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.
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.
