Comments on: Black Widow Spider

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:56:33 +0000

I live in SW Washington State,and have seen a smaller black widow about 3 years ago. We took it to a pest place to have it identified,and they said that Western Washington does have them, but not nearly as many due to the colder and wetter temperatures here. Has anyone else that lives in WA or OR seen them? If so, get them identified by a professional. I have 3 small children, and a hubby who has severe reactions to even a house spider bite.

By: sharon

sharon — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:24:45 +0000

I’m curious, my brother was bitten by a spider this morning. By early after he was so very uncomfortable, he went to the er. He showed the doc the bite, and questioned if it was related. His symptoms were nausea, achy back, pain and swelling of the bite area. The bite is the two distinct fang marks. On the ride to the er, he was having chest pains and difficulty breathing. In the past 9 hours, they have done a multitude of tests,including 3 ekg’s and determined he has blood in his urine. X-rays do not show kidney stones, etc. Could the bite also cause the blood in urine?

By: mckenzie

mckenzie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:40:26 +0000

well i dont know what this is…there is a spot on my rabbit with no hair and a deep hole and i just seen it today (dec 15 mon 2008) and i dont know what it is..ive been trying to figure it out can u help me???

By: Zach

Zach — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:46:53 +0000

I don’t know where you lucky people live, but my mother and I once found a female black widow spider with an abdomen approximately the diameter of a penny (it was not, of course, perfectly spherical). Not that that size was common, but it was quite rare to find any with abdomens as small as peas.

By: Don Sebo

Don Sebo — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:38:41 +0000

I have been seeking information with respect to a bite and found this site interesting like others have. A month ago, I was sitting in my hot tub on our patio of our Phoenix home in the late evening. I didn’t feel anything immediately but noticed a small red area on the top of my right index finger with a very small black spot in the middle. (Sunday Morning) I didn’t think much of it but the next morning (MOnday) this site was much larger ( a couple centimeters) and was now an open wound.

A rash was also developing on my body on my hands, part-way up my arms, on my chest and back, and on my legs. I contacted a doctor through my medical provider and he didn’t seem particularly alarmed - though my blood pressure was elevated. He wrote me a prescription for antibiotics and asked me to return Friday. When I returned, my blood pressure was really spiking and he sent me to the emergency room of a local hospital where I was admitted immediately. I was in from Friday to Sunday. I’m on a bunch of medications right now (4 weeks later) and my rash is fading but still there. The wound site has healed but has left a substantial scar. I thought it was a brown recluse but now think it might have been a black widow. Doctors that I have met don’t have a clue. They took a culture from the wound site but I haven’t heard any conclusions. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!

By: Alicia

Alicia — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:06:10 +0000

I live in Arizona, and one day my aunt caught a little light brown spider with the same body type of the black widow (she put it in a jar). It had dark brown marks on the legs and two white stripes on both sides of the abdomen with a white stripe running through the middle; it also had a white hourglass on the abdomen. I told her I suspected it was a baby black widow spider, she didn’t believe me. So I used Google images and used the search term “baby black widow spider” and found a picture that matched the spider. I showed my aunt the picture and she proceeded to freak out. The spider now is dead and preserved in a jar of alcohol in the 7th grade science teacher’s classroom. (I’m in *th grade and intrested in spiders)

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:33:26 +0000

Felt like I was dying… I’m an extremely healthy 33 yr old woman, former model, very athletic. Never had a thing medically wrong with me. Spent a day at the Palms pool on Las Vegas. ( was staying with a friend a block north of the Palms Hotel) I woke up the next morning with a nickel-sized “water” blister on my backside. I stuck a pin in it to drain it. There was zero pain at the site. That morning I had incredibly scary abdominal seizures, reminiscent of when I’d pulled rib muscles years before. I had a very hard time breathing, and was pretty much knocked on my butt every time these seizures consumed my body… every 10 minutes for about 5 hours. In the days that followed, it felt like someome was grabbing my liver/stomach/pancreas/diaphram and squeezing. I sweated profusely the 4 nights thereafter, taking only shallow breaths, being I felt as if I were having some sort of heart attack, like a stack of 30 books were balanced on my chest. This heavy, dull but firm pain continued for 3 weeks. Then was just… gone. The scab/blister/whatever it is is still there, 6 weeks later. Looking exactly the same as it did from day 2. It will not heal!! Probably a black widow. I’m stuck with a big welt on my butt. People… if you see a spider resembling black widow or brown recluse… KILL IT!! They are not your friend! And it will not rain if you step on one!! (Old superstition)

By: jason miller

jason miller — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:35:48 +0000

i live near augusta, ga. I was bitten by a black widow yesterday about 3pm ( not realizing what had happened as i thought it was a pricker bush). about fifteen minutes later i felt a burning, numb sensation. I left work about five pm and drove home with this burning sensation when i looked at my left upper thigh it had a 4″ red circle with a hard center about the size of a quarter. it continued to burn and i went to bed about 9pm. at about 2 am i woke up with stomache cramps, muscle cramps, general weakness, and chest discomfort. i was a little freaked so i drove to the er. when i talked with the doctor he was sure it was a black widow as they see this quite often. he said that it would not effect me long term and he updated my tetnus and gave me a prescription for muscle relaxer and pain. he told me that most adults have to just go through the symtoms where small children and the elderly are affected much worse. as i write this i have slept about 2 hours since leaving the er 14 hours ago. i feel like the symtoms are starting to break. earlier i felt as if i was going to die with the worse flu like symtoms i have ever had. right now my legs, buttocks and feet are the most painfull. hope this will help someone, by the way i could never see any fang marks at the bite location.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:30:28 +0000

I was bitten by a black widow three days ago. I actually took it with me to the ER and it’s body was as large or larger than a penny. The bite itself was barely noticeable within two or three hours but the effects were horrible. The first trip to the ER was mainly concerning the pain were the spider had bitten me. I was bitten on my lower back (I had actually rolled over on it in my bed). It began as a small whelp and then a red-rash spread around the site. The pain was intense and I was given morphine at the ER to help with the pain. Within an hour I was released to go home but had to return about four hours later due to intense muscle spasms. The spasms were in my lower back and legs and were so bad that I could not walk. The pain was worse than labor pains of having a child. I was kept in the ER for almost five hours enduring a tremendous amount of pain and vomiting. Now three days later I am still experiencing pain in my legs and feet and am very tired. I can not do a lot without having to sit and rest. The bite from a black widow has been an experience I will not forget.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:28:22 +0000

Hi All,
for Lilliana and those with black widow spiders under a house or in garage, I used to use holiday bug foggers with great success in killing them. First time I used one in my garage there were 11 Black Widows hanging dead.

Think how many were up in the rafters that I didn’t see. I don’t know if Holiday still makes a fogger but any bug fogger should work, I used black flag fogger last time. You have to do it again in a couple of weeks to get babies that hatch since the foggers don’t seem to kill the eggs. Oh, be sure to read the usage on the foggers, you can blow up your house if you fog in an area with a pilot light. We have a lot where I live. The are usually only out on their wierd web at night. I avoid going outside at night and never walk close to anything since the spiders usually are on the web off of some vertical structure 1 foot off the ground. Wasp sprays usually do a good job of individual kills. Last time I had nothing so I grabbed a clorox bathroom cleaner spray bottle and used it. It worked because I checked on subsequent nights and they were all gone, and I saw one dead on the ground.

One of my classmates is a mechanic and has been bit 5 times from the black widows under the cars. This is easy to believe when you look at all the webs on old cars that have been parked for awhile. He says each bite has been less tramatic - the last two he didn’t even go to the hospital. My Aunt was bit in the 60’s and my mom says she had a low grade fever for 6 months. There probably wasn’t antivenom then.