Help Identify Spiders and More
By Jen | BadSpiderBites.com | Last reviewed: April 2026
If you are reading the comments and know what type of spider bite, a visitor has, please feel free to help. Warning: Some of these pictures may show a scary spider or a bite that has become infected and could be considered disturbing to some, so if you don’t like the sight of rotted skin or exposed bone, this may not be for you. However, it does drive home the importance of seeking medical attention before it’s too late! Have pictures and a story you would like to share? Start with our spider bite photo library. Would you like to see our collection of spider bite photos?
I woke up one morning and found a painless red area on my right side about the size of a golf ball. each day i checked to find it grew. it made its way around my waist and almost touched on the other side before it began to fade away. i found the outer skin of a large spider in that room. it looked grey or black. it wasn’t much more than a curled up spider skin at that time. is that a wolf spider bite?
I have 5 bites but I don,t know what they are they are as big as a dime and itch really bad and I cant lay on it it feels like there’s something in it please someone help me
I think i have two spider bites maybe 3 (2 in the same spot) they both itch and started of small like a mosquito. But i barely go outside and i do have spiders in my house but there quit small, smaller then a penny and i see them in the corners of my ceilings (just a couple). should i be worried? my bites are itchy and red, but dont look infected..
I woke up about 4 days ago with two red, 1 inch bumps on my right thigh. It hurts really bad whenever it is touched, I honestly don’t know what it is. I don’t think it’s a mosquito bite because it should be gone within two days but it’s not. The two red bumps on my right thigh has been red and hurting 24/7.
I have tried neosporin for two days with bandages covering them and nothing changes. It’s still red, 1 inch and also hurt really bad. Yesterday I’ve started to notice a black dot in the middle of the red bumps. I don’t know what it is, can someone please help?
A few days ago I was laying on my bed watching a movie and I saw hanging just a few inches from my face what I at first thought was a gnat flying. I clapped my hands together to catch it and kill it and i was black and so small so i figured it was still a gnat because it was to hard to tell after I killed it,
well a few minutes later there was another one and another one every minute or so then one was on my arm and I then noticed it was a very small black spider the size of a gnat No bigger!.
I told my husband who was sitting next to me on his computer and a few minutes later he had two on him we killed them and then noticed that they must be coming from the light fixture as if maybe they where up in the attic And this is in Northern Illinois by the border of Wisconsin we killed about 20 or more and sprayed the lights and room well after that we only have found one since the day after and none after that.
about 3 days after all of this I woke up and my husband said what happened to your lip? I felt my lip and it was swollen I ran to the bathroom and my lip was very red and swollen at that time it started to hurt a bit I figured that it will go away on its own and washed my face. their was no bite visible other then the fact that it was a large bump and red about a few hours later the pain started to get worse. my lip started forming a pus bag and I just couldn’t leave it alone. my skin that was covering the pus was light yellow in color but the pus was clear or water like but sticky.
my lip felt better as i was draining it, but the next morning my lip was huge and red. the bump was so swollen that my lip was almost touching my nose and the pain was so bad. the swelling went down after 3 days but my lip keeps growing and peeling. the scab that is sometime light green/yellow or light pink. from time to time and the pain is still there but its a not swollen how ever my lip keeps opening a sore that is long and keeps changing from small to big and big to small then back to big, it looks like someone busted open my lip.
its going on 5 days now and the pain wont go away. it hurts to talk / drink / eat / even when I am not talking.
I believe it was on of those baby black spiders from the night or two before but I don’t know what kinda spider, I looked online and the only one that I think so far that it could be might be a Black House Spider but then again it was a bit hard to tell.
the pain fells like I have been stung by a wasp any idea on what it was or how i can treat it on my lip! since I cant use to many things on my lips I have been using Hydrogen peroxide but that’s all.
i woke up with 2 bites on my leg. One is on the upper part of my leg on the back, it doesn’t bother me much, but the second one is on the upper part of my calf. It burns and itches basically all day & night. There’s two bumps and its always red around it. Even itching lotion won’t make it stop itching. /:
I have two bites on my stomach and they have puss and blood coming out of them. I have been having problems even walking because they hurt so bad. I have eczema but I know that this is not that. They might be infected or something but I think they are spider bites because there are spider everywhere in my house. Please email me back.
I went to school today and then saw a bite. At first I thought it was a mosquito bite, but then realized it wasn’t. Its kind of a clear color on top, and its really small, like I said, it looked like a mosquito bite. It dont itch, or hurt at all, but I don’t know what bit me. :( I’m really scared someone PLEASE HELP ME! :'(
I think I have a spider bite. It is on my back. And it looked like 3 little pimple type bumps. It itched at first (2 weeks ago). It doesn’t itch so much now. There are two things that are happening that are unusual to me. Intense pain in my back. It comes and goes through out the day. It is quite intense when it does occur. I try to touch the area where the bites are and it feels “connected” meaning that it feels connected or part of the “stuff” I can feel in my back.
I feel pain but also feel like there is something in there. A couple weeks ago I could definitely feel something in there and under my arm. I thought I was going crazy. I didn’t associate it with a spider bite because the red pimple like marks just looked like a pimple. I have had some other things going on and associated it with that. But I had my sister come and look at it last night and she described it better to me. She described the bite and that it feels like there is something hard in there around the bite marks.
I am pretty sure it is a spider bite of some kind but can’t seem to figure out what it is. The pain is intense and happens at night for a few hours. I live in Utah if that helps. It is just weird and I would like to get to that bottom of it and figure it out. Thanks for your help and suggestions.
I am grateful for this site and the sharing the guided me to the doctor and on some additional treatment. I woke up late Wed with a welt on my chest that was red and really hurt. I could not figure out what it was at first, then remembered my husband stating that our daughter said she saw a spider just after I cleaned that chandelier in the foyer (the prior afternoon).
I never felt a bite, but all symptoms indicated a bite. During the day, the area of the bite got bigger and started to hurt more when I moved where pressure was applied, or something touched/ pushed in that area (it really hurt). Anyway, I went to the Dr., got antibiotics and a tetanus vaccine since it had been many years…The swelling, redness and heat increased and it looked like a volcano by Sat…days later. The redness was several inches in diameter.
The pressure and pain increased, making it hard to sleep at night. I tried to break an area on the top that looked like puss under the surface…no luck. I cleaned it and put on a band-aid. many hours later, I removed the bandage and the area started to drain. It now really looked like a small volcano; it had the hole in the center like several of the pics on this site.
I drained it myself…painful as it was by applying lots of pressure…very gross. Next day, it looked like the skin around the hole was purple/black. I called the doctor who said draining it was fine and it appeared to be running its course ( and I was on antibiotics). He stated that if he redness increased anymore to call back.
I continued to apply wound care (draining, cleaning and new bandages due to drainage), and noted noted a white area in the center of the hole. Otherwise, it was not worse, but not better. A later time, using a paper towel, I was able to pull out the white area (thinking this might be the puss sac someone else had described in a previous post). Well, the next day the wound is finally healing and the draining and swelling has really decreased…not sure if the antibiotics finally kicked in or if it was removing the “white stuff.”.
Just glad it is getting better and most likely really was a bite and not MRSA (which many sites say is usually the issue).
I’m not really sure if it was a spider or another insect that bit me. I was watching TV last night and felt stinging on my arm. there was no bug just a small red bump like a small pimple that stung like crazy. about thirty minutes later I started getting hives on my wrists, hips shoulders and legs. and about an hour later my throat started to close I could barely talk. I chewed one benadryl and took another one and the swelling and hives’ were gone.
The bite never changed still just looks like a tiny pimple. When I woke up this morning my fingers were swollen and started to get hives on my ankles so I took more benadryl and they went away. I’m not allergic to anything and have only gotten hives twice in my life before but nothing like this. any clue?
I got bit by a spider last night wile sleeping. it is about a centimeter away from my eye. I am not feeling any pain around there, the day before i saw a small spider in my room not even sure what kind it was the body was small and gray and the legs were sort of long. i know the the only spiders in new jersey are black widow and brown recluse so e mail me please to help me out thank you.
I saw a spider one night in my room and then I lost it. The next morning I woke up and I had a spider bite very high on my thigh. It is very dark red around the middle and black smack dab in the middle. Around it is pink and it is very painful.
I think many of you are describing bites from bed bugs. I think you all should look into it. If the bites form a circle or line, it could be bed bugs. If you are bit at night, it’s also a sign of bed bugs.
hi,
my baby brother is 11 months old and he has this rash all over his body, we took him to the doctor (when he was 5 months old) and he told us it was the fifth disease, and it should go away in about 5 weeks. well my brother still has it. now my mom and dad are getting the same rash, it has very small lesions(like a bite) and a rash type deal and its all over their body.
we had thought it was bed bugs,so we cleaned our whole house but it didn’t seem to help. there are 8 people living in our house, it seems to be just the one room. any help please email me
i am worried about this.
I have this really bad spider bight its a bought the size of a nickel and it has a purplish top part and it slowly fades in to red until it gets to the bottom were my skin attaches to the bite. It inches really bad and I tried to pop it and only a little bit of puss came out. I’m having a hard time sleeping because I hate spiders, any ideas about what to do with my bite?
Three days ago I was getting ready for bed when I found something that looked like a pimple. I tried to pop it, it hurt so bad that I left it alone and went to sleep. when I woke up there was two puncture marks in the middle of a large swollen and red area on my inner thigh.
I am on the third day now the swollen area has gotten bigger, redder and more painful. I have a Doctors appointment this happened over the weekend. but I never saw what bit me and I was wondering if anyone might know what kinda of spider bite makes the dark blue black punctures with a large red area around it. the puncture marks are small and close together and dark. Any help would be much appreciated.
I woke up one morning and went to the bathroom, and while i was using it i itched my leg and felt something fall off. I didn’t see anything at first so i didn’t worry, but the next day while i was taking a shower i saw in the same spot two small puncture wounds and a purple spot surrounded by red. what bite me? is it serious?
just wanted to thank you for this site. woke up Christmas eve with three bites on my thumb. noticed them first thing in the morning. they swelled throughout the day and by evening felt flaming hot. i was wrapping gifts and laying the scissors on them to cool them for a second. by the next morning more than half my hand was swollen and a red vein was tracking up to my wrist, three inches long. i took a break from cooking to check your site and saw enough similar symptoms and warnings that i decided to go to the e.r. immediately. my family was shocked, but the hospital is across the street.
Being Christmas, it was empty and i was seen right away. the doctor felt I’d come in early enough that i wouldn’t need to be admitted. they gave me i.v. antibiotics, a tetanus shot and a prescription for amoxicyllin. and a stern warning that if it didn’t get significantly better in 24 hours – or if the red vein infection spread any further – to get my ass back to be admitted.
i did not need to go back and my hand is back to normal except for the flaking skin around the initial bite marks.
thanks a million! i hate going to doctors and would have let it go critical if i hadn’t heard of this site. which would have been stupid since i pay for great health insurance. you were right, you have hours, not days to get on top of a blood infection. i knew that. i knew that a discolored vein tracking toward my heart is an infection – it’s in every plague movie – but i didn’t recognize it on my own hand.
To: LNO – Sounds like you may have shingles.
The spider bite that my dads girlfriends dad got bitten but he doesn’t know what. The color is like a blackish blue color with a red rash around it.
The spider bite i have is a little swollen and a little bit red. I constantly scratch it because its very ichy. What can i do to treat the spider bite?
I just moved into a new place, and have been seeing so many spiders. I got bit while I was sleeping the first night on my knee, and it just itched and went away. But two mornings ago I woke up and had a bigger bit on the top of my upper thigh, there is a good inch of redness around it, and it is hard where it is red. The bump where I was bit has gotten bigger and now looks like a donuts and has liquid coming out. It hurts when anything touches it. Any ideas?! Thanks!
I noticed a small,itchy red bump on my wrist today. I think I got it from a tiny spider that was climbing on me. The spider was tiny and brown. Where I live there are many wolf spiders and I would like to know if the bump on my wrist is a sign of a wolf spider bite. If it is, then is a wolf spider poisonous? If it isn’t, then what kind of spider could it have been??thank you!
I had a small -which I thought bite on my right wrist. After a few days, my wrist was swollen and inflamed. Now today, it is black and blue and its like someone took a chunk out of my skin. Right now it feels like my heart is in my wrist! Just a pulse type pumping in my wrist and it hurts like heck! Anyone knows what type of spider or what it is!?
I was bitten by a bug or small spider on the side of my knee a week ago in northern California it stopped itching after a while but has now swollen an almost full inch of my skin and spread to the size of a mashed quarter. The place where i was bitten in the center of the swelling is dry and flaky and it seems to raise of my skin more everyday or if it bumps on something. it does not hurt and seems slightly numb. i can still feel it when it hits something but just barely
message for Wendy T
I have a similar mark and was wondering if you ever found out what caused yours and also if you experienced cold symptoms with it?
I have moved into a hotel for the winter due to work and I recently have been feeling quick bites on my leg and other spots on my body while laying in bed at night. I recently got a small itchy boil like almost as small as a mosquito bite on my butt cheek. Thinking it was just that it was just that, I scratched it without too much caution.
It popped and as soon as it did it began to give me unbearable pain. It swelled up to the size of a golf ball and opened up to the size of a bullet hole wound. Now I just got bit again on my leg and and I refuse to pop it. In the center is a black dot. Please if there are any ideas what it is please comment.
A week ago I got a spider bite while sleeping; just looks like tiny pinpricks and I did not see the spider. It’s on the outside edge of my shoulder blade almost to my armpit. It still itches on and off but odder is the oval ring of bruises spreading away from it. It’s not solid like a doughnut but it’s more like a ring of small individual bruises. The weirdest part is the area inside the ring is numb. I can feel some touch and pressure but the numbness seems to be spreading…any ideas? Suggestions?
hi, my name is Alyssa i have had red tiny bites/ bumps on my butt. embarrassing..i know but anyways i don’t no what to do they hurt really bad and i always had them…. i don’t no how or what got into my pants because i always where a 1-z to sleep. impossible i thought but no
i woke up this morning with a Huge bump on my neck and its red and itchy. its also seems like its growing… scary….anyways it is also very painful. please email me i would love to know now it is also hard fore me to go to sleep because i am living in FEAR! please email me at alyssafarias_11 [at] yahoo.com
thanks and call me charlie
On Dec 21st late in the evening I was feeling a little pain about 3 inches from my stomach incision. ( I am Recovering from my third spinal surgery and have a big incision on my stomach below my belly button and it is ok)
I put my hand down my pants and to the right just above my bikini hair line there was what felt like a small bump. I asked my mom to come and look at it since it was very painful. She said it looked like a spider bite and was red and purple. I had squeezed it then and she put some rubbing alcohol on it to dry it out. The Next morning it hurt even worse. At this point the bite was red and purple and was rising off my skin about an inch and a half or so. I kept trying to squeeze it to get it to pop but it hurt so bad to even touch it.
Again, we put rubbing alcohol on it to dry it out. I am heavy set so I have a fat roll. Christmas eve I got up in the morning went to the bathroom and when I was done I went to look at it in front of the mirror. I was pulling up the excess fat and had put a small amount of pressure right above it and it popped BAD. It started running down my leg this brown puss. I laid on my bed and again had my mom look at it. She squeezed it and more and more came out.
It filled 5 Q- Tips with this puss. At first the puss was brown, then it turned green then went to blood. there are hard areas around it. it is now the 29th and it look a lot better but is very painful and is still leaking this gooey puss but only a small amount and there is still a small hole in my skin. It does not seem to get worse but it is not healing. Any advice? Was it a spider or something else? Thanks for any comments or help you can give.
I think I need to have it looked at but I am recovering from a MAJOR spinal surgery and It is hard for me to get better. So, as of now It is about the size of a penny with a small hole in the middle. It is red and painful. Thank you for reading and help would be great.
I have been bitten at least 4 times in the last two days, the marks are only about 1/2 cm in length but they are fairly close together, one’s on my thumb the other is on the bit of skin between my thumb and forefinger. If anyone can help please let me know, I haven’t seen this type of bite before.
I have two spider bites on my neck and a really bad stiff neck for seven days and counting. I also have a really big knot on my neck where it hurts. What do I do to make my neck feel better? I cant even turn my neck and I’ve tried heating pads and hot rub but no relief. Please help.
i keep getting very painful bites every night and haven’t seen the bug yet or spider. I keep getting bit on my hands and now my right hand is red, swollen and throbbing with pain and now its radiating up my arm to my shoulder and my neck. I also keep getting bit on my ear and my jaw line. occasionally on my legs but its so painful it wakes me up.
I am the only one in my house that’s getting bit. I get while I’m asleep either day time or night so its diffidently not bed bugs. the doctor couldn’t identify the bites. I had an exterminator come out and look and he couldn’t find anything. so I’m at a loss and so exhausted from not sleeping in fear of getting bit.
I think I have been bitten by a spider, I’m not too sure of it though. I spent the night at a friend’s house about 3 nights ago and as I was standing up to go to bed I felt a sting on my leg, I froze up, I was terrified to look at what was on my leg, I finally looked a few minutes later and there was a thin, brown ring with maybe 3 or 4 puncture holes in the middle of it, I hadn’t ever seen anything like it before.
I almost left right then and there to head to the emergency room, but I took a picture and sent it to my dad who is a paramedic instead to see if I had anything to worry about, he told me that it looked like a black widow bite and to go to the doctor the next day after I let him look at it in person. I woke up the next morning and it all looked completely different, the color changed on the inside to a yellow yucky looking color, when my dad saw it he told me it looked like carpet burn or some type of injury instead of any kind of bite and not to worry about it, so I didn’t… until the next day when I noticed that my “carpet burn” had spread a little to the right of the original mark.
so I decided to take it to the doctor’s office, my doctor told me that he didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t look like a spider bite, he mentioned mersa and ring worm but he said it didn’t really have the characteristics of either one so he wasn’t sure what it was, he prescribed me antibiotics and told me if it didn’t start to heal in 3 days to try ring worm medicine.
I am currently still on my 3 day wait and see trial but I am worried if I should have a second opinion on things, it seems that it’s getting worse everyday and I have noticed that my hands, feet, and face have all been swollen. I would really like to know what all of this is, I am worried that it is a type of spider bite, and I would prefer not to have chunks of skin missing out of my leg. Does anyone know what I may be experiencing? I would greatly appreciate it.
I was going to lay down so i laid there for a few minutes a felt a sharp pain i looked and tried to see what it was nothing. A few minutes later my legs started to hurt, there was a black caved in my shin. It hurts help me.
About 3 days ago, I went to bed and woke up and my right hand itching like crazy. It looked like a normal bug bite. The next day the side of my hand was a bit red, but the spot was swollen and red, probably from me scratching. I applied anti-itch cream thinking it was an insect bite. I talked to my mom and she said it might be a spider bite.
I’ve been monitoring closely, and swelling has went down but it is still red and splotchy right on the spot itself. There is a little bump there but no bite marks. The first day, it was very hard, probably full of puss. Anyone know what this is?
i woke up at about 6am to my hand hurting but i was so tired that i didn’t look at it i just went back to bed! when i woke up again at 10am i saw what looked like a dark purple pimple on my middle knuckle of my left hand so i popped it thinking the pain would go away but it didn’t and my hand is still hurting! can anyone tell me what it could be, i haven’t seen a spider in my apartment yet (thank god because i’m terrified of them) but still its hurting and still red around it! help please.
Yeah I got a spider bite and it was when I was sleeping, So over the next 16 hours I was awake, it was really itchy. Then I went to sleep and the next day it was a white bump in the morning, right now I’m at school and it got bigger. I popped it got a little puss out and a little mound, circular was made, oozing just a tiny bit of clear liquid every few minutes.
its so annoying one day all of a sudden i wake up with a pimple looking thing on my right arm near my elbow.After days it got bigger looking like a white head and in a week and a half it popped. All that was left was a scab then stupid me i picked at the scab month’s later then puss come out of it for not stop. Finally it stopped but then another pimple thing tried to come out but i popped that before it started. After days i noticed a giant scab ball looking thing came out of the wound and after a day a thin layer of skin covered it.Its been month’s now and it still looks the same it looks like two dark red hole covered by a see through pink skin layer. I’m not sure if this is a spider bite but if it is someone please help.
I have been getting bitten at night and the thing leaves two marks, about a quarter of an inch apart. It started last February, then stopped for a while, then in August it’s been almost every night. It even bit me through a glove, and through a sock. It only bites me, not my husband or my son (thank God), and we flea bombed and sprayed what the bug expert said to spray, but it continues.
I got an insect head cover and that stopped it on my face, but it returns to my right hand and right ankle. It burns and then is sore and itches as it heals, doesn’t get infected, is bad and ugly but not horrific, but of course, very upsetting and not minor at all. Any thoughts? I live in central Oregon.
I got bit over night i think i might be a spider bite though because it is like two bite marks wright next to each other and well I got two of the same bite one on each cheek so it must of been the same bug when i touch it really hurts
I got bit by I’m thinking it was a spider, but I didn’t see it and I didn’t even feel it bite me. Its a raised bump with a bulls eye right in the center of it, and it is red all around probably 2 1/2 inches in diameter, painful with pains going up my arm. WHAT BIT ME??
I just got a spider bite this morning and it’s been mildly hurting all day it has two fang marks, the size of a pushed in pin. the redness around is maybe a centimeter in diameter. If anyone can help that would be great!!! thanks!
My name is joni deets and i have a spider bite on my leg and two black dot on my leg and I had to go to the memorial Herman hospital to take out a spider bite that had a big round bruise and it got to swollen to walk I had to get my leg cut open and it it was horrible six shots in my leg I was hurting badly
I have a spider bite that first looked like a regular bug bite the next day it’s a little pus bubble and red.it looked like a brown recluse but it could be something else.I don’t know if I should be worried.
Alyssa, does your ‘bite’ itch? if not and it is just tender, than my guess is that it is actually a boil/abscess. They are common on that part of your body because of pant line/body oils. Don’t try to pop it yourself, put hot compresses on it, and if it doesn’t drain on it’s own, go to the doctor and they will give you antibiotics to clear it up. It is getting harder because it is filling up more (I know not pretty) but you need to take care of it. Don’t pop it or cut it yourself… it will only get worse. Try the compresses and the doctors.
Hello, I went to stay the night at my cousins and see her new house. I stayed in her guest room and the next day i had a really bad pain on my lower back top of my butt. sort of on my pants line. Well i had my sister look at it and she said that it looked like a spider bite. I cant see it but this is how she described it to me.
“red, it is a bump, it is forming a top/pimple. I live in Ohio and i started looking online and saw that the people who had this happen to them said it was a brown recluse and i don’t think that is what it is because it is now almost day 3 and it hasn’t gotten lines going out of it. The only symptoms i have are; Pain! That’s it except for shaking a little. It has been getting redder and the redder it gets the more ” hardened” it gets. No,i did not catch the spider doing it nor did i catch a spider!
I hope you can help me, i don’t know what to do.
Hi, my stepmom is freaking out because she just got a spider bite about 3 days ago on her toe and each day it gets bigger and bigger and it itches her like crazy. Should she go to the doctor or is it not that bad to need medical attention? Well we aren’t sure but shes worried because we are looking it up and there is a picture that looks exactly like hers and it should be from a black widow but we checked the house and there’s nothing. If anyone can help us we really need it thank you so much!!