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Dangerous Spiders ?

SteveGrenard said:
In Australia doctors blame necrotic lesions on the white-tailed spider but toxin experts down under say this is not true. The same type of mythos exists in the U.S. with the brown recluse.
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I can only tell you what the doctor (a specialist) said. He was called in special just for little-ol' me! He recognized it within a second or two and spent an agonizing fifteen minutes probing the overly sensitive (and growing) wound just to make his displeasure at travaling 300 miles known at least to me.
 
Rob Lister said:
I can only tell you what the doctor (a specialist) said. He was called in special just for little-ol' me! He recognized it within a second or two and spent an agonizing fifteen minutes probing the overly sensitive (and growing) wound just to make his displeasure at travaling 300 miles known at least to me.
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If it happened suddenly and you felt a jab and better yet saw or killed the spider, it would be a better diagnosis. But a lot of patients show up with necrotic lesions which are due to bacteria getting into a tiny puncture wound made by something other than a spider and spiders get blamed. There is no way anyone can tell if your lesion was caused by a spider or something else otherwise (just by looking at it) ...and if you don't know yourself. The treatment for a necrotic skin lesion and necrotic arachnidism is the same. Culture, antibiotics, debridement or surgery to clean it out if its bad ....the fact that it was spreading quickly over
15 minutes indicates envenomation though.
 
SteveGrenard said:
If it happened suddenly and you felt a jab and better yet saw or killed the spider, it would be a better diagnosis. But a lot of patients show up with necrotic lesions which are due to bacteria getting into a tiny puncture wound made by something other than a spider and spiders get blamed. There is no way anyone can tell if your lesion was caused by a spider or something else otherwise (just by looking at it) ...and if you don't know yourself. The treatment for a necrotic skin lesion and necrotic arachnidism is the same. Culture, antibiotics, debridement or surgery to clean it out if its bad ....the fact that it was spreading quickly over
15 minutes indicates envenomation though.
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Okay, okay, I believe you. My circumstances were feeling a tiny byte (like a horsefly) whilst putting on my boot. I thought nothing of it. The next day my foot was a bit swollen, especially around an absess on the upper instep. I thought nothing of it. The next day I could barely walk and the wound had grown to size of a dime. I thought of it but tried a little self help. The next day it was the size of a quarter. I waited another day before going to the doctor. He checked me into the emergency room telling me I might lose my whole leg if I refused.
 
Rob Lister said:
Okay, okay, I believe you. My circumstances were feeling a tiny byte (like a horsefly) whilst putting on my boot. I thought nothing of it. The next day my foot was a bit swollen, especially around an absess on the upper instep. I thought nothing of it. The next day I could barely walk and the wound had grown to size of a dime. I thought of it but tried a little self help. The next day it was the size of a quarter. I waited another day before going to the doctor. He checked me into the emergency room telling me I might lose my whole leg if I refused.
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well there's no evidence then that a spider caused the breech which allowed bacteria to work its way under your skin and begin the process of necrotizing fasciitis. It could've been but it could've been a lot of other things as well. And yes this condition could have resulted in amputation and eventually death if you declined treatment by this time. Blaming a spider by eyeballing the lesion after 2 to 4 days is speculation.

http://www.nnff.org/

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a bacterial infection. This bacteria attacks the soft tissue and the fascia, which is a sheath of tissue covering the muscle. NF can occur in an extremity following a minor trauma, or after some other type of opportunity for the bacteria to enter the body such as surgery.

The Group A Strep infection (flesh eating bacteria) is most common with minor trauma. A mixed bacterial infection is often the cause after surgery.

We can personally tell you about people who developed NF after a C-section, after abdominal surgery, after scratching a rash, after giving birth vaginally, from a tiny scratch, after bumping a leg with a golf bag, after a friendly punch in the arm from a buddy, after a little cut on the finger, after a cut on the foot, after a rug burn, after having a routine blood draw in a physical exam, after a broken arm, and after a broken leg, and from no known trauma at all.
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Dude, I said I believed you!

Still, like keeping mayo in the cupboard instead of the fridge, I'll maintain my suspision of spiders.

A tiny one jumped and bit me on the eyebrow last year. Swelled to a pimple. Little bastard. I was content to leave it be. I smacked myself right in the face to kill it. I smacked me HARD!

I showed him.
 
Nobody said:
I managed to trap the spider and flush it down the toilet after spending half an hour spraying it with Fly Killer which just seemed to annoy it and certainly didn't kill it or appear to harm it.

Once before I found an even larger spider in my house which I crushed.
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Ant, fly and roach killing sprays generally don't seem to work well on spiders. But you can buy Spider Killer. The advantage to a spray vs crushing a spider is that if you try to crush a pregnant spider it can release hundreds of baby spiders- you'll never crush them all before they get away. The spray kills them as they come out.
 
Nobody - You would love the Sydney Funnel Web Spider.
This is one of Australia's most famous and venomous spiders.

At night during the mating season the male spiders go looking for females. When the night is over they simply find the closest dark corner and go to sleep. Since shoes make a perfect bed you learn to check them before putting them on especially since the males are aggressive and will attack if threatened.
http://www.usq.edu.au/users/weppner/...web_spider.htm
http://www.csiro.au/csiro/content/standard/ps1o3,,.html

I am not afraid of spiders but try tipping a large male funnel web out of your shoe in the morning and have it rear up and threaten you - its a good way to wake up in a hurry
 
Bob Klase said:
The advantage to a spray vs crushing a spider is that if you try to crush a pregnant spider it can release hundreds of baby spiders- you'll never crush them all before they get away. The spray kills them as they come out.
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As they jump off, actually -- that would be a mother carrying babies on her body. Spiders hatch from eggs, don't get pregnant. :-) Wolf spiders do the baby-toting thing. Harmless, far as I know, but not the prettiest things.

A black widow bit me when I was very young. The skin on my arm turned blue-black for quite a ways 'round, and it hurt like the dickens. But it got better after a while. Nowadays I get bitten by a black widow every couple years; they hang around our shed and near the outside faucets. Just makes a little bluish spot and stings for a while.

Concerning Anansi, I've encountered him as a male god, and not a very "good" one. :-} Anansi is a trickster, like Coyote in some Native American lore. For a particularly weird (and pleasantly short) tale of Anansi check out the Hat Shaking Dance:

http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/passport/lessonplan/lessons/trickster.html

I think the same character is sometimes called "Aunt Nancy."
 
Tirdun said:
We occationally get these
pretties in the basement.
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Dang, I thought Vermont was essentially free of things like this. ( Thay one in the photo could make it to my place in a couple of days. ) Gotta think about a move still further north. i'd take a polar bear over a spider any day.
 
Hamradioguy said:
Dang, I thought Vermont was essentially free of things like this. ( Thay one in the photo could make it to my place in a couple of days. ) Gotta think about a move still further north. i'd take a polar bear over a spider any day.
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This spider is harmless to people .... it looks worse than it is which is why spiders are perceived as scary.
 
Why are they so...icky!

The only thing that even comes close is a roach.

well, I take that back...a roach is worse. an spider or two doesn't bother me but if I see a roach I get out the bug spray and call an exterminator the very next day.
 
It appears that most of the posters here don't live in Australia, which has some deadly spiders. The Sydney funnel web spider bites repeatedly.
funnelwebmaleani.gif

Before an effective antivenom was developed, significant bites usually resulted in severe symptoms and death was not uncommon.
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They also have a lot of very nasty snakes. Aracnophobes and Ophidophobes should live somewhere else.
 
FYI, the Australian Redback spider is a very close relative to the Black Widow.

And not only the Funnel-web here in Sydney, we also have the lovely Trapdoor spider, and the Mouse spider (often mistake for a Trapdoor, and just as nasty). Interestingly, bth these spiders can swim...

The ones we see mostly in the garden are Orb spiders, which make big, beautiful webs in the plants. They are typically Australian - prefer to lie around in the sun all day, and would not to bite anything that isn't food.

The reality here on the ground is that you rarely, if ever, encounter dangerous spiders (or snakes for that matter) in your garden or home. They're usually there, but they do not attack animals bigger than themselves unless actively provoked. They much prefer to disappear down their burrows, etc, until us humans have gone. Children are taught from a young age to just not touch ANY spiders at all.
 
Zep said:
FYI, the Australian Redback spider is a very close relative to the Black Widow.

And not only the Funnel-web here in Sydney, we also have the lovely Trapdoor spider, and the Mouse spider (often mistake for a Trapdoor, and just as nasty). Interestingly, bth these spiders can swim...

The ones we see mostly in the garden are Orb spiders, which make big, beautiful webs in the plants. They are typically Australian - prefer to lie around in the sun all day, and would not to bite anything that isn't food.

The reality here on the ground is that you rarely, if ever, encounter dangerous spiders (or snakes for that matter) in your garden or home. They're usually there, but they do not attack animals bigger than themselves unless actively provoked. They much prefer to disappear down their burrows, etc, until us humans have gone. Children are taught from a young age to just not touch ANY spiders at all.
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We've got those orb spiders here too, in the US. I used to watch one make its web every night when I was a guard in a gatehouse. Had them all around a valley below my house in the WV countryside - what was nice was that they were big and brightly colored, so you didn't accidentally walk face-first into one of their webs (which, in the morning, were dew-covered and could be seen a few hundred yards away).
 
Zep - good call. In last post I was trying to scare and it has only happened to me once - not that I will ever forget.

Have you seen the BBC documentary "Life In The Undergrowth"
One episode deals with the web spinners and has a very interesting piece on the red back spider.

Quote for the day
Arachnoleptic fit - The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Arachnoleptic+fit
 
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Several years ago, one of my dad's co-workers brought in his pet tarantula to show off. Soemhow, the "pet" managed to escape its box and proceeded to explore my dad's office. As my dad walks in, he sees this humongous arachnid making its way across the floor.

Now normally, my dad would have quickly destroyed such a large spider, but he new that a co-worker of his had brought in his pet tarantula so he placed a small waste-paper basket over the spider and went to get the animal's owner.

When he returned, he found the waste-paper basket slowly moving across the floor. While the spider's owner found this incredibly cool, my dad found it somewhat less amusing and kindly requested the spider be removed.
 
Hmmm

Nobody said:
Today I found a spider in my house that I think was too large and hideous to be a British species. It's body was about 1cm in diameter, it had legs just over an inch long and was a brown suede colour and hairy. It had large black fangs and eyes.
[...]

Comments ?
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I live in germany and find such a big spider on regular basis (1 per 3-4 monthes). Not two weeks ago my cat was trying to play with one which had more than 1 cm in diameter and more than 8-9 cm counting leg.

Now I fully understand the joy of living near a big forrest...

ETA: the small one I usually never find, because, you know, they are such a cut toy for my cat... Ditto for fly and other flying insects.
 
andyandy said:
another reason i was told regards our experiences as babies - apparently we swallow a number of spiders in our lifetimes....whilst asleep of course
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do you really believe this, though? I mean, I've heard this factoid too, but it's clearly ludicrous.
 
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