I'm very skeptical of this claim. I've lived my whole life in that area and never even seen a brown recluse. But I don't doubt that the danger is overblown.

I would think that people have all different types of reactions, similar to bee stings. Bees **** me up, and I hate getting stung. I was bitten by a (probable) brown recluse. I didn't actually see the spider. The doctor at the hospital believed that t was a brown recluse when he looked at it.. said it most likely happened while I was sleeping. Either way, it was a spider bite.

I had noticed that the area around my knee cap was red and sensitive. At first, I thought it was a bruise. A day or so later I was working and it was hurting like hell. I lifted my jeans, my leg was quite swollen and t he red area had grown at least 5 times in size.

The doctors drained my knee in the E.R. Let me tell you, it was pretty nasty. They had to cut the infected area open and then go in with these miniature tongs. all types of nasty puss and **** came out. A lot. I can't imagine what it would have gotten like if I didn't get treatment.

haven't read anything past first post and am proud to know that yes! Those are indeed brown recluses

this imo

get a close up pic of its eyes!

FYP!

hmm, you may be right imo. Might not be a brown recluse.



also,



carapace!

Absolutely. Me saying the danger was overblown meant the danger as popularly portrayed to the general population. I remember being in Cub Scouts and being warned about brown recluses as if one bite meant certain death.

interesting anecdote: I have read that a shock from a stun gun will essentially neutralize the spider's venom and prevent damage to the tissue.

brown recluse:



op spider:

Your going to have to buy a couple of iguanas, maybe a couple of geckos and let them roam free. They will eat spiders. Probably.

That top pic really isn't representative at all of what a brown recluse looks like in the wild. Pretty sure it's dead and spread out on some surface for viewing. Also it's the size of a penny. Also if you look closely there are still some pretty major differences (different color and shape to abdomen, different pattern to upper section, striped vs. non-striped legs).

If OP would ever come back and definitively state the size of his spider that could clear this up pretty quickly.

That's not a brown recluse. I saw (and killed) them every damn day when I was in Tennessee.

Brown recluses are among the least threatening-looking spiders on earth. I have a moderate arachnophobia problem (I am mildly put off by the pics in the OP) but I was perfectly willing to swat brown recluses with my bare hands.

Then you would be making a poor choice.

The actual incidence of brown recluse bites is not known; but, I suspect that you are, for the most part, correct in saying that "thousands and thousands" are bitten each year. The reason that the incidence of bites isn't known is because most don't require medical care and folks aren't even aware of what bit them. However, I don't agree that most adults living in indigenous areas have been bitten.

This is close to being the truth. The range of "reactions" to a brown recluse bite vary depending an individual's sensitivity to the venom and the amount of venom injected on that particular bite. Most bites just cause minor, localized skin irritation that would be ignored if the person didn't see the spider that bit them.

You experienced an intermediate reaction in that the bite got infected and formed an abscess which required draining. Abscess formation or cellulits (a skin infection) isn't unique to brown recluse bites. Any "bug bite" that violates the integrity of the skin can potentially get infected.

At the far end of the spectrum, a brown recluse bite can cause skin necrosis (i.e., skin death). Fortunately, this is not common, nor is it the result of most bites. Here are few more facts about the skin necrosis caused by the brown recluse.

1) There is no medical test that can predict which people will suffer this effect.

2) There is no test that can determine the amount or extent of skin necrosis that an individual will ultimately get following a bite. Most plastic surgeons will wait 3 or 4 weeks before resecting the area of necrosis, especially if the wound is big enough to require skin grafting. If it's resected too early, then grafted, the wound margins can continue to necrose and the graft can also die.

3) There really is no proven treatment in limiting the amount of necrosis that is going to occur. Steroids are generally given, but there have been no definitive studies proving their efficaciousness in attenuating the damage.

On a side note, I was a resident on Dr. Riley Reese's plastic surgery service at Vanderbilt. He worked on a vaccine that could be given after a bite that would prevent the skin necrosis. Sadly, he was not succesful.

I have seen hundreds of possible brown recluse bites over a 25+ year ER career. I say "possible" because most people don't bring the spider to the ER for identification since it's worn off the bottom of their shoe before they get there. Most folks that seek immediate care are usually doing so because they're scared ****less that the spider that bit them was a brown recluse and that there going to be losing most of their skin. In an effort to ameliorate their angst, an amatuer arachnologist friend of mine preserved some of the critters and put them in a glass case that I keep in the ER. I show this collection to patients and ask them if the spider that bit them looked like any of those in the case. Most people are relieved that their bite was not caused by a brown recluse. The others remain scared ****less.

If I can remember, I'll post a pic of the collection for your viewing pleasure. I think you'll be quite surprised by the variation in the size and appearance of these spiders.

Oh... I have no idea what kind of spider is shown in the OP.

It's on the wall above the floorboard. Measuring the legs I'd say it's about 5-6 inches.

huntsman, imo

the dark stripe and 2 dots on its abdomen give it away, as well as the white crown on its head

What are you talking about? Those two spiders aren't even remotely similar. If you think even one thing is similar between those two spiders you need to have your eyes checked.

They're almost identical.

Can we get Mexican Spider to pose on a bright blue background so we can settle this?

How 'bout you go grow up around some huntsmens and then make that comment.

lol?

You're talking about the two spiders in the post directly above yours, correct? I don't know how you can think they don't look similar. Just because the lighting is a little different. Everything else is pretty much the same.

if you were raised by huntsmen and learned their secret language, you would know just how wrong you are!

Other than the lighting, this nails it IMO.

What spider is this?