Posted on 06/01/2005 7:17:47 AM PDT by Pyro7480
I share a duplex house with two other people. My room is the basement, while the other two live in rooms on the second floor. We share the living room, dining room, and kitchen on the first floor. Our house is just outside the DC Beltway in northern Virginia, south of Alexandria.
On Sunday, one of my roommates was apparently bitten by a brown recluse spider. She didn't get it looked at immediately, since she thought it was just a really bad pimple. By yesterday, however, it was quite apparent that something was wrong. She went to a doctor, and the diagnosis was confirmed, that she was bitten by a brown recluse. The doctor told her that they get a bunch of these in the summer months in the area.
I was under the impression that the brown recluse was only found in the south central region of the United States. Are they now prevalent enough in Virginia to cause the doctor to say such a thing? It doesn't make sense to me that she was bitten, most likely in her room on the second floor, while I haven't even seen anything that looks like a brown recluse spider in my basement room. You would think that something like that would more likely get into a basement than into a second floor room.
Ive seen other bites locally as well - the recluse leaves a nasty one - the area general necrotizes (dies) and leaves an impressive crater - looking worst at about 10 days
google brown recluse spider bites for some scary pics
That ends the bitching about leaving the seat up.
Some spiders hide in the folds of clothing.
Good idea to shake out that shirt you haven't
worn since last year before you put it on.
Post 53: Forgot to mention this is a contact killer. Be sure to expose all your bedding, mattress, couch cushions, and open closets and cabinets as well.
Speaking of deadly bugs, how come you never hear about the "killer bees" anymore? Did they just go away or disappear through interbreeding with the other bees?
Go to strange cosmos and search for spider bite. Good Lord, I've watched for every spider in the world since seeing that.
Wow, you're lucky, Bob. I was bitten on the neck several times, next to the juggler vein and within fifteen minutes my entire abdomen was in severe cramps and I had a headache that felt as if my head would explode. After getting to the hospital, I was morphined into a state I don't recall much for the next two days. For six months afterwards, my legs felt like jelly - sometimes not as badly as others, but increasingly got better. Don't know if the leg weakness was from the venom or morphine.
Me too. I feel all itchy now, too.
We have to deal with them here in Texas and large roaches (no poisonous bites but they're so big they scare you to death!). You should call your exterminator immediately and have him spray inside and around the perimeter of the house. He will probably tell you that this will only kill the ones he actually hits with the spray (that's what mine says).
Something you can do to help control the ones that get in is to buy some lemon or orange oil at the dollar store and use it on your, baseboards, cabinets,underneath your upholstered furniture, wood furniture, window sills, your doors and other openings where the spiders come in. Pay special attention to baseboards as they run along the baseboards in carpeted rooms.
Have a vacuum cleaner at hand, lift your furniture and vacuum underneath it and on the underside of the furniture to get any that may be hiding underneath, then spray the citrus oil on the underside of upholstered furniture where it will not get on the fabric. Be sure to check fabric pleats or ruffles around the perimeter of the furniture - that's where we found a nest.
Vacuum out your cabinets and cupboards - the nasty little critters love to hide in corners and behind things - then spray with the oil. Also, spray around the doors and the thresholds of the doors. We've done this since one of my Yorkie's was bit and have not found any others alive - we still find their bodies, but we have not found a live one in years and years.
Added benefit of doing this is that your house smells nice!
We have to deal with them here in Texas and large roaches (no poisonous bites but they're so big they scare you to death!). You should call your exterminator immediately and have him spray inside and around the perimeter of the house. He will probably tell you that this will only kill the ones he actually hits with the spray (that's what mine says).
Something you can do to help control the ones that get in is to buy some lemon or orange oil at the dollar store and use it on your, baseboards, cabinets,underneath your upholstered furniture, wood furniture, window sills, your doors and other openings where the spiders come in. Pay special attention to baseboards as they run along the baseboards in carpeted rooms.
Have a vacuum cleaner at hand, lift your furniture and vacuum underneath it and on the underside of the furniture to get any that may be hiding underneath, then spray the citrus oil on the underside of upholstered furniture where it will not get on the fabric. Be sure to check fabric pleats or ruffles around the perimeter of the furniture - that's where we found a nest.
Vacuum out your cabinets and cupboards - the nasty little critters love to hide in corners and behind things - then spray with the oil. Also, spray around the doors and the thresholds of the doors. We've done this since one of my Yorkie's was bit and have not found any others alive - we still find their bodies, but we have not found a live one in years and years.
Added benefit of doing this is that your house smells nice!
Gregwest's account of bites from bleachers brought to mind what she said about how she might have been bitten while out on a patio on Sunday. I was going to joke about how this might be a bad effect of "global warming," but theFIRMbss beat me to that! ;-)
LOL I guess there's some good in most situations.
LOL..reminds me of the very old joke about a group of campers. One is bitten on the ankle by a rattlesnake, his friend takes his pocket knife, sterilizes it in the campfire..makes small incisions on each fang mark, and sucks out the venom..thus saving his life..the next day, one of the campers is off in the woods, taking a leak, when suddenly he is bitten on his penis by a rattlesnake..at his screams, his friends gather around, and when the victim asks what's gonna happen next, they reply in unison.."YOU GONNA DIE!!"
Was that someone you knew ?
My wife was bit on the back of the thigh and had to have a mass removed. No health implications besides that. My friend was bitten above the eye and there were some scarring issues.
One solution is to vacuum often. They tend to live in closed spaces hence the name "recluse"
We found a Black Widow in a bucket in our garage that came from my wife's home-place. They are thick in that area. We see them a lot at the cemetary where they use the vases attached to the tombstones that can be put into the ground. The space under the vase is a perfect breeding ground for them
I got bitten by one in CT in 1991 and still have a scar on my arm from it. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.
If you kill a frog the cows will go dry.........
You must never kill a spider, you should always love and guide her and invite her in the nursery to play. The simple fact is, you can never get rid of spiders. Or you can only get rid of them temporarily. I just finished the book, Krakatoa by Simon Winchester (I highly recommend it), after one of the biggest eruptions in the history of the world, a week or so later a scientific expedition to the small remnant of the island found only one sign of life, a small spider. We have them in our house as we speak. The way to avoid them is to NOT CLEAN YOUR CLOSETS. OK, just kidding... but put a little flea powder in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum in the nooks and crannies before digging around for your old tennies.
I know of people getting bit by them in Quantico back in 1993, so they've been there for awhile.
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