This thread is scary as hell, I just got a bite on the arm from something and it was throbbing more than a normal mosquito bite, but it healed after 4 days..

 

dang man, that sucks!

and I've been seeing alot of spiders around the house lately too

 

Brown recluses bites really suck, I still have a scar on shoulder blade from one

 

Many moons ago my cousin found one at my grandmother's house in the Berkeley hills. He took it to the vivarium and they confirmed what it was. Scary!

 

There is now a first aid kit.

http://www.brown-recluse.com/index.html?google1

 

ick that picture brings back horrible memories for me!!!! *scuuuury* i was bitten in sacramento about 12 years ago. One thing about the brown recluse is it usually bite in a perfect pattern. i had three bite in a perfect triangle on the back of my left leg. i got REALLY sick over the next 36 hours and went to the hospital where my leg looked that picture in the link! it was horrible. i hate those lil buggers!

after my bite i guess they sent people out into the Elk Grove area that i was staying in and found a nest close to where i was staying and determined it was carried over here in someones luggage who had been in the midwest.

so yeah its very uncommon that they are in cali....but with as much as people travel.....its not unheard of that we find them.

sorry to hear about your bite. glad your recovered i feel your pain (litteraly) i still have vivid memories of that time.

my left leg muscle is still kinda flat in that area from the deterioration even tho i have full strength in it.

 

I remember when Daniel got tagged. I said the same thing then....they aren't in the bay area. But apparently they are now. They didn't used to be.

I used to live in the desert and the ones I remember weren't small.

There are several sub specias of the brown recluse. I'm curious what ours is. Someone should catch one and take it to a specialist or something. I'm curious.

They can become a very very big problem.

I have a gnarly black widow issue where I'm at. If recluses are in the bay I'm sure I'll end up with them. So many damn spiders at my house in the country.

 

wtfmate no pics???

 

does anyone else get the feeling something is crawling on them while reading this?

 

I feel your pain. I was bitten by one and couple black widows in the service. I was bitten by one black widow more recently but it got my in the thick skin of my foot and didn't do much. Black widow has it beat in the painful bite department but the recluse has the widow bite beat in the long run.

When I was bitten by the Brown Recluse (aka Violin Spider for the marking on the abdomen) I didn't know it either. Then a 8" diameter cyst formed on my thigh and eventually burst at the bite mark. A mayonaise-like goo of blood and liquid went down the floor and it felt like a ton of pressure had been let off. Felt damn near better then sex at the time. It was bound with bandages and I was given some type of medication until it healed.

 

This map is full of it because they are in Florida as well as most of the middle of California. These things are horrible and can cause major damage really fast. I hope you heal 100% from this and dont have any scars or anything.

 

Now this is some scary ****:

Brown Recluse bite wounds are known for returning even after it appears to have completely healed. One possible trigger of the recurrence is a bruise, scratch or other lesion near the previously wounded area. The wound can erupt in the same location as the original bite or in another area. The wounds can recur on a yearly cycle near the time of the year when the original bite occurred. It is believed that wounds return because the venom is still underneath the skin. Below are photographs sent to us from Cora Rich of Scott County, TN. She has a recurring bite wound that is in now in its 10th year of recurrence.

 

Back in 02 when I was doing a field exercise at Fort Hunter Ligget we had 4 cases of recluse bites in the battalion I was in. I woke the first morning and 2 were just chillin on my sleeping bag. talk about rude awakening.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse

According to this, the Recluse is not really a small spider. I think someone said "tiny". A recluse is anywhere from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inches. That's about medium in the spider world. Take a look at the symptoms portion of the info. Sounds a bit different as well. Perhaps it was a Black Widow bite. Black Widows are all over California. I've got dozens around my house. Luckily they're really shy spiders that only come out at night. If you even brush up against their web, the run away. Anyway, the recluse bite is said to leave an open sore.

Here's another link with more 8 legged freaks!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisono...y_dangerous.29