Yeah these are pretty mean suckers. This one is at least 10" end to end. They'll spit their poison out nine inches.... the stuff will eat clean through a beer can. Nasty buggers for sure.
Posted on 10/04/2006 4:53:12 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
As if the West Nile-toting mosquito isn't enough to worry Mississippians, add the poisonous Latrodectus geometricus to the state's list of creepy-crawly creatures.
Dr. Jerome Goddard, entomologist with the Mississippi Department of Health, said the poisonous Brown Widow spider that is a cousin to the well-known Black Widow, is now calling the Mississippi Gulf Coast home.
"The tropical Brown Widow spider .... has recently been captured in many locations along the Mississippi Gulf Coast,"Goddard said in a news release Tuesday.
He said his office has been receiving many phone calls reporting buildings and grounds heavily infested with this type of spider.
"This spider is in the same family as the Black Widow, and is poisonous to humans,"Goddard said."I first heard of a collection of this spider at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi in early 2005 and figured it was probably just an isolated incident."
The Health Department said the Brown Widow can grow to 1 1/2 inches long. It is brown or grayish-brown instead of black and has an orange-to-yellow hourglass design on its underside, as opposed to the familiar red hourglass design on the Black Widow.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Good thing. The Black Widows here in SoCal literally charge at your hand if you accidentally brush the web. Had one come on so fast I almost didn't have time to spray her.
Well, it probably was transported on a merchant vessel, and look for it to inhabit other parts of The South.
While I'm not all that skittish, I can't stand Black Widows. This is not good news.
Yeah? Well I still say they can't stand up to my .45.
Bring 'em on.
Yeah these are pretty mean suckers. This one is at least 10" end to end. They'll spit their poison out nine inches.... the stuff will eat clean through a beer can. Nasty buggers for sure.
I think I'd rather take a chance with Black Widows rather than Brown Recluses. We are covered up with Black Widows here. My husband captured around 50 of them when we removed the rock border from around two Maple trees. I have a watergarden and they lurk in the rocks. I can't spray them in fear of poisoning my fish. He feeds them to the fish. :-) They like them. Few people seem to be bitten by the Black Widows but Brown Recluse bites are very common in this area.
Brown Recluse bites are nasty...
Quick Henry, the Flit!
If you're too young to remember this one, then I feel mighty old.
send Hillary down there with a face like hers they will be scared off in no time
Gee, that's just the story I needed to see when I was planning a mission trip back to the gulf coast this fall...
Hmmmm, and I thought that the grey colored black widow that I saw recently in florida was a mutant or something.
Well, I'm in central florida, so they definitely aren't sticking to the coasts.
My brother-in-law almost lost a finger from a Brown Recluse bite last year. He was digging through old clothes down in his basement. He didn't feel it immediately but it didn't take long to start rotting the finger away. A lot of pain and several surgeries later, his finger survived.
Ya know, that story about your Bro-in-law's finger almost rotting off after a bite kind of makes me appreciate the cooler climate of the north east here on Long Island that much more...Now please, no killer bee stories or I'm moving to northern Maine.
I've tried to talk my husband into selling this big old farm and moving North but so far, no luck. I've lived down South all my life but I'm sick of the heat and biting bugs. Of course, our winters are nice. Maybe when I retire.
His finger turned black as if it was frost bitten. They had to slice it clear to the bone and scrape the dead tissue away. It had to be left open (no stitches) in order to drain. Boy was it awful!
"They had to slice it clear to the bone and scrape the dead tissue away. It had to be left open (no stitches) in order to drain."
Your not kidding, that is horrific.....
I got bit on the neck by one when I was in the military. It was not fun...
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