DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Brown Recluse Question

Over the last 2 years, maybe more, we've seen the gross pictures of a hand or foot or arm of a Recluse bite. The guy that lives next door got bit on his hand when he was working in his garden. His wife was telling me he almost lost his hand. My question is this.....Since there seems to be a good number of people that have been bit and all seem to have almost lost whatever part they got bit on, why isn't there advances on the treatment? Why do most, if not all, go through "I almost lost my body part" ? I don't understand why treatments can't be made to stop it before it about takes the part. Whats the odds of everyone having to go through almost losing something rather than stopping it right away? Any insight on this? I know maybe I have not explained this very well, If not just ask and I'll try and do a better job.

The initial symptoms after a bite are quite mild, and many people don't realize they've been bitten at all. By the time they suspect something, quite a bit of necrosis has already taken place.

Yeah, I can see that. It just seems unusual that almost all seem to go through this. His wife was saying that it starts out looking like a ingrown hair or small blister, and if you pop it or pick at it, it starts to spread the poison and I guess that's the hard part is stopping it. But that's the thing, they know what it takes to stop it, so they shouldn't get close to losing the part, right? His wife told me he got bit about 3 months ago and she treated it and it was fine, but this last time he got bit he hit his hand with a hammer on the bite and it spread the poison all through his hand. I just couldn't understand if they know how to stop the spread then why can't it be a lot faster than it seems to be.

Medcine is a practice....they practice until they get it right....LOL


Seriously....there is no saying why. The problem is people go to the Dr. late. They wait until the have a big festering wound.

I was bit by a recluse on my cheek bone....lol, I hit a r after bone....anyway...it took some strong drugs that gave me some serious skin issues after I was off the drugs, but I avoided losing chunks of tissue, but I went to see a Dr. inside of 48 hours.....Recluse can be very small....I never remember being bit...


The medicine sounded horrible...I wish I could remember the name....bacticide or something like that.....500MG...2, 2x a day....all I know is when I stopped taking it I broke out a total body skin rash for 3-4 days.

I was bit by one on the side of my knee. I didnt know I was bit until my leg swelled up. And the hole from the poison grew. By the time I noticed it was too late. I wound up in the ER and all they did was clean the wound and send me home. I dont remember if they gave me meds for that.

I guess there's all kinds of reasons, I just thought it was odd that most people say they almost lost...whatever. Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you got it treated and it wasn't your bone.....r

We have recluse and black widows out here. All I know is I don't go reaching into my wood or junk piles without wearing gloves. Period.
An ounce of protection is better than a pound of flesh.

As I understand it, the venom from the bite literally liquefies human flesh. I would guess that in most cases, it simply does its damage, then the venom dissipates to the point where it can no longer cause problems. I would guess that getting into the blood stream could cause major problems too.

I guess that I better stay out of the wood pile on the back of my yard. (or spray it down good with spider killer) I really haven't thought about those buggers since I was a kid. My uncle used to get bit from time to time out on his farm, and they were pretty ugly bites.

They can get you anywhere. I was bit at work in a computer room that had raised floors with a critter problem underneath. Yeah I got workers comp for that.

eeewwww I hate spiders.

WOW,, I never heard of it. and by the sound of it, I'm damn glad I never got bit

Back in the late 70's or early 80's, my Dad was bitten on the hand while sleeping. He thought absolutely nothing of it except for the red line that was working its way up his arm toward his shoulder (and heart). He was taken to a hospital as soon as they noticed that, but he still spent the next 10 days in-patient at Lakewood Hospital. According to the docs at the time, he narrowly escaped dying because of how the venom was travelling.


Basically, it's like any other spider bite... you generally might not even realize that you've been bitten, so by the time you do realize it AND realize that it's not a normal spider bite... it has progressed and bad things have happened.

Yep. I never knew I was bitten. I don't remember a spider crawling on my face(people remember that) and I don't think it happened while I was sleeping. I am pretty sure it happened while putting on a shop apron while out in the garage to start a clean up. It was maybe 2-3 hours after I was done I noticed some red swelling. I am lucky I sought out treatment the next day. I am already ugly enough without a huge scar on my face.

Peen looks much better when he is standing next to me

I got bit by one a few years ago on the first good day of spring. The damn thing was under my bike seat, and it got me on the inside of my thigh. That thing hurt like hell for about 2 weeks until the swelling went down. I didn't know that those thing shouldn't be lanced, so I used the hot bottle trick to suck out the core. (you heat a beer bottle, but the mouth over the bite, and as the bottle cools, it sucks out the core of the bite) I covered it with petro-carbo salve, and it healed up in a couple weeks. I didn't lose any flesh, but it did leave a scar.

Brown Recluses are something else. I have came close to being bit quite a few times, and "knock on wood" I have been lucky.

I tend to avoid places where Brown Recluses like to hang out...they "really, really, really" like Cold and Dark places....places people don't go into very often such as attics, old cellars that are not used much, etc.

You avoid those kinds of places, you reduces your chances of getting bit by one down to about 1% honestly.

I put crabapples in my basement....every Winter and they keep the spiders out...I have to replace them about once every 6-8 weeks but they emit some sort of smell/essence that spiders don't like and they will stay away. If you know anyone who can get you some crab apples, put them in your basement...the spiders in your basement will vanish...they can't stand being near them.

The Spider to "really" be concerned about is the Mouse Spider. It is a ground dwelling Spider, but you will usually only seem them in the winter time when its cold outside....in fact they are probably in your house in the winter and most people don't even know it. Turn the lights off and leave nothing but the TV turned on during a cold winter night and you may be surprised to see a huge spider running across your floor like a mad man.

They are VERY fast...they can run across a 25FT living room floor in about 2.2 seconds give your take....they get their name hobo from how fast they move and how they tend to travel.

Anyways if you get bit by a Mouse you better get to the ER because they can kill you just like a Black Widow if your allergic or mess you up badly....I got lucky last winter and never seen any, the year before I killed quite a few of them in the house...stupid dog chasing it across my kitchen floor under the potatoe bin...thank god she didn't get bit.....they will run under things to hide from you and they are fast...you just gotta see one in action to appreciate how fast they are....it outran my dog and she is a fast dog at only 3 and a half years old...just so you get an idea of how fast these things are.

A tip on killing a Mouse Spider...once you corner it...underneath a say potatoe rack for example....is where the real game begins...when you move the rack....the Mouse Spider will stare you down and sorta shift its weight to its backside....and its waiting for your next move...you MUST not lose your nerve and when you stomp, you had better stomp FAST and HARD With Authority...because if you hesitate...it will jump at you with the intention of getting away and will bite if need be to ensure it does get away....

I had one jump at me when I was kid..rookie mistake of not being fast enough....but these hobo spiders can surprise even men in their 30's and 40's who have never dealt with one before...they are probably the fastest spider alive, and for their size you wouldn't think they have that kind of deceptive speed! They are pretty big actually you would be surprised.

Sorry, as a kid I was a big bug collector...grew up on a farm...toyed around with almost every insect you could think of from hornets, to big spiders you find in barns and everything in between I caught it or observed it at some point.

however, Mouse Spiders are in ohio, because I have killed many of them in my lifetime...and in many ways they are much more dangerous then Brown Recluses....because they will actually enter your home in the winter time to get warm, and they hide under shelves, couches, couch cushions, etc... you would be surprised the places they hide.

on a side note, when I worked in a grocery store in college, I opened up the banna bin and some some crazy Brazilian Spider leap out of it...biggest thing I ever saw...thank god I had gloves on and a piece of cardboard to shild my face...SOB leap right at me....never seen anyting quite like it, and never want to see one again....so please be careful reaching into Banana crates at the store....some stores just pull the crate top off and wheel it out...the spider could be in the crate...you don't want to run into one trust me....the store I worked at had this happen 15 years ago and that's why we employees ahad to empty every single banana crate.

You don't want that surprise...trust me!

Also when you get up in the morning or go to put your shoes on, shack your shoes or slippers before putting them on....you never know..spiders like shoes...at my ex's house in the winter time I shock a black basement spider out of my shoes at least once a weekend....you can just never be too careful.

this is sound advice and will help you avoid getting bit by a spider.