So on Saturday i was at work clearing weeds from the yard when i felt a little twinge on the side of my hand. I looked down and i saw a blister beggining to form…I (stupidly) thought nothing of it and continued to work.
By Sunday morning it had developed into a patch of dead skin…I looked on the internet for spider bite wounds and my wound looked scarily similar to that of a Brown Recluse!!! I almost shat myself when i saw that and became scared for my life…I rushed to the doctors where i was told that it was not a recluse but but a simple Garden Jumper bite. Which looks alot like the early stages of a Recluse bite. Now ive just got to treat it with ointment and wait for it to heal. It stings like a Mofo and it makes me almost scream if someone bumps it.
The worst part is that its my right hand(hopping hand) so i cant really do any trials for a while:(
So lessons learned are:
Wear gloves in the garden
Stop working if you get bitten
Dont try to diagnose your own illness…It scares the crap outta you.
goosebumps
I’m pretty much scared shitless of spiders of all types and sizes. The only two poisonous species in my state, however, are the brown recluse and the black widow, so I’ve learned to identify (and KILL) them. I hate spiderwebs just about as much as I hate spiders - they’re just…shivvers creepy. I don’t mind lobsters, or scorpions, or other arachnids, it’s just spiders. goosebumps again
I feel your pain man.
BTW, I always wear gloves when I do yard work.
Also, thanks for using ‘shat’ instead of ‘shit’ or ‘shitted’; I admire that.
ehh none of that ever happened to me but dog bites suck… i had to get 15 stitches from a bad dog bite on my left hand(my non hopping hand) so it didnt stop me:D
Wow! You’re lucky it wasn’t a Recluse! It also sounds like you may have had a more severe allergic reaction than normal, but maybe not. I don’t know about those spiders. Hope you heal fastand get back to uni-ing!
All I did was look at your location and knew it couldn’t be a Brown Recluse. The site you found the pictures likely originated or was from one of my websites. Probably the worst set of photos circulating on the internet is of one of my customers, who graciously gave us permission to post them.
The range for the BR is the southern United States, and primarily from Texas to Missouri then across to Georgia and down into Florida.
That doesn’t mean that you have any spider that contain cytotoxic poisons. Spider bites generally fall into three categories. Cytoxic, Neurotoxic, and NBD(No Big Deal). Garden Spiders though toxic, are generally no big deal. This is a generality and completely dependant on the “victims” sensitivity to the bite. Of course without the spider it is very difficult for any Doctor to identify a bite based on the reaction alone. Many spiders could have created the bite you are experiencing. Unfortuantely you live in Canada, and unless you can smuggle some real insecticides across the border, you pretty much have to live with the problem. Very rarely is the person who is bitten ever aware that it has happened. It may have happened the night before while sleeping and rolling over on top of the spider while sleeping. Only to begin showing symptoms later the next day while working in the yard. Or it could have occurred exactly as you said and you sensitivity to the particular venom of the spider allowed a more immediate reaction.
Good night, sleep tight and don’t let the spiders bite.
Bah N. America has nothing on australia we have the big mofo spiders that arnt neccisarrilly BIG put there bites can KILL humans in a matter of hours haha i am begining to wonder if i am making you feel comfortable or jealous hmm like sydney funnelwebs and redbacks and stoof
yea Australia is a death trap (but not really). i was bitten by a spider ages ago on the hand. it hurt like crap but i got over it. luckily it wasnt anything poisonness.
Well its slowly healing but it still stings like crazy…And Bugman your advice about the BR is very re assuring…I kno that the Recluse is not native to me region but isnt it true that some spiders have been known to end up in areas that they are not native to through “ballooning”. I was fairly certain that it wasnt a Recluse bite, but i wasnt gonna take any chances…Ive seen the aftermath and it looks terribbly painful.
I’ve known a couple of people who’ve been bitten by a Brown Recluse. Causes a lot of permanent tissue damage. Usually occurs slowly and there’s no real way to neutralize the toxin. My first wife had a pretty sizable (about the size of a quarter and about 1/4" deep) divot in her leg from one. Fortunately, deaths from this little guy are VERY rare. Usually just localized tissue damage.
Yeah, jake-amos. I’ve seen plenty of nature shows on TV about Australia. More deadly species of just about anything (snakes, spiders, etc.) than anywhere else in the world. Yet, I’d still love to travel there. Just don’t think I’d be camping without a tent.
I saw a picture once of somebody bitten by a brown recluse (I wouldn’t post it even if I knew were it was) and the bite had rotted a hole over most of the back of his hand, down PAST the bone! Literally, you could see the bones in his hand amongst the rotted flesh.
In jackass some guy holds his hand over a green ants nest and a billion ants bite him.
idiots he he
Also some foreign person came to Australia and got bitten by an ant. At home everyone had been warning her of all the bad spiders you get here. She freaked out and went to the hospital.
About a month ago I was stung over 15 times in my leg by Yellow Jackets mowing my customer’s lawn - the worst kind of bee to be stung by, and most venonmus. I ended up getting cellulitis in my leg about the size of two credit-cards next to each other. Then two weeks later (mowing the same lawn, mind you) after the cellulitis had cleared up, I was stung JUST ONCE in the arm and it balloned to a diameter of about 5inches (it’s normally only about 2-3). Turns out that I am now allergic to bee stings and have to carry an Epipen wherever I go.
i think that one is the same one i found my camera couldnt do such close shots…they sure can…i had to lure him by screaming in different places…its abit like hearding sheep…or something
Literally, you could see the bones in his hand amongst the rotted flesh.
