have stopped. She required close care and attention for 2 weeks and is still working hard to come out of the affects. She was told that she may not be “back in the swing of things” for another 6 MONTHS…She was not given the antivenin (or antivenene or antivenom), which is derived from horse serum, because some people are allergic to horse serum. Also, if you have been given antivenin once, it will no longer be affective against a bite from a rattlesnake or spider again. The doctor told us that.
I use to wonder how I’d know if I got bitten from a black widow, now I know that there will be no doubt. The doctor said that most widows, when bitting, will not inject venom…this one did obviously. Apparently widow spiders get very aggressive when their nests are disturbed. They claimed they had never read or heard of anyone being bitten 3 times. Widow bites are especially dangerous for small children and the elderly. My sister was complaining of excruciating pain all over her body, difficulty breathing and said that it felt like her legs were in a vice clamp being constantly tightened.
I used to be an EMT and my sister’s vitals were normal throughout this emergency. Most medical staff and hospitals do not carry the antivenin on hand and will not give it unless vitals are at dangerous levels. However, 1 vial of antivenin will apparently produce immediate results and often the person comes to recover in less than an hour. PLEASE know that if you has small children as I do, that these bites are often surely fatal because most hospitals do not carry this antivenin. If your child is bitten or an elderly person is bitten have them transported to the closest BEST MAJOR hospital. We live about 30 miles south of Nashville, TN and the only place that was thought to have it was Vanderbilt Medical Center. BE CAREFUL!!!
joe.. didn’t you ever take Highschool Biology? You’re supposed to finish the anti-biotics completely. This is what has caused the new strain of incurable TB, because the bacteria that causes these things have the natural selection to make it through most of the anti-biotics. If you stop taking them before you’re supposed to, the remaining bacteria now have a new immunity to that biotic and it will spread again.
That being said, I don’t necessarily know if that is the case with a spider bite. I’d watch it for awhile, and it starts puffing up and getting really irritated, go to the doctor and see what’s going on.
It has been about a month since I was bitten and I am still having problems from the bites. I got bitten similar to the lady above, the spider got in my pants and I felt it on my thigh. I had 6 bites on the thigh and 3 on the calf that I could make out after all the inflammation and swelling went down.
I talked to the state entymologist about this. She did not say it was uncommon to be bitten more than once and she said that on average. only 15% of bites are ‘dry bites’. That is, it is much more common for them to inject venom than not. 9 bites, as I got, are about equal to the venom in a rattlesnake bite - even leaving room for 15% being dry bites.
Even a rattlesnake doesn’t always inject venom or full venom - I didn’t know they had any control over this before. I asked this question above (how many bites equal a rattlesnake bite) and no one answered. If anyone is interested, it is about 9 (which I got.)
This expert said the spider apparently got scared and was running up my leg and biting as it was going as it was trapped under my pants. She said they run up, not down, and will go as high as they can and if trapped, will bite. I guess that is why I got bitten so much in the thigh and same for the lady above.
I was on my way to a physical therapy appointment and the therapist put ice packs on the afflicted areas. It felt better, so I did this too and am still doing it. I read this slows absorption of venom. I wonder if this is why I am still having symptoms and different ones than I first had, now.
The bite marks are still visible and turn black and blue and discolored sometimes after the ice packs and sometimes not. I have not been able to keep down any food on a consistent basis. The past week or so has been really bad because now I have horrible pain in my low back and can’t walk much. The day before this happened, I was walking and realized my legs felt like lead, for some reason, so I stopped. But the next day, I had to finish what I was doing and after that, came the severe back pain and much difficulty walking.
I am taking vicodin and valium. I just take it at night to help me sleep, as even vicodin does not kill the pain. I am wondering if all the ice packs slowed down the absorption and that is why the symptoms are playing out as they are.
Tomorrow I am going to an orthopedic institute about my back to see if they find something else wrong.– I am also very suspicious how this spider got into my car in the first place. My car was in a hot driveway in the Albuquerque area and this is not where these spiders like to hang out. The state bug expert agreed with this and said maybe it got in there in a bag of groceries that I bought. But I had only bought paper goods. I had left my car windows partly open and have a neighbor with a long criminal record. I had just had words with them the day before I got bitten and suspect they had something to do with this.
I talked to some cops who also said the spider should not have been there, esp. if there were no overhanging trees (there were not) or some reason for them to go there. People generalize and say spiders get into everything, but on closer questioning, it would appear to be a very freak thing for a spider to go into my car like this. Most people I have talked to about this say they have lived in this area their whole life and never been bitten by a black widow, though plenty are around here.
I live in an area with an overabundance of black widows and recluse spiders much to my dismay. I have to say that the few widows I’ve had close contact with have always been aggressive and come after me right out in the open. I did not seek them out but was merely sitting on my patio until a shiny, black patent leather spider toting a bright red spot decided I was on her turf and needed to leave. It has scared the daylights out of me but I’ll take them any day compared to the recluse and their passive aggressive behavior. Those spiders terrify me along with the Hobo spider.
Oh, and spiders can get into anything so be careful.
Black Widows freak me out! I’m doing a project on them and would appreciate any helpful tips or ideas on how to study them. I’m most interested in the reactions to their bites.
I always read black widows were not aggressive. So I wondered why the one in my car crawled up my pants, biting along the way. I guess they are aggressive at times. I have seen a bunch of black spiders with red tops (not stomachs) and am wondering what they are. I read somewhere on the internet that all red and black spiders are in the widow family somehow. But supposedly only the female has that hourglass shape (or close variation) on her stomach. Someone here in NM told me that black widows are more accurately identified by their shape, than by exact markings. I have heard more about these spiders since I got bitten than I ever wanted to know. I am still having strange problems, over a month past the bites. But then, I got bitten 9 times. My Dr. is sending me for a MRI for low back pain. He said venom from a black widow bite can cause a staph infection of back discs. He seems to think the spider bites are cause for my back pain - he even wrote it on a prescription for physical therapy. The physical therapist wouldn’t treat me, stating they don’t treat for spider bites, but let her know if the MRI showed anythng else. Today, when driving, my head started spinning and I felt quite dizzy when I came to a stoplight. I feared I would not be able to continue driving. The episode passed, but I also felt a cold tingling sensation in my face before it did. I wonder how long it takes for that poison to get out of my system and stop causing problems. Last night was the first night in weeks that I did not take any pain meds before sleep, so I cannot blame the dizziness on that.
my name is justin from lethbridge alberta. yesterday i began to feel some flu like symptoms and weakness. then later that day my arm felt like it had a bruise on it. upon further inspection i found what looked like two or three very tiny dots with a very small circle of skin that peeled somewhat with very little to no discoloration. later that night i had very bad chills. i got up to go to the bathroom and all of a sudden i got very cold and my teeth started chattering. i returned to bed and wrapped my self with like three blankets. this morning i awoke to see that i had shed all three blankets and my girlfriend told me i was in a cold sweat. after getting up my feet felt like i had walked miles the day before. i toughed it out as it seems many men do( of course) i feel pretty weak and alot of my muscles are very sore including my hands and fingers. like the day after a workout but i havent worked out for weeks. also my mid to upper back feels very stiff. i have had lower back troubles before so this was odd to me. usually my lower back hurts. anywho my girlfriend is freaking out and wants me to go to the er. could this be a black widow bite and if not what other spiders have similar effects. i beleive i must have rolled onto a spider in my sleep thus prompting it to bite. furthermore if i have survived over 48 hours with mild to mid discomfort can i still die in my sleep or something or has the worst passed? stumbling upon this site kind of scared me a little just to see that most of my syptoms are the same except the actual bite is almost indestinguishable. i thought it was a mild case of flu at first but i have no sore throat and it just doesn’t feel quite like a flu. thanx for your time and i hope to figure it out soon.
I was bitten by a black widow in the spring of 1993. I had been relieved for a break and came back in and my shin was itching badly. I looked and and it looked like to small puncture wounds. Asked somebody about it and they blew it off. So I come in to work the next afternoon and my head was hurting and if I moved my eyes without moving my head, talk about some pain. So I go another day, back to work, the pain is still in my head but it had also moved down into my neck, back and arms. I worked through the shift and the next day, I cried rivers on the way to the doctors office. He looked at the wound and confirmed a spider bite, and from the symptoms he said that more than likely it was a black widow.
Justin, I don’t think you will die in your sleep, at this point. I did same as you and toughed it out. I am still going through symptoms. Except for getting antivenom, I apparently did all the right things on my own - cold packs on the bites and took pain killers and muscle relaxants. I was told they only give the antivenom if your system is crashing (to keep you from dying) and that usually happens right away, if it is going to happen. I have also had the feeling when walking that my legs felt like lead and also severe lower back pain. I also had cold sweats and felt hot when it was cold and vice versa. do not think it would hurt to see a doctor, though.
I found a large female black widow on my porch this weekend (Santa Cruz CA). My wife is very freaked out as we have 2 small kids. What is the likelyhood of there being more ? Or a nest nearby ? Do they travel far, if there is a nest would it be within a short distance of where we found her or could it be next door ?
Thanks.
I was bit last October. It was on my upper thigh with a red mark, and purple marks within 2-3 inches below it. These were caused by broken blood vessels. I felt sick after 15 min (headache-y and lethargic.)
After 30 min I had to lay down because I felt so bad. For the rest of the day (Guessing I was bit around 11:45 am) and through the night, I was terribly weak. I had nausea, excruciating muscle pain, and went from feeling hot to cold many
times. At the time I didn’t know why I felt so sick, and assumed I was getting the flu…except it was the worst flu ever.
It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized I had a bite on my leg. From various sources we figured it must have been a black widow, although we couldn’t verify it. Also, I had awful headaches for a week or more afterwards.
Hi, about a year ago I was bit by a black widow while sleeping on my couch during the night. I felt the bite, but immediately went back to sleep thinking nothing of it. The following day, I felt a little unusual pain and still didn’t think anything of it, it was under my left breast.
Another day past and the pain gradually got worse and i started feeling a little sick, i then looked and noticed it started to turn purple and was very painful to the touch, so i then called and went to my doctors, which they confirmed was indeed a black widow bite.
I became sick for few days, and was put on an antibiotic, and something else having to do with calcium. it took a good week or so for the bite to go away, and it hurt really bad, but other then that i didn’t have any other symptoms, it was just a purple and greenish sore that got a little bigger each day before the medicine kicked in, and cleared up. i then had my house searched and was found that every house and backyard here in Florida has them, not many just realize it.
I was told if i see a web, to take the web down, and they will go away. Although i am lazy, and don’t feel like it often, but it does work. I recommend that if anything seems out of the ordinary, call a doctor and immediately go in before it gets worse..
About 30 days ago I got bit by something on my left index finger when I put my hand on a bale of hay. It felt like a needle prick. Then it started burning and hurting. Next day was still hurting, red around area of bite a little swelling. Found two fang marks about 1/4 -1/2 inch part on finger. One hole was pus filled. After about a week the finger was back to normal. no pain or redness. Now a month or so later, I got a massive headache, muscle soreness, felt like flu, and low back pain. Went to Chiropractor, got an adjustment and he tested me for toxins and said I was poisoned. Hum? I hadn’t used any pesticides etc. that would be toxic. He gave me some detoxifying supplements.
Pain started to get worse and moved into my legs walking was getting more difficult. Spasms were more frequent, hard to sleep, lay down, sit down, walk etc. Went back to see him again after developing a red bumpy rash on leg and foot and on lower back, point of most pain. He said that was from the toxins coming out. Told him about the bite I had gotten about a month ago and said this must be the poison you were seeing. So he doubled up on the detoxifying supplements. Next day I can hardly walk because the sole of my foot is so sore and swollen a little. My little toe hurts the worst. Rash started to burn last night. Muscle pain seems better, and I don’t have a headache. I’ve read these posts on this site and it has been helpful in trying to determine what bite me. I believe that it was a black widow spider but am not certain. What else can I expect, or what else should I be doing? and how long will these symptoms last?
I think I was bitten by a Black Widow Spider on the wrist while I was sleeping. I woke up with something on my arm and when I tried to shake it off I felt it bite me. It just felt like a pin prick. The spider ended up getting away but from what I saw of it I believe it was a Black Widow. I have seen several Black Widows in my house just in the last few days. I decided to just go back to sleep after that.
I slept for a few hours and then woke up that morning. I had mild to moderate stomach pains and felt like I had a lump in my throat. I vomited that night but only once. But the main thing I noticed was a feeling of anxiety and depression. It was a very strange feeling that’s hard to describe. I took some asprin and xanax which made me feel a little better.
The area on my arm where I was bitten didn’t hurt at all that day unless I pushed on it. It was just a dry light brown patch with no visible fang marks. It didn’t hurt and neither did that arm. The main thing that bothered me was how weird it made me feel mentally. I was very anxious and was in a very depressed mood. Before I got on the web I knew Black widow bites could cause stomach pain but I had no idea it could cause anxiety. The anxiety wasn’t caused from fear of the bite because I knew the bites aren’t usually deadly in healthy adults and I was in a position to get help if I needed it.
What I would like to ask you guys is your opinion on if you think it was a Black Widow Spider bite. My stomach was the only thing that cramped and it wasn’t all that severe. It did get bad enough to vomit once but I probably could have held it back if I had wanted. I don’t remember having any other cramps or pains. Not even in the area I was bitten.
The bite didn’t exactly look like what is described on the net either. I was much better the second day but still had some stomach pain. I also never had a fever. Do you guys think I was bitten by a Black Widow or was I bitten by something else and then just happen to get sick with something the next day? I know this is a long post but I would really appreciate any of your opinions. Thanks in Advance.
Josh
I was bitten while mowing the lawn the day after Hurricane Wilma came through Southwest Florida in October a couple of years ago. I felt the sting, looked down, saw a larger than normal shiny black ball roll off my ankle, thought hmmmm that’s a really big ant and went on mowing. I’m overweight and on blood pressure medicine, so to be honest that might have helped me. I felt the sting, noticed it but thought nothing of it after that. That night, about 6 hours later I woke up really thirsty and went to get a drink. Right then the shakes started, I was trembling like I was freezing, my teeth were chattering, it was so strange.
I woke my husband up, of course he said it was all in my mind and I laid there for about an hour and finally fell asleep shaking the whole time. A couple hours later, I woke up and felt like my insides were turning to concrete. That was the first thought I was able to put together through the fog of the pain, it felt like someone had poured concrete into my body and it was hardening up in my stomach. The next morning, I was ok. Not great, but ok. We talked about what was wrong the night before, figured I ate something bad but I decided to stay home from work, sure enough a couple hours later, same thing, the shakes, the pain in my stomach and the added bonus of sweating like I was running a marathon.
On Thursday I was so out of it and shaking so bad, saying I was cold that I ended up on my couch with my Rottweiler under 9 blankets and made my husband lay down wih me to keep me warm. Off and on for hours at a time it went for 4 days. Every time we were headed to the hospital I felt better (insurance was an issue).
Finally on Saturday when I had a lucid time and we were talking about what the heck was wrong with me, we just kind of looked at each other and at the very same time, said spider bite. I told him about the thing that bit me while I was mowing, showed him the spot which was just like a slightly oversized red ant bite by that time and we searched the net for the symptoms. After that, he went on a spider hunt. He killed over 20 female black widows in our yard and on the outside of our house and over 100 egg sacks. In one day. They had just proliferated to the point where there were so many, and one got blown into the grass from the storm and was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
I got bit again 4 months ago, same symptoms, same everything, but not as bad. If I had known it was a black widow the first time I would have gone to get the shot, but I’m glad I didn’t because even though spiders scare me, snakes do more and once you are treated with anti venom for a spider bite, it may not work for a snake bite. I’ll save it for the important one. Plus I am now Spiderwoman.
I live in Florida just 15 miles north of Orlando an have been bitten 7 times now on my hips by black widow spiders, the bite area gets very hot an sore an can swell to the size of a grapefruit! I was bitten on Jan. 11, 2007 on my left hip and I still can’t sit down.
I sat on a bench on my patio and I guess there must have been a black widow under the bench, always look before you set! It leaves a hole the size of a 22 cal bullet and after a few hours it feels like you have been shot!
Then there is the very painful procedure at the hospital!
Hey #32 Joe Its called a recurring bite wound. I did a research paper on Loxceles Reclusa aka Brown Recluse and they are common among recluse bites but I don’t know about Black Widow bites for sure if they can reccur or not :).
Josh #46 they don’t travel far from their nest/web/homething (i don’t care if that’s not a word it is now) its home thing was probably not very far away.
I am afraid of all kinds of spiders and now for the science fair I’m using a Female black widow. (Its weird having a black widow in the house).I now no that I could get used to spiders. On 2/13/08 we feed the spider crickets (3 crickets).Well I hope you liked my little story.