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Yikes! My uncle had a very similar experience a few years ago. There's a video when you click on the link. I can't figure out how to put the video up here anymore since they changed the forum software. I've tried and tried but it never works for me anymore. 

 

http://www.waff.com/story/25431526/brown

 

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -

David Ford says he learned a big lesson about spiders last summer.

"June of last year, I was actually moving some boxes out of a shed to my truck and picked up a box and was carrying it. I felt a sting. There was a lot of bees and wasps flying around, and I thought I was being stung by a wasp, but I never did see what bit me," he said.

He went about his day and finished working his shift.

"This was about noon when I got bit. About 7 o'clock I started getting chills," said Ford. "I started seeing some blue in my arm and started running a fever."

A trip to Huntsville Hospital's ER netted a diagnosis - brown recluse spider bite.

"He told me I was going to be in the hospital a couple of days," said Ford, "and that I was probably going to have necropsy in the arm and the tissue would start dying."

He said they sent him home and his arm swelled tremendously. He experienced a harsh burning sensation and the tissue around the bite began to die. 

"There was actually a hole where the bite was and it started spreading getting bigger and bigger," Ford recalled.

He had been given a medicine for leprosy to help keep tissue from dying, but it didn't work. Eventually he saw a plastic surgeon. 

"I guess about a month after the bite when I went back and he had a scab on it and he pulled the scab off and cut the tissue out," he said.

For some people there is more surgery. Some patients said they didn't have any surgery.

The bottom line? Before you go digging into anything make certain there are no little creepy crawlies around. You could save your skin... you might even save your life.

Copyright 2014 WAFF. All rights reserved.


__________________________________

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality." Edgar Allan Poe.

Last edited by Seven
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Originally Posted by unclegus:

I got bit on the leg by something last year that made a hole that got bigger for a while and still has a small indention at that location now. I always thought it was a spider bite.

I got bit a couple of years ago too Unc,.. same thing as you describe. I know I have brown recluses because I use glue boards and catch them. 

I do think the bite depends on the amount of venom and how allergic people are as to the amount of damage it can do. Kind of like bee/wasp stings. Some are highly allergic and some people just swell up a little around the sting. 

For what it's worth, all spiders are posion. That is how they kill their prey. But not all are poisonous to humans, obviously. 

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by OBI Wan:
 I use glue boards and catch them. 
_____
Is a glue stick exactly what it sounds like? Store bought or home made?

Store bought,... actually given to me by a pest control technician. They are called glue boards/traps by people that use them professionally.

The Truth About Granddaddy Longlegs

Monday, June 23, 2008 - by Kyle Waggener, Chattanooga Nature Center
 

Are Granddaddy-longlegs the most poisonous spider in the world but their fangs are too small to bite us?

Actually, granddaddy-longlegs are not spiders. They are a type of arachnid, along with spiders, ticks, mites, and scorpions but they belong to a group called harvestmen not spiders. Also they are usually called “daddy-long-legs” in field guides not “granddaddy-longlegs” and are more appropriately called harvestmen.

There are several differences between harvestmen and spiders. Spiders have two body parts, a cephalothorax (head and thorax fused together) and abdomen. Harvestmen have one body part similar to ticks and mites. The cephalothorax and abdomen are fused together so harvestmen lack the narrow “waist” that spiders have. 

 

Harvestmen have two eyes. Nearly all spiders have eight. Harvestmen don’t have silk glands or spinnerets so they can’t spin a web like most spiders do. If you see a harvestmen in a web, it is soon to be a meal for a spider.

Harvestmen do not have venom glands or fangs, which all spiders have.

Spiders feed on live animals that they paralyze or kill with their venomous fangs.

Harvestmen eat decomposing plant and animal matter mostly, with an occasional slow-moving insect as part of their diet.

It is more correct to use the term venomous than poisonous to refer to spiders. Poison is ingested and venom is injected. In poisonous animals, toxic chemicals are stored in the body tissues and are used as a defense to prevent the animal from being eaten. Venom is usually used as a means to obtain prey, with the venomous animal injecting the toxic chemicals into the body of another animal. So spiders are venomous not poisonous. Predators can eat spiders, even brown recluse spiders, without ill effects.

So, even though “daddy-long-legs” aren’t the most “poisonous” arachnid in the world, they are still a very valuable part of the ecosystem. Maybe now more people can enjoy letting one crawl around on their hand without any fear of venomous fangs. If you really think about it, half of them are really “mommy-long-legs” anyway!

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by OBI Wan:
 Store bought,... actually given to me by a pest control technician. They are called glue boards/traps by people that use them professionally.

________

Where do you get them?


You can buy glue boards anywhere you can get mouse traps or any kind of home pest control.  Peck Ace Hardware, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, ect...

 

Originally Posted by Bestworking:

The Truth About Granddaddy Longlegs

Monday, June 23, 2008 - by Kyle Waggener, Chattanooga Nature Center
 

Are Granddaddy-longlegs the most poisonous spider in the world but their fangs are too small to bite us?

Actually, granddaddy-longlegs are not spiders. They are a type of arachnid, along with spiders, ticks, mites, and scorpions but they belong to a group called harvestmen not spiders. Also they are usually called “daddy-long-legs” in field guides not “granddaddy-longlegs” and are more appropriately called harvestmen.

There are several differences between harvestmen and spiders. Spiders have two body parts, a cephalothorax (head and thorax fused together) and abdomen. Harvestmen have one body part similar to ticks and mites. The cephalothorax and abdomen are fused together so harvestmen lack the narrow “waist” that spiders have. 

 

Harvestmen have two eyes. Nearly all spiders have eight. Harvestmen don’t have silk glands or spinnerets so they can’t spin a web like most spiders do. If you see a harvestmen in a web, it is soon to be a meal for a spider.

Harvestmen do not have venom glands or fangs, which all spiders have.

Spiders feed on live animals that they paralyze or kill with their venomous fangs.

Harvestmen eat decomposing plant and animal matter mostly, with an occasional slow-moving insect as part of their diet.

It is more correct to use the term venomous than poisonous to refer to spiders. Poison is ingested and venom is injected. In poisonous animals, toxic chemicals are stored in the body tissues and are used as a defense to prevent the animal from being eaten. Venom is usually used as a means to obtain prey, with the venomous animal injecting the toxic chemicals into the body of another animal. So spiders are venomous not poisonous. Predators can eat spiders, even brown recluse spiders, without ill effects.

So, even though “daddy-long-legs” aren’t the most “poisonous” arachnid in the world, they are still a very valuable part of the ecosystem. Maybe now more people can enjoy letting one crawl around on their hand without any fear of venomous fangs. If you really think about it, half of them are really “mommy-long-legs” anyway!

 

That was interesting and I learned something. Thanks for the info Jenn. 

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