Just a good warning to you people... if you think you've been bitten by any spiders go to the doctor ASAP.
I thought I may have been bitten at work last thursday nite... but wasn't sure
I came home... I thought I had a boil on my left buttcheek...
I had my mother look at it, and she said it was a boil (boil = infected pore)
I let it go til sunday. It was hurting really bad sunday and when I went to bed that nite I stayed up all nite freaking out... I had a high tempature, sweating, shaky, go from hot to cold in 10 seconds, eyes were dilated, couldn't blink, etc. I went to the ER and they told me it was a spider bite.
My cheek was swollen up about 2 inches out across the entire left side... oozing bloody infection, and green infection. They got it all drained out, and gave me a antibiotic shot, 2 different types of antiobiotic pills, and a steriod pill.
I'm not sure what this will cost me, as i just changed jobs and I don't have insurance, thats the reason I put it off so long, but they said it was one of the worst bites they have seen in a very very long time, and I was lucky I didn't die.
So just a fair warning, if you think you may have been bitten, go to the ER, your doctor or something... just in case. I'd hate for you to end up like me.
I will be missing 3 days total from work, and have a huge bill, and still very very sore and infected. but its better than not being here anymore

 

Good to have you back! What kind of poisonous spiders do they have in Arkansas?

 

Actually, if i remember correctly, all spiders are poisonous. It is just a matter to what degree. In the US, I think the 2 worst are the Black Widow and Brown Recluse.

 

Sounds like a brown recluse, but just how did you get bit on the cheek??? -Never mind, I don't want to know...

The good thing is you are still with us. I have been bitten many times without any problems. Nothing worse than a big ole skeeter bite.

I have a couple of big garden spiders about an inch across outside my window that I treat like pets and even feed occasionally at night.

 

I dont know if I was bitten by a spider or stung by a bee the other night at work, but it hurt, and nothing happened. I think it was a bee, because I was rubbing it, after it happened and I think I found a stinger. It could have been a spider leg though.

 

WOW Andy, glad you are going to be ok. That doesn't sound like fun.

 

I will second that !! When I was in high school I was bitten by a spider in the face as I slept. Even after taking medicine it took several months to clear up. The only neat part about the whole terrible and painful ordeal is I looked like SPUDS MCKENZIE for about two weeks.

 

We have black widows, and brown recluse is the two most common spiders here. I think in southern arkansas they may have the terantulas (sp?) as well. But the two above are the most common, besides the brown house spider.

Glad to see you are ok Andy, it couldve been alot worse

 

I was always under the impression that those daddy long leg spiders were among the most poisonous, but their mouths are too small to bite a human. Maybe I'm off, all I know is that I don't even want to think about a spider getting close enough to bite me. Came across a black widow once, first thing I did was throw it into a nearby fire in a container. Say what you want about spiders taking care of insects, I'd rather just buy a can of spray...they skeeve me out too much.

 

This is an urban myth. Daddy's are fully capable of biting you, but unless you are allergic to their venom, you'll most likely never know you were bit.

 

Wow, I almost got bitten by a black widow just the other day. I have a big rubbermaid box with a lid that latches in the back of my truck, in which I keep my tools. I went to open one of the latches and when I pulled the latch back, there was a big, black spider sitting under the latch, right next to where I had just put my fingers. I stabbed it with a screwdriver, and killed it but didn't totally squish it. I could see a red hourglass shape on it's belly, so I believe that was a black widow. Also, I had never seen a spider that black before. It was a very deep black, not a bit of brown or other color to it. Yikes.

 

Im thining it was a brown recluse... as the manager at work said they have had them before. I work at walmart in receiving, and over night grocery stocking.... Good place for them to live. I think I got it while sitting about 6 inches off the ground transfering 12 packs of coke from the pallet to the sales floor.
We do have tarantul'as in my part of the state. I learned that about 3 falls back when I was out deerhunting early one year in bow season and one snuck up on me... Needless to say i lost a brand new broad head and a arrow

 

We have brown recluse spiders all over up here, but haven't seen a black widow in a long time. I saw what I think was a male black widow (how rare is that?) because he was shiny brown but had an hourglass on his belly the same as the female.

I didn't think tarantulas were poisonous though...?

 

Don't know.... Don't care.... I gladly wasted the arrow and broadhead to kill the darn thing, and wasnt about to get my stuff back, i ditched it all

 

My brother was remodeling a old house and was tearing the plaster off of a interior wall. Late that evening he said it felt like something was drilling holes in his back, so he just kept slapping his back, thinking it was gnats or mosquitoes biting his back. After he got home that night, he got his wife to take a look at his back. When she pulled his shirt tail out, five squashed, small brown "fiddlers" fell out. He was taken to the er, and had a long and painful recovery. The docs had a hard time stopping the flesh from rotting from the inside out , being that the bites were so close together and concentrated. good luck with your healing Andy,