The brown recluse spider is part of the genus Loxosceles and is sometimes known as “fiddleback” spiders or “violin” spiders because of the violin-shaped marking on the top of the cephalothorax, which are the head and the thorax.
The brown recluse spider has six eyes, which are all arranged in three pairs (sometimes a pair may be so close that they look like one eye rather than two). Their eyes are also their most noticeable feature which makes it easy to identify a brown recluse spider.
Identify the Brown Recluse Spider
The violin-shaped marking is typically found only on more mature brown recluse spider. The brown recluse is range from a light tan to a darker brown color with their entire body being covered with thin hairs. The brown recluse spider is about 3/8 inches long and about 3/16 inches wide. Although the male spider are somewhat smaller in body length than females, their leg span is usually the same length.
If there is more than one color on the legs, or if the legs are dark brown, or if there is more than one pigment on the abdomen, it is NOT a recluse. Note: spitting spiders (genus Scytodes) have a similar eye pattern but do not have the violin mark.
The brown recluse spider is found throughout the Midwest and the southern central part of the United States. It is very rare to find a brown recluse spider outside of those particular areas. Brown recluse spiders are typically found outside in many different areas such as under rocks or logs, woodpiles, dirt, or debris. However, during the cooler months it is not uncommon to find brown recluse spiders within the house, especially basements, attics, closets, or anywhere else that is dry and warm.
Many times during those months the brown recluse will go without any food or water. It is nearly impossible to fully get rid of brown recluse spiders once they have become established in these areas of the home. The brown recluse does not spin a web either to catch their food; instead they hunt their prey which usually consists of insects, either dead or alive.
The brown recluse is actually somewhat nocturnal, as they spend most of the daylight hours hidden within rocks or logs. They line these homes with webbing, which is later used for holding their egg sacs. If a brown recluse spider is seen during daylight hours it usually has to do with the fact that they are hungry, otherwise they stay hidden.
Our Brown Recluse Spider Bite section has some very graphic pictures of what happens when people are bitten by a BRS and pictures of the spider. Rick Vetter over at UC Riverside Dept of Entomology also has a page on Entomology – Brown Recluse Spiders. The agricultural extension service of the university of Tennessee has a brown recluse spider packet in pdf format the you may also find helpful.
Here is a quick test to determine if you may have a Recluse:
1) Has 3 pair of eyes, one in front, one on each side.
2) Has Violin shaped marking
3) Legs must be one uniformly light-colored
4) Only one pigment on the abdomen
5) Fine hairs on legs, no spines
6) Body length is less than half an inch (3/8 usually)
Brown Recluse Spiders
Brown recluse spiders are not aggressive unless they are aggravated, which is like many other species of spiders as well. Some cases where they may bite is if they are trapped between skin and other surface or when putting on clothes that they are hiding in.
Because of that it is extremely important to thoroughly shake out clothing before putting it away to ensure that there are no hidden spiders that could possibly bite. The brown recluse spider bite is often not even felt, which makes it very dangerous. In some cases the bite is noticed right away because of immense pain, for others it can take several hours before the bite is even noticed. The reaction to the bite depends on how much venom is injected.
The only deaths reported from a brown recluse spider bite have been with children under the age of seven. However, the brown recluse is one of four species of spiders that is dangerous to humans along with the black widow spider. If bitten by a brown recluse spider it is vital that the victim seeks medical attention right away, and if possible capturing the spider and bringing it in will help ensure accurate identification. More about the Brown Recluse Spider Bite
Use clay-powdered. It works as well as a poultice. Mix with spearmint oil and echinacea also powered. I use this with grease for my goats udders.
I have used a kennel universal spray from a farm supply store that can be safely used around animals. (You need to let the kennels, barn, ect.. empty for 2 days atrer spray. I’ve found it safe and keeps spiders, fleas, flys, mites and more at bay for up to 6 months.
Do you think my bite is from this spider? My house is covered with spiders. We have 3 inchers all over and we keep spraying inside and outside and we can’t get rid of them. A week ago I thought I had a small bump (maybe a mosquito bite I thought). By the next evening I was about to pass out from the fever it grew two about 3 inches, it was hot and hard. By the next morning it was nearly 6 inches and there was so much bloody pus coming out. I was still sick with a fever. I finally went to the ER 2 days later. Doctor told me it was most likely not a spider bite (even though there are two puncture marks) and that it is just a staph infection. He had to cut it open and clean it out and place this tubing in it to help allow it to drain. I am on anti-biotics. He gave me pain meds but I hate pain meds. I am just pushing through the pain. But I have some pics to show. How do I get pics uploaded to you?
My dad was bit by one in west virginia. It started off looking just like a misquito bite, then it got larger and darker. Eventually the venom started eating away at the back of his shoulder where he wwas bitten. There was an open sore 3in in diameter on his back shoulder filled with purple and white stuff. it was nasty.
I wish there was more information and pictures on the internet focusing more on the ‘beginning stages’ of a spider/BRS bites. It’s certainly scary to see what a spider bite can do, and GREAT information on this site.
I have an unusual ’round’ itching spot on my back, and I’m not really sure what it is, I suspect being bit and am looking for information about what happens in the first week or so, and the ‘wondering if it needs medical attention’ stage.
Unfortunately my spot in on my lower back close to my side, and is very difficult to reach or to see in a mirror. I remember scratching it several days ago in a store, I felt a little moisture and I just figured that I had scrapped my back, it was healing/scabbing, and figured I just scratched a scab. I didn’t think anything else about it. A few days later (not even sure if when it was), but Yesterday I was watching TV and was scratching it again and thought to myself that it should not be itching anymore…….it also felt ‘hot’. I had my 8-yr old daughter look at it, she said “you need to leave that alone”, and said it was round with a dot in the center. It is as someone described above, ‘a white welt circle area surrounding a rashy red circle with one spot in the center. I looked up ‘ringworm’ and other rash information……I only have one. I have not experience the ‘extreme pain’ described by other bite victims above………but also take a low dose of Suboxone for Spinal Arthritis, so often mask pain if it’s not to severe.
I’m also uninsured, and would have to go to the ER to see a doctor, but still not sure if it is even worth going…….it doesn’t have oozing and black/purple areas, nor is it sunken or swollen, just about a quarter size round area that really itches and burns. It’s the dot in the middle that makes me wonder………I can’t really look at it to see if there is a second dot or bite mark, and I know it should have healed by now, so need to figure out what it is. Does anyone think a Brown Recluse bite can go four to five days without turning purple, black, and oozy?
I was pretty certain that I was bitten by a brown recluse spider last Thursday at about noon. I probably crept between the tongue and side of my shoe when I was visiting a friend outdoors.
By evening it was getting very painful. By bedtime I could not even sleep. Finally, in excruciating pain at 3 a.m. I called 911…
I bounced out of it in about 36 hours and my guess was that it was because I take cortisone drugs daily due to Secondary Addison’s Disease–thank you for your article.
I live in Arkansas and we have an infestation of these spiders everywhere. They are non agressive unless they are disturbed near their nesting place. They are nocturnal creatures, and will hunt other insects at night. If you see one in your home during the daytime, more than likely your home is infested. There are several ways to kill these spiders without spending tons of money. First, buy traps, these are boxes with dual openings that have a sticky substance inside. Place them in dark undisturbed places along the walls. Second, find your local farmers co-op, purchase a chemical called Demon WP and treat your home.
These spiders love cardboard boxes, and furniture with hollow undersides next to walls. They also hunt, so if you eliminate their food source (other bugs) they move on.The babies can be just as venomous. Many people that have been bitten in the past develop an anti-venom resistance to the poison and therefore do not react. The bite symptoms are pain, fever, heart arithmias, vomiting followed by necrosis if left untreated.Necrosis is the death of tissue, and it will spread if not stopped. Amputation is rare, but skin graphs are common.
I have witnessed these spiders from various sizes. The smallest being the size of a pea, and the largest being the size of a silver dollar. Some are dark, almost grayish black but typically brown. Males and females share the same venom danger.They are common everywhere, and the only state in the US that has not reported a bite is Hawaii. The most common period for bites is from March to September. They are very dormant in the winter. Studies have indicated that they carry the same dangerous poison as rattle snakes. So if your home is infested, try to imagine hundreds of rattle snakes in your house. Sorry but just being real! Feel better now?
We just found one out side our house im scared it got away they are very fast !!!!! we dont know what 2 do that has been the second one we have found aroung our house we live in kentwood michigan
K seriously, all you people who are freaking out seriously should just got to the doctor and get it checked out. Don’t be worried as “blister” does not mean its a brown recluse. You should refer to the internet first to see if there is a established population of brown recluse in your area.
i was in gumbet turkey 08/08/09 and got bite the bar staff said it was a spider bite and to got to hospital as it was the night before we flew home i waited till i got home i was give high antibiotics by mt gp .the swelling has gone down but the hot and cold shivers or itching in my body have not stopped yet.
Hi! I was bit by a brown recluse spider just as my senior year in high school was starting. I am still unsure when I was bit but it was either when I was sleeping or when I was getting my senior pictures taken (in front of an abandoned shed with a bunch of rotted beach wood) but it was on my lower leg. At first it just felt like a really itchy mosquito bite. Eventually it grew and I asked my mom. She said it looked like an in grown hair (except there were two areas). One night at work my co-workers noticed the bumps through my pants (one just below the knee and one lesser one just above my ankle), and asked to see it. It was finally starting to hurt. My mom wouldn’t let me go to the ER because of my lack of insurance.
When I got home from work that night I was sobbing and ended up sleeping on the couch. I was in so much pain that I would just cry and convulse. The next morning, they burst open and I showed my mom my blood spotted pajama pants, then she thought something was wrong. I noticed a black center in each (necrotic tissue) and after getting meds to treat it, I ended up with two holes in my leg (about the size of a marble around and about 3/4 inch deep). I couldn’t go to school for a week and had to take two weeks off of work! I was broke, in pain, and after the incident, I was so terrified of getting bit again I hardly slept for months. I would imagine them crawling up my legs in my sleep.
Some nights, I crawled into bed with my mom to feel a little more secure (mind you, I’m 19 years old). It aslo compromised my immune system… i was constantly sick my entire senior year. I’m better now and not afraid of sleeping. I found that if you are bit, it is best to keep it cool (do not heat, you will die of pain). Cooling is less painful. ALso, use a warm tea bag to help draw out inflammation but more importantly GET MEDICATED! GO see a doctor and do not try to treat this yourself… the pain will make you crazy!
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Answer to Kaitlin’s Question; Yes brown recluses can appear anywear and please check your ”Moswuito Bites” out and makesure that that spider did not bite you because brown recluses bite but have a venom that nums your skin so that you will not feel the bite wait about 2 days and if one of your ”Mosqito bites” start getting red around the area you where bitten take ammiteadte action and go to the ER ASAP !!! Or your life could be in danger.
My father just got bite by a Brown Recluse and he waited about three days until he went to the ER but when he went they immeatly cut the infected area out and gave him 21 shots beside his wound and 5 other shots in his side.Now each day until his wound heals he has to boil it out with peroxide each night just to make sure he doesnt get a big infection started.And then he later repilied that he was so glad that he went or he’d be dead.
I was bit by a brown recluse in eastern washington in 1986 and let me tell you, you will know if your ever bitten by one you get really ill you can not even walk after 3 days and the bite creates small blister around the wound which eats away your flesh and they keep poping and creating more blisters which causes the wound to get bigger and bigger which if not treated can cause gang green, I HAD TO BE RUSHED TO HOSPITAL AFTER 4 DAYS OF AGONY AND GOT ANTIBIOTIC SHOTS FOR 6 MONTHS, I AM DEATHLY AFRAID OF SPIDERS SINCE THAT EPISODE, BUT I WAS ONLY 4’11 AND 98LBS AT THE TIME.
Are Brown Recluse Spiders very common in Michigan? I was recently camping and one night my friend saw a rather big bug on the tent wall above my bed(it was very dark). She knocked it off the wall and I forgot about it. The next afternoon as we were packing up our things, I saw a spiderweb in my bag located near were the bug was spotted the night before. I’m deathly afraid of spiders so I got my friend to get it out with her shoe. It seemed small at first but just kept going deeper into my bag. I saw it continue to go under one of my clothing items at the bottom of the bag so I asked her to keep going. She pulled the item away and a huge (well huge for me) brown spider was revealed and it started to scamper away. At this point, I wasn’t generally in the best state of mind but I would say it was roughly about the size a quarter in full span. We killed it and even though I’m home now (it happened three days ago) I’m still obsessing. I have alot of mosquito bites but I would notice if I was bit by this spider right?
🙂
I found a squishy nob in the roof of my mouth. My mom is a nurse and she opened it. The site was numb but now it is sore and is sunken in and looks like a rounded triangle. Is this a brown recluse bite? Should i seek medical attention? I live up in the Rocky Mountain area, real woodsy. Can they survive and thrive in the Montana-Idaho area?
Wow, I never have been so anxious about the unknown in my life after seeing this site and not knowing which way my body is going to react on the 7th day. I fell asleep on my couch 6 days ago and woke up randomly at 2am because I felt pain at the base of my breast. I felt the area and thought I had developed a tumor because it felt like a hard round knot under the skin. I looked in the mirror and saw a quarter sized bright red area with little bumps on it. I went to my bed and slept 6 hrs. When I woke I had an orange sized area that was light pink and the same quarter size area.
Much to my dismay, I was encouraged to go to the doctor and I didn’t go until a day later. My doctor explained the seriousness of this and I exclaimed how terrible it would be to have a big gaping hole in my breast! So, she gave me a prescription for lipoquin; but, because it was over $100 out of pocket, I asked if there was anything similar that had a generic brand. There wasn’t really, but my doc agreed to try CIPRO. Might have been a big mistake on my part because my doctor has not seen a lot of improvement with it.
On the 3rd day, you can see the picture I sent where I now had 3 big circles of bright red as large as my hand. The first 2 days i was in pain and it hurt to even where a tshirt. Because I had to go to work I just had to endure the pain of even a wire undergarment that went right on top of it – ouch! On the 4th day, 3 or 4 white dots appeared in the quarter size nucleus. On the 5th day the quarter nucleus became purple. On the 6th day, I completely panicked because the quarter nucleus became very dark purple, which you can see in the 2nd picture I uploaded.
When I went to the doctor, she said CIPRO really isn’t helping and is not a drug that targets tissue well enough. So, she switched me to Avalox, but only as a second option to sending me to a plastic surgeon to try to do something by cutting me in some way. Because it is Friday, all of them and the surgeons my doctor is familiar with were gone.
The doc said it is not dead cells yet she doesn’t think because the skin can still blanch. She told me to watch it all weekend and go to the hospital if the quarter area stoppings blanching, which will mean the cells are dead and they will cut a hole in me! After looking at these pictures, I have no idea what is going to happen from here. The area itches along with other parts of my body and my upper left arm feels like it has been punched. I have not had any fever or aching yet, but have been really tired. I was told not to try to squeeze the area no matter what because my body would be using the whatever I would squeeze out to try to fight the venom. They said that what is best is to hope the antibiotics and my body fight the venom off and the area becomes a head…and, then I am meant to squeeze out the stuff.
But, because it is getting dark, they think I am going to have dead cells. I am praying that the Avalox stops the cells from dieing. I am reading on here that antibiotics don’t treat the venom only the other things that can occur like staff infection. Must eat lots of yogurt to replenish the good bacteria being killed by 1800 mg of strong antibiotic. Does anyone have a better antibiotic that has worked once it got to this stage?
Does anyone know what a brown recluses bite looks like. I believe my boyfriend got bit last nightafter taking out a stack of old phone books. It started as a diamond shaped red area about 1inx1.5in, then the next morning turned into a small pimple like area with a white head. Can anyone give me an idea if this is a brown recluse!?!
Wow! My husband was bit by this spider a few days ago in the screwed up apartment we just moved into! He has a Very dark area around the side of his elbow and what looked to be 4 white pimples clustered together.2 days later,after the swelling,he has four dark red craters and skin hardening under the bite site.Im taking him to the doctor today and we are moving out next week because of the landlord will not upkeep the grounds or the units!!!!
CAN ANYBODY TELL ME THE DIFFERNCE BETWEEN THE HOBO AND THE BROWN RECLUSE? ARE THE SAME BECAUSE TO ME THEY LOOK VERY SIMILAR AND THEIR BITES LOOK VERY SIMILAR AS WELL.
ok so i live in San Diego CA we just moved and yesterday i noticed a particularly painful bite of some sort. It is on the back of my knee which makes it very hard to wear jeans, i wasn’t too concerned till today, when it was even more painful, and when i looked at it i noticed it now has what looks like a white head on it, and it is redder. There is also a line that seems to be tracing what could be a vain. I don’t want to let this go any longer then i have to, and if i could get some advice that would be great.
(the center is whiter then in the picture)
I got bit exactly 7 days ago and have been on 4 antibiotics for 5 days with little results. I researched and ordered this kit which arrived yesterday. Today (24hrs later) my bite has come to a head and is draining by itself. My swelling is down 50% and my pain is gone. It uses activated carbon with some liquid solution and costs about $30. If you think you have been bit, don’t wait! Seek medical attention quick!
i look i down i saw my bite it was the size of a dime.It was like i watched grow before my eyes.Then,the next day it was the size of my palm.Without waiting another day i went to E.R room to get it checked then they had to drain it! Ouch!!:(
I just caught a Brown Recluse, but i didnt know what it was at the time. So, when i found out i got extremely scared and burned it.
I got a bite a week ago…I am not 4 sure what it is..it kinda looks like staph infection..but I just don’t know..I have gone to the hospital and they don’t seem to know what it is either…it looks like “Jennifer” ‘s picture but I don’t know..the hospital put me on “bactroban” and “Clindamiacen”…if anyone has any advice on what to do…please contact me at “Pccatcher2013@yahoo.com” thank you
just an update,
A female Dr in the ER yesterday gave me a shot of anti biotics, a scrpit for keflex, prednizone and loratab. I’ve been putting ice on this bite for a week to the day now that the bite occued and i believe the ice greatly slowed down the effect of the venom. The dr said that normally it would only take days for the bite to form a black hole on top of my skin but mine hadn’t yet, it was deep purple.
today , the deep purple area is raised more than yesterday and has widened in size. the pain is considerably better though i haven’t noticed a change in the swelling much.
At least this Dr did something about , which is much better than the first ER dr that i saw an hour after the bite happened, and the surgeon i saw the next day.
Female Dr in ER adviced that if the dark purple becomes black, to get to a surgeon ASAP so they can take out the dead tissue.
Black Skin = dead skin/dead tissue.
PLEASE HELP!!! I am relocating to Alabama and just recently found out that brown recluse and black widows can be found in that state. I have 3 little children and I am terrified that one of them might get bitten…specialy by the brown recluse after seen all the pics of the bites and the necrotisis that can cause. How bad is the infestation of these spiders in Alabama? Do you see them alot inside the houses?
Thanks for your time!
Fortunately I have never had to deal with a brown recluse bite, but my sympathy goes out to all of you who have. Horrible experience. I live in the central Texas area and I remember several years ago there was a doctor on our local TV station talking about applying a nitro glycerin patch to the bite to ward off the effects. From what I understood it had to be done quite soon after the person received the bite, but once it was on, the person experienced very little swelling and there was no tissue death. Has anyone else heard of this? I have looked on the internet, but have not been able to find any information about it.
Hi my name is Donna I”m not sure what kind of spider bite i have but I awoke one morning about 5 weeks ago to find my leg stinging and a big red mark that looked like i had a ring worm or a cigarette burn on it .i went to the doctor and got a steroid shot but i have been back about 3 times and am currently on antibotics . so far its not looking any better but i dont have anything running out of it
The issue with the brown recluse bite is not its lethality. Its most likely one of the nastiest spider bites imaginable. Will it kill you? Most likely not, however people have lost fingers, and limbs due to its bite. It is a very serious bite and without treatment is very dangerous.
A week ago i was laying in bed just about ready to fall asleep and i felt this sharp piercing pain on the front of my throat , just instinct i slapped at it and jumped up and turned the light on and i believe it was a brown recluse lying on my pillow, almost immediately it started to swell, its burned and was really red and hurt so bad! The next day i stopped by my doctors office to ask what i should be watching for since ive never been bit by a spider before and they took one look at my neck where over nite it had formed a huge red knot under my skin, they said they would call me in some steriods and antibiotics and that i should start them right away. Now i have finished my steroids and have 1 day of the other left and i have 2 hard knots under my skin that itch so bad you want to scratch your skin off but it still hurts to touch it. I had a bad headache for the first 3 days was sick , had chills and cold sweats .I am still getting the cold sweats just not as often.I asked my doctor if she wanted me to bring the spider in so she could see it (my husband saved it) she said no its a recluse we just need to watch it cause it might rot my skin off and that it was a bad area for that to happen!
You can use activated charcoal which has a negative charged to it and will remove the positively charged venom but it must be put on immediately. One can also use a product call HEALON, comes in a small white bottle and costs like $40 bucks, has all the healing herbs in scripture. Get books on activated charcoal to learn how to do the WET compress, (note, you have to keep the charcoal wet like pudding consistency wrapped in syran wrap over the area.) But always consult your doctor anyways. You can do this as a first response.
WE LIVE IN FLA .I GOT A BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER BITE IN JUNE 09.IT STARTED OUT LIKE A ANT BITE .IT WAS PAINFUL AND I DIDN’T GO GET HELP CAUSE I WASN’T AWARE OF WHAT THE SPIDER COULD DO.BUT SOON FOUND OUT IT IS NOTHING TO MESS WITH.THIS IS NOW THE MIDDLE OF JULY AND I’AM STILL FIGHTING THE BITE.DON’T WAIT!MIND WAS ON THE BASE OF MY NECK NO ROOM FOR ERROR THERE.
I recently was just bitten by what i think is a brown recluse i havent found out yet though if it was or not, but i was at home (springfield ,TN) and packing for the lake and once i left and got there i felt an itch on my arm (so it must have bitten me in my sleep i have no idea but i do live in a very old house in the country) and it started to turn red fast but as a few days went by i noticed a blackish brown spot in the center of it and started to feel sick at night then noticed the heat coming out from my arm. it had swollen into a huge know which went down the next day i am going to get it looked at tomorrow morning hopefully to find out its healing already, it has already kind of unswollen but still itches and sting like crazy. so ill keep posted.
i’m from england
my leg started to itch on the night the next day i had a ring round part of my calf it then turned in to a blister and popped leaving my skin very red . it looked like something had eaten into my leg. anyway it got infected and was painfull. it ended up taking a year to heal, and now i have a scar but the skin on it is very thin so i have to be careful not to scrape it of bash it as it would take part of it off
I am here to tell you that a bite from a brown recluse is very dangerous.
My sister was bitten about 4 years ago and has had to have 6 or 7 surguries. The latest was just 2 weeks ago. It left a huge hole in her stomach. Which still has to be packed with gause every day. She came very close to death a couple of times. BROWN RECLUSE SPIDERS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROS.
Now I think my husband has a bite from one on his left elbow. We are watching it very closely. He doesn’t like going to dr’s. He has a fever over 102. That is why I am looking at this sight tonight. I will get no sleep tonight.
here is a scary thought, i was plugging my camera cord into my pc, and i was turning my camera so i could plug it and and bam..right there on my shorts, there was one crawling up my shorts…i hit it with my camera (solid side) and it didnt die easily..then it took off running towards my shirt…i pinched it n the bottom outside part of my shirt..i took my camera and a note book and squashed it…i think ive been living with these for 3 years now..ive seen many in my room, i kill then when i see them..but you would never think that theyd be so fast!!..also, earlier in the day, my older sister was getting ready to put her baby in the tub to give him a bath, and one was crawling around in the tub..she was freaking out..glad she killed it..
thanks for all the info! its great to know more about them!!
-Britt
This brown recluse spider seems to be the one regularly found in my house in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and my daughter is 7 years old complained all day of pain on her elbow and could not remember falling over. Next afternoon, it was hot, red and raised level , like one of these pictures. The spider comes from a gum tree nearby which is full of a cocoon type web. I thought it was a fishing spider.
I was at a park one and I was stung on my right ankle and it starded to sting so I thought it was an insect bite but 1week later it started tolook real nasty so i contacted my doctor and I had surgery. I did not take any picturs because I didn’t know there were sites like this.
hi i was wondering were in IL are the brown recluse spiders located? my hubby wants me and my kids to go there to visit while he is working there and am scared of my kids safety.
Well, I live in Alabama and we have them here..just about an hour ago I was watching TV and I felt a tickle on my leg so I brushed off my shorts..about 30 sec later I felt a tickle again so I stood up and shook my short leg and a large B.R.S fell out… I hit it with a DVD case and put it in a jar…not sure if I was bit but will wait and see…and yes it’s DEAD.
I did go and get 16 sticky traps and put them around the house.
thank you very much i am on my way to the ER right now. GOD Bless you. I hate Hospitles,but i am not ready to Die either. semper fi.
I was bitten by an unknown spider which exhibited symptoms at the site of a brown recluse. Or it may have been a black widow. I sat on a deck chair with a cushion that had just been brought out for the first time after being stored all winter. The bite was on my back, just above my belt line where my T-shirt was pulled up. About 20 minutes after sitting in the chair, I felt the bite but it itched and felt sort of like a mosquito bite. Because it was on my back, I couldn’t see it and didn’t think anything of it until it got large and painful about a week later. A doctor told me it “couldn’t be a spider bite” and that it was probably a boil of some kind and I could have him lance it if I wanted to. I put hot compresses on it and it seemed to go down and I left it alone (remember I couldn’t see it). About 2 weeks later I flew on a plane and it swelled up like mad and got super red and hot. I was driving a moving van for 2 dys back to where I live and I got very sick on the way with body-wide flu-ish symptoms. When I arrived home I checked it out and the area was getting necrotic and it hurt. I think the flying and the sitting put pressure on it and released the toxins from the site and that’s why I got sick. I also think it took so long to manifest because the bite was in an area that has mostly fatty tissue and very little blood flow. At that point I KNEW it was a spider bite and that I had to do something.
I ended up treating myself using the following natural remedies in 3 basic steps.
1. Draw the poison to the surface:
I moistened Aztec Clay with an echinachea tincture then plastered the “mud” over the bite and the surrounding red/purple area and bandaged it securely. I left it on for 24 hours to draw the poison & infection to a head. The area of redness became smaller and more concentrated and I could feel a “tip” just below the skin in the center where the fangs went in, but the wound was still closed.
2. Open the wound
I washed it off and put a nickle-sized blob of “Prid” drawing salve on the center of the bite, rebandaged it and left that on all day. When I removed it, the wound had opened up and a large amount of green pus came out. I cleaned it completely, put some peroxide on it and then went on to the next step.
3. Removing infection
Moisten Powdered Golden Seal root with Echinachea tincture to make a mud and pack that in and over the open wound. Bandage securely and leave on for 24 hours. Repeat as necessary and remove any pus that is present.
This treatment worked for me and is currently working for my friend who was bitten last week. I don’t claim to give any medical advice, this is just my experience. The area remained a little hard for some time and about a year and a half later it came to the surface again and I repeated the clay treatment. It didn’t open up that time but afterward it went away completely and there is no evidence of it anymore. Another friend was once bitten and she said hers reappeared periodically for about 3 years!
Why these herbs?
Echinachea is used as the wetting solution because it is reported to combat and/or prevent necrosis which is a big problem with these bites.
Golden Seal has antibiotic properties and I have used it as my topical traveling medicine of choice for many years after I used it in an emergency on a staff infection in the tropics and had ALL redness go away overnight. If necrosis isn’t an issue, you can dab Teatree Oil (also antibiotic) on a wound or bite and then sprinkle the Golden Seal on top and the oil will make it stick. The mud forms a scablike covering that protects the wound but still allows it to breathe – especially good if you are camping or traveling. I usually leave it on for 24 hours at a time. If an area gets too dry from the treatment, you can alternate with a golden seal, echinachea, comfrey salve. You can also try putting the Golden Seal powder on the open wound and rub the salve on the surrounding area.
NOTE:
It’s very important to wash your hands before and after treating open wounds so you don’t carry secondary infection to or from the wound. Dispose of or sterilize anything that has touched the wound or its excretions. DON’T put your finger on the wound and then dip it back into the salve for instance. The easiest way to use Golden Seal is to put it in a small spice can so you can shake it on. It is expensive, but you don’t need much. Just a covering to stick to the wound.
hey i think i got bit, please help me, i don’t feel good.
I just reached into a salad bowl in one of my kitchen cabinets and as I brought it down to head level I saw a brown recluse in it. IN the bowl. Dropped the bowl onto the counter and after I stopped screaming I realized the spider was stuck in there – he couldn’t climb out from the slipperiness. So now I’m wondering how he got in there – couldn’t have climbed up around the edges apparently. Anyway, scared me to death! I didn’t feel anything bite my fingers that reached in there, but now I’m reading from the posts that the bite isn’t necessarily painful until hours later.
We dropped him onto a sticky trap so we could analyze him and be sure he was truly a recluse, and after examining him and comparing him to the photos here, he is indeed a BR. A little larger than the other ones we usually find here in southern Indiana – more like 1 1/2 inches across, but he’s not the first we’ve seen that size.
A friend was bit in her sleep last year on her forearm. The skin started blackening, decaying and eroding, and she treated it with colloidal silver and Oil of Oregano (that will kill just about anything bacterial or viral!) – the wound slowly began to heal and now there’s just a scar resembling a quarter-sized burn.
I wish there were a way to truly eliminate them!
I have had 2 spider bites in my whole life. 1 on my butt and 1 on my thigh. The 1 on my butt was from a Brown Recluse. It was noticed at the lake while my family and some friends were camping. It looked like an infected bruise. It was all kinds of colors like: BLUE BLACK PURPLE PINK RED YELLOW AND GREEN. The other 1, I was not informed on what kind of spider it was. All I know about that spider bite is that it started out looking like a mosquito bite with a little bit of red around it, but then the red started spreading so I went to the doctor
I was bitten by a brown recluse(s) on three different places on the back of my uppper right arm. I didn’t notice for a couple of days. The bite areas turned very red, itchy, tender and the skin toughened. I tried to self-medicate for almost 2 weeks. Praise God, I had a mild reaction to the bites. I finally went to seek medical help and the antibiotics started to work immediately. I am healing nicely with none of the lesions shown in some of the photos. I should have sought medical attention sooner and will if ever bitten again.
saturday i was in the shed getting old boxes out for a yard sale and i noticed later that under my ankel started swelling. i have not twisted it or felt no sting.it burns on the bottom of my foot.not a bad burn just a small burn feeling.today issunday, it is still swelled. i dont see any bite marks.but we do have a lot of spiders around here.i am worried because i hate spiders.
Oh and to add to my post a little…
If you suspect you may have BR’s as unwanted room mates … and you can afford it, CALL PEST CONTROL. If you can’t afford a good fumigator then use the internet that you have in front of you to do your homework. If you want to get rid of them then you are going to have to wage a full blown war. We’re talking about a full scale Jihad of biblical proportions on those little brown reclusive terrorists. Just so you know, bug bombs wont do much to them since they tend to live deep in your walls, attic and way back in there. The most “reclusive” and hard to get to areas of your home are where they like to hang out.
The glue traps that I mentioned (the .edu page on them mentioned that 50 or more isn’t an excessive amount!!!) may help you find out where they are most concentrated but wont eradicate them. Simply spraying raid or black flag around your base boards may help a little but not much. I recommend using LOTS of boric acid or Diatomaceous Earth Powder underneath and behind everything. That stuff is relatively safe since it “dehydrates” them to death rather than “poisons” them. Once it gets on their ugly little legs, they take it back into their nest and it eats them away. It also works miracles for getting rid of cockroaches, silverfish, ants, etc. Be sure to use generous amounts in every little hiding spot that you can think of.
You will also want to use silicone or plaster patch, etc. to fill any and every little hole or crack that you can find where they may be hiding out. All of this stuff is very affordable and if you want to rid yourself of them, you’re going to have to put in a little effort. Hope my advice helps. Good luck and happy hunting… Don’t let the bed bugs bite ;)=
I used to live on the central coast of California and I was bitten by one around 1996 or so. According to the “official” little maps and charts, they don’t exist there… but they do. Many of the reports that I have been reading come from all over. Because they are “reclusive” many haven’t been “officially” confirmed. If they have been confirmed to be in places like Southern Illinois then they can be anywhere. It would make sense that where ever one could hitch a ride on a piece of furniture or a box, they could find a nice warm place to live and breed out of control.
I was living in a small, old trailer at the time and I used to always find little “harmless” looking “garden spiders” that were impossible to get rid of. I didn’t really think much of it. Now that I look back, I realize that place was INFESTED with them.
One morning I woke up and had a huge red welt inside my inner thigh. The pain got worse… and worse… and worse. It finally developed into a rock hard, 2″, pus filled knot in the center, surrounded buy about an 8″ red halo. It was one of the most painful experiences in my life.
So especially if you have kids or are elderly, get some of those little triangular glue traps and put them in closets, behind furniture, under the bed, couch, etc. If you can’t afford it then just make some from duct tape or packing tape & cardboard. It’s cheap works the same way. Believe me, getting bite by one of those things is more painful than you will ever want to know. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
hi im from macon ga and i woke up one morning with my temple swollen like a golfball so i went to the doc and they said it waas a cist so they gave me a antibiotic valled cipro and so i went home.well it got worse through the day fast and the next morning it had a nipple like place stickin out from the knot and were 2 small wholes i was in soo much pain so i went back and they sent me to a sergen to look at it.he opened it up and was nothing to drain it was all dead tissue from the recluse bite.so he cut it all out and had to go bak alot to put freash packing in the whole and i forget the other antibiotic but i also was taking loratabs.i found the spider later on the floor deadand im still sleeping with the lights on.this just happend about 4 weeks ago im lucky to be alive and at that nothing there now but a red place not bad scaring or anything.they are very nasty spiders and will kill you if you dont seex medical attention soon.
I really like brown recluse spiders I know their bites are terrible but I’m fascinated by them but really scared i have a friend who live in Oklahoma and he brought a black widow and a brown recluse back from Oklahoma.
My good friend has a brown recluse bite on her pretty face. She is now in ICU she looks so bad and she can’t breath on her own. Can any one tell me what might become of her I’m so scared for her. It’s on her cheek by the way????
5 minutes ago i was in the living room w. my 18 mo old baby sister–a brown recluse charged at her from the darkened end of the room–around our stone fireplace–it only stopped running at her when i screamed and she ran away from it. It climbed up her pac-n-play to camouflage itself–a kind of yellow/khaki color.
well my friend and i were playing outside and we lifted a big brick and there was a huge brown spider i live in washington it had an ovalish body and dark brown with tanish lines on it what type of spider is this?also i was in my room the other day and i say a spider that was white on its body and a black topp to it??
I was bitten by a spider ,unidentified,I thought it was a mosquito at first but 2 days later it grew until it was a large marble size,I went to a doc who gave me antibiotic and would not drain it.that night I took off the dressing to clean it and fortunately the top came off w/ the gauze,I took all the green and yellow goo out with a hard core and went to a different doc the next day,they cleaned it again and packed it so it would not heal over from the outside first.gave me a super shot of antibiotic and changed the first prescription saying it wasn’t adequate..it took 6 more visits to heal.
this winter i was bit again, 5 times, it got under my shirt and under my armpit.. I was unable to find the original Doc and had to instruct the new ones as how to treat them. first remove all green and yellow stuff,clean w/saline and hydrogen peroxide, pack it with medicated packing and dress it with triple antibiotic then a wet(saline)gauze covered w/ a dry gauze. change packing for a few days and then keep wet to dry till its healing well…hope this might help someone some where somehow.
Last night my husband went to put his jacket on, when he got it off the coat rack he accidentally flipped the collar up, and there sat a spider where it had been hiding in his collar. My husband took it over to the kitchen sink and flipped it in a bowl of water. I got to looking and thought it could be a BRS, it was actually pretty small. I knew BRSs was poisonous but I had never researched them and always thought they got pretty big.
So I just never thought much more about it until I got to reading they usually are about 3/4 of an inch long…….I really think it was a BR. If there is one, do I need to look for more? I am a arachnophobia and not even sure if I can sleep now after seeing this site. Also I live in Kentucky, are they rare here….If anyone knows please let me know. Thanks a lot!!!!
Thanks for the info everyone my brother Cory moved down to Florida and he’s see’s them down there all the time, his fiance’s mom got bite by one and now she has a gapping hole in her stomach. He also told me that the brown recluse down there carry staff infection and mrsa. Do they have that anywhere else, could someone let me know if they do. Thank you and i’m glad i live in New Hampshire
Hello.
I am very scared!!!! I just found a giant spider in the trash can. It is the size of Washington….the quarter not the state. I have gone around my apartment with a candle and hair spray shooting anything that moves. Started a small fire in the bathroom but it is now sanitized of the awful vermin. You MUST tell me how to evict these spawns from my dwelling. I have been praying for god to remove these demons from my apartment. I am reminded of a story from my grandad. He was once bit by a spider and he later died in a plane crash.
Scared of Planes
Chris
Well two nights ago i had this red place on my neck and it bothered me and then it started to swell up my mom thought it was a mosquito bite and then this morning i woke up and couldn’t move my neck and i went to the hospital and the docter told me i had got bit by this type of spider he prescribed a high dosed anti biotic…
My first bite was treated with cortisone. 2nd bite on my tongue, in a glass of milk. It was at 10:30 at night but I wasn’t sure so didn’t want to call the doctor. I found in my nutrition book that large doses of vit. C counteracted venom of bl widow and rattlesnakes. I took 30,000mg that night, the next day and 20,000 for 2 weeks later. A pink spot was on my tongue the next day and one month later a green spot – the ulceration? I had no reaction as I did with the first bite. First reaction was flushing, dehydration, shaking, hallucinations.
I am wondering now if that venom is causing problems yet. I would like to hear from others. Tests taken for my “problems” are unstable in results from one test to another. First I am anemic and then not. A nurse at the health dept. said a team of researchers came for a year and found no answers.
I have done much research on the spiders, their habitat, longevity, propagation and prevention of that and of being bitten. I would send one to anyone for $4.00. Brireward@ yahoo.com
My boyfriend has a bite that puts all of these pictures to shame!! He’s been suffering over a year. Its on his foot. He suffers with pain day and night. Recently he won’t pick up his phone or answer e-mails (except maybe a word or two-he lives 300 miles from me). He is now addicted to pain killers and won’t go to the hospital for fear he won’t get his pain meds. He is a good guy but may die or lose his foot. Any advice?
Hi folks , I feel sorry for anyone who has to go through a bite as I did. I live in PA. and got bitten from a load of material shipped in from out west. I lived in MO for 7 years so I knew what it was and got to the doctors but the problem was there not use to dealing with them up here. It’s got into my blood stream and I ended up hospitalized for 7 days. Now my concern is that since then I have had nothing but one medical issue after another. Up till that point I was healthy and never even got sick now I’m dealing with all kinds of internal problems that require antibiotics. I would like to think the venom was out of my system by now but can’t get a direct answer on this. If anybody has heard or delt with anybody that has been thru this or has any suggestions I sure would appreciate it.
Please write- jfurman1@ ptd.net
i grew up in st. louis, and had a basement bedroom as a teen. one morning i woke up with a small red-ringed blister on my wrist. my entire arm ached, so my mother took me to the emergency room. when the doctor started to wipe at the blister, it came completely off my wrist, revealing a dime-sized necrotic-looking hole. after thorough cleaning with an antiseptic, and with some cortisone cream and antibiotic treatment, it healed up in a few weeks, but i still have the scar. the diagnosis was that it was an incomplete (not all the venom was injected) brown recluse bite, and i feel very lucky after seeing some of these pictures.
don’t be brave, get medical care for any kind of bite!
one day I woke up and got some clothes out of my drawer. I sat down and noticed some thing crawling on my clothes, I looked closer and it was a big brown soider with a violin on its back I suspected it was a brown recluse but it had a big white butt. I didn’t get bit (thank God) but it really scared the crap out of me, if someone can tell me if it was a brown recluse!
I got a bite last night. I woke up sometime in the night and thought I
saw a spider on the comforter but shook the cover thinking it was a
dream.
Today my leg…it is my upper thigh was itching like crazy and at first
I thought it was a mosquito bite. I scratched it a couple of times then
forgot about it. I was aware of the sense of it on my thigh but too busy
to really take time to think about it. Within the last hour I felt the
irritation and touched my leg through clothing to feel a hard area around
a raised area. When I looked it was a blister in the middle of a reddened
area the whole area about an inch or so across. I put ointment with
a solution of peroxide on it, then decided to look into spider bites?
I have no clue how this would have happened? I was in bed with this
sort of dream…woke up and shook the bed out. So today I wonder
what this is?
No fever, just a sense of discomfort, itching, a hard area to touch
with a blister…not white, not pus, just clear at the moment.
Thanks,
Karen
ewwwww i hate spiders i heard brow recluse live in humid places
I was about 15 years old, I was sleeping and the next morning I went to work. I picked up one of the children that I wayched and quickly put her down,The pain in my side was awful. I went on about my day, the pain got worse. I wet to the local ER and was told that it had nothing to do witht he bite I was just getting sick. Well I woke up the next day with a fever of 105. I went to my doctor this time and he even said its not the bite that now looked like a big boil,they got my fever down and sent me home.My leg then went numb the next morning and my feer was up to 105,So I went to the other hospital ER in our area in Va they to told me it wasnt the bite. this time they ran some test and my kidneys were shutting down and they admited me and still said that it had nothing to do with the bite well the next morning the bite started ozzing they say because of my temp being so high. They finally tested it and it had brown recluse and now along with it also blood poisiong. It ate about 5 in into my side I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. My advice is to push them if the docs say that its nothing make them look closer.I amlucky to be here. thanks
I got bit by a brown recluse May 24,2008. I was 30 weeks pregnant at the time. I could not take the main medicine used in treating this because it might have hurt the baby. I ended up in the hospital and then sent to a larger University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital to get more updated help. I was really upset that they may have to deliver my baby early to keep her from getting the venom in her system. I was treated by about 20 different doctors with 7 different antibiotics and steroids to help. I ended up having a hole in my leg the size of a half dollar and 2 inches deep before the bite area quit spreading. I had surgery 2 days after I gave birth to my perfect daughter in July. I was really lucky!! Now in my house if it is a insect and it moves it is dead. I freak out about any little thing getting on me now. My home has been sprayed several times and you don’t really think that this one little thing can do this much damage until it happens to you.
I can’t believe the pictures here! We have brown recluse in our house, too.
my aunt got bit by one, left a hole in her leg it was gross when i saw it and i hope i never get bit by a brown recluse and good article
Wow I remember these days. I got bit by a Brown Recluse Spider when I was really young! Probably around 8 or so and I’m so thankful that my mother took me to the ER. I broke out in hives and everything.
My bite never got as bad as some of the pictures up there, but i did have a hole about the size of a quarter into my knee cap! It’s some pretty nasty stuff!
This reply is obviously too late for the amputee. But HBOT HYPERBARIC CHAMBER saved my wrist. I was bitten two years ago and thought it was a bee sting so I never got a doctor to look at it until the night fevers and numbness in my hand made it impossible to use it. I think the reason I had no necrosis was because I used activated charcoal and colloidal silver on the wound constantly until I went for HBOT
I got bit by either a brown recluse or a black widow while living in Chicago on the 15th floor. My muscle cramped for days (black widow characteristic), I broke out in a severe rash, and it formed a hole in my neck. Now I sleep with my eyes open for those varmints!
In regards to ryan–
that map is as true as the maps they have for fire ants.
I am in VA, and I have fire ants, and black widows, and brown recluses, have seen them all. You need to educate yourself.
I live in Ohio and have never heard of this type of spider. But I recently mover in with my 74 year old grandmother to help take care of her. She came out of her bed room about a month ago and was complaining that something had bit her and it was itchy. Well I didnt really pay it to much mind. Well she waited until a few weeks ago to tll me that it had opened up into painful sores. She tryed to take care of it with antibiotic ointment and black draws out salve. when I took her to the doctors h imediatly addmited her to the hospital. At first they had to treat her for a staff infection and they recently told me that the sores came from the bite of this spider. I have searched my house for any signs. Yet I have found none. MY biggest fear is that also residing in my house is my 3 month old daughter. I have been told that these spiders are not common in this area. so is it safe to say that since i cant find it that it is no longer a threat?
Ok, here’s the deal.
Look at this map: http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/images/loxomap.gif
If you’re outside of the green area, THERE ARE NO BROWN RECLUSES WHERE YOU ARE.
There are many other things that can cause similar wounds. Most doctors have no training regarding brown recluses (or any spider) and misdiagnose the “bites” constantly. There are TONS of other spiders that look like brown recluses.
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider in florida and days later my leg ws twice the size as normal and I could not even walk. There was a big black hole and surrounding that was a red mass.
I was recently bitten by a brown recluse spider and never know pain like this I did 4 years in the Army and broke many bones, but the pain the recluse bite give is like no other. It started off looking like a pimple, then an ingrown hair, but know it turned black and has red swollen bumps all around
i think i got bit by one of these!
Hi im nick. about four years ago i was working in a furniture warehouse in las vegas. i had what looked like an ingrown hair so i kept draining it. about 3 days into it the thing looked infected and was the size of a tennis ball and i could barely walk. i could see two puncture wounds. i used hydrogen peroxide with no results. i think the next day the skin in between the puncture marks came off i could see what looked like a green blood clot so i grabbed tweezers and pulled it out. it was about 1 1/2 inches long and i got an instant feeling of relief. it healed in about a week after that. i was told later that it was a brown recluse. and have seen similar photos and descriptions here. i have a great immune system. i highly recommend seeking professional help. now i have a scar about the size of a nickel i got really lucky.
My boyfriend has a spider bite on his leg and its hard as a rock, its hurts him all the time and its as big as a silver dollar and the doctors tell him he’s fine.. What should we do?
I GOT BIT ON MY RIGHT INDEX BY WHO KNOWS WHAT I WORRY BECAUSE I LIVE IN SAN DIEGO CA AND IN MY AREA I HAVE ALL KINDS OF SPIDER INCLUDING BROWN RECLUSE I AM CONSTANLY CLEANING BECAUSE I HAVE SMALL DOGS AND I AM AFRAID FOR THEM. THE BITE I HAVE IS SIMILLAR TO THOSE PICTURES HERE IS BEEN ONLY TWO DAYS AND MY INDES IS GETHING SEWLLING AND REED AND LOTS OF LIQUID COMES OFF WHEN I SQUEES IT WHAT SHOULD I DO???????????
Hello, my name is Staci and I saw what I thought was a pimple on my right shoulder that had somehow developed a black scab. while washing in the shower, i accidently scrubbed the scab off. then the next day, i had nausea, vomiting , chills, and high fever. the area became raised and red in color, almost like a sunburn. I ended up going to the doctor 2 days after seeing the sore. The doctor’s could not confirm if it truly was a bite or just an infected boil, but the doctor ended up prescribing bactrim and gave me pain pills with no further action. 2 days later. my fever remained, i still had chills and by this time it was oozing and looked like an ant hill full of a maroon pus-like substance oozed out. I went back to the ER and they immediately cut a long slit, drained it, and filled it with packing and gave me clindamycin and lortabs for pain. They told me in 3 days the packing could come out. I will text my picture to you. I believe it COULD have been a brown recluse but who knows??
I have two bites right now. I’m not sure what spider/insect/etc bit me, but I’m pretty certain it’s a bite.
My reaction to the one on my arm is swelling–and earlier today, I had white pus beneath the skin, and the tissue was hard to the touch. I squeezed it and clear fluid comes out. I’ve had this bite for about four days now.
My other one is on my inner thigh, and it hasn’t swollen much, but it appears to be a small ant bite that has a circle of redness about half an inch in diameter, and a larger lighter circle about and inch and a quarter in diameter with three red vein like lines extending from the epicenter of the bite by 2 inches or more. I have had this one for possibly one day.
Both bites itch and are tender to touch.
I live in barracks and according to my dad, barrarcks-dwellers can be prone to spiderbites, and in particular brown-recluse bites. I don’t know if these are, but I plan to go to sickhall tomorrow morning and get it checked out.
Any advice? Do you think it is a recluse? Or just a harmless spider/ant bite? [I react to fire ants with terrible tender swelling and a small white blister]
these bites may look like nothing when it first appears. if you start to feel a little weaker or any other problems with you body please immediately notify a doctor. even if the bite is still little and looks like nothing. if you get a spider bite and you think it may be a brown recluse spider bite don’t hesitate to call the doctor and you must go to the hospital.
Hey i thought these spiders were no bigger then a pin head? but the ones you showed were a lot bigger then that
Hi.
I bought a new guitar amp which was packed somwhere in the far east as they are these days, and a little spider fell out the box. I killed it.
I didnt get bitten but it led me to this site.
All i can say is im glad i live in England and we dont have these little gits running riot in our back gardens thankyou very much.
If you live in the USA i would think about catching a flight to England as its much much much safer.
The only danger here is the Gordon Brownspider !!
Good luck !!
I was bit by something a week ago and there was immediate swelling but it went down after two days, leaving behind no marks.
Last night I woke up and couldnt close a fist all the way waking up to find a little red prick like mark under my finger, for a second bite. There is no pain unless I try to make a fist in which it just feels like the muscles in that finger are tight. There is no pus pockets or anything, it’s been roughly 10 hours since the second bite.
How can I get rid of spiders if that is indeed what it is?
PLEASE HELP ME
Wow! This is a terrible place for me because I live in florida! you know the saying “The Sun Shine State” more like “The Best Place To Get Bit By Over Millions And Millions Of Spiders!”
I Just want to start off by saying that Now I finally know what happened to me! I was in Thailand and was bitten by something, what I thought was a spider, on my foot three times.I didn’t feel anything at the time it happened, but woke up the next day with a sore foot. The marks started off as small red dots and began to become bigger and deeper giving it a volcano effect. The bites continued to get bigger, averaged the sizes of a peny or even quater, and occasionally caused pain while putting on shoes and such, so weeks later when I got back home I went to the doctor. I told him I thought the marks came from spider bites and he thought I was stupid because a spider bite shouldnt look like that; he told me it was possibly mersa. When the Mersa test came back negative, I continued to believe they were spider bites on my foot, and now months later I finally get some closure! And yes its true it takes a long time to heal; I still have those three marking on my foot, but they are no longer volvano-like, but just scare-like.
i bet it kills to be bitten by this spider
I might drop a pic later, but, my bite is in a, well,a sensitive spot kinda. That thumb is horrible, but hardly the worst of the pix out there. I’ll start by taking a day 3 pic of my new third cheek and daily thereafter. If it gets worth seeing, I’ll send them.
I think I was bit in my sleep between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I noticed it the first time when first sitting down at a hard wooden desk, in class, Thursday afternoon. I don’t know why but, I new it was a bite. I even thought $#17 !, I hope it wasn’t a brown recluse. I did the logical thing. I ignored it, hoping it would go away. Just about the time I decided to go to sleep Thursday night, My heart relocated to my left butt cheek. I felt every stinging beat, ALL NIGHT.
I don’t have insurance (OK, so I don’t even have a job) but, there is a campus clinic for non emergency stuff(ibuprofen and band-aids mostly). Friday morning found me there. Doc said this was the third brown recluse bite this week. One, a week before, was also from my building. Dude got bit on the face. TWICE!. He looks like the elephant man. Doc says I gotta go to the ER. It’s weird having to show an old lady your backside. Actually she wasn’t all that old
I don’t have insurance, so if I go to the hospital they’re gonna bill me. If I don’t, I could end up there anyway, getting a cheek removed. Doc gave me a tetanus shot (dude, I’d almost rather get tetanus-ouch!). she gave me another shot (I swear she was smiling). Now, I got pricked in both cheeks, there’s what feels like half an orange sticking out back there and the nurse tells me to sit down for twenty minutes to make sure I don’t have a reaction. You should seen me react to that chair, I swear that chair will never forget it.
Seriously, that thumb picture is scary. Its not the worst fiddle back wound on the net but, its part of a series he captured daily till day 10 (that’s the one above) at which time he finally goes to the hospital. In the uncropped photo you see the medical equipment in the background. The scary thing is that the wound looks pretty normal until day six. You just can’t see the subcutaneous damage. These wounds rot, literally rot, from the inside out.
The serious (read DEADLY) complications occur from blood infections caused by dead rotting tissue INSIDE your body. The wounds will typically go over an inch deep (not sure how deep, but a few first hand accounts indicate as far as the bone, there are images to verify this). Most toxins attack specific organs or the nervous systems, shutting down kidneys or causing one to stop breathing or a heart to stop beating. This is different, the poison is necrotic. It kills ALL tissue types in the localized area. It will keep on killing, possibly for years. Wounds can reemerge years after they have “healed” and are difficult to treat because the toxins have spread by this time. Doctors want you as soon as possible, many treatments are useless after 48 hrs from the time of the bite.
The antibiotics treat for blood infections and other complications, but the toxin must be removed either by lancing the wound or by the body itself (actually, probably a combination thereof). The amount of venom actually injected is a factor as well. Some bodies react worse than others and some are not able to eliminate the toxins very well. All should be taken seriously. Few end up like dudes thumb, but only an idiot like me won’t go to the ER. Day 3 the pain is tolerable, but she gave me painkillers. The wound is like a 1/4″ blackhead on a hard red bump about the size of a small orange if you cut it in half. Gonna hope for the best here. But, I know its gonna suck.
“Mercer” is a mispronunciation of the acronym MRSA which stands for Methicillin Resistant Stapholococcus Aureus. Basically the “bad” kind of a staph infection.
This Is The 2nd Time I Get Bit By A Brown Recluse Spider. At First I Did Not Know What It Was. But When The swelling Started and The Pain, I New It Was A Spider Bite. The First Time That I Got Bitten I Did Not Seek medical Attention Until I Could Walk No More Due To The Pain. The Emergency Doctor said That If I Would Have Waited One More Day, I Would Have Probably Loose My Leg. This Time I Went Immediately To The Doc. and The Suffering was a lot less.
I believe this is a brown recluse spider bite. I haven’t had any treatment yet but I guess I’m going to the ER today because it’s just getting worse. I took some antibiotics that I had from a previous bite so some of the redness & swelling has gone down over the last 3 days but the hole is just getting bigger. So I had my daughter take pictures so I could send them to you.
Thank you,
Piper Wood
Well I’m doing a follow up! I went to the ER & was treated immediately. The doctor said it was a Brown Recluse Spider that bit me & they put in a IV full of mixed antibiotics. Then they cleaned the wound & gave me prescriptions for an antibiotic & a drug the doctor said was used for leprosy, to try & stop the tissue damage from the bite. I have taken great care of my wound & I’m happy to say that even though it still looks bad, it looks 100% better than it did. I’m also sending follow up pictures.
Thank you for your website, it helps so many!
umm did the spider byte effect ur arm can u at least send me some pics soo i can see becuz my teacher is showing videos and pictures about brown recluce spiders on how bad there bytes are wen did u get bite by one
Cure for Brown Recluse Bites…
My doctor from Central Florida, David Klein, was a Navy doc and used to run into soldiers with recluse bites. He developed a treatment to stop and reverse the spread of necrotic tissue cause by the bite. He prescribes a Guanethldine/Lidocaine spray in an N-decyl solution that has to be made up by a compounding pharmacist. It re-vascularizes the area and is the only treatment needed. I have seen pics of the healing in soldiers and personally saw how well it worked on one patient with a recluse infestation in her house who repeatedly suffered from multiple bites. She had beautiful legs and this treatment kept her from having to have chunks scooped out.
i think i have a brown recluse bite. this morning, my arm hurt and i thought it might be a spider bite so i looked it up and most of the symptons seem to fit. i have a small white bump and the surrounding skin is red and it hurts and this morning i felt very nauseus but i thought i was just getting sick. now i realize it might have been the bite. what should i do?
I want to thank the organizers of this website, and all the people who have contributed information on the subject of brown recluses.
Yesterday afternoon (12/12/08), I moved into a new dorm room for winter break housing at my West Tennessee university. Abut four hours ago, while reading a magazine on my bed, I was bitten by what I now understand is a brown recluse. Due to the information on this website, I was able to identify the species of the spider, and quickly receive medical attention. I have since lain store-bought glue traps for any other spiders that might be sharing my dorm room. My emergency room doctor also advised me to turn on music before I go to sleep, in addition to lights.
Again, if it had not been for the information on this website, I’m sure I would not have gotten medical attention as quickly as I did–thankfully, my only symptoms right now are an ache in the wound (left pinky), and numbness throughout my left hand, which the antibiotics and antihistamines I received at the emergency room tonight will hopefully eradicate by morning.
Thank you so much for your help,
Holly, West Tennessee undergrad
I live in cali and i have a bite, 1 on my stomach and 3 on my thighs next to my bottom, its day 4 and i’m hella scared i dont want to pop it but i have to seek medical attention tomarrow.
I went to Yucca Valley, CA this weekend (the high desert) and this morning took a clean pair of jeans out of the overnight bag we took with us to wear. I hadn’t unpacked our bag yet, but it was left open pretty much the entire time in the trailor we were camping in. Immediately after I had put the jeans on, I felt something pricking my thigh. I thought it must be a sticker from the desert or something, so I waited a little bit, but continued to feel it pricking me. It hurt. I ran into the bathroom, and when I took my pants off, I saw a brown spider fall out. My leg has been hurting all day, and there is obvious swelling and a pretty big bite on my thigh. It is swollen, and has a little redness to it. I am just scared of the Brown Recluse and hope it isn’t one. I tried to compare it to the pictures online, and it looks so similar I can’t tell.
Does anyone think I should see a dr?
does anyone know if it can re infest itself years later after you were bitten?
I found a Spider in the same location (garage) as many brown relcuse spiders, which I enjoy studying(along with Black & Brown Widows.) The spider I found is as close to a twin as it gets!
This spider Was the exact same color and size, the legs weren’t pointing more forward like the recluse, but much like the funnel web’s and wolf spider’s also found here in Missouri. But just a little darker brown than it’s body. If it would have had a fiddle ond the right posture, I would say it was for sure the “brown recluse”, just .. a relative or closer than close look alike??????? I keep searching and searching and I was led here.. thanks!
In the past year my husband and both of my sons have been bitten by brown recluse spiders. I have taken all three of them to the hospital once we determined that it was a spider bite and not a pimple or some other kind of bite. I have found that once the poison gets into the skin that the antibiotics that are given at the hospital do not work. My grandmother is a believer in natural herbs. She gave me some MSM and had me make a paste out of the MSM and a few drops of water, once I made the paste I put it on the bite and I bandaged the bite up. The next day the bite had come to a complete head and I used sterilized twizzers and removed the core from the bite. I doctored the site for 2 more days and all the poison was gone. I am a expert when it comes to brown recluse bites. My husband was bitten 8 times while working in a basement.
Both of my sons were bitten while playing near a wood pile outside. I have used the MSM for 7 years now on any bite that they have received and it works better than any antibiotic that you can get from the hospital. Now this worked for our family. I am not suggesting not to seek medical advice, I am just telling you that there truely is nothing including antibiotics that cure the bite. I work for a doctor and they don’t want to tell you that they don’t have a cure for the bite. But if you ever get bit by something try the MSM in a paste form for 2-3 days and it will bring the core to the top of your skin and once you get the core out you are removing the poison.
It will scab over. Now the only problem that we do have is that on my husbands neck were he was bitten 4 times. Every year around the same time they will scab up and itch for a few days. I don’t know the reason for this. But I have researched and found articles where people have had to have a body part removed years later because they get infected again because of the bite.
there are many half-inchspiders on our front porch in washington. they are brown with very big bulby thorax. we have noidea what type of spider they are and worried that they might be a recluse. please help!
My friend got bite and his hand is swollon and red with purple around it, it has only been a couple of days. Is it a brown recluse?.
I live in Central Missouri in the basement of my sister’s house. She had warned me about the brown recluses and how I should check every night before I go to bed to make sure there aren’t any in my room, especially my bed. I was lying in bed reading my book tonight and noticed something scuttling across my carpet. I immediately grabbed my empty water glass and stuck it over the spider. I went to google image search to look up a picture of a brown recluse. I compared the actual spider to the picture and realized that I had actually caught a brown recluse! It was headed toward my bed and I caught it right before it got to my quilt that spills onto the floor. I feel very fortunate, and a little freaked out at the moment. What if I hadn’t seen him and he got in my sheets with me and I woke up with a bite? It gives me the willies just thinking about it. I encourage everybody to buy spider traps!! I know I’m going to tomorrow when I go to town to run errands!!!
i was bitten by a brown recluse spider on a thursday night. by friday morning my toe was twice its size, purple and red. not only that but the infection had started running up my ankle and leg. i immediately went to quick care were i was put on an iv and given two types of antibiotics along with pain killers. it was very painful to walk, not to mention how uncomfortable the chills and fever were. i really do advice if you get bitten seek medical attention asap! im glad i did. =)
Hi I was recently bitten by a brown recluse spider. It bit me right on my hip and I never even felt it!! I noticed it one day while I was getting dressed. At first it didn’t bother me but a day later i started feeling pain around that area. I noticed that the bite was getting bigger. I waited a few more days and the bite started gettin bigger and bigger and hurting real bad. I mean the pain was so bad that I could not lay on my left side or walked (because it hurt so bad) I went to the doctor and they perscribed antibiotics and also gave me a shot of antibiotics. It got better an we popped it and squeezed everything out. But a spider bite is not nothing to ignore! I learned that first hand
Recluse spiders are very aggressive, and will bite you while you sleep.
The best first aid I have found is extra strh clearasil Vanaishing cream.
It pulls the venom out. You must continue the application at least 3 times a day. The sooner the better!
My boyfriend realized a couple of days ago he had what looked like a mosquito bite.Now two days later it is doubled in size and has a huge hole in the middle.It also is kinda white in the middle and when he pushes it pus comes out.I’m thinking it could be a brown recluse from the pictures i have seen.Should I be worried?
I wish I still had my pictures. I was bitten on the back of my left leg when i was 14. I left it alone for 2 weeks before going to the emergency room. Mine progressed differently because i have a high immune system. By the time I went in my leg hurt a lot. I had been limping on it for 3 days. They drained the infection and i went in for outpatient surgery the following day. They had to remove a chunk of my leg that was about the size of a softball cut in half. The hole took 3 months to close completely so i basicaly went around with muscle tissue exposed for 3 months, well we has packing in it and a stretchy bandage around my leg to hold the packingin and the packing was change several times a day.
When it finally did heal it was only a few weeks before residual poison/infection surfaced next to the scar. It poped on its own and we went to the doctor and they cleaned it. These spiders are EVIL ! seriously. If you EVER find one in your home, kill it and spray your house ! Its not worth the experience, o and the surgery cost about $5000, so its also not worth the expense. If you get bitten the first signs are swelling and getting red and or dark. I tried to convince myself it was “just a bite” that would go away on its own like any other. it wont. Doctor told me that had I waited much longer they would have had to amputate my leg to get rid of it. if it had psread upward tward my hip it would have been too close to organs to cut out effectively. These bites can kill you. they hurt and are seriously not worth the trouble. these bites act similarly to cancer, but the response time for their growth is much faster. if these bites hit a sensative area you may be looking at weeks or even days. these spiders are not just your common house variety that you set free in the garden. BE CAREFUL !
I have just gone to the doctor for a spider bite. He believes it is a brown recluse because it has all of the characteristics of the bite. Unfortunately, like many people, I did not see the spider because it was evidently hidden in my clothing. As far as treating the bite, the doctor gave me a steroid shot and gave me a very strong antibiotic. He also told me to keep warm, moist compresses on it for a few days. I experienced headaches, dizziness, weakness, severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, chills, fever, and achiness, especially up into my shoulder, and down my right arm, as I was bit on the chest. I experienced these symptoms before I actually noticed the bite area. I hope this information helps others who suspect they have been bitten, and I hope noone else has to go through this experience. It is bad
how do you treat the brown recluse spider bit?
I live in an apartment, which has been infested with brown recluses, about 2 months ago I put out traps and they filled within 2weeks with about 10 brown recluses in each. So I had a professional bug guy come out and sprayed. Anyway, last week I touched one that was one my toothpaste. 🙁 But it didn’t bite me. The night before last I woke up in the morning with a red bump on my hand that was very small, but hurt and itched. Today, its swollon to about about quarter size…. and it painful to the touch. IS this a spider bite….
My house in Nashville was infested with Brown Recluses. They were running in every direction. I got bitten on the back of the leg and coupled with a bad reaction to the antibiotic was down for 3 weeks! The answer was to fog bomb the house from basement to attic at 3am when the spiders are active. That all but eliminated the problem.
I understand this is not a medical forum but I’ve read that a nitroglycerin patch on the bite will prevent it from becoming necrotic and allow the bite to heal normally. (The venom is a vasoconstrictor, causing tissue starvation, the nitro is a vasodilator)
i have heard of a brown recluse and its bite and venom. it actually intregse me alot!
My parents have lived with these bad boys for 12yrs. I’ve lived with them for 6 of the 12 years. At one point my brother was living with us also, he slept on a blow up mattress in the floor. We have never seen them on beds, or off the floor. Not one of us have been bitten by the infamous Brown Recluse.
We have seen them a few times on the tile in the kitchen early in the morning when a light is switched on. My mother refuses to bomb or use sprays. Instead she gets sticky trays and slide them under the furniture ( couch, bed, cabinets, fridge, dryer) along the baseboards. This seem to be the preferred route of travel, close to the wall and in the dark. Sticky traps are great way to capture and correctly identify spiders. Check them monthly, if dusty change them or the spiders will just walk over the dust like they do a web. Please be careful when handling traps they may still be alive and able to bite. Use work gloves if needed. My sons get out the magnifying glass to see all the details…They are really into spiders at the moment.
I have came to the conclusion that my mother likes spiders. As a child I remember she would not let anyone kill “her” green-eyed jumpers in the window sills because they took care of moths and flies.
The brown recluse is he one of the most dangerous spiders of all. If you look at the spider bite at the top of the screen that is a really bad bite. Don’t go near the brown recluse!!!!!!!12
So, some of these things I”ve been reading about sound more like MRSA than it does a brown recluse bite. If you have sudden swelling that later turns necrotic with a lot of pus, it may be a brown recluse, but it also could just be as easily c-MRSA. You need a doctor’s opinion, and a culture of the spot. If your doctor won’t swab for MRSA, insist on it!!
August 25, 2008
I was helping my dad move some stuff in the barn when I felt like a bee had stung me under my arm on the side. I immediately grabbed the area but didn’t feel anything or see anything. The bite area looked like a tiny blood blister about the size of the end of a pencil lead when it first happened…That night the area was sore. Friday morning I was at the hospital with my daughter while she was having surgery and the bite area was getting really sore. there is no red around the bite area, but the blood blister itself was now about the size of a pencil eraser..that afternoon my face, neck, chest and back all the way down to my waist was bright red like I had a bad sunburn and my face and neck were swollen, my face was so swollen my eyes were almost swollen shut. I left my daughter sleeping in her hospital bed and went down to the emergency room. The doctor just glanced at the bite spot and didn’t say anything and just gave me a shot of steriod and a shot of a benydryl type stuff..plus a perscription for both…The nurse said it looked like a blister and when I was putting my shirt back on the blister busted, but it was just a clear yellowish color. The nurse looked and said she didn’t see any fang marks or a stinger.. It does seep a little if I move around very much.
I still have the sunburn look, just not as bad, the swelling in my face and neck have went down, but I have to be sure and not miss a dose of the benydryl or it will return. The bite area hurts so bad I can’t get comfortable and the pain is now radiating from my side around to my shoulder blade area…I have put a Itchommol dressing, which is a drawing agent, on the bite area and it hasn’t seemed to help any…
Any ideas….I am usually pretty good at handling pain, but I have never had pain like this from any type of bite or sting…
Hi, my name is Gary and I am from Central California. Several years ago I was bitten three seperate times by something, I don’t know for sure what, but from what I have seen on this site I tend to believe they were from a Brown Recluse.
The first time was on my lower leg. I developed the hard knot and what appeared to be a second degree sun burn in a large area around the bite. I did not know when I was bitten. I became sick with flu like symptoms, ie. fever, chills, neausea and body ache all over before I found the bite. I stayed home in bed for two days.
When I discovered the bite, because of the soreness and itching, I cut some Aleo Vera Cactus and applied a compress to the bite area, really dumb not to go to the doctor but, I was not sure what caused it. I was fortunate, it healed and there was no scaring or complications.
The second bite was on my stomach at the waist line right at my belt. I had the same visible indicators, ie. the hard knot and redness but no other sickness as with the first. I again applied an Aloe compress for several days.
The third bite was the same and symptoms like the second. I do not know if my body developed a tolorence to the venom or what but it was an odd situation.
Whoever said that Violins(BR) don’t get big is very wrong! My husband & I have killed some that had bodies as thick as my little finger & their legs were about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long! They have the violin marking on them. They range in color from light tan to all shades of brown, even dark brown. I have arachniphobia & I am terrified of spiders, especialy Violins! One night I was eatin supper in the living room sitting in my recliner & I had a white T shirt on. I turned my head to the left & there was a HUGE Violin on my left shoulder just inches from my face! I jumped up & was screaming & trying to shake it off of my shirt. It was just about to get on my bare arm when I finally shook it off! I literally almost had a heart attack! My husband jumped up & was asking what was wrong & all I could do was sob uncontrollaby.
He killed it on the floor where it was flung off of my sleeve. They are EVERYWHERE down here in south Mississippi! We killed a huge one in our wash room a few days ago that was lugging an egg sack. We use Raid Wasp & Hornet spray to kill them. That stuff will kill anything! We squashed the egg sack & sprayed it, too. I just wish that there was some way to keep them from coming into the house!!!
i realy hope all of u feel better
Another thing, I’ve done remodeling that required stripping walls to the studs, and in one place I literally saw hundreds of husks in the insulation I removed. Talk about freaking a person out–I just knew I was going to get bit. My guess is that if you see one in your house, there are probably a thousand that you’ll never see hunting around inside the walls. I’ve heard that exterminators have to use special stuff to kill them–is this true?
I had a warehouse in Oklahoma for a while that had previously served as a body shop, and after all the car parts were removed, it was infested with roaming fiddlebacks. I keep hearing people say they are small, and most of the ones I saw were, but I’ve also seen some monsters the size of a Susan B. Another thing that doesn’t get mentioned is their speed–the things can cook and will zoom around in circles if their cover is lifted. I’ve been bitten once by one (that I know of–after being bit on the bum, I found the smushed remains in my shorts, but the bite was only mildly irritating (like a super itchy mosquito bite) and lasted several weeks. I have to wonder if some people are more reactive to the venom–possibly allergic.
What will get rid of these?? (Oregon)
I last week found a recluse in bath sink, months ago a Hobo in sink, how do I rid my house, under house ect. of these. Reg. spray does not touch them.
WE LIVE IN THEFLORIDA KEYS. SEVERAL YEARS AGO MY WIFE AND I HAD CUT SOME BRUSH TRIMMINGS AND HAD BUNDLED IT FOR TRASH PICKUP. WELL A WEEK PASSED AND THE P/U NEVER CAME. SO WE CALLED AND WAS TOLD TO PUT IT IN A CONTAINER INSTEAD AS THE RULES HAD CHANGED FOR DEBRIS. SO SHE WAS PUTTING THE DEBRIS IN A CONTAINER WHEN SHE FELT SOMETHING ON HER LEG WHILE IN SHORTS AND NEVER SAW WHAT IT WAS THAT MAY HAVE BIT HER. TWO DAYS LATER SHE BEGANE TO DEVELOPE A BOIL IN THE GENERAL AREA THAT SHE FELT THIS POSSIBLE BITE. I TOLD HER TO GO TO THE DR. SHE PUT IT OFF AND HER FELLOW EMPLOYESS CALLED ME AND TOLD HE SHE WAS IN GREAT PAIN AND TO COME GET HER. BY THEN THERE WAS A BLISTER ON TOP OF THIS VERY LARGE BOIL. I TOOK HER TO THE DR AND HE IMMEDIATLY TOLD HER THAT IT WAS A BROWN RECLUSE BITE. AND CALLED IN HIS ENTIRE STAFF TO EDUCATE THEM. HE THEN CALLED THE HOSPITAL AND TOLD THEM SHE WAS ON HER WAS AND NOT TO LET HER SIT IN THE WAITING ROOM AS IT WAS POTENTIALLY LIMB LOSS THREATNING. WHEN SHE GOT THERE THEY WERE WAITING FOR HER. GOOD THING THE DR SAID. WHEN HE BEGAN HE PUNTURED THE BLISTED AND THE PRESSURE WAS SO GREAT HE GOT IT ALL OVER HIMSELF AND HAD TO WASH UP. HE THEN HAD TO CUT OUT THE DESTROYED TISSUE.
WHEN WE GOT HOME SHE HAD TO CLEANSE THE WOUND WITH DISTILLED WATER EVERY FOUR HRS FOR TREE WKS. YOU COULD HAVE PUT A 12 GAUGE SHOTGUN SHELL IN THAT HOLE, IT WAS SO DEEP IN THE THIGH. HE SAID SHOULD SHE HAVE WAITED ANY LONGER SHE MAY HAVE LOST HER LEG. SO GET IMMEDIATE ATTENTION, DONT TAKE ANY CHANCHES ON ANY SPIDER BITES.TERRY
My cousin got bitten by a Recluse Spider about a year ago.
His doctors told him he will need to amputate his leg in 3 weeks.
Is there a doctor or anyone with suggestions or anything to prevent this amputation? He is in pain with it & I believe the blood is not flowing in his veins.
I do not know how I will see any replies to E-mail answers.
Please answer as soon as possible if you can help.
Thanks,
RM
I was bitten by a BR back in ’97 on my inner right thigh on a Tuesday night. On Wednesday night we used a 50K stun gun with one electrode placed in the middle of the bite, and the other placed in a radial pattern around the bite. We shocked it 8 times around the bite. When we shocked it, the bite was hard, red, and swollen about the size of a fifty cent piece. On Thursday there was no swelling, but the
red spot was the size of a small plate covering most of my inner thigh. I was running fever(101+) and felt like I had a bad case of the flu. On Friday I was still weak, but the redness was almost completely gone. I didn’t have anymore symtoms after that Friday. My Mother was also bitten on her upper right arm and we treated it the same way, with similar results. Hope this might help someone else, because it has been a blessing knowing that if My family or I do get bitten, I know that this remedy will work for us.
P.S. Like several other people who have left entries here, I also live in Oklahoma. GO SOONERS!
Before I get started, let me just say that I live in central Missouri. Ok, I am deathly afraid of spiders more so than anything else in this world, and I have recently noticed an increase in the amount of these little buggers in my house. Well, I just found (time: 1:30 am CST; 09/08/08) a dead spider in one of my closets and a live one in another, which prompted me to do some research on the net to find out their origin(s).
With regard to the live spider, I quickly sprayed some spider-related insecticide and it killed it within minutes. Anyway, to my dismay, I have determined that I do, in fact, have Brown Recluses in my home! My fear of spiders has just intensified! I examined the back-side of the spider and did find a violin shape; thus, reaffirming my suspicions. I don’t want to live in fear, but what else can I do? Also, I have three nieces and two nephews who often visit, and I fear for them as well! I understand that these spiders may not be aggressive in nature, but how exactly is that supposed to reassure a person?
About 2 hours ago my sister was swimming in our pool, when a spider ( i’m not sure how it got in the pool, i guess it just fell in or jumped off a tree ) bit her on the finger, I live by the shore in New Jersey, my sister killed it instantly, swatting it up onto the cement. it was brown, very small, too small to see if it had 6 eyes, or this violin pattern. my dad said it was a brown recluse. it was just a little bump and now it’s getting red and itchy she says, any advice would be appreciated. my dads friend got bit by a rather big brown recluse, his entire foot swelled up, and he needed medical help.
I recently noticed what looked like a pimple on the undercut of my butt. By the next day I had a swollen whelp aproximately an 1″ or and 1.5″ across, very raised and with a purple head on it. Due to the location I really was aprehensive about going to the doctor or telling anyone.
This began this past Wednesday. It is now Saturday night and I am absolutely miserable. It hurts so bad. It feels as if the entire whelp will burst. Its really hot and immediately blanches with any pressure applied. Kind of like a bad sunburn would do. It is also very sensitive to any pressure at all. The skin around the center has started pealing off. I finally gave in and called my mom and she thinks it was a brown recluse spider bite. I do too after doing some research.
My question is now what can I do to make it through until Monday so I can go to my hometown and go to the doctor. I am a broke college student that is definitely suffer. It hurts so bad!!!!!! I am apprehensive about going to the ER because I am not sure if it is a bite or just something silly.
I don’t have a photo, because the bite happened over a year ago. I have a question though. I was living in Spokane, WA at the time, in a garage, it was in the summer, probably around June, July. I woke up in the morning and had a white blister with a red rim around it on my shoulder, and it was very painful, so much so that even a t-shirt was too much pressure.
Well, I went to the ER, that day, quite sure that I had been bitten by a brown recluse, or possibly a hobo spider. The Doc told me that it was definitly a spider bite, but did not tell me what kind of spider, but , he did tell me that spiders are like dogs, they can sense fear, which I do believe by the way, after reading a certain page on the web, that the severity of a bite from a recluse or hobo not only depends of the gender and age of the spider, but also on the victims psychological state, and I have always been very afraid of spiders, and being that I was living in a garage, well…. I was given an antibitotic, some pain meds, and bandages so that I could maintain the bite area. I did as instructed, a small “hole” formed in the bite area, and I continued to clean it, it began to heal, and about a week later, my left arm ( I was bitten on my left shoulder) went completely dead for about one week, while taking at least two weeks for me to regain feeling and control. My question is, was that caused by the spider bite?
Hey whats up my name is hannah my dad was bitten by a brown recluse and it didnt look good i dont have a pic though sorry
My previous note doesn’t show being posted yet, but I wanted to let you know that I took my son to the Dr today and he was diagnosed as having a staph infection. I asked his Dr to look at my bite as well, and she said it was also staph.
So I was wrong. I will begin draining it as soon as the tissue softens up. I am so surprised that a staph infection could look this bad.
My son is a REAL TROOPER, as his Dr drained his infection in the office and while he was in a great deal of pain while she was pressing on it, and it is amazing how much nasty blood-pus mixture came out of his poor little leg. But when she was finished, he had great relief!
I had to tell my husband that he was right and I was wrong and that, along with knowing it is staph and not as serious as a BR bite, has made his day!
Best of luck to all of you that have either.
I have been bitten by a brown recluse. The doc in a box at the clinic missed the diagnosis he diagnosed it as staph or MRSA. He gave me Cipro antibiotics and told me to keep warm compresses applied to it. WRONG answer doc, I later found that the WORST thing you can do for a spider bite is apply heat. The venom spreads much quicker and speeds up the tissue damage.
A second visit to the Emergency Room at my local hospital revealed that the wound was NOT MRSA or Staph but was indeed a SPIDER bite of the same type as a Brown Recluse. The applied heat had spread the venom throughout my lower left leg, bite was outside of left calf muscle. Now my bite lesion was much larger and the necrosis had spread much faster. The ER doctor had to inject novocaine and open the bite surgically to allow it to drain.
Now I am off from work for a few days and I cannot hardly walk on my left leg. The pain is unbearable, the headaches and nausea are bad enough. If you are bit by a spider apply ice to the wound, do not try to extract or squeeze out the venom, and seek immediate medical attention. Try to bring the spider with you if at all possible, for identification puposes.
Ten years ago I was bitten by a Black Widow and it was very painful. Now I know that a Brown Recluse bite is much more painful than a Black Widow bite, for me anyway.
The doctor says I am going to have a scar, just how bad depends on how bad the necrosis gets. I am on two different antibiotics and hydracodone for the pain. I have to keep the wound clean and allow it to drain. I have to change the dressing twice a day. The antibiotics the doctor gave me is a long term high power dose.
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 (NE Alabama)
I felt a bite on the back of my calf. It felt like a mosquito bite, and I didn’t bother to look at it until later. I made a cross on it with my nails to let the poison/itch drain. Later I noticed it wasn’t draining and made another cross on it. The next day it was sore and swollen around it. It resembled a cigarette burn, white center surrounded by a red circle. Then the swelling started. The initial bite was tiny, smaller than a dime. By the weekend the swelling was at least two inches around the bite.
Monday, Aug 25, I went to a doctor with it and another separate infection. She asked which sore came first, and told me I had transferred the staph from this one to that one and that it wasn’t the bite. Now, I’m wondering if she even realized there was a bite. She put me on two different antibiotics and both infections have begun to heal.
I’m pretty sure I washed my hands before going from one sore to the other, and I didn’t mess with the bite much because it was too painful and I was afraid I’d make it worse.
Monday afternoon, the bite started “weeping” a pink watery liquid- not exactly blood. I have been taking pics of it since I started being suspicious of the Brown Recluse as we live in the southeast and have recently been cleaning out closets, moving furniture and painting.
I have several pics and will send a few at different stages, but I don’t really have many of the beginning.
My husband and I have been debating this – he thinks its all staph. I think one is staph, and this one is a BR bite. Supporting his argument was your site for staph infection pics
The need to be right is not nearly as important as the treatment. And either way, ANTIBIOTICS are gonna help!
I went back to the same Dr Wednesday, Aug 27. Looking back, I told her it was a bite and she didn’t say one way or the other. She was going to schedule me for surgery to have it lanced and drained to make sure they got the pus sac out of it.
Note: I have a high tolerance for pain, and the worst pain of this was the swelling of my calve, and even now the initial first steps in the morning after my leg has been inactive. Once I get moving, it feels relatively normal with occasional sharp pains, but nothing constant. Now it looks horrible, its oozing with an occasional worm-looking chunk of dead blood coming out. When I peel the bandage off and that comes out of the center, its not painful at all, surprisingly. I ran out of peroxide and used alcohol on it one day, cleaning the swollen area around it BEFORE cleaning the bite site. I steeled myself for the burning pain of alcohol that never came. It felt like cold water, and I am grateful for that. This is one of the biggest reasons I think it may have been a BR. Surely an open wound would have set my blood on fire when I added alcohol. Unless the nerves are deadened.
I have refused the surgery for now, as my insurance has not gone into effect yet and I can’t imagine the cost. And from all I’ve read, it looks like it doesn’t heal any faster with the lancing than without it.
Today my son was complaining about his leg hurting and when he showed it to me, it looks quite familiar. I will be taking him to the doctor tomorrow. My husband asks what are the odds of both of you being bitten by a Brown Recluse vs the odds that you infected him with the staph? I decided against mentioning that we live in the same house…
and maybe his doctor will know more than mine did.
He is 7 years old, and I ask that you please keep him in your prayers. From all I’ve read, it harder on kids and the elderly to fight it off.
Pics to follow….
i seen a spider that looked like a trangula on the outside of my house in bridgewater, and i didnt know if it was one or not, because i figured that there were no tranguals in nova scotia. so i didnt really worry about it.
what type of spider would this have been,?
it looked exactly like one.
Ok, so unfortunatly im horrible with remembering times and days, so everything here is going to be in “about” speak.
So, about 3 days ill say ago, I was bitten by something, most likely in my sleep. Location is my left knee, right below my knee cap. It was just a red bump, but you could see the little fang marks that bastered left behind! I wasn’t too concerned so I just went about my day. Over the past few days the effected area got super duper swollen and itchy. Now the swollenness (tell Webster we have a new word!) has gone leaving a very red and blackish bumb. The raised area is about the size of a silver dollor but the redness extends about 4 to 5 inches al around. And it is super tender to the touch about 6 inches away from the newly opened wound that appeared about 6 hours ago. Its burns really badly, and aches terribly most of the time.I have difficulty bending my knee now. The pain is very consistant and pain meds will only take the edge off. Im kinda starting to get worried here! Any advice???
We just bought a lake home in the Ozarks in Arkansas and I have been using glue traps and caught quite a few of what may be brown recluse. I have sprayed with Home Defense Max and am using the glue traps. We are going to bomb the crawl space under the house BUT does anyone know what I can do to get rid of them. I am deathly arachnaphobic anyway but this is freaking me out. My neighbor told me about Viper but I haven’t been able to find it. Please help!
I noticed what I thought was a blood blister on my arm when I hit it against my desk. The night before I had been sick in the middle of the night and thought I was getting a virus (I now know this is probably when I was bitten). The “blister” was extremely hard. It never erupted as I have heard described, it slowly oozed fluid after a couple of days. I had a very red outer circle and a small black center within 4 days. The black tissue has now almost filled up the original
larger red outer circle. I have the white edges as expected.
After 7 days of things getting worse, I went to the doctor. He gave me oral and topical antibiotics. This was given not for the venom but to prevent secondary infections. Apparently there is no “fix” for the venom other than luck or cutting out the poisoned area.
Surprisingly the flu-like symptoms didn’t start with me until these last 3 days. Legs, back of head and neck are hurting. Major headache and very high temperatures that come and go. Chills. After 3 Advil the temp continued to elevate. Finally was able to get it down to 101 by getting in a bath of cool water and cold rags. Since the tissue is still dying and I’m having these symptoms I have to go back to the Doc tomorrow. 10 days into this ordeal and it seems to get worse each day.
If you think you have been bitten by one of these spiders, go to the doctor. Don’t wait like I did. These spiders are common here where I live and I even know people who have been bitten. I have seen what the bite can do and still I didn’t go to the doctor. I made the mistake of thinking it was something other than the BRS because I never felt the bite and didn’t have the flu-like symptoms in the beginning.
People react differently to the bites…Lesson learned. As I’m writing this I feel fine, wouldn’t know anything was going on except for a little itching on my arm. So far today I have felt this good for maybe a total of 6 hours. The remaining hours were spent with the flu symptoms and high fever. It’s been like this for 3 days now. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight without the “flu” returning.
After reading some of the other comments I just wanted to add mine since I realized there can be varying reactions to this. Again, go to the doctor if you think you have been bitten!! Take care everyone!
About 4 yrs ago after a trip to Louisiana i noticed that i was left with an insect bite. Usually most the insect bites i get dissapear in a few days. This one got worse. it got bigger and the centre opened up like an ulcer.
A trip to my doctor and she prescribed antihystamine creams, then later tablets. Nothing worked. Eventually after me insisting that i see a specialist, my GP refered me to the local hospital dermatology dept.
They carried out a biopsy and the results were surprising, it read that what originally was a spider bite had now been diagnosed as a BCC Basal cell carsinoma, a low form of skin cancer. Usually affecting skin with hugh exposure to sunlight. As the wound is on my inner ankle his does not ring true.
Yesterday i had the wound surgically and painfully removed, and the area repaired with a skin graft from my thigh. Very painful.
My specialist and myself still beleive that the original trauma was caused by a brown recluse spider, but had turned to a BCC.
Has anyne else had such a problem.
Please – I beg all of you to take this little killer seriously. My son almost died from this spider when he was 9 years old. We went from thinking he might have the flu to heading straight to the ER when he began peeing blood. Doctors at the emergency room could not figure out what was going on because his white blood cell count was declining rapidly. They sent us immediately to Children’s Hospital in Dallas where we found ourselves in the ICU.
They brought us the chaplain to tell us that we were going to need to make arrangements because our boy probably wasn’t going to make it. “WHAT”? My husband and I fell to our knees in prayer begging God not to take our sweet boy from us. God is good. I still think about that day especially when I hear another story of someone getting bit. Not all bites are fatal. In fact, they seem to act differently in different people. My sons’ reaction was for his body to send white blood cells to destroy the invading venom. Problem was that it didn’t stop there. It turned on his own body and starting destroying his organs. His kidneys had already shut down and they said his lungs and heart would be next. My son was lucky. We thought he would be on dialysis the rest of his life and they said his growth would be stunted. Today my boy is 30 yrs old and 6’3 and not on dialysis. I look back and can’t believe in one day my child went from healthy to near death from one little feakin’ spider. Let’s see if we can’t get an anti-venom for this spider.
Jim,
I found this one on my porch.
I have a sky light porch that only has a top, and she was on the bottom of the outside rafter with a egg sac with hundres of little ones.
I thought it was a Brown Recluse so I got rid of the little ones best I could and kept this one until today and let her go where I could find her again if I wanted too.
I have never seen one this big!!
The sheet of paper will give you her size!!
Thanks,
Joe
By the way I live in North Central Tennessee on the Kentucky border. Celina, TN
I have seen some more big bugs up here alot bigger than where I come from in South Georgia.
Enjoy
the pictures i seen are narly and make me feel fortunate cause awhile back i was bitten by a brown recluse it was so gross i didnt think it was gonna get as bad as it did but about a month later it finaly got better but because of me not taken care of it when people told me i have a nice little scar atleast it didnt turn out like some of those pics i seen.
i may have been bitten on my right arm by a spider the ones in my home looked just like one in the first picture accept i recently saw a baby white one on my bed which i killed-though im not sure if all the way could this be my spider?
what does a brown recluse actually look like of the male species