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.

[stlnative]

You will have to read the instructions on the type of pesticide you use. Each pesticide should be used and cleaned up by what they makers suggests. I use the fogger bombs and they work fine for killing BRS, you might be surprised how many you find dead after you bomb your house. They hide in clothes and shoes, normally you never see them unless they are on the move.

[tutstar]

spiders & snakes give me the creeps!!! I have seen more bugs in Fl than I ever cared to know existed.

[tuckrdout]

Dang! I can't sit still now! I keep looking and itching!

[Joee]

Very interesting. Also gives one and idea of what chemical warfare can do.

[SamAdams76]

That's one advantage to living in a cold climate (New England). Bugs are only a problem maybe four months a year and they aren't that nasty (except for the mosquitos). In fact, here it is in mid-May and the mosquitoes haven't even come out yet. On the other hand, we've only had several warm days so far this year. It's been a cold, wet spring.

I have a serious case of arachnophobia and that picture creeps me out. If I find even a simple garden spider in my house, I'm running for the RAID can.

[1066AD]

I got a bite on the back of my hand whil pulling ivy off a wall (North TX), it turned into a non-healing spreading mess. BRS was the diagnosis, can't remember what I zapped it with tho'. I now have a scar about nickel size. About 15 yrs ago. Now I wear work gloves outside...

[stlnative]

Both times I was bit. I never saw the spider or felt it. I only felt it after it became inflamed and grew larger. Again I live in the country... they are everywhere! We have a thick wooded are right behind the house and corn fields all around us. Pets can also be bitten, they have some pet case on the website link I posted above. I see hundreds of them every year some in my house at times and other outside. As soon as you clear them out more move back in the house or around your home. I have many gardens on my 5 acres of land also. You can keep your dwelling spotless and still get them inside your home they are small spiders that do not normally come out in the open. You usually find them hiding or right after you have sprayed.

[blackdog]

Guinnea Hens=Spider eaters

Spiders can be amazingly rugged. I find tons of them inside my 1000lb. hay bales. They are in the hayfield when cut. They survive the drying/crimping, raking, acid spray preservative, and then baleing to a few thousand pounds PSI. Many of the bugs in the bales even survive the winter. I've opened a bale in february and found grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, etc... in a sort of suspended animation. They start moving once the enormous pressure is released when I open the bale.

When I had about 20 guinnea hens I hardly ever saw a single bug. They are gone now due to biosecurity measures. Soon after I noticed the Brown Recluse in our raspberry patches last season.

[stlnative]

are = area

[madison10]

I live in MI, but don't recall ever seeing the BRS. Has anyone seen a photo with the spider next to a nickel or other coin, it may help with understanding the size.

Sorry to hear about your bites.

[Paradox]

And most insecticides are ineffective against spiders unless they get direct and heavy contact.

This is true, since spiders are not "insects". They are arachnids, more related to crabs than insects. Make sure what you buy is effective against spiders.

[stlnative]

well that might the problem here, we use at least 6 strawbales a season to use as mulch in our veggie gardens. Newspaper and then straw on top. We have 5 acres and many gardens, both veggie & flower. (Country living you know!) Field Mice - Deer in the yard - raccoons - snakes - the neighbors cows getting out and eating up your gardens - some folks don't get it - country life that is. I was born and raised in St. Louis and moved way out into the country in 1994. You know where we have to have our water hauled in and dump into a cistern. (too high up to have a well dug) - Thanks!

[discostu]

That's probably a compliment to your baleing machine, I wouldn't doubt if most bugs (like eggs) can handle pretty severe pressure if it's applied evenly and very little if it's not. I know tarantulas (not venomous but they got BIG fangs) will literally fall apart if they fall more than about a foot. I dropped the S volume of the Britanica on a palo verde beatle once (big nasty mean ugly critters) and it was gone in the morning.

I think I'll stick with cats I know they're good against scorpions. Makes sense that birds would be good, they don't just eat seed.

[kcvl]

http://spiders.ucr.edu/recluseid.html

[kcvl]

[xJones]

OMG, thanks for the warning but, those pictures! Are you getting the stun gun treatment for the bite, or what?

Recluses take five years to reach full size.

FIVE years to adult stage?! How many more years do they have till they croak from old age?!

Best wishes for your quickest possible recovery. (I hate spiders, all spiders, but particularly those brown devil recluses.)

[liberalnot]

thanks.

i've had clusters of bites like those above on my right leg, but i didn't know what it was.

i went into a pharmacy and grossed out the pharmacists, who said, you ought to see a doctor!

i live in socal, but not in the area on the map below.

[tubebender]

I lost a good friend last year. He had diabetes and said he was bitten on the top of his foot. It developed into a bad sore and he tried home remedies on it until they had to amputate his foot. Then it spread up his leg and he finally succumbed.

[nutmeg]

Thanks for the info. I think there were a couple of cases here in Connecticut (over about the past 10 years) where people actually died from BRS bites.

[newzhawk]

the son of the couple that we bought our house from died from a recluse spider bite - he was camping in the woods in northern Florida- we have had two teens in the school get bites from reaching into boxes in the garage in central fla on the coast - so they seem to be everywhere- the trick is getting to the Dr on time for antibiotics