The wolf spider is a member of the Lycosidae family, the order Aranedia. There are around 125 species that are found in the United States and about 50 species that are found in Europe. A full grown wolf spider is typically a half an inch to two inches in length; they are usually brown or gray with various stripe-like markings on their backs. The markings are sometimes called Union Jack Impressions.? Wolf spiders are also very hairy.
Wolf Spiders
The eye arrangement of the wolf spider is one of its most interesting features; they have four small eyes in the bottom row, followed by two large eyes in the middle row, and two medium eyes in the top row. They received the name wolf spider due to an early belief that the spiders would actually hunt their prey in a group. Some other names for the wolf spider are the ground spider and the hunting spider. Wolf spiders do not actually make webs; instead they hunt for its meal. They are most commonly found throughout Australia. They make homes by digging holes or living under rocks. The wolf spider will often cover the burrow with leaves or grass.
During the beginning of fall, the wolf spider is quite often found in the home. The reason for this is that they are looking for a warm place to live throughout the course of the winter season.
The wolf spider would most likely be seen running across the ground, during the daytime. They search for their prey during both day and night. They have both excellent vision and touch. However, due to the fact the wolf spider is known as shy, if it’s disturbed it will quickly run away.
The mother wolf spider will usually carry around her egg sacs with them, which can tend to be on the large side. After they hatch, the newborn spiders will actually ride around on their mother’s back until they are about halfway grown.
Wolf Spider Bite
Even though the wolf spider is poisonous, its venom is not lethal. The wolf spider is not known to be aggressive; however, they will bite if they feel like they are in harm or danger. They also move extremely fast when they are disturbed. If bitten by a wolf spider, the wound should not be bandaged but an ice pack should be placed on the bite so that the swelling will go down. And if necessary the victim should avoid any movement if at all possible. It is extremely important that one sees medical attention if bitten by a wolf spider or any other spider.
Who here knows that the tarantula’s name actually originated from a type of wolf spider? P.S. Audrey de Awesome I live in UT too!
I have a pet Jumping Spider, and have owned a non-poisoness funnel webs spider (I live in UT).
It is a hobby I do, and people say I am crazy and stupid… :/ But I don’t think so.
Reading this, I am hoping that I don’t meet one of these Wolf Spiders again…
When I was 9 (I am 11 now) I was taking out the garbage with my one-year-old sister. So I opened the lid and this HUGE spider was on it. It fell down onto the side walk, and tried to bite my sister. I picked her up just in time, and told her to run. I distracted the spider by throwing rocks at, running around screaming my head off. When I heard Clara get inside, I sprinted towards the door.
Later I researched and found that I had come across a female Wolf Spider… *Shivers*
Thats why I only breed Jumping Spiders. I just started up again, I caught a female. She is a Household jumper named Venessa.
She lost a leg in a fight (I saw it happen, I got there to see her go for the kill) with a Widow. She won, but was injured. I took her in, and now she is friends. I am always careful to insure her fangs are not out when picking her up. I have owned her now for 48 hours with nothing wrong.
I wish that Wolf Spiders weren’t so bad, because they are fascinating creatures.
My 4 year old was bitten by a wolf spider at daycare. I’m assuming it crawled in her boot at recess because when we for home and I pulled off her boots I found it squashed to the front. The next day her leg had a place the size of a softball that was swollen and red and feverish. You can’t tell me that the wolf spider is harmless and you don’t need to go to the doctor.
Well, I can’t remember if I’ve seen a wolf spider in person. But I’m interested to see one (but it should be 25 meters away from me).
Wolf spiders are not such a menace as the article says… or we just crate another myth. Venom is studied and does not do more than a sting of a bee not even a wasp…Wasp sting can be allergic not from a wolf spider. if you got bitten ..that much unlucky or stupid… just ice pack and if you feel malaise just a simple analgetic and that’s all… the emergency and doctor calls or hospital are …BIG DEAL and EXAGGERATING get true facts and read…
Brown recluse can make skin lesions and necrosis but last defenceis topic surgery (very rare) not at all amputation… if you are diabetic that’s another story…
For all you have phobia try to search trust worthy sites for spiders cause most sites are misinformed not at all updated, myths are circling round and round, no external links are set to get other opinions. If you can’t stand sight or anything on them all i can say is that its not your fault but the way you learned as a child from family or school teachers. I don’t believe to much psychiatrists said about fear of them during involvement of human species through time and …. why then we are not still afraid of the moon coming down on earth, thunders and all natural phenomena… or other beliefs…..the reason why is learning and knowing real facts hence mature knowledge…
I came up with a mother wolf one the first floor of my apartment ( 8 meters from ground close to tress – Athens Greece) with all her babies at the back- left her alone – nothing happened even if some of her little left her back ..never came indoors. The fact that a wolf carries 50 little ones means nothing from the 50 little 1 or 2 or none will survive and mature and in rural areas none cause they have many predators….
thnx…
We have Wolf Spiders in Michigan, and I almost always see them outdoors.This year however I have seen 3 in my apartment! I woke up four days ago with my face in a lot of pain, and what felt/looked like a small cyst…apparently it is from a Wolf Spider bite….
so one tried sharing my bed.I have never liked spiders…the bigger they are, the more they freak me out.But after this I intend to speak with our landlord about having a company come out and spray… ONCE bitten by a wolf is surely enough for me!
My son just got bit by a spider about two weeks ago. He is 4. At first we thought he was bit by a mosquito. then the next day his leg was fevered, painful and swollen and a red rash-type had moved up to the knee and down to the ankle. He was crying from the pain. He was bit on the back of the calf. About a year ago I bought a kit online called “Brown Recluse Spider Kit” It is Activated Charcoal and a mixture of herbs that draw poison out of the body through the bite.
My husband had used Neosporin and all that stuff! Nothing seemed to really help. So I pulled this kit out, followed the instructions, and day by day I watched the poison being drawn out by this stuff! Within a day, the swelling and fever had gone away. The pain was much less and he only cried the first couple of days when I would clean it. I had to change the charcoal out every 2 hours in the beginning. The bite itself had actually opened up into a blister and the poison just began seeping out as the charcoal drew it out! He felt so much better once we began using the kit.
Best thing I ever purchased! I have two kits and will buy more! It works for poison ivy, poison oak and other poisonous bites. Go online, research it, keep one in your home. The next time you get a bite – use it! You will be glad you did!!! And no, I don’t sell it or work for the company. I just know it worked!!
We have tons of wolf spiders around our home in VA. I too am looking for any ways to keep them out of the house because our 1 year cat keeps going after them. He has been bitten several times on his lips and they swell up but, it seems that with each bite the swelling is becoming worse. We thought he would associate pain with them every time he sees them but, he apparently keeps forgetting what they did to him before.
Well it’s wolf season here in Ga. again. In late fall and and early spring every year I kill dozens in my basement which is a fully furnished one bed, one bath, full kitchen, in-law apartment. I have stepped on at least two dozen, late at night or first thing in the morning, with bare feet over the years. However, I have never been bitten. They don’t seem to be in anyway aggressive just big and ugly. I have used everything from chemicals to sprinkling cinnamon around the baseboards, to no avail.
This is the first time that I have googled them to see if they actually bite and how bad a bite could be. After reading up on their bite I will be trying the next best thing on the market, to try and get rid of them. Somehow, I think I am just stuck with the good old fly swatter method. If anyone has a tried and true method to stop them from getting in the house, I would appreciate any advice.
First off – BLECH! I hate spiders. Every fall I announce outside the front of my house that they are safe as long as they stay outside. They come in, however, and it’s ON!
Second – you can use shaved pieces of smelly soap around your ground level entrance ways and it will keep them out. My parents have a cellar way to their basement and they always seemed to come in there. Put the soap around the doors and windows, no spiders. YAY!
Third – ALWAYS SHAKE OUT YOUR SHOES! Years ago I got bit on the big toe because he was curled up in my fuzzy barn boot. Hurts like a mother and swelled up big time. No lasting effects, though. Well, except for him – he got the boot treatment all right – I was like the kid from A Christmas Story – just whacking away well after he was sufficiently squished.
Four – now I got the heebie jeebies so I’m outta here. I love fall, otherwise.
I have now had 4 serious “go-rounds” with spider bites….I do not know what kind of spider bit me, but I suspect the “Wolf”……I woke up last Tuesday morning with the right side of my face sore and swollen, my jaw bone was so sore, I could barely move it and could not chew….my inner ear was also swollen and it was hard to hear on the right side….as the days went on, the “poison” seemed to move over my entire skull, causing glands all over my head to swell and become sore, and within a day my right eye became swollen….it is now almost a week, and the “poison has moved from the right side to the left side, and for the past 2 days, my left eye has been terribly swollen
This is only the second time in a few years that I was bitten at home, and always the same reaction….the other 2 times I was evidently bitten near a local lake…I live in upstate New York
I just brought one to school that was the size of a half dollar and it was so worrying because i almost cried in guilt for scaring someone with it but otherwise this stuff was awesome
Someone asked how to get rid of them. We have our home sprayed by a professional every six months. Only cost about $150.
Last October I saw one in the living room, had the pest guy come, and saw no more. Saw one again tonight. It’s time to call pest control again for another douse. I WILL NOT LIVE WITH THOSE THINGS. Blek!
I teach preschool in a ground-level classroom with three exposed walls. In my classroom alone we catch 1 or 2 wolf spiders daily. We send them “home to their families.” We catch several a day in the hallway and other rooms, as well. They always run away from us, never attack, and it is sometimes difficult to catch them. We saw a mom with her babies on her back two weeks ago, and all were fascinated- children, parents, and staff.
The only time I get bites in the school is when I open my classroom after being closed up for the summer. As I disturb the webs of other spiders (not the wolf spiders), I get several bites each year. If they are not spiders, what are they?
Wolf Spider (Family: Lycosidae)
Wolf spiders or lycosids are fairly common predators that feed on large insects and other spiders. They are not known to be aggressive, but they will bite in self-defense if handled roughly. Their venom is not particularly dangerous.
Most lycosids do not construct snares (webs) but hunt their prey on the move like wolves do (hence their common name). Some live in burrows in the ground and ambush their prey as it crawls past the opening of the burrow. Wolf spiders are usually a shock to people who are unfamiliar with them because of their large size and some have mistaken them for an escaped pet tarantula. Others are concerned that they might be the brown recluse spider which is not known to occur in Michigan. Most wolf spiders hunt at night but occasionally they can be found during the day. Female wolf spiders carry their young on their backs for a considerable time after they hatch. Wolf spiders normally enter the house near ground level and are normally encountered in basements, crawlspaces, and breezeways. These spiders occur in very low numbers, and usually homeowners encounter only one or two of them.
Chemical control is not necessary unless large numbers are found. Treating basements and crawlspaces with a residual insecticide (like Bayer Advanced Home or Ortho Home Pest Defense) may reduce their numbers.
Be sure to read and follow all instructions and safety precautions found on the label before using any pesticide.
I just found one of these. It scampered underneath my couch. When I caught him in the light, he was easily 3-4 inches long toe to toe. If not longer. We killed him because my mother and I are both scared of spiders. Is it normal for a wolf spider in Alabama to reach this size? Right now I am scared to go to sleep due to the possibility of another one of these roaming my house. Haven’t put my feet back on the floor since the incident either.
I have found 6 in the basement and 10 on my back porch in the past week! I have sprayed around the basement and outside the house. I wish I knew where they were coming from, we’ve never had this problem before! I feel like I’m living in the Arachnophobia house!!! GROSS!!! Any idea how to keep them away? It doesn’t help that my husband is just as afraid of them as I am.
i just caught a MM wolf spider last night. i was looking at my pet tarantulas, and i looked over under my bed and there he was, just hanging out by an old pair of my shoes. he was about an inch and a half from toe to toe. since i have little critter keepers from when my T’s were little, i cleaned one out and put him in it for the night. i fed him a cricket and he seemed happy. i put him outside this morning and he scurried away.
I never knew about these until I moved here to Florida. Now I have seen 2 with my own eyes. It has completely freaked me out for the rest of my life.
The first time, we had just moved into a home, I saw a huge spider. Naturally I would squish it. However it was so big I was running around the house trying to figure out what to squish it with. I found a rubber made tub from Walmart that I had, and threw it over, but when the air hit her, something feel off her.
I thought she fell apart. I looked and it was a tiny tiny baby spider. Then I saw 1000′s on her back. When my husband came home, he went to spray her, killing her but releasing her babies everywhere, all over the living room. I let the spider have the house, ran out side, grabbed my keys and went to the park.
The second time was the other night, we just moved into this house how, and of course there she is. Moving so fast around 11pm at night in the living room. I jumped on the couch while my husband sprayed her, and out came 1000′s of babies everywhere. Spraying those too, a few got away, but not many. Since then each light has been on in the house, and I have been staying in one spot.
The one thing I do not like about them, is when you squish the females out come all these babies. It’s overwhelming to say the least. Especially since I have a huge phobia already about spiders.
I work in Sonoma where i believe is the wolf spider tenant area… It is the nastiest thing to work in an are infested with these things. luckily and (knock on wood) I have not been bitten yet?
They are gross and I wish they were never around. Out here where I work they almost look like Tarantulas, well, they are as big…
What can I do to keep them from coming into my space I work in? Is there something I can do to keep them out? Any sprays or chemicals that would help them sense there is danger and not to go in
? Please help!!!!!
I was just hanging out in my room listening to music tonight. Then I looked up and saw this HUGE hairy spider on my curtains. I tried to get my brother to kill it but it was to fast and we lost it. I’m scared to go back in there. I’m sleeping in my living room. I am guessing it was a wolf spider. I’m praying it isn’t a female. I HATE spiders. I cried when I saw it..!! And its almost fall so I’m worried I am going to see them even more..! Eeeek! );
i recently found a very large specimen in my bed, i woke up with two annoying bites in my arm and i killed it. This was about 2 weeks ago…
Yesterday i found another one before I went to bed and it was not as big as the other one but still looking scary, so i killed it… But today in the morning I found a third one also in my bed…
does it mean there is a spider nest around? or is it normal to find many wolf spiders in a place?
I just got bit by one on my inner upper thigh. It really hurts and has a sort of buzz feeling to it… I’m afraid to go back up to my room. What if there are more!?? Urghh
I love this website, it’s very informative! Although I wish they were more pictures, they would’ve been a lot more helpful. Anyway, two days ago I discovered a small scab along the right edge of my left knee cap. The scab was a slight gold, but I had thought nothing much of it until yesterday. In the morning, I saw that my scab was swelled 2 cm across.
It was very red around the center and gold oval seemed a little deeper. My first thought was that I had been bitten by a wolf spider, but wasn’t sure, so I asked my dad. He said it could be that or I could just have an infection from shaving my legs. I decided to not worry much about it so I put a bandage on the wound and went to sleep. Today, my knee hurt immensely, causing me pain to walk, bend my knee, or sit on it.
I went to the office after my first period class and put some Neosporin and a new band-aid on it. Again, I repeated the process after fourth period. Just before seventh, I went to get more Neosporin because my knee was aching like crazy. The nurse was finally back so she took a look at my knee, and discovered that I, indeed, had an infection. She said that I would need to take anti-biotics but I haven’t had to now. After school, I went home and drained the pus out. My dad said that I had been bitten by a wolf spider and that it was the cause of my infection.
I guess I just want to tell people what to do if they do have one. First, drain the pus. Secondly, apply Neosporin to a band-aid and bandage the bite. Thirdly, later on take a shower and cleanse the wound thoroughly. Next, rub lotion on the skin around the bite. Repeat Step 2. If it still insanely hurts, take a couple of Advil. That’s what did. Oh, by the way, I know we blame spiders for a lot of things but I swear this is a wolf spider bite. I swear it is. Guess that’s everything.
I was taking a shower rinsing myself off when I looked down to see a HUGE wolf spider on the shower floor close to my foot. As if seeing the giant nasty thing didn’t scare me enough(I hate spiders) the thing started crawling towards my toe!! I screamed and jumped out of the shower and that thing started charging across the floor in my direction..
When I finally backed completely out of the bathroom, it settled into a corner and cleaned itself. I told it to stay away from me and I’m pretty sure I saw it laugh at me and then it turned around and started crawling out of the shower towards me.. I finally got a shoe and threatened it and it ran behind the toilet. When I got back from class I called my grandfather and he came over and with just a glove rummaged through the bathroom and picked it up. He’s taking it home with him so he can study it and set it free..
I JUST KILLED A FEMALE WOLF SPIDER ON MY CLOTHES IN THE WASHROOM IN THE GARAGE. BABIES WENT EVERYWHERE NOW I HAVE THE HIBBY JIBBIES. DOES SEVEN DUST,
AND BUG SPRAY KILL THEM? AND DOES WASHING THE CLOTHES KILL THE BABIES?
OK, me and a couple of my girls ( one boy ), were hanging out in some abandoned house, and my friend Brien showed us were pond with huge fencing around it ! we all jumped the fence, he said there were wolf spiders there but i didn’t believe him! so we started moving . i ended up finding a huge one that SCARED ME TO DEATH!
I was in my basement doing laundry and my friend yelled and pointed at the wall. So I got a jar and caught it. I don’t see how spiders are so scary. I’ve played with spiders and snakes since I was a little kid.
Sitting in my kitchen my niece came up to me and said there was a “pider” so I went a checked this spider out and it was a wolfy one Alright….scared the living daylights outta me! I went to that booger and it rared back and started after me! I cried. My brother came and saved us from this traumatic event!!! He smashed her and a flood of babies covered the floor!! We were saved!!!! Thank goodness for big brothers!!
i have found multiple wolf spiders in my bed and i think they bite me through out the night. is it possible to die or get seriously injured from too many of there bites?
That’s OK Monica, the reason I’m on here is because there was a swarm of the monsters on my porch last night and I wanted to verify what they were. I ran back to my car and refused to get out for an hour. The only reason I didn’t drive away is because my husband had the keys. Sigh. Now to find a good exterminator.
I think my cat was bitten by a wolf spider. This happened yesterday, and this morning he is just lying in his basket, and for a cat who wakes us up at 5am in the morning for breakfast there must be something wrong. Think I might just take him to the vet to get checked out anyway. Stupid spiders!
I just found a wolf spider in my dinning room. I jumped up on a chair and yelled until my son while laughing at me killed it. This is the second one that we have found since we moved into this house. I hate spiders and if my son wouldn’t had been home I would have been stuck up on that chair until someone came to my rescue. I pray we see no more this year they are creepy, ugly, and scare me to death.
My husband was cleaning the pool and on both sides of the stairs we found two female wolf spiders with their babies attached to their backs. We couldn’t believe the amount of baby spiders they carry and didn’t really know what it was till we caught them with metal claws and put them in a plastic bottle. One of the females was about one inch in the body the other about two and a half.
I hate spiders so I immediately went on the computer to find out what it was. I will be calling my Terminex guy in the morning to have him respray the inside and out of my house, especially with them having babies….no thank you!! Oh and my husband thought it would be funny to have me get a close look at them before he told me what I was looking at, needless today I freaked out!
I just saw one for the first time! I was moving rocks in my new backyard and there was the biggest spider I have ever seen, with babies moving all over her back! I freaked, and tried to get my son to find a cup to catch her in. I would not kill her, unless she were very poisonous, since I have kids and pets. But, she ran under my deck. I also have a black widow under my siding, and I hope to dispatch it soon. I put spiders I find inside outside, since I know they are beneficial, but not ones that can make my family ill. My teenage son is afraid of spiders, so he may never help me move rocks or sit on the deck again! I never knew spiders in Oregon carried their babies!
I was about to take a shower when a wolf spider pops out of nowhere and I freaked out then I trapped it but it almost bit me.
all i have to say is i hate spiders.
I stepped on a wolf spider last night and the babies swarmed my leg. I felt a pinch on my knee and swiped the spiders off as fast as i could. by midnight last night my knee was swollen and painful. the bite began to fill with puss. I drained it and went to bed i woke up this morning and it is much worse my whole knee is now red and swollen not just the bite mark. I drained it again (SUPER GROSS) then applied ice. I called my doctors office because i cant really drive right now since it is my right knee and it is painful to move that knee at all. They informed me that all though the poison will not kill me it is poison non the less, and wolf spiders as well as all spiders can carry bacterial infections. When my husband gets home tonight we will be going to the er as my doctor informed me that i may need antibiotic via iv and a steroid shot for the swelling.
I usually leave these guys alone unless they get in my way and then i crush them, i don’t like spiders but if they leave me alone i will leave them alone, living in Texas i usually leave spiders alone as they eat other bugs and well most of the bugs here are HUGE!!!
A SPIDER BITE NEARLY ATE A HOLE THRU MY DOGS LEG A FEW YRS. AGO. COULD’VE BEEN MUCH WORSE. NOW ALL BIG SPIDERS IN HOUSE DIE!!
If a 1 1/2 – 2 year old gets bit by a wolf spider, is it possible for them to die?
Just caught a wolf spider this morning and thinking about keeping it as a pet. I had one when I was little and they dont scare me a bit. Ive got a good size tank and would feed it crickets but what do you think, free it or keep it? Please let me know your opinion thanks!!!
For decades I have left wolf spiders alone in my house knowing they would kill bad bugs. I have seen them run out of my sorted piles of laundry when I go to pick them up. Today I picked up some laundry the boys left in the bathroom and got bit. It felt like a horrible sting. I must have partially squished it because it did not run away. I’m keeping it in case my bite gets worse but it looks very much like an ordinary wolf spider. Seconds after getting bit I poured rubbing alcohol on it and now several hours later I’m experiencing some twinges of pain and a little numbness in that finger. I know it was self defense but after reading all this I will share my yard but not my home ever again with these spiders. Ouch!
@Lori I would think that the spider you described may be a mouse spider or a black house spider. Though i’m no expert those would be my guesses.
When I was a teenager, I had a spider that lived by my bed. It constructed a web. Knowing that spiders kill and eat insect pests, I picked up the spider and dropped it next to a carpenter ant. The ant promptly stung my spider to death!
This is to Lori who lives in western New York with all the spiders on her property. Sorry I couldn’t find a way to respond. From what you have described it sounds like you have Black Widows. Also known as Northern Widows. I’m from Wisconsin and we call them Black Widows! They are all black with a red mark, some say x others say circles, on their “butt”. They are very poisonous and extremely dangerous. Especially with little kids around because little kids like to explore, and these spiders will attack no matter what. Same with blind people…..their venom can kill!!!!!!
well my name is Soleil and i have spider bites and they really itch and its really weird because its like when i take a warm shower like they stop itching but when i get out of the shower there still there but they don’t itch any more.
I live in rural, SC and we have lots of these around. I tell my wife and kids not to kill them unless they get in the house. When I catch them I release them, but I don’t expect my wife and kids to do the same.
I went outside once with a forehead mounted flashlight, and I noticed something in the grass. When I looked over the lawn I saw scores and scores of blue & white sparkling/twinkling lights.
I thought they were pretty and thought of the dew that must be reflecting my headlight. Then I remembered that it was hot and hadn’t rained in a good while. So I walked up to one of the “lights”. Then another. Then another and another and another. What I was seeing were the reflections from the eyes of wolf spiders.
Some small, some very large. Now that I know we have so many around, I don’t feel too bad if one or two get in the house by mistake once in a while. The less carpenter ants, crickets, and wasps the better.
There aren’t many venom toxicology reports on many species of wolf spider. All spiders are poisonous. Recent studies on the Sydney funnel web spider indicate that the spider is capable of releasing different toxins depending on the type of bite it wants to perform. I would suggest that most venom toxicology reports done prior to that study may be in fact, flawed. Regardless of the type of spider you are bitten by, you still may have a bad reaction to its venom if you are allergic to it. You can also even be sickened by infection caused by the bite itself. No matter what you read about what spiders it is “safe” to be bitten by, I suggest treating each one as a possible serious situation and cleanse the wound immediately and then waiting for any new symptoms to develop before calling for emergency assistance.
the only good spider is a dead one just caught not 1 but 4 the size of half dollars
I decided to take a short cut on the way to school my Freshman year of high school. I had to go through some trees and stuff to get there and I ran into a web. I’m absolutely horrified of spiders (even though they interest me) so I proceeded to dance around for a second and checked over my clothes and shook out my hair and didn’t see anything so I continued my trot to school. I got there and chatted with my friends in the gym until we were dismissed to classes.
My first class, English. I always sat in the front row, I love English. About 20 minutes into class, I felt a little tickle in between my breasts and I stiffened up and was horrified to look because I automatically gathered it was a spider and that class happened to be full of about 25 jockey guys. Awesome. Plus my teacher for that class was kind of a hag. I continued feeling its little legs crawling in my cleavage and stopping for a minute then continuing again for the next 30 minutes.
I sat and waited for the class to be over. I have no idea how I managed to not freak the hell out. When the bell rang for the next class, I already had my things gathered and shot as fast as I could down the hall to Math before anyone else could get there (thankfully it wasn’t likeee down the stairs or on the other side of the building or something). I quickly set my things down and didn’t even look, just reached down into my shirt and grabbed whatever it was and threw it. I looked to the floor to see a pretty good size (slightly smaller than a half of an apple or so) wolf spider on its back flailing its legs at me. I screamed and shot off to the other side of the room and turned back to see the little bugger trailing behind me on its back still flailing.
Turns out I guess it squirted some webbing to my hand when I grabbed it or it already had some on it (maybe it was trying to make a cozy nest in my cleavage, and I HAVE seen these little speeders make webbing looking nests in the trees here in Missouri as well as when I lived in TN, they were just whispier looking as if someone threw a bunch of stretched out cotton in the trees or something). It may not be a normal thing for them, but these ones did and I know they were wolf spiders because I wasn’t the only one that looked at them and they looked exactly like the photo on here. Plus I lived around them in TN for about 9 years. ANYWAY.
A guy that I talked to once in awhile came in the room just as I was on the table and shaking my hand, which did no good since it was now crawling up the web (god it was so fat EW EW EW) and I’m dancing around screaming bloody murder and he’s like WTF are you doing in here (lol).
I jumped down and wiped my hand on the chair (which thankfully actually worked) and ran to the opposite side of the room and pressed against the wall pointing and panting the word “spider”. He picked up one of our heavy high school books and threw it down and I heard the crunching. I felt so bad. Regardless of my horrification of spiders, I always feel bad when I kill them (not at the moment but after a few minutes I do) because I mean it didn’t bite me or anything, it just irritated the skin there and burnt for awhile and it was just sittin’ there chillin’ and whatnot and we all know how cozy of a place boobies can be.
*Sigh* I do agree, I don’t like killing them, but their creepiness and scariness provokes me.
The only thing that can make me scream like a little girl= spiders and ticks.
Hope that entertained you! Made for one heck of a day for me!
@Lori:
The spiders you are describing are called Black Widows. They are very lethal when they bite. You should get an exterminator asap. Do not chance it. I have had 2 friends in Critical Condition hours after being bit. They barely pulled through.
My first experience seeing a wolf spider was after a night of drinking. We had just moved into a new duplex and across the street they had cleared out an entire field of trees. Well, I was in the bathroom and thought I saw a HUGE spider crawl very fast across the floor and go into the vent near floor. It happened so quick I wasn’t even sure. However, I was convinced there was a tarantula spider on the loose!
I called my boyfriend and friends who all told me to go to bed because I was too drunk (which I wasn’t) and must be mistaken. So went to bed with a towel under door and vent closed in room. Next morning I awoke and walking down hallway I see this HUGE (about 2 inches) hairy spider again!!! This time I screamed and woke up boyfriend who was quite irritated and was convinced it was a tiny spider….Until he saw this thing! I’m yelling at him to kill it NOW! So he actually grabbed a spatula to kill and threw it outside. He called up his dad (former Army) and he gave us a spray to use to keep them out.
I HATE spiders…even tiny ones. They creep me out! So when I saw this huge spider I was beside myself. I hope to never come across one again. Especially, since I read this article and it said they bite.
Friday I got bit by something all I know is that one morning. I woke up and I had this painfully itchy spot on my arm my husband said it was a wolf spider but my mom said it was a black widow but it was not cause if i was i would most likely be dead well my friend said that it mite b a brown recluse I was bit bygone when I was six o and the spot was big and red and raised up like a bump please tell me what it is cause I’m a stay at home mom with 2 twins and another one the way.
I love Wolf Spiders, and have never once been bitten by one. But once, I was walking on my favorite nature trail with my brother and mom, when I saw a HUGE spider, it looked like a baby Tarantula. We took it home and put it in my brother’s terrarium that used to belong to his pet snake. We talked to my Uncle Stephen, who volunteered for Missouri’s Conservation Department, and he said that it was a female Wolf Spider. It made a small web in one of the corners closest to my brother’s bed, and always stayed there, pressed up against the glass in a creepy way. My brother soon started to have nightmares about spiders, and then my mom. We then let the spider go in our yard. It was really creepy. If anyone has experienced anything like this, please tell me.
My husband was mowing the yard yesterday and this huge spider ran beside him and he freaked. He grabbed a pail and let the spider crawl inside it. He’d never seen one as large as this one. We looked it up on line and found it to be the Wolf Spider. Everyone we showed it too could not believe its size. It was interesting to read up about the spider and pass our knowledge onto all our friends. My husband released the spider in the woods behind our house. Where we hope he’ll find a nice home. We took picture’s and Id post them for all to see but I am not sure how to go about doing it on this sight.
i got bit by a brown recluse when i was 2
Wow.. there are really a lot of responses that are an eye opener… some of the pics are weird too… most probably the pic from griselda. That is one ugly looking bug… i don’t wanna be anywhere near it.. I have sever arachnophobia, just looking at the pic makes me shrivel …!
But it looks like nobody has named it. Whats the name of that spider or whatever it is?
Aren’t there anybody professionals here? or at least the site host should/must do some research and provide some info…
thanks!
I like to eat these wolf spiders. They are full of nutrition and they are good with blood worms and raw tuna. They have to be fresh though. I live in south LA. I catch them, put them in a jar, boil a small pot of water, add a dash of crab boil then use chop sticks to dip them. Only for a second or two, then eat! They are awesome.
So I have a couple of these that live in my house….Yes they do bite me on occasion…it hurts a couple days i go through the stages…but it heals and i move on but yeah I’m a bit fond of them ..I’m about to name them they chill in my bed and well i don’t know why..or how i should react to them ..I saw one next to my head in the morning..I just laid there watching the spider crawl…I really in no way had an urge to jump or move it..I simply just closed my eyes and snored my but off. Hmm well I don’t know..These guys aren’t too bad…!! They do humor me…I go out on my balcony to smoke and they just lower there selves from the roof like little ninjas which is hilarious…..!!! haha
Almost like they are smart enough to interact with me..which is a bit frightening. I don’t know i killed one before i was acquainted with these suckers and it bothered me that i did that…i slowly killed him ..guess i was afraid to go on with the killing but then i just had to end it…i don’t know maybe he wasn’t suffering..I did not like the feeling though. Recently my daughter has been getting bit from them like crazy..Is that bad…Do i have to ask those things to move out now?????? They are being ungrateful right now!! After all ive done ..shelter them and allow them to prey on those irritating scums. lol They need to show more respect that’s all im saying. other then that I think they know I’m mad now.
One bit me and nothing happened, no swelling or bleeding, just irritation like a mosquito bite, and there was no mistaking this spider for anything other than a wolf spider, I captured it then we became friends. c:
I found a spider tonight right next to my bed. It was on the ceiling near my bed and it was freaking me out so I tried to take it outside but when i stood on my bed and reached for it and the thing jumped away and now I have no clue where it is. I live in the eastern seaboard USA. This spider was probably about the size of a nickel and it was pretty much exclusively brown, without much pattering. However it is possible it was a recluse given the fact that I didn’t see it for very long. I tried to go to sleep in my bed and I kept getting false alarms in my head that it was attacking me. I am now in another room and I want to know what it might be. A lightish brown spider, nickel sized, with legs that go straight up and down. The legs didn’t go as far out of the body as many other spiders. What is this spider and should I be concerned?
Living in UT i’ve had horrible problems w/ wolf spiders.. I’d come home from work in the middle of the night to a wolf spider on my porch and I’d smash it; w/in five min another one, usually smaller, would come out and I’d smash it too and go inside for the night. I’ve learned that they travel in pairs, eat their dead, they come out from under their rocks looking for water; the pest control personnel also had me put sticky spider traps in my storage closet outside my apartment, which caught the small and medium spiders. The large ones would maybe lose a leg or two and keep on trekkin’! Gross..I also put a sticky trap just inside the house behind the front door in case I missed one during my nightly “stomping ritual.”
I now live in a new apartment, 2nd floor and the wolf spiders will crawl up the carpeted stairs and go for my laundry room…I can hear them crawl on the stairs. SOOOO CREEPY!!! My advice is to get them away from the dwelling, two stories I’ve read had people bitten, one who squeezed spiders out of the bite, and one I’m afraid it’s coming by her description of the bite at this stage. TAKE PRECAUTIONS!!!!! And God Bless Oh-BORIC ACID is a powder that can be spread in doorways and window wells that the spiders walk through..they lick the powder off their feet and die. I’ve had success with this!!!
K.H. in Wasatch Area UT
Oh and to the biologist there are actually 4 poisonous spiders that doctors recommend medical attention including brown recluse black widow hobo spider and brown recluse varying upon age and state of health and over 90% of spider bites are misdiagnosed or said to b another critter and your kind of close mindedness and reasoning is why people with severe reactions often pay the price you should know better being a scientist and all after u huts thought up evolution but god forbid there be something out there that you all knowing beings don’t know EVERYTHING about
I have recently found a spider outside my front door he hides under the top portion of our underpinnings and builds a very well crappy web attached to our porch however he rarely uses it to hunt and he doesn’t come out except at night he is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches counting the legs and a tan like brown with a white line down his head with a black v shape outlining the white and then a bit of white on his back his legs have bands on them varying from dark brown to blackish he’s not aggressive at all and eats all his food not just the insides I’m not sure but from my research I believe he may b a wolf spider HOWEVER I have arachnophobia to the extent that if I accidentally walk into a web I start to imagine things crawling on me and have had some cases of night terrors not nightmares.
but night terrors I don’t won’t to hurt him but I can’t walk out my front door I refuse to its that bad plus my three year old daughter fell and her foot slipped between the door and porch ( she has a weaker immune system than the average child and is highly allergic to most biting insects or animal in this case) right into his territory luckily he didn’t attack I am scared of them but its against my belief to kill unless its for food or pure survival ( law of the land) I really would like it if someone could back up my classification of this critter he’s not the first one actually he’s only the second the first one was about 2 1/2 inches in size and hunted on the ground in my flowers can anyone help o and by the way those of u that say multiple bites are not spiders I can prove you wrong I have medical records and pics showing multiple bites and that they were from a huntsman spider and I honestly don’t see how u can assume how much pressure a spider needs to break skin I think u should also take into account any deformities malnutrition dehydration deficiencies and/or basic condition of the said persons skin and the fact that depending on the environments and ecosystems these same spiders could have easily evolved new techniques for defense and hunting after all spiders r the fastest evolving creatures on our planet constantly adding new additions to their genres
To all you people who befriend spiders——-> SEEK PSYCHIATRIC HELP!!!
Spiders are not cool, friendly, or pets… THEY ARE venom injecting pests. Wolf spiders love to feast on the blood of unwary people who are peacefully sleeping. If you experience itchy bumps on your skin when you wake (or notice them later in the day) then you probably have a wolf spider visiting you while you sleep. One sure way to catch them “in the act” is to stay up one night and watch the walls near your bed. They like to see if the coast is clear before moving in for the “kill”. KEEP IN MIND——> A wolf spider that is praying on a sleeping person will generally appear from hiding when you would normally be asleep.
All in all, these are rather intelligent spiders….but MAKE NO MISTAKE they are not to be handled and treated as a pet. Nor should they be allowed to live in one’s house…..Unless you have some sort of perverted fetish for spider bites.
I was at my grandmas yesterday and we got out a slip and slide for my 2 yr old daughter in the backyard. Right after we started the water, we saw LOTS of brown spiders. One was as big as a nickel(body only) and the rest about a dime. I picked up my daughter and headed to the house. My dad grabbed the slip and slide and took it to the front yard. And again the moment the water was on more spiders!
This time however they sat on the slip and slide! And started to attack my sister when she tried to scare them off so she could go through it. At first we thought they were brown recluses but then realized they were too big and looked kinda furry. Now I’m pretty sure they were wolf spiders. But it sucked because my daughter wanted to play in the water and I couldn’t let her because there were too many spiders. Easily 20 all over both the front and the back yards.
I was upset and I’m sure she was too.
Lori- the spider your talking about is the Black Widow, very poisonous! Don’t get bitten.
Frances- the spider your talking about is the Brown Recluse, probably THE most poisonous spider in the U.S. Seek medical help immediately!
Griselda- the spider is a scorpion spider, they are poisonous but don’t think they are lethal, but if you get bit get medical help immediately.
I was bitten by a wolf spider at the Petsmart. I was hidden inside a cat bed and bit me on the hand. I had two small fang marks that itched, but no other symptoms.
My brother was just bitten by a wolf spider and he had to go to emergency to have it lanced open. It was pretty gnarly.
Black spiders with red circles on them? Might be a black widow which is highly poisonous! You should call an exterminator and keep the children away from them and tell them to never try touching them!
im a biologist and have some work experience with arachnids. Im going to tell everyone on this thread that as a matter of fact, these creatures possess no natural tendency to go out of their way and attack you. As for ALL people who proclaim they had to go to the doctor for “spider” bites, 1: it most likely was not a spider, 2: if it was and you live in the continental united states, YOU WILL KNOW if it is a venomous spider because their are only 2 and one (Black widow) will make you horribly ill for a month or so and the other (brown recluse) will cause localized necrosis (contusions and skin rot). The fact of the matter is that if your not deathly ill or have skin rotting off your body, you are not the victim of a venomous spider. This excludes all people of residents within south America, Asia, parts of Europe and especially Australia.
got bitten by a spider and think it is a wolf spider i would say it was as bad as it could be
last week i saw a wolf spider (I think) on the laundry basket and it crawled in my couch really fast, it was as big as a quarter i think.
How hard is brown recluse to get rid of because I have found 2 in my house this week. Help! I’m thinking if professionals come spray will it just hide them deeper. The one I found this morning crawled or fell out of my chest in the bedroom after I put something in there. I went straight to the computer after killing it and confirmed it is definitely a brown recluse. It as the fiddler body..yikes! Please let me know what you think is the best solution to exterminating.
So i was outside tanning today and i got bit by a spider. I’m unsure of what it was, because i freaked that it was on me and flicked it off of me. i did some research and thank God i didn’t get bit by a brown recluse. i found one in my basement tonight along with a wolf spider. yuck! my skin is crawling I’m so scared!
Lori,
If the spider you saw had 2 red dots on its back that looked like they formed an hourglass, then it was a black widow. They are dangerous and can kill people, especially children.
my boyfriend got bit by a wolf spider last summer while sitting in a fishing boat off the dock. it bit him on the toe. he began to have an allergic reaction and ended up at the hospital. he was about to go into cardiac arrest. These buggers are dangerous! they also hide under boat docks. (we have seen one a few times come up between the wood) pay attention to your body and how it reacts once your bitten. his pain/numbness traveled straight up the leg and he broke out into hives. Got to the point where he had tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing. Don’t take any chances! seek medical attention! every BODY is different but this gives you an idea on how dangerous a bite can be.
to the haley pae girl above. the rabid wolf spiders venom is is no more poisonous than any other wolf spider. swelling and acute pain for 10 mins is the general association with any wolf spider bite. some people may experience it more but in my opinion they’re just hypochondriacs..
In the middle of the night my husband woke up complaining his head was dizzy. I looked at his face, and one eye was moving independently from the other. So I got him to the hospital and the doctor said ” This is either MS, a brain tumor or ALS.” How could he know without any testing.
So after a spinal tap, CAT scan, MRI and many blood test, nothing showed up. His eye returned to normal and dizziness was gone too.
We traced my husband back to sitting in his lawn chair to smoke outside, and underneath were black widow eggs and spiders. He is since back to normal.
hi there i have three sets of bites. they are about a centimeter apart the two holes and they itch but no swelling and no bruising. what spider did this. i get them at night so i don’t feel them but i really don’t want to sleep in a bed wheres there’s creepies.
For the first time in my life, I actually had a bit of a reaction to a spider this morning. Was making coffee in my northeast CT home when I noticed legs curled up from under the edge of the counter-top…Think I disturbed him/her when I pushed the coffeepot back against the wall because suddenly those legs became an entire wolf spider approximately 2″ in diameter. This particular spider did not seem to be aggressive, but was definitely fast…probably due to it’s long, hairy dancers’ legs. : )
The only time I’ve killed anything in my life is by accident. Fortunately, I had my 19 year old son close at hand, told him to grab a piece of paper and remove “Wolfie” from the house. It was still dark outside and I could see him/her running across the back porch to freedom. Now I wish I had taken a picture. I’ll continue with my Buddhist leanings, keeping them alive and letting them out when I stumble upon them in the house and will always remember what my mom told me: “They’re more afraid of you than you are of them.” Funny thing is, I never had to tell my kids that…they were born not wanting to even step on an ant.
In the end, when one lives in the woods, one should expect spiders of varying sizes in and outside of the home. As many spiders as we have, I have never been bitten by a single one. Neither has anyone in my family. We leave them alone, they leave us alone. It’s kind of strange, but I’ll take it.
I live in NJ. And well, 2 spider bite in one month. Last year, the ticks loved me. I think the first bite was from a small jumper while tending mom’s flower garden. It bit me on my inner calf and healed pretty quickly – didn’t itch too much either. Today, we planted the garden. I saw loads of wolf spiders with egg sacks running around as we hoed, raked, and put the plants in. Some were pretty big. When I got home and took a shower, I noticed a bump on my hip just below my waist… weird place to be bit when wearing jeans and a t-shirt. As the night went on, it started to itch and swell. I haven’t gotten much sleep with it and my skin feels like it’s crawling now. There’s two ‘pimples’ from where the fangs went in… not to pleasant since one is on a stretch mark. The fang marks are about 1/4+ inch apart… this looks like it was a big boy/girl. I’m going to say I ticked a wolf off since that’s really the only ones I saw there. I can also say serves me right for spraying home defense around the house yesterday….
BTW, I noticed a few pics in the thread are actually Grass Spiders and not Wolf’s.
I have to disagree with the “non-aggressive” stance myself. I have been encountering these spiders at an alarmingly growing rate in recent years (I rarely saw them as a child- now I cant move 100 feet in any given directions -indoors or out- between March and November without coming across a handful). Almost ALL interactions either personally, or second hand, seem to be aggressive ones. I’ve seen these spiders chase FULL SIZED dogs, and grown men if they get to close. They’ve lunged out of sinks that were reached into (hiding in the drain!) and from under couches. Late last summer one came running out from below my dads recliner right after my niece -about 6 feet away- who had just sat down to play cars. I don’t know if these is another strain, if their personalities are just different based on locale or if they are just becoming more aggressive with evolution…. but it’s not comforting. The bites are horrifying and need attention immediately!
To get rid of spiders get spray from a store that provides a bug barrier. Cheaper way is 2 ounces of coconut oil and 1 pint of white vinegar put in a spray bottle and spray around the house
AT Francis S from may 3rd. I believe you got bit by a brown recluse. I’ve seen a similar case.
I live in upstate New York (by the Hudson River)My family and I have a large yard surrounded by woods and there is a stream right across the street,not that it matters any.Ever since I was younger I have had a fear of spiders,most do.I’ve seen the small one’s once in awhile crawling on the wall or hidden under something,but I was quick to step on it without a second thought (other then wanting to bomb the place)It was last summer,right before fall was about to kick in,we had some construction done on our back porch,right before we were about to go to sleep I let the dog out(through the back door)
I stood there in my own thoughts and out of the corner of my eye I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life (other then t.v) it was the size of my hand (if you don’t count my fingers) I rushed for my husband to come look and kill it and even he(who doesn’t let anything phase him) was in disbelief, he had to step on it 4 times to kill it.of course neither one of us could sleep that night.I bombed the house the next day as i have children and to me a spider THAT big must be a danger.I never saw one that big again,until today when I was out planting trees.
I was removing railroad ties from the driveway and I saw what looked to be the same exact spider,only not as big and it had a sac.it took me a good half hour to gain the courage to spray it with spider spray(sorry for those who would rather let them crawl away, but I don’t do spiders period) I did however run and grab my camera before spraying it,if I can figure out how to post it here I will,but i would like to know if anyone knows what kind of spider this is…
As some people have stated, if you think you were bit by a spider, it most likely was NOT a spider. Spiders do not typically bite humans, and most spiders fangs cannot even pierce a humans skin. This statement is backed up by an entomologist, who appears on WI Public Radio about once a month. Spiders are after bugs, not humans. I have lot of different spiders in my house including wolf spiders. If I see a relatively large one, I’ll capture him and put him outside. I live in the Northwoods of WI. So there are many different kinds of bugs, and I never kill a spider, because they eat other bugs. The wolf spiders are very fast, but they always run AWAY, from me & my cats. They also have very good eyesite. If you do get bit by something, I would say its best to get it checked out though. I’ve also had 6 pet tarantula’s, and they have never bit me. I like spiders, they eat bugs!
@Lori says: May 4, 2011 at 12:35 pm
This sounds like a “black widow” to me. I have seen them this large in AZ.
Inside of house I use “Raid FUMIGATOR” box, has 3 treatment cans in box you add water to to use it is a blue cardboard box 8″ high by 2 1/2″ square. One caution is to put them on China plates as they get quite hot in use due to chemical reaction.
They normally kill all bugs inside the treated area for about 6 to 9 months including “Roaches!”.
Each can treats 300 SQ Ft so one box is normally good for a 1000 SQ FT house.
@ Frances S. What you are describing sounds like a “Brown Recluse” bite, they can be lethal as much as 10 years later.
Friend of mine was a cable TV man, got bit ended up loosing 2 legs, 1 arm and died from complications 10 years later from not getting help within 2 days of the bite.
In southern Virginia: we have found several 2 inch long wolf spiders in a large metal shop building surrounded by woods. All have tried to avoid contact with us. Half had egg sacks attached. this is in April/May. One found May 12th was covered with baby spiders. when I dropped her outside the small spiders scattered.
I have let them all go because I always thought they were safe unless you are a smaller bug. I came to this site to prove to one of the employees that they were harmless but now I learn there is some danger from their bite and we are expecting hundreds of them.
I have been collecting individual wolf spiders for over a year now. They are not aggressive and will calmly walk on your hand or arm . My present spider has, just this evening, produced an egg sac which she carries on her abdomen. She is fond of moths, flies and wasps as her dinner. I also provide her with water on a cotton ball. She is free to roam once daily from her glass-sided home. SHE ALWAYS RETURNS BY MORNING. This is some bright spider!!!!!
Ray
My boyfriend and I live in the basement at my mom;s house, every single night when were getting ready for bed a spider (thinking this one) comes down on a web right above our heads!
I live in western New York. I have discovered that my property is covered with spiders, a whole lot of variety. Mostly they don’t bother me. Today I was playing with my niece and a black spider crawled across our floor. I would love to know what kind it is. I’d have taken a pic but sadly the little bugger is crushed on the bottom of her shoe. It was about the size of a quarter, legs included. It was black and had red circles on its back. It looked almost furry. Right before she stepped on it it looked as if it was going to jump and attack her foot. I have seen these outside my house as well. They are a lot bigger outside, the size of a half dollar. I have never seen these things near a web but they are all over the front of my house which is ceder wood. Any ideas?? If they are dangerous I need to know. I always have a house full of small kids. Even as I write this my niece found 2 more in my kitchen and both were big like the ones outside. Please help!
I got bit by a spider about a month ago. It has not gotten any better. In fact my upper thigh is stinging now. It is eating the skin around the bite. I believe it was a Wolf spider that got me. After it fell out of my pant leg, It ran fast. Never saw a spider so quick like that one. It finally stopped then I stepped on it not realizing I needed to keep it so it could be Identified. At first the bite looked like a mosquito bite by next morning it looked like a white zit. Then it got a lot bigger in size. and around it was a dark purple. Now my skin around it almost feels like a sun burn. Anyone out there with a similar story. That can tell me what spider did this by chance?
I saw a wolf spider when I went camping it was about 100cm long my poppy grabbed him by the back.
I thought I had been bitten by some sort of spider because I had a 2 hole bite mark and a bump that just kept swelling constantly for weeks. I finally got sick and tired of this bump and the irritation it caused and put a needle in it to relieve the swelling. I thought puss or some liquid would come out and the bump would go down in size…
…NOPE!!!! instead hundreds of tiny black spiders crawled out everywhere. I panicked, threw on a shower cap and rushed to the E.R. hoping to contain them and get answers because of course I was a little concerned. They had no idea WTF had happened and sent me to an infectious disease doctor after cleaning wound site and putting spiders in a tube. The infectious disease doctor diagnosed it as what is called a Burrowing Wolf Spider(black in color and smaller than these Giant ones that are common). The site in my head had a hollow hole where these eggs were layed and also the culprit spider itself(dead of course). The rare thing about this particular spider is it is only found in South America????
After shaving my head so I would not look like a fool with a missing plug on the back of my head I noticed what I now know is called a Bull’s eye rash. This is a single red dot surrounded by a full circle(about a half dollar sized) this is a Deer Tick Bite which leads to all kinds of chaos with your health. At the time I thought nothing of it, over the next 2 years I began becoming very ill and was diagnosed with everything from testicular cancer to rhumetoid arthritis and back again. In 2008(December) I told my mother that I was going to die, by that time I had sores everywhere, my blood work was all jacked up, I was swollen but losing wait rapidly(I went from 6′ 1″ 225 down to a sickly 132 lbs. on a 6′ 1″ frame, not pretty). Thank GOD that 2 days after I told my mother I was going to die we saw a story on our local news about Lymes Disease(you do not want this hell of a disease) I saw a Lymes Literate Physician and I tested positive for Lymes, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, 12 different parasites, and several Bacterial infections due to going undiagnosed. I lost a testicle, had a surgery on my left shoulder to repair joint damage, as well as had 4 other surgeries on my testicles, and had dozens of cysts removed(turns out this was the bacteria walling itself off from any and all anti biotics and causing clots and bio-film sacks of bacteria and parasytes) quite painful to say the least.
It is 2011 and I have Chronic Lyme Disease, it is like taking Parkinsons, Malaria, Chronic Fatigue, Anxiety/Panic attacks, Alzheimers, and Lukemia along with non-stop extreme pain in joints and muscles like MS and mixing them all together as one disease. I guess the point is, if you think you have a bite, GET IT CHECKED OUT BY MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You never know what you may find out, don’t put it off like I did. I am only 32 years old, I have been fighting all of this stuff for 2 and a half years treated now and almost 6 total from the time I noticed the the rash and bump and I most likely will have to monitor this and take dozens of medications for a long time if not the rest of my life. If you have anything like this, especially the bull’s eye rash find a Lymes Literate Physician and get tested. DO NOT GO TO A HOSPITAL OR A REGULAR DOCTOR(unless it is to get a referral to a Lymes Dr.) I went to Emory University in Atlanta, UAB, Kirklin Clinic and Mayo Clinic, as well as 5 different hospitals and saw 50+ doctors and they could not figure what was wrong, they just kept messing up the diagnosis and damn near killed me with their treatments and meds. 36% of all lymes patients test false negative and 86% of standard western blot test for Lymes are inconclusive, but if you have Lymes the Dr.’s treat the symptoms(97 total, I had 86) and these symptoms are all over the place as I mentioned several terrible illnesses that is mimics. Lymes Disease is called the Great Imitator because it can look like so many different things and can lead to blindness, deafness, and craziness. Many people have been mis diagnosed in some cases as long as 25 years with mental health issues, drug addictions, arthritis, hiv, cancers, etc. and noone believes you when you keep getting sicker and sicker and sicker.
They thought I was on Crystal Meth??? WTF? never touched the stuff. I gave them permission for a spinal tap to rule out any mental or drug related illnesses as well as spinal diseases and merca or staff, all came up negative after 3 different types of tests just to be sure. I lost my job of 8 years as a Golf Course Manager and the following job as lead sales associate for Under Armour in the South East U.S. because I just could not perform even simple tasks, looked very sickly and not presentable in either one of those fields when you have to deal with millionaire golfer/home owner members and athletes from little leagues to the Pros with UA. Simply put one little bug the size of a grain of pepper wrecked my life because I did not take proper precautions when bitten, I did for the spider but not the bull’s eye rash bite site and I even pulled the tick out of my head with a razor blade and tweezers but knew nothing of lymes. I never have even been to South America and tests show that the spider and the tick(because of types of parasites and bacteria in my blood are only found there) were both from that continent and were most likely transferred as early as 2002 when I started at these Golf Courses( 4 total on a resort) from a clients golf bag, luggage, or clothing and believe me I encountered hundreds of South Americans from tourists to pro golfers.
Lymes has destroyed Olympic Sprinter/Dinstance Runners Careers(Perry Fields) as well as Football stars like Wyatt Sexton, QB FSU and many other peak performing human beings such as Doctors, Athletes, even strong sturdy animals. BOTTOM LINE IS, IF YOU HAVE AN UNIDENTIFIED BITE, SPIDER, INSECT, SNAKE, ALIEN, STUFFED ANIMAL… …I DON’T CARE, GET IT CHECKED OUT, so you don’t have to live my hell. You have been warned J/K.
***Oh, by the way- Wolf Spiders are harmless other than minor irritation in bites provoked or unprovoked and other than being creepy they are great pest control, to get rid of them use fly tape or glue strips in areas where you most commonly see them as well as cracks and crevices near those areas, I suggest releasing them outside or in a wooded area or rocky area if you can stomach taking them there( get over it they are harmless spiders, not even in the insect family therefore not a “BUG”) or just keep killing them. I also have 2 cats and 2 Dachshund Dogs and raised 11 puppies, 3 litters of theirs and they all have messed with these large Wolf Spiders(the big brown ones with 2 yellow arching stripes, kinda look like Wolverine from the X-men’s Uniform?) and even eaten one here and there, nothing has happened to any of my pets illness wise due to these large creepy but harmless arachnids.
Thank You for reading I hope this has helped,
God Bless You
—Jonathan Blaze 5150
Panhandle, Niceville, Florida, Gulf Coast
i have recently gotten bit on both legs by this spider it hurts really bad!!
I’ve never had a problem with wolf spiders before. Out of all the spiders, I like I’ve ever seen, I like them the most. There was one in Hawaii that was about 2 inches long and it was living under the sink where a guy was working on his house. Everyday he worked on that sink and he’d just look up to see the wolf spider sitting there behaving itself. I have a ton of mini wolf spiders in my backyard too. When i was younger I’d catch them all the time and I was only bit once for it and that was when i squeezed one a bit too hard.
well my teacher today found this spider at her house so i called my mom and asked her if i can keep her she said yes so now i got her and she loves to eat moths shes brown with one little tan and i named her sally (or Charlotte) and shes getting ready to have them shes very nice and not aggressive and when i went to this website it gave me all sorts of things about her. I’m really glad i got her shes very good and i feed her a mouth turns out she doesn’t eat just the blood she eats the whole thing. and I’m from NC, union grove . turns out this type of spider isn’t so bad after all so when you see a wolf spider don’t kill it just leave it alone if you stay out of its space its going to stay out of yours trust me.
I also have to disagree with the “non-aggressive” nature of this spider. I’m sure it depends on the actual species but the one that was in our home last night was rather aggressive. It attacked my cat! I suppose it could be considered self defense but here’s what happened… My cat was sniffing and possibly poking at it (not sure… just making a logical assumption). As she was sitting there staring at it, waiting for it to move, the spider lunged at her.
My cat was trying to get away from it but the spider ran up onto her body and my cat freaked out. I’m not sure if it bit her or not but she was a mess all night after that. She doesn’t seem to be sick or in pain so hopefully nothing happened.
I don’t know if this will help anyone but my father and i like to use carburetor cleaner on any pest. mostly wasps because it is fun to see them instantly fall from the air, but we lived close to a field at one point and we had huge wolf spiders. Carburetor cleaner is super lethal, and it will put down the ballsiest of insects, even spiders. I don’t want to kill spiders, as i believe are very interesting, but they often provoke me to cause significant harm to them.
This happened about an hour ago. I was in bed trying to get to sleep when all of a sudden I felt something on my foot. I moved since I thought it was an ant. Then my big toe and the toe next to it started itching a lot. So I was scratching with my other foot for about 5min before I decided to turn my lamp on an check my foot. So I turn on the light and look at my toes which seem to have been bitten. I then roll back the blankets and a wolf spider comes running out. Cursing, I got a book and killed it before it could slip under my bed where I couldn’t find it. Currently, I am experiencing a painful foot which feels like it’s burning cold. My leg is beginning to ache a bit too. Also, I’m imagining that I can feel things at my feet and keep having to pull back the blankets to check in paranoia.
I am here to settle the can wolf spiders bite in bed question- YES THEY DO because I just got bitten by one about 2 hours ago. I’m in Australia and I was laying in bed felt this sudden bad stinging pain on my foot. I took all the blankets off and saw a big spider running for the door. Its a wolf spider and I’ve been on the net since looking at info hoping i didnt need to go to hospital or anything! Its still red and has a burning/tingling sensation, actually hurts a fair bit. Thinking I’ll have to go to the doctor tomorrow! Thanks so much for putting all the info on here – very grateful!
The most amazing thing was a fight we ob served between a Wolf spider and a Praying Mantis. The fight lasted at least 30~45 minuets, and for a while it was pretty close.In the end, the Wolf spider won. It ate the innards right out of the Mantis
for about 6 months now my family has been living in our apartment and have continuously been bitten by some type of insect we have been told they look like spider bites but never saw any bugs we have check for fleas and bed bugs and have neither, but what strikes me as most odd is in 6 months we have never seen any bugs not an ant not a house spider not a single bug ever and last night my father encountered a large hairy grayish tan spider about the size of a half dollar. we live in central ny does anyone know what kinda spider this could be and could it be our culprit?
I keep getting bit by a wolf spider. For the last four weeks, I have had a headache, nausea and vomiting. I’ve gone to the emergency room twice and my doctor once. I have an appointment to see a Gastro guy. They have given me many blood tests and ultra sounds and they all turn out clean. They all tell me that spider bites do not cause these symptoms. I know they are wrong – no one has a virus for over 4 weeks. What kind of doctor can I go to so I can get help? Also, my daughter who sleeps with me has had the same symptoms (she gets bit too) for over 4 weeks.
My grandson just got bitten about 4 days ago on his back at his waist line. He had from 5-6 bites in a row that swelled up to about half dollar size and about a 14 ” deep. Two days ago he was bitten again on his wrist and this morning two bites on his chin. They do itch.
His family owns 36 acres where the wolf spider is all over. Unfortunately they bring articles to my home at times and these wolf’s come in.
They are considered animals, not spiders. They are intelligent and will attack if they feel threaten or hungry. They are large enough to knock things over and are scary as all get out.
I took my grandson to the doctor and he had no idea about wolf spiders until I told him, after he had said it looked like a bite to him. He is looking it up on the internet now and will he get a surprise.
I won’t argue about most the facts up there except for one… those guys are aggressive and they do attack unprovoked… was sitting at my computer one ran along my desk and hurled right for my hand i watched it for a moment then left the room as it came towards me. waited outside my room not too sure how to approach it so i peeped in to see where it was… this charging me on the ground, it continued to chase me in short sharp bursts of speed for about 2 minutes… but that thing was tenacious and wanted to maul me
I live in Adelaide Australia, and have noticed for some weeks this hole that appears in one of my pot plants, every time i cover it up, it reappears. Today i investigated and found a wolf spider, well he came out of the hole very quickly(after seeing pictures of them on this site, he looks exactly the same) hes about 8cms in length, Grey union jack markings on his back and underneath rear end, it looks browny orange with a Black V I am not sure what to do with him. I do not want him coming back… Hes fascinating to watch and when i put a cricket in the tub he’s in now, he jumped on it and carried it around with him…but very aggressive..don’t blame him lol, should i just kill him, i am allergic to all vemons so got quite a shock to see so many people with painful symptoms.. or are these spiders ones that get milked for and anti venom? Sorry i don’t know anything about spiders, apart from Redbacks and white tails..
Regards Suzi
I was a bit puzzled, tonight a neighbors son saw a spider come into our home. The funny thing about it is its dead in the winter. I said it was brown and about the size of a quarter. Im really not a fan of any such insect.
i hope that everybody that gets bit by spiders survives because i was at school one day and my friend had gotten bit by a black widow and didn’t survive. RIP MARIA
The best way to deal with a wolf spider in your house is to put a cup over the top of it, carefully slide a piece of card under it, and then release the spider outside. I keep a transparent, plastic cup for catching insects and spiders so that I can see exactly where the animal is before I remove the card to release it.
It’s understandable that people don’t want them in their houses but they are beautiful creatures who should be put outside where they belong.
About two weeks ago I awoke to a pain in my neck and left arm. I thought I just had a strained neck from the way I slept. Day #2. I noticed red circular marks on the left side of my neck. They were obvious bites wear you could see the pin prick marks. Day 5 or 6, Since the beginning,gI feel the pain on my neck and around 5 of the total bites which I count as 10 to 20, have turned black. They are about 10 mileometers long, and are very painful. The morning I noticed my sore neck I also noticed a Spider that I think is much like a wolf spider. I see conflicting info. that spiders don’t bite more than once; or that they attack a sleeping person. I live in Buffalo, NY by the way. Any ideas? P.S. I got bed bug bites at a motel once and these are totally different.
Hi, we found this spider about 10 yrs ago, near our house under some cardboard, in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. She was very big, the size of a tarantula. I figure she was female because she had an egg sack on her back. We scooped her up with a shovel to move her further away from the house. Her egg sag fell off the shovel and she jumped off, ran after it, picked it up and ran in the direction we were taking her. We have asked people who were born and raised here if they have ever seen a spider like this one and no one has. Does anyone here know what kind it is?
It seems I can’t put a pic here, if you would like to see a picture of her, please send me an email at dolfun82002@yahoo.com. Thank you
I think a wolf spider almost bit me! I was washing my pet cat Sam and all the sudden I feel something on my arm I look down and I jumped and screamed. There was a gray spider with two red or orange dots on it. I couldn’t see it that much cause I freaked out, so there’s my story.
Ok I was getting my boots on and I shook my one boot and there was nothing in it, I shook my other boot and nothing came out. Well I put my foot in that boot and there was a spider in it and I got bit. I ran to my dad and we looked in our spider book and it said that it was a rabid wolf spider. I ran to the hospital and it was poisonous!
Sincerely
Haylee Pae
My sister was cooking and she opened the cabinet to the spice area and a wolf spider jumped out at her. We have seen these spiders for almost a year. How do we get these spiders out of our house?
You probably already gotten the answer, but yes it is a wolf spider.
You are crazy the Brown Recluse is very dangerous and could kill a child with only one bite!
Maybe you should read about the BROWN RECLUSE AND SEE THE PICTURES OF THERE BITES!!!!
I found a black spider in my room, hiding in my laundry, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I live in Ohio and I’m really freaked out. Does anybody know what it could be?
I hate spiders. I think you are so lucky not to be scared of spiders because I am scared to death of them.
I got bite by one today it hurt
@212 If you got a infant i well help you, it seems to me a GARDEN
ORB-WEAVING or a grass spider.
do they have any poisonous spiders in areas like port angelous or the western side of the US ?
hi, my name is Regina. i like spiders they are not scary . they help us to get rid of flys. but if spiders didn’t live bugs would take over the world. aaaa!!!.that’s why spider are important.like the brown recluse,
black widow,brown widow,banana spider,giant sea spider,hobo spider,
wolf spider,garden spider,jumping spider,brown spider.and every
spider is important.
Also wanted to add, I’ve seen these guys in the bathtub, kitchen sink, and in the bathroom sink I’ve seen 2 in the little overflow drain holes in the sink, just peering out all scary looking. The first time, I caught a slight movement in the mirror, and looked down just to see the long legs disappearing into the hole. Scared the crap outta me. Usually if I see em in the tub or sink, I just hose em down the drain, no problem. My grandma told me to put these ugly, lumpy little green fruits around the house, like behind the couch, under the bed, under the bathroom sink, etc. She gave them to me last fall, I think she called them osage oranges. I didn’t see anywhere near as many spiders last year as I’ve seen this year. I see at least two of these guys a day, if not more.
I live in NE Ohio, about 20 minutes west of Youngstown. We’ve been getting these wolf spiders overrunning our house since about August. I’ve seen smallish, slimmer ones that are a light brown color (which I hope are not recluses but I’m not getting up close to get a good look!), medium size blackish ones, and a few big hairy black ones about an inch and a half to two inches with legspan that look like mini tarantulas. The prime areas I see them are the first floor bathroom and laundry room. I think they like the bathroom so much because we have black tile, and a lot of times I don’t even see them until they go creep-crawlin away.
Probably a good place for them to hunt, since they’re so well hidden on that floor. I don’t really care if they’re in the house, but if they have the misfortune to go running across my field of vision, they’re dead. I know, I know, they’re just doing what spiders were put on the earth to do, but still… I don’t like them at all! The other night I was laying in bed reading, and I seen something out of the corner of my eye, so I looked and there was a big grayish looking one, bout 3/4 of an inch I’d say, sitting on my pillow! I freaked and threw the pillow on the floor. He got away, and I had trouble sleeping that night, lemme tell ya. I bought some Ortho Ecosense Indoor Insect Killer, ’cause it’s safe to use around kids and pets, and it worked pretty good.
I had to douse the spiders pretty thickly with the stuff (it came in a squeeze spray bottle similar to Windex or Febreez), and the spiders would run around for a minute before stopping after they were soaked, but they would be killed. I felt a little bad, but I just can’t stand big hairy spiders, they scare me, and I certainly don’t want one biting my 8 month old son. I got bit on the wrist by one, looked like a little vampire bit me, and it got red and itched, and then got scabby, but no swelling or sickness or nothing, so I wasn’t real worried. That was back in June, and I have two little round white scars now. Oh well.
13 days ago I woke up in the middle of the night feeling something on my face near my eye. I brushed my face with my hand and there was some insect, as I brushed it off my face I experienced severe pain. It felt like an insect with a stinger and I thought as I brushed the insect away I rubbed the stinger across my face, causing a scratch. When I looked in the mirror I had two bites or stings which became raised, slightly red/white, painful bumps that looked like small mosquito bites. We searched the bed and surrounding and we didn’t find any insect except what we identified as what we think was a burrowing wolf spider behind the bed. I iced the bumps and the pain went away in about 10 minutes. Within a few hours the bumps had completely gone away.
I watched the bite sites for the next few days and there was nothing, the bumps had completely disappeared. Due to the disappearance of the bites I assumed it was not a spider bite. Now, 13 days later the two bumps have re-appeared in the exact spots they were the night I was bitten. One is a little bit itchy, but not painful or bothersome at all. They are small (about 1mm) , cyst like bumps, slightly red. Is it normal or possible for me to have a reaction to the bite almost 2 weeks later? What would cause these two bumps to re-appear? Any thoughts?
I have been finding these spiders in my south-eastern VA home lately.
They have brown & black markings, are about the size of a quarter & are FAST. Wasp killer, and other “insect” sprays do NOT kill them. It does slow them down, but I have to swat them to kill them.
I don’t care how “good” they are, I do not want them running around my bedroom with my infant.
Is it a wolf spider or something worse? Thanks!
NC October – I was worried about BRs, but I know for a fact that my spiders are Wolf Spiders. The brown body and yellow stripe matches exactly. We have several on our front porch each night. I watched one box a bug and the bug crawled away. They can NOT climb well at all. They Jump about 4-6″ and are Super Fast. Sometimes, if I walk near them, they’ll crawl around kinda fast (not as fast as they could) and jump at me, so some have been squished.
Possibly irrelevant – My son was bitten by something, in which a round clear hard bubble of fluid formed. After it softened and popped on its own, the spot was red and disappeared. Could’ve happened anywhere, but since WS is common right here, maybe
I live in the FL panhandle. I’ve been bitten twice by wolf spiders. The first time was in bed, it bit me three times down my arm. I felt it bite me. My arm swelled up huge with bulls eye welts for about 2.5 days. At first I thought I was coming down with hives until I saw the fang marks. My lymph nodes were affected and my arm was very sore. The second time, I was napping on the couch and while half asleep, rolled over on my side to face the couch. It bit me on my eyelid! I immediately felt a strong burning sensation and by the next morning my eye was swollen shut. 4 days later and my face still hurts but is almost better. We’ve killed several of these guys just wandering down the hallway or stalking their way to my dog’s kennel. Creeps me out, but really, the bite isn’t gonna KILL you, just hurt and make you look like a freak for a few days. I had the exterminator out as well as laid out glue traps everywhere. I’m actually more worried about the brown widows and their egg sacs we keep finding on the porch.
oh, i hate spiders. Today at school, I was goin to get a volleyball and as i was walking back, i saw this BIG spider. My best friend walked up to me to see why i had stopped walking and was looking at the ground. when she saw it she screamed, and all of a sudden we had everybody where the spider was. Finally, the P.E teacher came over and told everybody not to touch it. She took a picture, but i didn’t get one. I have a feeling that it was a wolf spider. I still don’t know if it really was a wolf spider, but i was telling everybody to stay away, because i knew that wolf spiders can bite, and i didn’t want anyone to get bit. It was a black and brown spider that was kinda hairy. what would you do if you saw a spider. Would you scream, would you just stand there, or would you take action? please tell me what you would do.
Thanks
.
wolf spiders aren’t aggressive… that’s not true! one jumped on my hand about 12 inches away and bit me
This spider was outside of our house. We live in SE Wisconsin. We’ve never seen a spider this big in this area. Can anyone confirm it’s a wolf spider? Look at it’s reflection in the water…this thing was big!
I have a wolf spider I caught for bio class. I think he is pretty cool. We are suppose to observe him and research them. I have tried provoking this spider and he will not do anything but look at me like i have lost my mind. My theory is that the people who have been bitten has disturbed them in some way. Because my little guy is big and is pretty mellow.
Three days ago something bit my leg.. at first it was itchy but now. The bite it red and swollen and very hot. my whole leg around the bit it kinda hurting and throbbing. We have wolf spiders around here. The problem is getting worse and worse in the city we live in. And sometimes they get as big as a quarter or a little bigger.. I’m wondering if maybe that could be what bit me or if I should go to the doctor?
#201 they might be wolf spider, if i feels soft then it is.
i was wondering if wolf spiders jump because i had one and it was trying to jump is what it looked like to me when i was poking at it with my finger.
I recently have been seeing spiders that everyone says looks like a wolf spider. It has the yellow 2 stripes on the back and its got black and brown markings on the rest of it. They may spin a funnel web. I live in KY. so I was wondering if you can tell me anything cause my daughter and i have been bitten by them.
I’m disappointed not to see a reply to Linda from Ireland about spiders in her sisters house. Every year we have these very large spiders appear from September to almost November. They have hairy legs and protruding eyes that i could only describe as headlamps they run at an enormous rate and i am terrified of them.two nights ago i woke to find one crawling on my bed.i had a magazine on the bed and actually heard it run along the page.luckily i captured it so i don’t know if it would have bitten me or not,today i woke with a bite on my neck very red and inflamed,i am almost sure its a spider bite but am not certain as i didn’t see one when i woke.my family think im crazy and paranoid but can someone tell me could they be wolf spiders in Ireland? please help? I am finding it hard to sleep? thanks..
My big brother found a wolf spider in our kitchen and it went under the fridge and like 10 minutes later, my mom squished it with a shoe. I went in there to pick it up and throw it away and I saw this little teeny tiny wolf spider next to the big one……I found two more within 30 seconds. My carpet is brown and the spiders are brown so now I’m scared to put my feet down or go to sleep! Please help!!!!!!
Today I found a spider to us it looks like a wolf spider, we also have a lot of brown recluses in our house so I caught some and put them in a jar with the wolf spider and the wolf kills and eats all the others. Is that normal and how do I get rid of the spiders?
It’s sad to see so many misinformed people posting on here. If you have several bites it is not a spider at all.. you have something else biting you! I find it interesting that when people have a bite they assume it is from a spider when actually most spiders can’t penetrate human skin, not to mention they don’t go around looking for people to bite. Spiders are shy and more scared of people then they are of them! If you have several bites then you better clean your house and get the pest control company because you have something that feeds on human blood biting you.. not spiders.
This is usually fleas, ticks, bedbugs or mosquito’s. People can and do have allergic reactions to all of these bugs. If you mess with a bite it will become infected.. use common sense and don’t touch or scratch at it. If your house is overrun with spiders then you need to clean your house. Seriously, spiders cannot live without a food source. A spiders food source is bugs so if you have a ton of spiders that means you have a ton of bugs! This is frequently seen in older houses that are not sealed up tight or homes where people are messy and do not vacuum and store food properly. Spiders are actually the least of your worries. They are very beneficial to the ecosystem and they help rid us from the bad bugs. Become informed and don’t fall for the myths!
Wasp spray that has the nozzle that shoots 20 feet works GREAT at killing wolf spiders. Have had them for about the last 2 weeks with the last one having a body about 1 1/2 inches long. I used brooms, shoes and roach spray (which doesn’t seem to phase them). The advantage with wasp spray is you don’t have to get near them, just sweep up the dead bodies later. I asked my vet if bug bombs would work and he said yes but bug bombs won’t get them all. They get into small holes where the spray can’t get to them. And if the earlier comment about dead bugs attracting brown recluse spiders I would rather kill wolf spiders one at a time. They keep cockroaches out of my house and as long as I don’t see them (the spiders) I’m willing to live and let live. Good luck.
My name is Clark from Amelia, Ohio. 30 minutes east of Cincinnati. I found a small spider the size of a pencil led in my home pool’s filter. He was gray and with white spotted. legs small. When I was bitten by the spider my Index finger swelled up like a water balloon. I was unable to even feel that spider gad bitten me about 30 minutes later later. After being bit, about an half hour later their was sickness that occurred in the middle of my stomach. If anyone can help with the identification or information of this spider please feel free to comment on my post or email me. We were unable to provide a picture because I thought it was nothing to be worried or concerned about.
Earlier this evening, a menacing three inch spider crawled across the carpet. I know it won’t hunt me down and bite me in my sleep out of spite, but such a large and defined insect really, really creeped me out. Even my dad jumped when the thing scampered up the wall when he came at it with a plastic bag. While staring it down, I got a good look at it, and it actually looked more like #4, Amanda’s spider. Doing quick research I found that Huntsmen spiders, like #64 suggests, like subtropical areas like my native Florida. They look similar to wolf spiders, and it seems like they hunt the same way, too. I always got the two confused, and I’m not sure if I could tell the difference if they were the same size. My dad’s a landscaper and could tell you that spiders are good–but it doesn’t detract from the creepy factor.
While there are spiders capable of breaking skin, the VAST majority of what people have described to me as “Spider Bites”, were nothing of the sort. I have personally been responsible for the captive care and breeding of a wide assortment of spiders – from the largest bird eater, to some of the smallest that would be barely visible on the tip of a pin.
To those who think they were bit while sleeping, that was either a bed, bat, or swift bug (bed bugs parasite humans, bat and swifts parasitism those animals respectively, by will feed on nearby humans.) Those bugs often feed at multiple sites, leaving a string of welts across a persons body.
Where I live in Maryland, there are only two species that pose a threat to humans – the brown recluse (a rather slight, unassuming looking spider), and the black widow. Based on a description of the incident and viewing the wound, it is fairly easy to determine if someone was bitten by one. But every ER doctor seems to make the common mistake of calling two welts separated by about a centimeter, a spider bite – something that annoys me to no-end!
Spiders certainly do bite people at night. It’s published fact that almost all people eat hundreds of tiny spiders per year while they sleep because they search for the warm of our open mouths.
Other than that- I once woke up in the middle of the night to a stinging sensation on my face (between my left cheekbone and eye)… It was a spider that decided to make a nest inside my old bed’s cubbyhole (part of headboard design) and came out for a snack while I was sleeping.
We have discovered a spider on our front porch and have been told its a wolf spider by some and a tarantula by others. It doesn’t seem aggressive but its not exactly my idea of good company. I hope you can tell me by looking at the photo what kind of spider it is and do we need to destroy it? If its killing pests and won’t bother anyone I don’t have a problem with it, but if its going to spit out hundreds of offspring and take over our home, I’d rather know that now than later. Thanks for any information you can give me. I will send the photo to the indicated picture site.
It drives me crazy when I read from an “authority” on spiders saying they don’t bite you in your sleep. They don’t bite you unless provoked or trapped. I know for a fact that they do. Something else that the experts are apparently ignorant of is the size of spiders. We grow them big in FL. I have seen black widows the size of a CD/DVD legs and all – with a ball / abdomen the size of a quarter. I’ve seen BRS the size of a mini CD or roughly 2+” across. I was bitten by a small black widow years ago that I smashed between my toes accidentally. The symptoms were by the book. I had them all. Thankfully it was a relatively small one about the size of a half dollar across. I thought I was gonna die for a while there. I do agree that black widows will only bite if provoked or trapped unlike many other spiders.
Wolf spider bites that I’ve gotten in my sleep are mainly dry bites that don’t turn red or itch. I’ll feel pain in the area and then see the fang marks which turns into pretty heavy pain and a nice bruise after a day or so. The dry ones hurt a lot more than the others. The most painful one was a night where I was bitten twice by a large spider/s on the shoulder. It felt like an adrenaline shot which is what I would imagine getting stabbed with an icepick would feel like. The best part is that it felt that way continuously for a week. The smaller spiders that bite me for ‘family’ buffet night don’t seem to have the control with the venom that the larger ones do. I have a smaller bite that is almost healed on my achilles tendon was definitely loaded. It was red and itchy and wasn’t looking good until I put some honey on it with a bandaid. The smallest one on the back of my hand actually rotted off a few layers of skin and looks as though I was burned with a hot iron. I used honey on all insect/spider bites. It does work. The dry one on my elbow feels as though I was struck by a hammer very hard. The one on the same arm in the forearm area feels like somebody “frogged” me with their knuckle extended several times. I’ve recently started sleeping under a insect net that I have wrapped around my mattress that does the trick assuming that you don’t roll up next to the edge where they can get to you. Considering the fang marks being 1/4″ apart, these are some BIG spiders. I killed one the other day that was running down my living room wall at 3:20am. It took about a pint or more of poison to drop the little sweet heart. I may have just drowned him. I have that little rascal in a jar soaking in alcohol.
The pest control guy told me it was a wolf spider and congratulations on killing one of the most beneficial spiders out there.
These spiders are extremely fast. If I don’t sleep protected under my net, I get a minimum of two large bites a night along with a smaller one. If I roll up against the edge where my arm is pressed against the net, I get bitten like last night. They must really like the taste of my blood, but I’m quite tired of them. I’ll be getting some traps to kill as many as possible before I move from ‘spiderland’.
I think I saved a wolf spider (He looks similar to #152)? I was out enjoying the sun when I noticed a bug dragging a big spider! The “bug” looked like a big “metallic” ant that can fly! I shooed it away – and moved the spider to the shade – he seemed like he was paralized (sp?)! Then I felt bad – because what if that bug gave him a dose of something that desinegrated (sp?) instead of just paralizes and he’s in pain! Then the “bug” kept flying around me looking for his food, didn’t want to get bit/stung by him – I swatted him.
Does anyone know what that bug could have been? (California area)
The spider is fine (after 24 hours) – he’s in a saucer with an open lid on it – I put some water in there every few days! He’s been there for a 1 1/2 weeks, guess he’s happy – he can get out at any time!
I usually don’t like spiders/bugs AT ALL (I SHOW NO MERCY “IN” MY HOUSE – I sleep in there). I felt bad for the Wolf spider – if that’s what it is – as I always thought they were “harmless”! I’m re-thinking that after reading this VERY INFORMATIVE site. Maybe re-locating the spider where I don’t usually garden……