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.

[sphinx]

I had a big spider in a corner of the bathroom frozen in place for a few years...kind of like a trophy. ;-`)

I prefer mine stuffed and mounted. Had to give up my best specimen 'cause the movers couldn't get it through the door. Big spider sure looks purty sittin' there over the mantle -- hope the new owners like it.

[sawoody]

I agree. I had a tick bite back in '96 that looked the same and I came down with Lymes Disease.

I'd have a doctor check it out, and soon. Watch for high fever and flu symptoms.

I have a few friends that caught it as well. If it's treated early, with the right kind of anti-biotics, it's no big deal. Untreated, it can do some long term damage.

sawoody

[kassie]

Bless your heart. I hope you are healed by now. I realize this is an old post. My mom who is 83 was diagnosed with having a BR spider bite. Back of her calf. She is having a hard time. Terribly painful.

[DeltaElise]

I was bitten twoo weeks ago by a brown recluse. My volunteer animal rescue job exposes me to many dangers, but this bite has scared me badly. I went to the ER a few days after the bite. At first I thought it was just another mystery bug bite and I get many of those. The DR at the ER yelled at me for waiting so long. I was pretty sick from it and he didn't do anything to help me understand it. He put me on Cipro and pain pills. I quit the pain pills because the side effects from the Cipro were bad enough. I suffer from panic disorder, panic attacks and several other related disorders and can only work with animals and not people so it was hard when I had to return to the ER after having a reaction to the meds because the dr here is so mean. I went ahead and left the ER and came on home because the nurse said the dr would get mad if we called and disturbed him. It was twenty minutes until eleven at night. WELL EXCUSE ME, I WILL JUST GO OUTSIDE TO DIE THANK YOU. I live in a very small town with a very strange dr. Anyway, I took something to calm me and I finally went to sleep. I am putting something called Mellalouca Oil on the bite. It helps alot. Made it drain. I may have escaped the necrosis. I don't know yet.
Does nayoen know when I will feel better? I am not sure if it is the bite or the anti biotics making me sick.
Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.
P.S. I consider myself to be a pretty tough person, but this little spider is apparently tougher.

[Romish_Papist]

Well, since this thread seems to be coming back I thought I might add a few questions.

For about two weeks now I have been waking up with what I can only describe as spider bites (about ten or twelve over the past two weeks) on my thighs and backside. They don't hurt, and only itch if I start scratching at them. A few would get a tiny pustule in them but after I'd pop it and squeeze the junk out (sorry, gross, I know) they would heal in a couple of days. One got pretty nasty, kind of oblong and about an inch in length but it's completely cleared up now, only took two or three days. Other than that I have not experienced any kind of ill health. I feel as good as I always do. Also, I haven't noticed and blackening or the white ring thing associated with the bullseye pattern or anything.

Anyway, I figured they were spider bites so I set up three RAID foggers in my apartment yesterday. I let them do their thing while I was at work, came home, threw them out and let the place air out.

Sure enough, I was sitting on my couch about to head off to bed last night when I looked over at the arm of the couch and saw a light brown/beige spider walking along pretty quickly. I actually cuaght it under a glass and still have it. I did some looking online and all I can find that looks like it is a brown recluse. It's too small for me to see if it has a fiddle on it, but it's still big enough that I could fit it on a quarter. Pretty long back legs too.

The structure of the body is the spitting image of a recluse though, and the color. I can't see close enough to check the eyes out though. One question I have is about the two little arm-like things at the front of the head area, I guess the venom injectors or whatever. Down towards the tips they are black. The rest of the spider is completely light brown/beige.

I got so freaked out I slept at a hotel last night. Sounds extreme I know but with the bites I have I didn't want to risk it. The guy who checked me in told me his sister got bit by one just one town over (Hampton, VA, I live in Newport News, VA).

I have a pest control techincian going to my apartment today to take a look at the spider to try and identify it, but I guess my question is this:

Can you get bit by these things and not have a bad reaction or necrosis? I mean, the spots I have are like mosquito bites that don't itch unless I actually touch them and some of them (but not all) get a little pustule in the center of them. They seem to heal pretty completely after a few days. Does this sound possible from a bite if this is a recluse? Is it possible for someone to have this kind of reaction to these bites? Maybe not be susceptible to the degree others are?

I guess the foggers didn't work so now I'm a bit paranoid.

Sorry for addressing this to "All" but I wasn't sure who to ask.

[Eva]

I met a woman in Washington state who lost part of her foot due to a Brown Recluse Spider bite, so I know that they are in Washington.

[Skooz]

I'm in Shreveport. Maybe I better do the same.

[Trust but Verify]

Whoa, this is interesting. My daughter was nearly hysterical a couple of weeks ago when she discovered a nasty, large spider in her bathroom. She tried to kill it but it got away. She was later able to trap it and it died. But here's the really good news! She took a picture of it! If I can get it, I'll post it and maybe you could tell me if it's a BRS. I sure hope not!

BTW, we live in SE Wisconsin.

[Romish_Papist]

Which Bengal fogger would you suggest for spiders? They have two kinds on their website: Roach and Flea fogger, and Flea and Tick fogger. Problem is they both have the same descriptions. They both say they kill spiders but they must be different products otherwise why list them as such? Thanks!

[Eva]

Characteristic bullseye of Lyme's disease. Early treatment saves a lot of trouble. Where are you?

[WestCoastGal]

I wonder if there is a natural remedy (herbal etc) in lieu of insectacide for these ugly devils.

Fire ants seem to be the big problem in Texas that I have noticed so far.

[AppyPappy]

That was a year ago. No problem

[Romish_Papist]

Whew! I just got a call from my apartment complex. The pest control technician went to my place and brought the captured spider back to his shop. They looked at it and said it's a yellow sac spider. They do bite, and can cause skin irritation, but nowhere to the dregree of recluses. They also scheduled me for next Friday to have my apartment treated by their exterminators.

So I guess I was right about the bites I've been getting as they said the yellow sac spider is in fact a biting spider, and it does have venom, but mostly resulting in skin irritation. I can deal with that and go on the hunt for these little devils!

[stlnative]

Brown Recluse Spiders are very active right now in Midwest. I have been seeing quite a few of them in my garage lately out in the open and just before I sprayed my house this week. It is getting hot enough here that they try to move indoors for a darker and cooler environment in which to live in. The temperature is reaching around 80F to 85F during the day now here in the Midwest.

[stlnative]

A Brown Recluse Spider bite as dark pin dot core in the center of the bite. The dark pin dot will be sunken in with the area around the bite having small teeny blisters and it will be raised. The bite will grow in size rather quickly (within hours with most people) - Chances are that the body area where you were bit will feel slightly achey and the body part may have slight shooting pains near the bite. Some people will run a slight fever.

If suspect that you have a Brown Recluse Spider bite, keep a close eye on it... if it is growing in size fast and if you are feeling sick or if you run a high temperture. Go to a doctor or ER room right away. Most people do not get very sick from Brown Recluse Spider bites, but you must keep an eye on the bite and watch if it is growing in size (width as well in depth). The skin and tissue will die around the bite and how much of the skin and tissue dies varies per person and how much BRS venom was injected into the person skin.

When I was bitten the last time by a BRS (when I started this thread). I thought it was just a mosquito bite or that I had a splinter in my arm due to the dark pin dot center - but the center of the bite became very dark and expanded within hours and my whole arm ached and I had slight shooting pains up my arm and the arm area around the bite was very warm to the touch. I also ran a small fever. The dark center of the bite grew to about the size of a dime before it stopped expanding (within days), but the tissue died deep in my arm (how deep it was and how it was getting deeper is what concerned me most at the time). I now have a very noticable deep scar on my arm that which is about 3/8" in diameter. It sorta looks like time old "pox" shot scar but on my forearm. It took about 3 months for it fully heal up. My bite was a minor bite, but it is so important to keep an eye on any BRS bite and how large the dead tissue expands out and inward once you are bitten by a BRS.

I have seen plenty of BRS bites online on websites where the BRS bite has caused dead tissue to expanded to a very large area around the bite over a period of months after the person was bitten. The problem is most people do not know how their bodies will react to a BRS bite until they are bitten by a BRS.

Google Images of Brown Recluse Spider Bites and you will see how they look at first and how bad they have gotten with some people who have been bitten by BRS.

Here is picture of one at the beginning
http://www.remotemedics.co.uk/l278.jpg (normally they do not get much worse than this first picture - this was taken at 3 days after the bite)

But in some case they can get grow pretty ugly as you will see here... (warning it is not pretty)
http://www.remotemedics.co.uk/p011.htm

REMEMBER ITCHY BITE WITH A DARK CENTER, MEANS IT COULD BE A BROWN RECLUSE BITE... If it grows fairly fast in size or if you sick, get to the doctor or an ER.

[stlnative]

http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/Images/Insects/recbite.jpg

[stlnative]

Another Freeper who was bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider in early 2005.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1321283/posts?page=1

[Nov3]

Bug bombs are only marginally effective.

[stlnative]

I use a fine mist sprayer and spray my whole house 4 times year. The stuff I use is made by Ortho (Indoor Home Defense? by Ortho). It can be bought in a 1 gallon jug that has the sprayer hose and head with the jug. It is for indoor use. It works great for me, but I also set off bug bombs in the garage as well as spray the Ortho stuff around.

[skr]

Good grief, the Hobo Spider looks as though it has boxing gloves on. Thanks for the site. I hope I never meet one of those!