Darn spiders!!!

Being from a state that houses some of the most poisonous spiders, one of my main fears is the little eight legged critters will injure myself or someone in my party. How can one prevent this from occuring from insects that pride themselves on being everywhere and can be very unforgiving to deal with?

Is there a place to get anitdote for Brown Recluses? Or perhaps we can just get some great spider first aid here on this thread. I think this could be vital info for people in densly populated wooded areas such as myself.

The key is to just watch out for them Brown Reclusers. Easy to spot, and you can build your shelter or habitat that will keep them away from you and your surroundings.

They are interested in capturing other insects and flying insects. So if you can manage to keep those critters away, the spiders will stay where their favorite food supply is in abundance.

The only spider I like is the brown tarantulas of Texas. Those things are huge and quite friendly. I had one that I would let crawl around and he would just go looking for any bugs he could find and have dinner right there where they are found. Saved me alot of money on insecticide.



Cheers!!!!

reply to post by Jkd Up


No antidote, if you get a bit by a male chances are you'll be alright with out seeing a doctor, along par with a Black widow bite.

If you get bite by a female on the other hand, you must instantly go to a hospital as soon as you see the little bump, and DO NOT POP it it will release their venom into your bloodstream and not only will you have a skin eating disease you will now become very very sick.

Doctors will shoot you up with plenty of antibiotics and or steroids to fend off the bite and put it at bay.

On a bright note there are only a few deadly spiders in North America, the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse being the most noted.

In both cases if you get bitten you should get medical help.

The Black Widow is probably the worse because the bite is almost always serious.

Many people bitten by the Brown Recluse will actually have a natural immunity and recover over time. Not always though. My father was bitten by a Brown Recluse just below the knee on his right leg. It got bad and he thought it would clear up. He lost his leg below the knee.

As for keeping them out or away from you, thats really not an option. Spiders are every where and most are so tiny you really can't even see them. I once read that there are as many as four million per acre of land, but that was in a Robert Fulgham book so it was probably made up.

We need spiders to take care of all the other bad bugs like mites and fleas. They have a job, unlike a lot of Americans today.

Originally posted by mrwupy

We need spiders to take care of all the other bad bugs like mites and fleas. They have a job, unlike a lot of Americans today.

Too funny!! Sad and true but too funny!!


2nd line


Cheers!!!!

reply to post by mrwupy



Actually, Female Brown Recluses are always very intense, the immune system cannot beat them on average.. Here's a picture of one my brown recluse bites, most obviouslly male.




I didn't pop it, and my immune system naturually defeated it but it still left a scar of dead skin that's still recovering, 6 months later.

Black Widows make very big webs. They are not geometric, but look like a cotton ball if you pull it apart, very easy to spot. They also will generally nest in hidden places like under tables or in between dirty window panes. This is where I typically find them around my house.

you people over there have it easy.
we have to contend with the top 9 most venemous snakes as well as spiders, octopus and jelly fish, we even have trees that attck you (stinging trees)

on your problem, most of the time if you keep things neat and tidy you give the insects less hiding places and in turn have fewer spiders.

If you do get bitten
I believe you should place a compress onto the bite area and wrap a bangdage around firmly working it down the limb and then back up, not to restrict circulation to much, slightly elevate the limb and avoid panic or stress, let everyone else do this as you want to keep your blood flow relatively slow, avoid bending the limb and seek medical attention.

[edit on 29-1-2009 by munkey66]

First thing you need to do in occurance of a black widow bite, take 2000mgs of Vitamin C, and go to the hospital.


That is your only solution, do NOT let the bite progress or you will be in big trouble and ending up having to amputate a limb.

I wish there was a good antidote! I had a horse that laid down on one and I tell you it was NASTY. The vet made the diagnosis of Brown Recluse bite. I fed the horse in the morning and he was ok. By afternoon he had a slab of edema on his underside from his front "elbow" to his back "knee" (stifle), with an oozing lesion 3 inches in diameter on his belly. In the weeks that followed, he looked like someone shot through his skin with a shot gun from the inside out. Every day I would clean out the dead tissue, and finally he healed up.

If a spider could do that to a horse, I can see how it would be possible for a person to lose a limb or finger.

Originally posted by Revolution-2012
reply to post by mrwupy

 

Actually, Female Brown Recluses are always very intense, the immune system cannot beat them on average.. Here's a picture of one my brown recluse bites, most obviouslly male.

As I stated in my post, You should get every bite checked out by a medical professional. DO not think it's just going to go away. My father did and it cost him a leg.

reply to post by munkey66


munkey66, you must live in Australia like me. I completely agree with your solution. Keeping things tidy is always a good start... both indoors and out. I also spray Baygon around all the doors and windows as an extra precaution.

If they still get inside, a rolled up newspaper or thong does the job nicely. I'm having a major white tail outbreak at my house right now... at least 3 of them a night walking over the floor or across the walls. Big buggers too! I got bitten once but it did nothing to me except make my skin crawl for a few days whereas my mate and mother needed a skin graft.

I agree that the US has it easy compared to us but in saying that, it only takers one of the buggers to change your life.

IRM

[edit on 29/1/09 by InfaRedMan]

Thats the great thing about the UK nothing poisonous at all. Nothing that will even give you a more pain than a bee sting.

Id hate to live in australia, my garage and shed is filled with hundreds of spiders. Is it the same in australia and US. If it is i would be scared reaching behind old paint cans and general places where spiders usually lurk.

I just pick them up and put them outside. if they where poisonous i would kill them though not a chance in hell id pick up a widow or a recluse.

a few weeks ago a woman in my town got bit by a black widow spider. I think it was an immigrant spider that hitched a ride on some fruit or something. She was in a bad way last i heard.

Australia is the worst you cant move for poisonous creatures there. It would definetely put me off living there.

I don't know about the antidotes or antivenom of these things, but one things for sure, they make damn good eating.

Scorpions, snakes, some types of spiders grilled over the campfire are simply deliciouse. In Texas, if theres ever a situation X, rattlesnakes will keep me well fed!

Make damn sure your doctor slaps a nitroglycerin patch on it if necrosis develops in a brown recluse bite. Not all doctors know that it will stop the tissue from dying and heal it up fast. The venom from a brown recluse is a very strong vasoconstictor and this is why the tissue will die in that area. The nitro patch un-constricts the blood vessels and allows it to heal and die in the first place.

I am not a medical practitioner, and so what I say is not to be taken as medical advice, but the solution may be found in biophysics, and not medicine.

I've been bitten by a brown recluse, and it was getting bad really fast. I was going to lose significant tissue in my hand as it was beyond the deep red/purple stage, and the tissue was being destroyed. The pain was increasing significantly each day.

When I related a distant friend, he told me the following, the nature of the problem, and thus how the treatment works. Fast.

1. All poisons are apparently delicate proteins. Very destructive, but molecularly delicate. (that's what he said.)

2. Any fracture of the delicate molecular structure whatsoever, one molecule separated, and now it's not the same thing. It has become an inert compound the body will quickly break down.

3. There is no medical treatment. Except surgery and debridement to remove the increasing volume of dead tissue.

4. In a bad bite, recovery can take a year, unless you lose an entire appendage.

At this point, I was really, really getting puked out.

Then he told me how to stop it immediately.

In biophysics, high voltage at low amperage will "disassemble" these delicate proteins that make up toxins.

I didn't have the "designed" tool he suggested was available online, and I didn't have time.

So I did the next best thing.

I got my son-in-law to help me. I got out my lawnmower, unplugged the spark plug wire, set my hand on the mower to provide a ground, placed the primary puncture area so the spark plug wire could touch it, put my foot on the mower to stabilize it, and had my son-in-law give that SOB a hearty pull.

It shocked of course, it was unpleasant of course, and it gave me three good, solid jolts. Of course I jumped and jerked my hand back, but I after shaking it a couple times, did one more repeat.

We pushed the mower back into the shed, and before I could get back into the house, the pain was gone.

The swelling was still there, and it looked like hell, but it wasn't hurting anymore.

It completely healed up over the next week with no tissue loss.

My friend told me that in the Amazon area, many folks get bitten by all kinds of toxic insects, and snakes.

Yet generally, there's a car, a boat motor, or something that can provide a spark relatively nearby, while a doctor or hospital can be hundreds of miles away.

They use this, even on snake bites, and keep on trucking.

I've told all my friends about this "treatment" and made certain that my children know for themselves and their families.

I was casually talking to a physician about this one day, and he scratched his head, and said, "I've never heard of this, but it sounds like it's something I'd like to try."

He said that sometimes, certain conditions have been cleared up quickly when someone would accidentally walk into an electric fence.

So, this isn't a pleasant experience, but DAMN it works! And right now!

The alternative is a hundred times worse.

Yes this is the other treatment for just about any venomous bite. I've used the starter from an electric cigarette lighter (the peizo-electric clicky kind) to completely get rid of normal itchy bites. You might want to use something a bit more powerful for a dangerous bite.

My dad told me that they do this in the south for rattlesnake/cottonmouth bites. Take the wire off your alternator or spark plug and zap the hell out of the area.

Using electricity to break down venom is *NOT* some fringe or quack treatment. This is the actual prescribed treatment method in some countries in South America.

Some doctors in the U.S. do this as well:

query.nytimes.com...

www.wemjournal.org...

insects.about.com...




[edit on 29-1-2009 by Snap]

reply to post by InfaRedMan

yeah I live in Cairns so we get the double whammy from the Taipan on the coast as well as the inland taipan which is the deadliest snake in the world then we have the box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) in the beaches which is the deadliest animal in the ocean because it can kill in less than 3 minutes from being stung.
Our spiders and scorpians can be painful but not as dangerous as the sydney funnel web.

even though we have all the little bities, truth is that not many people are killed each year by any of them.

we also have 1 more little problem up here, you have to be a little careful of swimming in creeks and rivers because the under water geckoes are every where.
for those who don't know what an under water gecko is, here is a pic

I have heard make a habit out of checking your shoes before putting them on helps prevent spider bites and scorpion stings

Many thanks, Snap! I'm glad that you provided other evidence to show I wasn't just pulling this out of my a . . .nether region!

I've got to look into another form that's portable, and if anyone can find a device on the web, this would be a great place to share it.