Brown Recluse Spider Bites - Now is the time to spray your house! (graphic pictures)

myself ^ | 5/9/03 | brigette

[stlnative]

This is a semi-vanity post - but others should learn about this nasty little spider and the damage it can do.

This is my 3rd day into my second Brown Recluse Spider bite that I have had in the past 3 years. The first one took over 6 months to heal and left a 3/4" diameter crater in the back of my neck at my hairline. I was bitten again 3 days ago, at least that is when I notice a pin head size bump on my right forearm and thought it was just a mosquito bite. Today is day three and I decided to keep a record of this new bite this time if it decides to get worse or hang around for 6 months like the other one. It was pin head size 3 days ago. I found a website after my first bite that keeps records and case pictures of brown recluse spider bites (warning if you think snake bites are nasty or anthrax sores are gross - well Brown Spider Bites are just as bad - they get uglier as time goes by!). I did not record my first bite as I figured it would just heal. But it got worse and worse as the weeks went by.

Anyway people in the midwest should learn about these nasty little spiders, even more if you have kids... you should bug bomb your house often and keep clutter away from and inside your homes. Right now the little nasty things are moving back indoors due to all the rainy weather we have had in the midwest.

Today is 5/9/03 and I am into my 3 day of being bitten by BRS (Brown Recluse Spider). My picture below looks like it is not much of anything and I am hoping that it stays as little as it now. But I am prepared to record it this time if it does get worse. Hopefully my picture of my 3 day old bite will help others recognize when they have also been bitten by a BRS, everyone is affected differently depending on the size of the spider and how your body handle the poison. Since this is my second bite it may not get any worse.



I have started a bite history on a website that has records of over 400 BRS bites (tons of photos there that would make your jaw drop if you have never seen what a BRS can do to you once it bites you) My case number is #995 (maybe they have 995 recorded cases now) the website url is http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/default.htm

My little bite is how all of it starts for some people, that little bite can turn into this...
Graphic Picture of Hand after a BRS bite and the link to this persons BRS bite story

I don't think I need to say more here - just visit the BRS Bite site and use the search link at the top... Put in the information you want (if you just want to see the stories with pictures check off just the "Yes" next to the Picture option and hit the search button at the bottom.

Do yourself a favor and your kids a favor... spray or bomb your house at least once each season (spring, summer, fall, winter). You can buy house bombs at any local discount store in packs of 3 for about $6.00.

I posted this so that people mainly in the midwest can learn about these nasty little spiders, I didn't do it to draw attention to my own bite... I just know now how nasty they can get and how you can lessen your chances of being bit. I got bit before I had a chance to bomb my house... it has been rainy here and I should have known they would start coming in through the cracks between the window screens and window frame. All in all I should be fine, but some people do not fair as well.

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

That's highly unusual. Most Black Widow bites entail little necrosis (decaying flesh) at the site of the bite. Usually the victim gets sick as a horse with blinding headaches and convulsions (and sometimes death).

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Remember, though, that the strength of the venom injected may vary from bite to bite. Alot of "dry bites" lead to no complications.

Snake bites act alot the same way.

God bless and keep you. I pray I never have to go through what you have.

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Here in S. Arkansas, I was weeding in my garden and caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of something crawling up the right back of my t-shirt. It was a large black widow. Thank God I shook it off. We get those things (and recluses) all the time. Fortunately they are not very aggressive. One of the earlier posters is right - chickens help keep their numbers down.

[circles]

and they aren't that nasty (except for the mosquitos)

I remember being in New Hampshire a few years back on a cold June Morning (about 50 degrees). I remember being attacked by hundreds of HUGE mosquitoes, despite the cold.

...and I thought mosquitoes were bad in Louisiana.

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Our house is a converted wheel-alignment shop (yeah, I know). When we first bought it, I spent the winter demolishing old, termite damaged wood and rebuilding, waterproofing, etc. One room had so many brown recluse spiders that I lost count at 300! After smashing, spraying, fogging, removing studs, walls, etc., it is very rare that we find one today. Of course, a few are still there, but without the dampness and source of insects (food), they are not terribly prone to reproduce.

What is chilling is how our five children played in that room when we first got the place, oblivious to the danger. None of them was bitten, however.

God is good.

[RipSawyer]

"How I ever survived OK--I will never know...."
My first wife grew up in eastern OK, I took her back there to visit and we were both nearly eaten alive by ticks. I grew up in SC and we have ticks but they never did the damage that the OK type did. I was bitten near the waistline by one tick which left a black circle that was visible for the better part of a year before it finally went away. We went fishing several times while there and were constantly seeing poisonous snakes. On the way back home I was laughing and singing, "Oklahoma where the ticks are thicker than a fog".

[quack]

I got over 100 fire ant bites on my legs last summer.I was clearing brush at night and standing on a mound.Thought it was just prickly grass until the "fire" set in.45 minutes later(rural area) I was at the hospital.They gave me large doses of Benadryl and Pepcid.Pepcid,they've found out,has a histamine blocker in it.It was instant relief.I could see the bites disappearing.Of course they returned and I now have small holes in my legs that will never go away.

Just a note.Keep the Benadryl and Pepcid handy for fire ants.

[RipSawyer]

"these can live MUCH further north than the map indicates"

I wouldn't place much faith in that map, it totally excludes South Carolina, I have been personally acquainted with several people who have been bitten here in SC.

[Remole]

Wow. Now I know what bit me last summer--not once, but 7 times, all around the belt line on my left side. The bite and the scarring looks just like yours. I didn't notice anything for a day or 2, then there was excruciating pain on my side for about 3 days, accompanied by headache and malaise. The wounds took about 4 months to heal completely, and even now, a year later, there is clear red scarring.

[HamiltonJay]

I forget the product name, but there is a salve that works great with BR bites, it actually draws out the venom/enzymes.... If I can reall what its called I will post it.

[stlnative]

Probably "Prid Salve" - I have been using it. - My bite looks just about the same and may actually be healing.

[countrydummy]

I feel for you! These are one of the worst spider bites there are and some folks have lost limbs because of these bites! They are spreading into the south and WV has had several cases of them! Here, we are told that if we go for a walk in the woods, to keep our socks over our pants (so the nasty little critters won't crawl up our pants legs. Yet they are here and in VA, now so your idea of bombing the house is a good one!

[bluewater bird]

We have them in Florida, too. Have been bitten several times and never saw or felt a spider. It takes antibiotics to get rid of it.

[ffusco]

Aquanet is practically a flame thrower..... Great for "weathering" palstic model kits.

[hunyb]

The stuff nightmares are made of..........gggggrrrrrrooooooooooooosssss! :)

[hunyb]

I can do you one more, one morning (i was in high school, living in Wichita Falls, TX), we lived next to an undeveloped field (got scorpions all the time, same color as the carpet, different story!!), well, one morning, i'm coming out of the shower, it's still dark in the house, and i walk into my bedroom and thought i had stepped on a big rubber band, so i turned on the light and BAM, there was this ENORMOUS spider crawling away from my foot.....I screamed for my dad to come and kill it.....family laughs at me to this day, but i will say this, that thing was HUGE!!!!! gackkkk!!! hated spiders ever since!!!

[ChemistCat]

bump (in the night) ping

[talleyman]

My sister bit a spider once....

On the veranda?

[AFreeBird]

B4L8r

[GOP_1900AD]

"Jah-Buh! Jah-Buh! Jah-Buh!....."