Healthy Living

I have a bite simular to the image above...It on my forearm as well...It realy burns & hurts like on fire...Please advise what to do..

Thank You,

Victim of bite...3 Days Ago

The body shape often bears a violin-shaped marking on the carapace thus giving it the name "fiddle back spider" or "violin spider". (Not all species display this violin-mark.)

Recluse spiders vary in size from the size of a dime up to a half-dollar. The female can be twice the length of the male.
Recluses come in various shades of tan.
Recluses take five years to reach full size.

http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/spider.htm

I'm looking at the pictures but what does it look like when its healed?

The stiletto snake bites are even worse

there was a spider that kinda looked like that in my room.it was the first one ive seen but it looked just like that but the butt part thing was a bit tthiner... SHOULD I BE WORIED?????

dude thas totally disgusting..

can this spider kill you??
and how long till tha festy shit clears if it ever does??

ive neva seen a spider bite like that.. yukkkk...

another q. does it eat away the whole skin??

xx

The pictures of the "camel spider" bite are NOT from a camel spider, they are of a brown recluse. If you do a little bit of research, you will quickly discover that camel spiders do not have any venom. (also they are not true spiders)

I suggest you or your friend buy a brown recluse spider kit. Hopefully it will prevent your friend from seeing a doctor and save you from expensive medical bills.

http://www.brown-recluse.com/

My friend has the bite on her right forearm and she has been complaining of severe pain for 3-4 days now and the site is red and raised with head that looks like it may hold puss and black in the middle like a large blackhead. She gets some relief from the pain by holding her arm above her head. She has no insurance so is trying home remedy of baking soda + vinegar poultice.

i cried when i got bit by one but i went to the doc and he said i would be fine but im still scared

My Mom got bit by a spider today and it look kinnda like that. soo thats why i came to this web page.
(but my moms ok shes at the doc.)

Hey,I just started reading this page about BRs' because I have just recently seen one in my home in PA,I immediatley thought it was a BRs.I seen your comment.There are a few things you can do to rid your house of them.
1.Find the area,and spray it with a strong anti-insect spray.

2.Trap them,kill it immediatley,and spray any area close to it,I say about 10-15ft.Farther if very nervous.

Now,one way to find out were they are coming from is if you have any small holes in any basement/attic doors? if so,bomb the area,then spray in small areas such as cracks in ceilings,walls,floors since most attics are wood or basements concrete.

No need to reply,I hope this helps somewhat. It may not be the best considering I am only 12 years old...lol.

Goodluck to you and your family,

the first things u need 2 now r that brown recluse live in dry climet they r usally the size if a penny there legs look like daddy long leg's legs plus they have a voilin disgn i would catch it and send an email 2 yepasweetkid@hotmail.com and ill tell ya about ur spider

I recently found what I believe to be a brown recluse in my clothes closet and would like to know if this a place where it might frequent

The picture of the guys thumb is the very same picture you'll see if you google camel spider bites!!

I got on this site because I found a spider and wanted to make sure that it wasnt a BRS. That guys thumb is quite possible the sickest thing that I ever saw. Sorry for that guy.

actually brown rcluses grow to 1 to 3 inches, so they can be small, but the can be big.

hey use a bug insecticide with one of those long nozzles and just constantly spray under the fish tank, just don't stick your hand under there.

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5num2/special/recluse.html

Edited to include just a link to the article, rather than the entire article word for word.

ok i was cleanin my house and i saw these 2 brown spiders behind my fishtank and they were almost under it and so im scared of spiders since my oldest brother died from one but i live in missouri and they are kinda common here i think so i looked online and they look like brown recluses so i troed to kill them but they whent under the tank and its hard to move a 3gallon fish tank. what should i do?

Okay i saw a spider, and i know that BRs are native to here (texas) so i wanted to make sure that it wasnt a BRs. Well it was, so we killed it. It freaked me out a bit since i have two small girls running around my house and this thing was in my kitchen. my question is this. we will be moving into a house in a few months and it is empty right now. noone living in it, no lights on at the time and there is a nice dark storage room right next to the back door. Snakes and spiders oh my! anyways... what it the best way to get rid of this type of spider.....

I saw a comment by Liz to bomb your house if you see a recluse. What many people don't know is that these spiders commonly are the ones that hide very well, so bombing your house will kill many of the spiders that would eat the recluse. Because they hide in very small spaces and in the attic, most times bombings will only give them a wider territory, not kill them.

@ TJ....BRS are not big. They are more small than big. I used to think that they are big too...but last week we went to the zoo and they had some spiders there one was the BRS and one was the black widdow....I was very suprised how small they are.

I am researching a spide I found in our house. I trapped it last night because it is the biggest spider I have ever seen in the Northeast. I used to live in PA and just moved to Maine. Based on all the pictures I have seen, I caught a Brown Recluse Spider. I will take a picture and post the link it here tomorrow. Any verification to the type it is would greatly help.

I too thought "No way is this a brown recluse"--but this thing is huge. It is must have an overall diameter of 5-6" when laying flat and is a super aggressive spider.

hey i know an adult that got bitten and died from one of these
anyway i saw a spider that i thought was one of these(not sure if it was or a wolf) but it crawled down my arm
would i feel it if it bit me

GEEZ! that doesnt look like super spidey powers 2 me lolz ill watch out for those.

Yeah my friend got bit by a brown recluse spider on her face right on the cheek and it is so bad it looks like its eating away her face...

My sister's 6 month old daughter got bit by a BRS and didn't make it. Even for adults but mainly children, these are not anything to mess around with if you see ONE kill it and bomb your house if there is one there could be more. please be informed.

I got bit while living in Iowa, and yes it was a brown recluse, I know because I picked it off my leg, no it did not hurt, it did not sting, it itched after 3 to 4 days when the skin around the bite started turning purple a rotting. After all was over done and said, I lost a circle out of my leg the diameter of a quarter and 1/2 in deep.

EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Okay, to be honest, this is some of the stupidest stuff I have ever read. A quote from "Charles," who sent these pictures in:
"I think I was recently bit by one of these bastards. I have a quarter-wide red bump about two inches from my elbow on my left arm. I believe I was bit about two days ago...I think." Notice that he isn't even sure when he got bit. But then later claims that the picture of the spider in this article is "the actual spider that bit him." What, did he track down the "actual spider" a few days AFTER it bit him, when he realized he had a problem?!?

One commenter said that she was bitten by a BRS in TURKEY, and another said it happened in Maine. These locations are both outrageously far from the BRS's habitat (Maine's entirely too cold, and Turkey is on the WRONG FRICKING CONTINENT!).

Yes, some BRS bites become necrotic, but not every necrotic wound is from a BRS bite. If you live in an area that spider experts say doesn't have BRSs, don't blame your wound on a BRS bite. That's like me (in CA) seeing something furry in a tree and assuming it's a koala bear. There are plenty of other bugs that bite, and plenty of bacteria that can infect ANY wound and make it necrotic. The VAST MAJORITY of necrotic wounds are NOT from BRSs, and sometimes you just have to accept that you will never know what caused it. If your doctor says it was a BRS, and you don't live in an area that is KNOWN TO HAVE THEM, your doctor is just grabbing a convenient theory to satisfy your need to know. There are much more likely explanations in most cases, but the media has blown the BRS 'problem' completely out of proportion, so people like Charles will SWEAR that it was a BRS that bit him, even though he doesn't really know. He'll even knowingly LIE after the fact to make it seem like a BRS is the only POSSIBLE explanation (see the picture of the ACTUAL spider that ACTUALLY bit him two days before he even noticed the bite)!

Come on people, a little common sense, please!

ok the reasin why im looking this up is because i found this huge spider in my basement and we didn't know what it was and it looked like a brown recluse and it wasn't it was a wolf spider so i just wanted to see what happenend if i got be and im scared of this spider more than any greep slimy thing

Hi,
I was just looking up these spiders because I have been seeing them in the house. Is there any way to get rid of them and is there a way to find out how they are getting in? Please respond to my email addy if you can help. crimcraze1@aol.om

eeewwww thata is grosse i found then under the siding of my house so i came in and loked them up and this came up yuck

These spiders are nastey little shits and I can honestly say I wouldn't mind if they fell exstict. They say that they are only found in the southwestern states but I know for a fact that they are in the southeast as well. I got bit on the side of my leg by one 8 years ago when I was in the Coast Guard in Wilmington NC and still have the scar to prove it. At first it hurt and looked like a pimple. Then it started to look like an in grown hair and started swelling up to the point you couldn't tell my knee from my ankle. That's when I started getting hot flashes that led to a fever of 104. At that time I was taken to the doctor who gave me anti-biotics and poked the pimple like area with a needle and it burst leaving a hole big enough to fit one of those big medical que tips whole head part in there and swabbed it around. There for a while I honestly thought I was going to die. The anti-biotics and the cleaning had me back and feeling alot better in 3 to 4 days. Now I have the scar to remind me. If I see a brown spider, I kill it.
I now live back in Pa. and have heard of people here getting bit by them as well. They say that they get into packages and stuff when they are sent. So don't believe the bull crapp of them being only in the southwest. They're every where!!!!

The physical reaction to a brown recluse spider bite depends on the amount of venom injected and an individual's sensitivity to it. Some people are unaffected by a bite, whereas others experience immediate or delayed effects as the venom kills the tissues (necrosis) at the site of the bite. Many brown recluse bites cause just a little red mark that heals without event. The vast majority of brown recluse bites heal without severe scarring (http://spiders.ucr.edu/avoidbites.html).

Initially, the bite may feel like a pinprick or go unnoticed. Some may not be aware of the bite for 2 to 8 hours. Others feel a stinging sensation followed by intense pain. Infrequently, some victims experience general systemic reactions that may include restlessness, generalized itching, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, or shock. A small white blister usually initially rises at the bite site surrounded by a swollen area. The affected area enlarges and becomes red, and the tissue is hard to the touch for some time. The lesion from a brown recluse spider bite is a dry, blue-gray or blue-white, irregular sinking patch with ragged edges and surrounding redness--termed the "red, white, and blue sign." The lesion usually is 1½ inches by 2¾ inches or smaller. Characteristics of a bite are further discussed at http://www.amednews.com/free/hlsa0805.

The bite of the brown recluse spider can result in a painful, deep wound that takes a long time to heal. Fatalities are extremely rare, but bites are most dangerous to young children, the elderly, and those in poor physical condition. When there is a severe reaction to the bite, the site can erupt into a "volcano lesion" (a hole in the flesh due to damaged, gangrenous tissue). The open wound may range from the size of an adult's thumbnail to the span of a hand. The dead tissue gradually sloughs away, exposing underlying tissues. The sunken, ulcerating sore may heal slowly up to 6 to 8 weeks. Full recovery may take several months and scarring may remain.
This information was reported by an OSU professor. In the beginning of this article it is claimed that they are most common in Southwestern states. I know for a fact that they are located in Ohio, as I was bitten and come very close to loosing my left ass cheek, do to the bite!!

Three years ago I bought a retirement home in Bear Valley Springs CA. I had seen photos of people bitten, and am more terrified of the Brown Recluse than any reptile. We also occasionally see Mojave Green Rattlers where we are. A bite is highly treatable for the "Green" and the anti-venom is at our local hospital so it shouldn't be a problem. If bitten you have twelve minutes to live maximum. By motor vehicle the hospital is 20 minutes away. My neighbor was bitten by a brown recluse on Friday. His entire leg has been decimated and almost amputated this morning. For those of you who believe this spider is not dangerous, and that a bite is just a minor distraction from your life, go play with one. The world is overcrowded anyway.

I transported someone with a brown recluse bite to the foot. It looked pretty darn close to the pictures on this page. Everyone reacts differently to everything in life so don't say that they aren't dangerous!

Tony you are an idiot, religon plays a role in every thing its just that ignorant people choose to ingnor it, but there will come a day when it will be impossible to do so I hope you wise up before it is to late to do so.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/brownrecluse.asp

There's the snopes article about these pictures.

From personal experience, I can verify that most brown recluse bites heal naturally without any necrosis of the bitten tissue. I've had 5 bites in the last month--including one that is healing right now. They feel like a pin prick when you get bitten, then fester up like a nasty pimple that comes to a head but won't pop. That's as far as mine go before they crust over, flake off, and heal without a scar.

We have tons of these spiders where I live (very rural area in the South), and while I don't recommend playing with them for fun, they're not as "deadly" as people make them out to be. If you get bitten and it gets infected, go to the doctor like any normal person would.

Please dont enter religion into this. It doesnt belong here.

I heard there is a treatment that they wont release, I know a minister that had it done. Its like stun gun that shoots a electrical charge into the bite and its done 2 times for 3 seconds in 2 days. And it will clear it right up.
http://www.naturalnews.com/022386.html
Some one in Oklahoma had been using it for a long time. It is defiantly somthing to look into..

This is the hand of Lynn McCutchen, an instructor in anatomy and physiology at Kilgore College, Texas. She got the infection while camping in the woods, at Caddo Lake. The first doctor she visited said it was caused by a spider bite, but another doctor said it was an MRSA infection from a cut and it was treated with antibiotics. Lynn does not remember being bitten and she says allot of MRSA infections are being misdiagnosed as spider bites. More on the Snopes website.

Good luck with treatment. As a nurse I understand how the lack of a cure can be frustrating. Prevention is the best treatment and that is not always a possibility.

I am leaving this comment as recent as May 18,2008..My brother was just bitten by this type of spider and hes been in the Hospital for a week and his hand looks just like the pics. The Docs dont know what to do but to give him anti Biotics but no real anti serum to fight the wound. It just went from swollen to worst. This is not a joke !!! My bro is still in the Hospital and Ill post something on youtube and label it "Bitten by a Brown Recluse" from JeanHmar....Lets find out how we can battle this.

I was recently bitten by a recluse and went to the hospital and they told me that there was no remedy or treatment for the bite. I can't believe that , even snake bites have treatments. If anyone that has been biten knows of any treatments that are out there, please email me or post it so we all will know. I however didn't have a severe problem, after I was bitten I prayed over the area and asked the Lord Jesus to heal it , and he did, the swelling went down and there was no pain or anything. However, my son-in-law insisted that I go to the hospital just as precaution. So I did, but thank God, Jesus healed me, especially since there is no cure for the bite. It pays to know the GREAT PHYSICIAN!!

To those of you who think this is fake...I hope you are never bit by the brown recluse. Doctor's don't let it happen, they cannot stop it. Like flesh eating bacteria there is no stopping the damage, just treating the wound as it follows the course. I too noticed the grammar errors...not everyone is fortunate enough to have learned their grammar. I have witnessed a leg bit to the calf and the damage was horrendous requiring weekly visits to a wound specialist for more than three years before the area was completely healed. Think before you express an idiotic opinion with no supporting knowledge.

when you are bit by a brown recluse doctors cant do any thing about it

that's obviously fake! If you look at the backround, you can see that he is clearly in a hospital! and doctors at a hospital would never let that happen to you!!

Those pics look horrible. That poison what comes from bite must be very poverfull.(Its good to life in finland, there doesent are any spiders or snakes which
poison would kill or do anything like that.)

Duh, look at the name of that guy, maybe that is his best english. I worked with someone that got bit by a Recluse, she had no idea what the cause of the pain was, until someone told her. She dealt with this for seven years, or let's say the doctors did. She endedup with a skin graft and many, many painful doctor visits. And now, they did not amputate her leg. It was very ugly and we all are happy she finally healed.

" Drale said:

....Duh...Obviously all of this is fake, at least the first pictures. The way you can tell: SPELLING ERRORS!"

duh, obviously you're an idiot. the way you can tell: just by reading your idiotic comments.

Ah.
I remember being bit.
I was in The army on Fort Stewart.
It bit me in the face while I was sleeping.

Luckily, I woke up when I felt the pain and went to the hospital.

One of the side-effects of a brown recluse bite, is that the tissue is elflamed... That makes most local anesthetic ineffective. And, since it was so close to my eye, they were worried about using a general sedative.

I felt the entire time when they cut my face open, drained all the venom and yuck, then filled it with gauze.

Very very nasty.

When I was in (Army)basic training two years ago, we had to go into the field often (S Carolina & Virginia), many soldiers got bit. And matter of hours I saw some of my buddies legs and arms look like those pictures. We were always warn to look out for the brown recluse. They all got treated but some were scarred.

....Duh...Obviously all of this is fake, at least the first pictures. The way you can tell: SPELLING ERRORS! Yes people make them...But come one! Who doesn't spell check their work after something this "serious"? And if it got that bad they would have amputated it long before it got past the second picture. When the green begins to appear they would amputate, and send a message to the public. Experiment or not.

those bites only get that bad if they are not treated. Daaaa idiots

This guy is an IDIOT! Why in all that is holy would you wait that long to go to the doctor. Its not like he couldnt see the signs something was severly wrong.

those were the most
discusting pics ive
like eva seen in
mi life!!!!!!!!
i feel sorry 4 da dude
but now im gonna b 2 scared
2g2 bed 2nite cuz
ov dat god d*a*m spider!
wwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaa!♥☺

OMG that is scary. what are the odds of actually being bitten by one of these things?

so we were in the deserts of iraq gambling on camel spider scoprpian fights when out of nowhere another soilder knocked the bucket of spiders over.....immidiately out of anger the spider jumped onto my friends side and bit him through the ACUs...two of his ribs were removed while the tissue around the wound completly deteriorated...true story

Does anyone recognize these symptoms? I noticed a tender spot on my leg about a week ago. (It had been about seven days since I got back from Thailand). There was a puncture in the center, and it radiated red around it. It was starting to get worse, so I went to the doctor three days later. I was prescribed anti=biotics and told it was probably a spider or bee. Since taking the anti-biotics, it is still very tender and raised from the skin more than it was before. I am really concerned about what it could be. Any ideas?

This is a true bit. When I was in basic training for the army I had a few friends who had their bed infested with them. Untill we figured it was the matress, about everyday he had a new bite. He had 7 total and everyday they had to be lanced and drained, alot of the time he would be bed ridden. Anyways, this was in georgia, WE had to lay in fields of Brown Recluses while training for the Army, We were laying in the prone waiting for the enemy. Looking down at the ground while laying was scary, when you moved any leaves in front of you, atleast 10 brown recluses would run and find cover, just thinking about having to lay with these things for hours at a time is still a shock. But, you have to do what you have to do. Anyways the guy that got bit 7 times got discharged because he missed so much trianing. They really do this, after only 2 days his sores would look like dead flesh.

my dad died from a spider bite so that pretty much sucks.....................top that!

Hi, I have small tiny bites on my back and on my arms and every doctor is trhing to lable me ocd. It is rediculous. I need help these are bites from something. Thank you for listening.'' Shirley

I live in Pennsylvania I think maybe I have been biten by a brown reluce spider I known they don't seem to be common here but, I think it is possible that one did infact bite me. The look is early but, it seems to be the same. It does makes me a bit unsettle to go to bed at night thinking this type of spider is in my home after I cleaned and looked everywhere for it and could not find it! Now it doesn't seem like it should be here in Pennsylvania, so, could someone tell me maybe just if it bites a little bit, that the effect would not be as bad as I been seeing? And should I expect the worst anyhow?

I was bitten by a brown recluse about 22 years ago, and of course not many doctors knew much about them back then, As a matter of fact out of 48 doctors only one knew what it was, I was bitten at 7:00 one morning just a couple of hours later my leg was at least 5 times its size, by noon I had poison blisters in my mouth, my leg started to rot from the inside out, I got a huge bad over the spider bite which was full of poison and blood, after the doctor drained that which was a couple of days later my leg was already rotten inside, it rotted to the bone, it went from the bend on my leg to my groin, it took 7 months to heal, after the doctors telling me it set up gangrene and they were going to amputate it, I told them no and they said well go home and if you die you die and if you don't you don't, there was nothing else they could do for me. I know for a fact those pictures are what they look like after the bite starts its process. Sad to say.

I have this spider bite on the top of my back leg, almost on my butt. I am new to Missouri and have no idea what a brown reclouse bite looks like. This bite has been her for two weeks so far and is starting to look like a bluster on a bug bite......From what i have seen these spider bites tend to get real bad quickly. Is it possible that this bite on my leg is one even though it has been 2 weeks??? Please email me bak if you have answers. pickelmuncher@hotmail.com

i am so scared to get bit by a brown recluse. I saw this when i was doing some research for class

Spider bites are so freaking hirable sometimes, looks sick if it gets worse!

Tks for all these postings. I now know for sure that I was just bit by what I think is a couple of these desert recluse spiders. I'm in Idyllwild ca, which is near Palm Desert. I thought it bit me in my car, but possibly it happened just before that 6 days ago when I went to get the hose from a pile of old pine needles that hadn't been disturbed much. They somehow crawled up my pants leg and bit me above the knee on the right leg in three places. It seemed like mosquito bites...then after two days I noticed it had gotten really swollen with pimple like red little 1/4 in areas. This turned into an excrutiating bruise like area about 3 in wide by day 3 and it was ragged and blue, green, reddish...and I couldn't touch it as it hurt so bad. I had been nauseated and tired and only then realized it was from this bite. I went to the fire dept here and they didn't know what it was...so I researched the internet and found it might be a desert recluse. I got every natural anything in my house and made formulas with them, tea tree oil didn't help, hot soaking made it worse, a microflora and baking soda with green tea formula improved in as paste on the area. My idea was to try to pull out the poison. Oils with MSM, tea tree (which is usually good for other spider bites), helped only a little. I then was given the Miracle II miracle neutralizer by Tedco and a charcoal like powder which I both drank and applied externally as in an applied compress to the area, all nite long and partiatially during the day and (day 6)today, i am happy to report that it is much better. The swelling is down, the puss is less, the bruise is almost gone...It gives the appearance of healing as opposed to yesterday. The only other oddity is other bite-like areas appeared lower on my leg and on my neck...so it seems like something spread. I have also been taking mega-doses of natural vit C....like 20,000 a day. I'm offering this for what I did. I was wondering about this and if anyone had a good handling for the spreading effect.

That is really nasty. I mean just looking at it looks REALLY painful so i cant even imagine what it feels like.. Ugh

I've never been bit by one (but now I'm more afraid than I ever was) but I would NEVER let that happen to any part of my body. You say you can't kill the stuff in there? I would literally inject small amounts of clorox into the wound than have that spread like that! Hmmm, wonder if that would actually work? Or alchohol or peroxide, heck burn it for a second! The pain can't be nearly as bad as having all that puss and disfigurment! I'm never sleeping again! Really though, think that stuff could work???

what do you do if you are bitten bye a brown recluse? cause i have almost gotten bitten bye one and i'm wondering what to do if i get bitten bye one

i am scared to death and i have never seen one.... i live in bensenville illinois.... i cant sleep at all after seeing the picture's... whats the ratio number's of them in my area??? please get back to me someone......thanks mikki

I am just wondering, do brown recluses live in households located in San Francisco, California. I am turning 15 years old. I've see many videos of a brown recluse on youtube but I caught a spider today new my closet. I do not know what species it is. In my opinion, it sorta does look like a brown recluse but i don't really see the violin shape on the back of it. It's currently in a jar sealed up. I don't want to kill it YET because I want to do some research, so that the next time I see one familiar, I will know what species it is. The body would be about 1/2 an inch. With the legs it would be bigger than a quarter. I do not have a camera on me right now. It is 3:43 a.m. and i am too dramatized to sleep.

I can attest that the photos look real. I was bitten on the upper thigh 5 years ago and now have a horrible scar as a result of the necrosis. I could not at the time find any treatment other than antibiotics. I spoke with a alternative practicianer (Sante Fe NM) and was told that they had good success using oxygen treatment (less damage, and quicker healing time. Wish I had know about it... I would have definitely tried it.

i was bite by abrown reciuse inmay 07 onthe back of arm not well yet

Absolutely true. I was bitten by what we assume (because I'm in the NorthWest) had to have been a Hobo spider. Took a few days to manifest into the full-blown, nasty, goopy hole in my leg, then another 6 months to completely heal into a dark brownish grayish crater the diameter of a nickel and at least 1/8th of an inch deep. These are nasty little critters. See doc immediately if you suspect recluse or hobo bite - the secondary infection can be VERY serious.

I was bitten by this spider in 1990 and developed a blood clot in the leg. The spider was in my houseshoe which I would leave on the back porch over night. I had to stay out of work for 3 months taking coumidin, a blood thinner, and had to go to the doctor once a week for blood test. I recently had to take muscle relaxers for the jerking of the leg.

First night of vacation in 1994, I was getting into bed and put my glasses in a wicker basket on the night stand. I thought I touched a strand of wicker. The next morning the palm of my left hand in between my ring finger and my middle finger, there was a pink dot, like a mosquito bite, and it itched. I didn't think anything of it then but within a few days it had got larger, and I went to ER when the bite was the size of a quarter, big black dot in the middle of what looked like a spider cocoon. The ER doctor said right away that it was a BRS bite. He put some medicine on it, gave me a tetnus shot, and told me to see my family doctor immediately. We headed for home (from Oklahoma to California) and I went to see my doctor. He had never seen anything like it. Final result was that he took a scalpel and poked in it and cleaned it out. The cleaned out wound looked like ground meat. He kept poking and it swelled up and he put liquid skin on it and bandaged it up. A week later, it was healing and looked very good. Now all these years later, I have a scar but its easily hidden in the palm of my hand, and it hasn't given me any problems.

Brown recluse spider bites are very ugly. I don't believe for one minute that the pictures shown here are fake. I know from experience how nasty those bites are. I was one of the lucky ones tho.

Be careful.

I just got out of the hospital after four days due to a BRS bite. I didn't think these nasty things were in my area, but according to the doctors I saw, they are!! I live in southeast Pennsylvania, and there was an article printed in my local paper (while I was in hos.) about how people are being bitten by the BRS!!! I didn't think it was anything--it felt like a mosquito bite. Two days later, I had a softball-sized patch of red and blue skin on the back of my leg..and BOY did it burn. The wound also felt like it was "crawling". It has now progressed to a series of quite disgusting oozing blisters. I have to follow up with wound care specialists, and unfortunately, it looks like I may lose my job because of the length of time I have to be out. DO NOT LET A LACK OF MEDICAL INSURANCE STOP YOU FROM GETTING MEDICAL ATTENTION!! I almost did, and the docs said I could have died or lost part of my leg!!!!

Well, I've got this one bite that I'm watching at the moment...I THINK I got it about 2 days ago, but I can't be sure because I didn't notice it until just yesterday. It itched just a little, and while I was scratching it I suddenly noticed the pink/red color of it. I thought it was just a strange mosquito bite until this morning. It turned a dark (almost purple) red, with a paler center. And it only seems to have one puncture wound. I went to the doctor, and he said to keep an eye on it, but he thinks it's just an infected mosquito bite. It's got me worried, but I hope that's all it is! I'll keep watching it over the next week or so...

For a remedy that heals brown recluse bites fairly fast, check out the nonprofit site at www.reevismountain.org and order the Desert Plantain
called "Poisonous Bites and Stings remedy"

People have used this with amazing results; the sooner applied, the better! A friend of mine used it on a raft trip in the Grand Canyon on May 13, 2007, applied it just after being bitten and continued to reapply and rewet the poultice until it was gone. The typical large red swollen spot on her leg became inflamed but did not become necrotic. She kept reapplying until the huge red spot was gone in about ten days.

hi im bak again ! but i JUST found out tht my grandpa got bitten bye 1 of these spiders a long time ago wile he was hunting!!! he almost had to get his leg amputated!:O(!! the spider managed to crawl up his pants bite his lag and get out with out him noticing!! so as isade he almost had to get his leg amputated ut the drs sved it!!thank god!!but then a cuple of yeers a go it ended up getting amputated any way!!!:O(!!!

WOW alls i can say is wow!!!wen i was i first grade my teacher told us a storey about these spiders! her frnd was a cleaning lady and she was cleaning some ones house and she reached under a cabinet or dresser( cant remember wich 1 it was)to dust and got bit! she didnt even kno for a few days! she started to get a little red mark on her hand and it started getting bigger and bigger so she went to the drs thinking it was a rash and found out that she gad been bitten by a brown recluse!!!!!!!!she almost had to get her hand amputaated!!!!!but i thinkt they caught it in anough time and im pretty sure she is ok now!!!!thank god!!!!i wuld b scared to death if i saw 1 of these spiders!!!.....to tell u the truth im freaking SCARED!!!of any spider!!!u can ask any 1 i kno and they will tell u that i am VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY scared of any kind of spider!!!!!!!!!

i am really terrified of spiders period. so when i realized one was on my boot i went to a state of immediate shock. at the time i didnt know what type of spider it was . my mother in law pulled it up on the internet and sure enough it was a brown recluse spider. i didnt really know it had bite me until the next day when it was suellen and had fever in it. i didn't go the doctor until a week later. it was open and about the size of a dime. my leg is where i was bit. my leg was suellen all the way down to my ankle and foot. it was so painful. i could barely walk. the doctor had to lance it a bit. today i am better and more aware of my everyday surroundings. if you see a spider please kill it.........

Hi I'm Karen i have just come back from my honeymoon in Turkey and i got bit on my right foot 2nd toe by a brown recluse spider, I was rushed to hospital and put on IV drip(Antibiotic's)this happened my 2nd night there which was 7th May 07.
my toe had balooned into a big purple blister and was oozing with yuk pus! i was given antiflamatry tablets and had to an injection every day for 4 days. And i was in a wheel chair for the rest of my honeymoon. Since i got back to the UK i went to my Dr, who has never come across a spider bite like mine and had to read up all info from the net. so far my toe is still an angry looking scabby toe with brown ooz weeping from it it is now the 19th day since i was bit and getting a liitle worried what the outcome of this healing process is going to be like as i have not had any treatment since in Turkey. I'll let you know soon! Regards Karen

Wow I'm reading this book and it said a girls dad got bit in the face by a brown recluse spider when they were cleaning an attic but he didn't die he just had to get stiches and I guess the boy was right they probly are the most dangerous spider on earh I hope that mans hand gets better and dosen't mess with spiders even if people that their kind !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so we are pretty sure we saw a brown recluse in our garage and we are soo scared of spiders, we had never seen this type of spider before and we tried to kill it but it jumped at us.., so we screamed and ran inside the house and searched "poisonous spiders" on google and 3 types of spiders came up "house spider, black widow, and brown recluse... we read a despcriptoin of all of them and we were sure it was the brown recluse... so we would really like to know if it was.. so can you please email us as soon as possible telling us whether they jump or not...

thanks alot J&K

Just glad they dont live in the U.K :) Or do they?

I've been working in a BRS environment in central texas. I have a big red hard bump just below my elbow. sigh... the pics are motovation to go to the hospital. I guess thats where I'm going now. :(

I had a kitten I had to have put down for a brown recluse bite. The poor little baby had been bitten on the leg and day one, she was fine. Day two, she was kind of limping, but still playful. Day three, her leg was swollen to the size of a grown person's wrist and I touched it and she cried...and it was oozing puss and blood. Took her to the vet and they x-rayed her leg and said "there's nothing but puss and bone fragments in there". These spiders do terrible damage! As far as I know, BR spiders are pretty much ALL over the U. S. and even up in some areas of Canada! Just keep an eye out! And...yeah, I've seen some people have TERRIBLE reactions to a brown recluse bite and other's have very little problem with a bite. Who knows?

Jenna

iv been biten four time and had to be cut opin three times for it will i die the next time

I feel really really bad for you.thanks for letting us see your pictures.

looked at all the pics didn't know how trecious those little things were. i would like to have more info on these spiders...

oh my god no joke serious bite do not play around with these parents always watch your kids

about two weeks ago my robwieler started laying around and very listless i thought he was love sick because a female dog had come by his kennel and we didn't think to much about his behavior. the next week we took him to the vet and noticed a large swollen area in his chest above his right leg the doctor said it was possibly a snake or spider bite. she have him two large syringe full of meds and sent us home with amoxicillin and fura-zone ointment to put on the swollen area which was the size of a grapefruit. the large swollen area after three days burst and blood and tissue matter started to drain so she said to continue the treatment and now he has this huge hole in his chest it will eventually heal and close but my beautiful rotweilder is a sick dog. he weighs about 90lbs he has come down from about 100lbs you can see the weight loss i gave him all of his amoxicillian and i give all the food he will tolorate. those pics of spider bites are real and if you have any doubts ask your vet what to look for in snake and spider evenomations. i pray appollo will shake this, he is a strong and wonderful dog. check your pet's kennels spray them for insects keep a check on their bedding. this is a terrible thing to see.

that is a nasty bite, ive never seen so much damage by a spider. But when i saw that bite i almost screamed! Well...i have to go...bye...im in school!!!

This spider is poisonous spider, only available in U.S., death rate of person bit by this spider is very high, so you must WATCH OUT!

I have see other type of spider in H.K., they are not poisonous, you can see these non-poisonous spider in wet-land park & all wet-land garden in downtown H.K.

does the stun gun make the spider go zappp too? :)

For those of you who are not afraid to use one, place a stun gun placed directly on the bite and zap youself. If you catch it right away it may help.
I suggest this because there has been study done and they have found that the stun gun will nuetralize the venom of snakes and bea stings. The gun will leave a very light scar, but in my experience it was nearly invisible. You may need to zap the area around the bite as well. Note that this is just a sujestion. It does not mean you can forego a trip to the doctor. The speed with which the venom works as far as the contamination of the flesh is unknown to me. I am not a doctor, I just know it works on snake & bea stings.
Blessings to all and WATCH OUT FOR THOSE SPIDERS!!!!

pretty scary huh! right now i'm deciding whether or not to seek medical attention fore a bite from something that bit me three days ago. it started out looking like the first picture and has developed into a small volcano looking thing on the back of my neck. Understand that i'd done alot of scratching in response to the itch that first alerted me to the bite on the back of my neck New Years Day. I freaked a little and tried to burn quarterize the wound thinking it may be a tick bite.Subsequently I may have added to the damage done to my skin and also giving the bite the appearence of a brown recluse bite. Be careful people. Sometimes we can jump to opinions to soon.

If you think that the bite itself is all that happens, think again. Cuz there's more; lots more.

I got bit on my bottom while I was reading - in bed. Felt a bit of a sting..... but I was lucky; the docs say it must have been a "baby" brown recluse spider.

To make a long story short, I ended up with blisters ALL over my butt, on my hands, a rash on my chest (for a week now) itching so bad that I had to go to a Dermatologist for cortizone shots and itch pills, and although the blisters on my butt eventually healed, I now have permanent round scars the size of a quarter on my behind. I also have scars under my arms and on the side of my ribs. And what I though were long scratches are really just more of the darn toxin's work. Everyday I wake up to more of the skin problems - and lest you think that it may be something else going on in my body, trust me! It's the brown recluse toxin at work.

So these secondary infections are almost just as bad. And no cure........

Anyone else have this problem?

wow....

The pictures are very real.

My dad was bitten in the hand by these little devils when he was cleaning a storage. He captured the animal, and then put some ice on the hand while drove to the hospital. It was indeed confirmed a brown recluse. The hand was badly infected. Unfortunately the venom also spread from the hand to the wrist and forearm. I saw the result, the hand looked like rotten flesh, it was horrendous. I still see nightmares. Later the hand and fingers were so bad that he was moved to the emergency room and they had to be amputated by the doctors. But the forearm developed in such bad condition that it too had to be amputated. The doctors said my dad was lucky. I asked if bites like these were common and they said unfortunaly yes. The doctor said my dad was lucky that the whole arm wasn't removed or even possibly killed. And the worst spots to get bit are the head and stomach. If it's the stomach then commonly the abdonimal muscles no longer support the internal organs and they get infected and start to fall out from the openly rotten mess. You die in unimaginable pain. The head so is bad that you don't even want to imagine it.

I tell you, stay away from these bastads.

I've got glue traps and am spraying my bedroom all of the time......... Even went to the local farm store and bought the super good stuff as well as a sprayer. The bug sprays were not killing the spiders really, so I figured I'd invest in some really potent stuff.

My blisters have disappeared, but I still have "scar" marks on my body - buttocks, chest, under arm........ Even have this wierd "non-scar" discoloration on my upper leg. I went back to the original dermitologist, and he showed me the pics that he had taken of the bite area, and I really freaked. I had about 50 red pimple bite marks on my lower back and buttocks. It looked like I had measles - and I sure didn't know that they were there. No wonder the doctor said it might have been hives or an allergy...... jeese louise!!!!

Everything seems to be healing up ok now, at least until (hopefully never) this dreaded recurrence recurs......

Just a thought - wouldn't it be great if after one bite you'd become immune?

(Dream on, mom......... Meow)

Aw gee, shut up Rabbit! (That's my cat). lol

About 10 years ago my girlfriend at the time was bitten on the thigh by a recluse right here in Modesto, California. Her dr cut away decaying muscle a few times and packed the open wound with gause. Eventually it healed but that spider is not to be mesed with.
================================================
In response to:
Hey

Need to know of any reports of brown recluse bites in central valley California ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by: j o e &cdg | March 17, 2006 07:05 AM

If I remember right, there can be after effects of brown recluse. I *think* it was them anyway. Such as leaving ulcers, possibly bleeding ones, on the body. Almost always around the general area of the bite though. Pretty rare if I remember right.

You might want to call around the hospitals and try to find a doctor that has good knowledge of spider bites, one that more or less specializes in poisons. They'd know the most.

Other than that, I'm not sure. Good luck. I'll keep my eye here if I can suggest anything else.

Here I am again! And the rash (previously blisters) from what I assume is a secondary bite transference is BACK. All from a baby brown recluse spider bite (See my Seprember 13th posting).

Same areas - big red blotches - as I type they are turning into blisters.

And I've been to two dermatologists - and they are obviously not familiar with the bites - cuz they say hives, contact dermatitis and allergy - nope, I think not!

The previous red spots left scars - the same as the bite wound scar - quarter size and almost black.... but now the black scars are turning red. Plus new areas......

I haven't read any postings concerning these types of occurances - anyone else have this scenerio?

In response to Rebecca's question: Lacey made reference to a skin graph, but she probably meant "skin graft". A skin graft is a piece of skin taken from an uninjured part of the body and patched over an injured part.

I really hate spiders. I think it's time they all went extinct. We can keep the bug population down with environment-friendly traps.

i was rescently biten by one the these brown recluse spiders. there were 2 bites. one on myl hip and one on the front of my thy. they were exactly as described in this. both started out as what looked to be like a pimple. then progressed to an open wound. mine didnt end up as severe as these and i didn't require a hospital stay. but i did have 2 dif. suregeries. i am still going to the wound clinic once a week to make sure these bites are healing properly and will have 2 seperate scars. i am just going to be more aware about them when with my 7 neices and nephews. the bite can be deadly to small children and shouldn't be messed with my anyone

Well... I am just recovering from my BRS bite. It was on the back of my thigh where I could not really see it. Started out like a small pimple and in 5 days it was the size of a saucer. I spent 5 days in the hospital and had to have a picc line inserted into my arm for 3 weeks so that I could administer antibiotics (2 hours) everyday. And I had home health care come out and clean the site everyday. They are nothing to mess with. I had been traveling and on day 5 when I got home and could see what my leg looked like I thought I would die right then and there. I pulled up my pants and went straight to emergency.
Never thought a little spider bite could do so much damage. Yes those pictures are authentic... that is what my leg looked like. Now I am healing nicely but will have a scar.

i dont know much about these creatures but everything i have read points to this and i belived i even killed one. my four year old was bitten on his hand and it's swollen this size of a base ball with redness the first day and the second day a blister form just like i have read. he got put on cephlexin 250 and benadryl but if any one has any thing else i would love to hear cause the doctors are not believing me...

O.K. We've just discovered we have THEM!!! We've killed about 20 so farin the last month, and my son found one in his pants leg this a.m. (thank God he remembered to shake them first). I am so scared, and wondering when (not if) someone will be bitten. Honestly I do not feel safe in my own home anymore. I know I sound paranoid, but after viewing the pictures of what a bite produces who would'nt be?? I am determined to rid my home of these predators.

OK, I was bitten by a "baby" spider. And I live in Southern California (where they are not supposed to be). And I consider myself very, very lucky!!

I was in bed reading (I live in a trailer), and the darn thing bit me on my rear end. I felt the bite; but just ignored it. Then at work, a friend showed me bite marks on her neck (not spider bites) and I then showed her mine. She said it looked like brown recluse bites.

Anyway, I eventually showed it to a doctor, and he said definately a baby brown recluse bite.

Then I started getting other bite areas - and they wouldn't heal. On my butt, chest, under arm. But now 3 or 4 months later they have healed enough that they longer hurt.

But........... I then broke out in a red itchy rash on my hands - needed cortizone, etc.

Now I have more blisters. They come and go on my hands. Weird!

The reason I'm posting, is that I belive these other large blisters (on chest and butt) are a recurring type of the brown recluse bite. I'll know more next Monday - I've had a lot of blood work done so doctors can figure this out.

What still scares me is "Where are the parents" of the baby spider? Crawling around my trailer?

I've sprayed, etc. but am really nervous.

And how come some people think that they are not in California. My doctor says that he has seen these baby bites before - over the last 30 years.

Wow, that's crazy. Those pictures and stories are freaking me out... x_x I hope they aren't in eastern KY!

Hi Charles -

Thanks so much for sharing more about your experience with the spider bite.

And thanks for taking the time to share your pictures too!!!

I trust that you're well on the road to recovery... So glad you sought treatment right away!

"and this charles person sounds like a fake, no one can be that stupid... wait no Alabama? ok nevermind on that."

Wow, just wow. Apparently I go around on the internet and post FAKE stories about being bitten by a Brown Recluse... But now, it appears I have been caught by a world class, super-sleuth from Texas who works as a janitor in a jailhouse--just as a disguise. Ladies and gentlemen give Shadow a round of applause, he's just solved the greatest mystery on the internet.

...And the fake? The perpetrator? ME? What will I ever do, knowing that the internet's greatest detective is now hot on my track???

I guess I will just continue to go to college and sustain a 4.0 GPA in Engineering--But wait!!! The xenophobic, ethnocentric guru of all that is untrue implicates that just because I'm from Alabama, I will remain in a state of stupidity...

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/8266/pieceofworkfb5.jpg

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/2938/br5kh7.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/6786/brownreclusebitett6.jpg

http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/7279/br1rz1.jpg

http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/325/br2dq1.jpg

http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/3073/br3vm8.jpg

http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/4562/br4jf3.jpg

Yes they are real bad. I'm in east coast Canada about a hours drive from Maine border and this summer one of the Highway Foreman at work got bitten by one.
He's ok...got treatment..but I didn't think they would be this far north.

My 5 year old daughter was bitten by one and it ate a pencil eraser-sized hole in her calf with a big wide hot red ring around it. Majorly painful. Maybe it was a baby BRS, but the skin died and was rotted away and the wound was so deep we could see her calf muscle. We cleaned the **** out of it daily with hydrogen peroxide and she was on antibiotics and it didn't progress past that size but she hurt for 2 weeks.

Yep they are nothing to play with, i visited my seamstress this past thursday and she was bit on the back by one of those spiders. WHOA is all I can say the damage that spider did, I almost passed out when I saw her back the size of the infection was size of my fist and I wear a XL in ladies. She told me she was on antibiotics for it and that it hurt like hell.

The pictures of the spider has to be real because I have two friends who have been bitten in the last 6 month plus I was bitten last month and my dog was bitten just three days ago.
I live in WV and this has been the worse year for BRS I have ever seen.
My friend tried home remedies to heal her bite and it actually looks worse the picture, her bit has been cut into now and debreed and the hole is the size of a jar lid, and goes down to the bone on the back side of her leg.
Yes spider bites are bad this year even my vet told me that. Every body needs to spray before winter and spread killing lime around their homes to keep the bad pests out.
I was treated three days after I was bitten and my bit size was about the size of a silver dollar, after the shot and pills it took two weeks to go down now it,s just a small scar. My dog was taken to the vet the next morning she after she was bitten because she turned blood red over the whole length of her body and vomited all night.
Day three and she is much better thatks to my vet.

Yes, these little suckers are real. I work in a Texas (TDCJ) prison and Offenders often get bitten by these things. It's hard to treat, and it can progress to be that bad. sometimes it's just a small yet big crater... or it can be horrifying like these pictures show.

The reason it gets so bad is because in order to stop it from getting so you need to treat it the first day. But yet, people just think that it was some regular spider bite and go on until they wake up the next day and are like "holy crap it hurts!!"

and this charles person sounds like a fake, no one can be that stupid... wait no Alabama? ok nevermind on that.

Charles, get yourself to the doctor sooner. I was bitten by one of these nasty things when I was a teenager and it ate half the flesh off of my thigh. They had to scoop out the dead muscle tissue from my leg and pack it with gauze for 6 weeks so the skin wouldn't collapse. Thankfully my tissue did grow back but 15 years later I still have a huge scar and a horrific fear of spiders. Good luck man.

Yes you're right, Lynnette. I do believe I'm about to make a doctor's appointment because I talked with a chemistry instructor today, and he told me to go to a doctor as soon as possible. It's not worth the risk. thank you

Charles... get your butt to a doctor right away -- either the emergency room at a local hospital or a walk-in clinic.

If what you describe is true, you have to be smart enough to seek treatment.

Great. I think I was recently bit by one of these bastards. I have a quarter-wide red bump about two inches from my elbow on my left arm. I believe I was bit about two days ago...I think.

The area has been hurting all day in class especially when I apply pressure onto it and it's hot. Feels like 100+ degrees. I'm fairly young, 25, but all day today, I've felt fatigued and lethargic(yes, I had 8 hours of sleep last night).

This thing has been just getting bigger and bigger. There is a circle of dry, white tissue about a quarter-inch diameter as well as a solid, semicircle of dead, white tissue which is maybe 4mm length-wise. No apparent signs of black, necrotic tissue. Also, there most definitely IS a loxosceles reclusa infestation in my 109 year old house, here in Alabama. I've seen these pictures of that guy's hand a year ago which caused me to try to identify these jokers.

I actually have a dead female spider's carcass in a glass on my mantle as well as a male brown recluse spread out with staples under a magnifying glass (yes, six eyes). I just killed--no B.S.--a juvenile brown recluse around 10 minutes ago atop of my bed's headboard. (I'm scared to go to bed right now.) When I rub my finger against it--ouch--the skin quickly flashes white and then fills up with blood very fast-like.

I'm about to take some ibuprofen and perhaps a benyadryl(sp?). I believe I screwed up today by taking a diet pill with aspirin--probably expedited the wound. I really don't want to go to the doctor because I'm an economically-deprived college student with no health insurance.

For the most part, I believe I have a strong immune system--I don't catch colds when most do--I'm 6' 280lbs and athletically-built, (lol, sounds like I'm trying to pick up girls on the internet)is it plausible that perhaps this (assuming it is a BR bite) wound will heal on it's own, or at least leave a very miniscule scar?

How can I disperse the venom throughout my body so that it is not concentrated on my arm? Well, right now, the inflammation has swelled to about the size of a half-dollar and I am beginning to see a small, dime-sized patch of lividity(bruising)forming approximately 2cm from the center of the wound. I can't help but to think typing this message is irritating it. Any home remedies? Please let me know. Bye for now.

I can tell you the pics are real. Last summer my mother was bitten by a brown recluse while taking things out of storage in her basement. The bite was on her right hand. She thought nothing of the bite, and it progressed for several days. By the time she realized something was really wrong and gone to the hospital- the venom was working. She had to have several surgeries to repair the nerves in her hand, plastic and reconstructive surgery on her hand so it would look "normal" again, etc. She is now- a year later- experiencing severe kidney problems. I can tell you the pictures here are NOTHING compared to seeing the wound in real life. I was scared of spiders before- now I am terrified of them.

I know this is a really random question, but what's a skin graph? I saw it on a comment. Don't you have to get one after getting bitten?

If I was ever bitten by a Brown Recluse and the bite looked like this, I would totally freak out!!!! Does it always look like this? And also I have a small dog about 1 year old, could it kill her?

i've seen bites of black widows and brown recluse spiders...both are extremely dangerous, although neither of them looks like this. when a brown recluse spider bites the area turns black/purple-bluish with a white and red ring...nothing like this pic.

My cousin was bit by a brown recluse on her stomach, and she had to get several skin graphs. It was gross!!

The photos are real. The victim was a veterans hospital in AL.

if you can see in the background... he is in the hospital. but you are right.. whether that is a spider bite or not.. is up in the air.

Folks

make no mistake that those pics are real. They need to add florida onto the list of endemic states, because we have had repeated episodes of spider bites. I myself have killed several patients in previous years who were bitten and there was even a write up on it in the paper (sun sentinel). The presentation is almost always the same but fortunately most are not this serious. Currently my condo is infested, I have found several in just the past week and have found probably 3 or 4 others dead. I suspected that it was brown recluse and after doing a little digging i now know it is. The scary part is, as a med student I knew what these were but yet the docs I was working for did not catch it. One of the docs receptionist's husband ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics after a bight. He almost lost his leg. I hate killing anything, but i'm not taking any chances.

my dad was just hospitalized for 5 days due to two spider bites on his lower stomach. He was bit almost 6 days before being admitted and noticed pain after the first day so he started to take some amoxicillin from a previous prescription figuring it'd fight an infection. The infection went from looking like a pink spot of skin the size of the tip of my pinky two days before he was admitted, to the size of my palm with fingers outstretched the day he was hospitalized. The skin around the bites absessed and were oozing puss and blood. After the fifth day he was discharged and has to be on an IV for necessary antibiotics twice a day for three hours a pop. We think it was a brown recluse and believe the amoxicillin only prevented the infection from being more severe than it already was. Spiders are definately creepy critters. FYI if you didn't know the discovery channel had a show about spiders and interestingly enough the spider with the most potent venom, can anyone guess??

the daddy long legs. It's teeth are just to small to pierce the skin of humans and other mammals. Incredible isn't it.

PLEASE READ:

Question: "Why didn't this guy go to the doctor?"

Answer: HE DID! There is NO effective treatment for a brown recluse bite. The venom destroys proteins, similar to acid, but it can't be neutralized like acid. Because it is injected into the tissues, it can't be washed off or diluted with water like acid either.

So please stop questioning why he didn't seek treatment.

oh hey thats pritty freakin nasty man!

sometimes things get worse before they get better, even when you have seen a doctor!! Don't judge if you haven't been there.

yo to tell u the truth that pic couldent be real iam talkin bou the last 1 cuz either the guy wanted his hand to fall off or he didnt have insurence u feel he should of got medical attention as soon as he seen the redness well iam out 1

when you got the spider bite why did you wait so long to go to the doctor's?and why didn't the doctor's cut off your finger?

if these pics are real this highly scares me.i live in tennessee which is one of the places you can commonly find them.i've known people to get bitten by these spiders before but never this severly.i have see a Black Widow but never a Brown Recluse that i know of and i will be extremely careful in places they might hide.

I have been bitten 10 times in 2 months but it is from the hobo spider which is confussed with the brown recluse I think people should be aware this is real and it can get bad.....death is rare but does happen .....like my website shows there are so many things in the world we are not aware of and its time we open our eyes and see

Most of these guys who say they where bitten by an brown recluse haven't caught it, havent they?
So there are many other reasons for getting a necrotic infection, for example bacterieas.
Kolliquationsnekrosis,Lipasis: A-Streptokokken, Staphylococcus aureus

I myself have had a recent run in with one of these adorable little creatures. I received a bite I believe while I was sleeping, upon waking, I felt a small itch on my back, at that time, it felt no more than a mosquito bite, hardly worth paying attention to.

As the day progressed, I felt a swelling between my shoulder blades, that eventually became unbearable. The swelling continued, the pain increased, and I stubbornly made a call too the doctors office to have it examined.

Upon arrival, I was giving a local anesthetic and given a lance. At that time they weren't sure what extent the infection was, but determined I had bite marks that resembled a spider bite.

I was asked to come back the next morning for a cross lance with the general surgeon, same procedure was performed, still the swelling continued followed by more pain. I was sent to the local hospital to undergo a much deeper lance and culture while being put under.

I awoke with a very large area of my back removed (the size of a hockey puck) and cauterized, and was told that I had been bitten by the Brown Recluse and been infected by the flesh eating bacteria, the surgery performed was too isolate already dead flesh, too stop the invasion of it spreading.

Photo enclosed is a day after surgery, the black circle was a guideline for further surgery in case the infection kept spreading, I was lucky, the stopped the first time.

I was informed, that due too the location of the bite, had I waited 4-5 days, at the rate of spread from the infection, it would have entered my spinal fluid, brain, major organs and death would have ensued, from a spider, whose entire body including legs, was about the size of a quarter!

It's been a month and a half and was told that in 2-3 weeks the wound will actually be close to closing up... due to doctors visits 6 times a week, and a $18,000 Med. bill.

Be careful of these guys, read up & get informed if you live in an area where these guys live, be careful!

I work as a surgical nurse and I can tell you that the pictures you are looking at are real. A recluse spider bite CAN do what the pictures show you...or even worse. I have been in surgery while these wounds are being debrided and I have seen even worse(imagine that!) DO NOT take these little creatures lightly... they are very dangerous.

I hate to ruin everyone's fun but I am a special effects artist it training so I may be wrong but I have conducted that this picture is faked but very well faked because that what a recluse bight looks like but for 2 reasons I suspect its fake one is hospitals don't have carpeting witch can easily be seen in the 3rd picture and in the forth picture there aspires to be bottle of glycerin witch is used for making puss like in the picture

They're nasty little buggers.

This pic is real and the gent was in a hospital when all the pictures where taken however being in Canada the Doctors were not sure how to go about treatment. The spider came in on a load of produce to a oil rig camp.

My Dad was bitten by a brown recluse several years ago on his calf. He has 17 surgeries, finally having his leg amputated below the knee and then mid-thigh!

Bit on forearm, 2 days later the pain and swelling and pain began and I realized it was a spider bite it looked very much like photo 2 at this point and sought med treatment. After 3 days of Sulphur drugs, a red streak appeared; back to the DR. to have it evaluated again. Lanced it, packed it and put me on Levaquin 500 for 10 days. After a total of 6 DR visits over 7 days and being off work; I am having joint pain and swelling throughout my body. By the way, I am in my 50's and live in Louisiana.

in the house we live in right now it is infested w/ recluses! thank god we are moving in a week! i mostly see them in my room crawling on the ceiling or running around on the floor. they are really creepy suckers. if im sitting on my bed reading a book or something and i look up and see one i will jump back in fright because i know that they are fast and poisonus and i dont want to get bit. they really do scare me though and its funny because i have a pet tarantula and other spiders dont scare me but one and thats the recluse!

Please do not hesitate to believe these photos are real; indeed. My husband's cousin, age 26, died from a BRS bite last month.

A few years ago in my town in Nebraska, a lady received a BRS bite at her job. She was not particularly affected by it, well not severely anyway. Some people are and some are not. A week or two later, she was bit again, same spider. She caught it this time and showed it to the docs. (Did you know it's always important to catch the spider that bites you?) It turned out to indeed be a brown recluse and this lady now has lost her secretarial position, as she can no longer function properly. The second spider bite proved to be too much for her body and has affected her neurological functioning. She is on disability for the rest of her life, with decreased mental capability as well.

I first became aware of these spiders when I read an article in my local newspaper. The shocking first sentence read something like this... Mary Jane woke up in the hospital Thanksgiving morning missing her arms and legs. It was due to a brown recluse bite.

BEWARE!! THIS IS SO VERY REAL.

The person in the photos obviously sought medical attention immediately. Wouldn't you? This is the natural progression of these wounds, even with timely treatment. If you walk away with your limb intact, you are lucky. The wound may not even fully declare itself for weeks, months or years, all the while receiving proper treatment. Nasty little buggers, aren't they?

It's a nasty little spider alright. My girlfriend was bitten by one on her shin, and it rotted a hole the size of a silver dollar on her leg. It looked like raw sirloin. She caught a staph infection and was in the hospital for about a week with constant drip to remove the infection, and then she had to have a drip with her at her house for another week or so. She gave me the infection during some hanky panky before we knew she had it. I only got about ten boils on my legs. We were in Bay Area, California.

I dont know about everyone else but these things would scare the S**t out of me if i saw one. I know my friends mom got bit by one but it didnt do anything really... must have been lucky.

I read somewhere that the venom of a Brown Recluse is not necessarily the proximate cause of the dramatic necrosis and ulceration associated with some BR bites, but is more often caused by a bacterium which the spider picks up from the soil, particularly in dry country, and which adheres to the spider's fangs. When the spider carrying these bacteria bites a human, it injects these bacteria as well as its own venom into the skin, where the toxins produced by the bacteria then cause the necrosis associated with a BR bite. Is the Brown Recluse actually just a fall guy for a toxic germ? Any confirmation/repudiation of this?

Are these the only spider that have like 2 extra looking fangs. Any spacific facts about the spider. I just want to know becuase it seems like I have these spiders in my house even though I live Canada, B.C Vancouver. Being paranoid and all about these spider I kill them without hesitation.

these pictures are real.. my uncle just got bit 5 times on his leg and its really bad.. be careful.. these spiders like to go in your clothes if you leave them on your floor.. or climb into your shoes.. and gloves.. its really bad.. be careful

pretty scare

After seeing these pictures i will not mess with the Brown Recluse Spider.

I Have Been Bit By These Spiders Several Times And They Left A Large Hard Red Boil Sith A Dark Center, Nothing Like People I Have Seen Get Bit By Them, My Neighbor Was Bit In Her Sleep And Her Leg Rotted Pretty Bad...Oh That's The Other Thing Who Don't Need To Worry About Finding One In Your Yard, That's The Black Widows Turf...no These Little Baby's Will Make Their Home in Your House, Mainly Attics Garages Places With Lot's of Dust And Very Little Traffic...But The Male Spider Will Go Out Into Your Home At Night In Search Of Food, I Lived In A Renthouse And Sometimes Would Turn On The Light And See 4-5 Of These Little Rascals In The Corners od The Ceiling...For A Long Time I Didn't Realize They Were Brown Recluse Or "Fiddle Backs" We Always Called Them "House Spiders"...They Are Prone More To The Southern Heartland Than Anywhere And They Love The Warm Months...Watch Out!

All the people who think this is a "faked" photoset are indeed jaded. This is exactly the sort of nasty, working from the inside to the outside, tissue damage that venom causes.

The reason it progresses like this over a course of days and weeks is that the venom is injected into your body. It stays there, wreaking havoc on the tissues it comes in contact with, essentially dissolving them. The molecules that make up a venom are incredibly complex, scary beasts. It's like setting off an organic-acid bomb inside your body. The doctors can't "dig" or "suck" the poison out, so they just have to let it do its thing and hope there wasn't too much injected into the body.

Black tissue builds up around the edges of the wound in its more advanced stages. This is necrotic (dead) tissue which feels and acts like tree bark. It serves a similar purpose, forming a hard impermeable barrier between the body and the poison.

Anyone who doubts the power of the brown recluse spider has obviously never known anyone that has been bitten by one.

in the last pic it looks like hes in a hospital bed. *pukes* where are these spiders from?

you can see by the surface that his hands are resting on, the background where it is visible, and the presence of sutures, that he did seek medical attention. there isn't alot that the doctors can do. no antidote, so all they will due is try to trim off the dead flesh, minimise the spread, and prevent infection.

Did the man in this picture live? Why did he let the bite go untreated that long??

I got bit by something (could be a brown recluse since I live in Louisiana). All the doctor could say was that it was an infection of some sort. Apparently some types of Staph infections look like the above pictures. My bite looks like the early pics, and I'm hoping to heck it doesn't go crazy on me. The doctor gave me Bactrim, and I have been puting Ichthammol ointment on it (nasty black stuff, smells like tar). So far, so good. But I can see how this thing COULD progress as badly as the one above.

There is a very elusive brown recluse spider in my house I've been trying to catch for hours. I have 3 cats, all over 11 pounds (two =13yrs old & the other=7yrs old). They have also been on the hunt for this spider; they alerted me to it's presence. If it bites them, could it kill them?

If anyone is interested the following link contains a map of where the brown recluse and other variety of recluse are found as well as detailed information on how to identify them etc.

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5num2/special/recluse.html

This looks awful...and to tell you the truth, I think in the last two pictures the victim is DEAD. I am in Louisiana and I have yet to meet one of these nasty creatures but neither do I want to. I'm just reading up on precautions.

all i have to say is wow. i find it hard to believe that one little spider can do that much damage. those are prety common spiders too, arnt they?

i have never seen a spider bite as bad as this before and believe me i have had a pretty bad one myself but why did this guy never get help with his hand i knwo they have the cures for it

Hey

Need to know of any reports of brown recluse bites in central valley California ?

Of course the picture is real.. if you know anything about the spiders... i've seen many pictures worse than this. My friend Eric got bit in his bicep almost the whole muscle rotted away.

Hi my name is Mitch. About a year ago I got bit on the calf by a large Hobo spider. I didn't think anything about it until it swelled way up and started to puss and hurt like a F****** B****. I now have a hole in my leg about the size of about the size of a dime and it still hurts some times.

The brown recluses can be deadly.

I was biten by one of these little guys on the back of my hand, Thought it was a bee sting so I did nothing and two days later I had a hole all the way to the bone ended up with cellulitis from my hand to my shoulder it took almost a year to heal but since then I have had all sorts of medical problems. most is kidney

this is all very true... i was just bit by one of these f*****s about a week ago and at first it looked like a pimple. but as the days went on the bite got bigger, more red, and more swollen... i just went to the docters and got minor surgery for it.(today) it hurt like a b***h when they popped it and a s***load of puss and blood came out... then they cut a slit into my leg and packed it with Gauz sponges... watch out cuz these things will get u, just like they got me!!!

NOTE: Edited to remove expletives.

yo get this, i live in West Texas and i see brown recluses ALL THE TIME in my garage, on the porch, in my room :-\ and EVERYWHERE... my mom got bit and like -cheVron- said above, diff people react differently to it, but anyway she didn't know she was even bit by anything bad because for the first 2-4 days it was not bad... the one thing she did say was the pain felt liek a bruise those days and it just kept hurting worse everyday after... well after about a week the bruise was a little larger than a half dollar, and just starting to look about like day 4 of the guy in the pics, witha small wound opening, and some swelling. well she went to the doctor and everything was a-OK after about a month after that. true story =)

The pictures above are absolutely real, and the spider that caused them is also real. I've been doing a little research on it out of curiosity and I've found a link that should satisfy any doubters.

Warning, this link contains photos even more graphic that the ones above.

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/fulltext/10729.htm

Trust me... the pics are real. I had a person working for me who was bit on the inside of their upper arm, near the arm pit. He almost lost his arm. It took over 9 months before it was healed and now he still has a terrible scar and large chunk of his arm missing. He's had grafts, etc. but you can only do so much.

Brown Recluse is just that... reclusive. So be extra careful when working in areas like old wood piles, basement areas, etc.

I have studied clinical toxicology of animal venoms and can attest to the fact that there is no conventional medical cure for a brown recluse spider bite. The venom contains nine different proteins and is cytotoxic (kills cells) and hemolytic (breaks down blood). They have tried hyperbaric chambers, cortiscosteriod creams, excising the wound, skin grafts and success is variable; depends on the individual and the spider (amount of venom injected). The brown recluse produces a far more dramatic effect than the black widow spider, whose neurotoxic impact is typically up to a week for a healthy individual and usually leaves no lasting effects. Read 'Lives of the Predators' by Gordon Grice for an interesting take on the widow, recluse, and numerous other interesting creatures.

I've always been into animals and insects since I was little, and did a report on this spider. This looks to be real. The reason why he waited is because the doctors have to wait until a certain point before they can do anything. If they cut out the venom and dead tissue too soon it will not heal. He would have lost his thumb for sure maybe even his hand. The doctor will pretty much wait till the venom drains on it's own as in the last picture. Then they begin the surgery procedures to stop any further spreading. You would think that with technology today we would have made something to prevent all of that if you caught it early. Like a shot to the infected area or something. I guess we will have to wait until they find a sure quick cure for cancer before anything like that is made.

It might help to do a little more research on this issue because I've seen plenty of photos of Brown Recluse spider bites that were just as bad and worse. This little sucker is real and it DOES do this to its victims. Google it.

A couple good reads:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7468.html

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

I just received the e-mail with the pics today, and it was saying this guy got bitten while working by the city where I am from. Whats funny is that I live in Canada and there are no reports of this spider anywhere! Goes to show how false information can get spread like wildfire.

The photos of the wound also bear a striking resemblance to photos shown of the effects of a hydrofluoric acid burn. Nasty stuff.

Hmmm... point well taken.

Though I don't have a problem believing that these photos actually depict the natural progression of infection from a brown recluse spider bite, I agree that more information might be necessary to actually "prove" it.

(I will point out, however, the items seen in the upper right corner of the last photos reveal that the guy is at least in a hospital room or something getting treatment...)

I hate to say it, but I'm almost as jaded with Snopes lately, as I am with all these "stories" that find their way across the 'Net.

It seems that Snopes sets out with the sole intention of claiming that practically EVERYTHING is a hoax -- whether they can prove it or not.

As they say on their site, it's "undetermined" as to whether these particular photos depict the effects of a brown recluse spider bite or not. So there you have it...

For the record, I initially posted these photos for two reasons:
1) For some reason, our spider photographs here and here tend to be really popular... I thought I'd be adding another angle with these photos.
2) I personally have always wondered the extent to which infections can set in and eventually debilitate a person. Call me crazy, but these photographs made it more "real" to me.