Anticay found a BLACK WIDOW at
3am, not 2 feet from Anticay’s
bed.
This BLACK WIDOW was the LARGEST
BLACK WIDOW that I’ve ever seen.
I was only half awake and determined that
the best course of action would be to
squirt it with some kitchen cleaner
(that happened to be not 2 feet from the spider).
After being sprayed, the spider crawled into a hole.
Anyone ever bitten by a BLACK WIDOW?
I’ve heard it feels like a ton of bricks
is on your chest. I live right next to a HOSPITAL~~~!!
I don’t have anything against this spider
personally. Another time, another place
we might hit it off and go to a ball game, but
I’m not thrilled to share my bedroom with
a BLACK WIDOW that doesn’t contribute financially.
Nope, but I’ve been bitten by a BROWN RECLUSE. It only
stung a little, but I woke up with a sore about 3 inches
across that took over 9 months to heal. I definitely
don’t want to be bitten by a BROWN RECLUSE again.
My uncle was bit by a black widow…er…BLACK WIDOW a few thanksgivings ago. He got sick for a little while, but there were no lasting long term effects. I’m sure it hurts like hell though, so you might want to try to move the little bastard outside, preferably after a long stomping
My dad was bitten by a black widow spider. It caused a nasty wound about the size of a nickle or quarter that took weeks to heal.
He would control the spiders by going around the neighbourhood with a flashlight, poison spray and a fly swatter after he got off the “mid watch” (He had a rotating shift) and kill any black widow spiders he found. I guess one found him.
I had a BWS on my hand once. I was getting ready to go diving and was hosing out my wetsuit bootie. The bloody thing crawled right onto my wrist. She met with an unfortunate accident shortly thereafter.
The best way to get rid of BWSs is to hunt them down and kill them. Then patrol at least once a week for new webs.
Yup. When I was a college student. I had just gotten into bed and was laying there half asleep when I felt something crawling on my thigh. I brushed it off and it bit me. Naturally I jumped out of bed and looked to see what it was and found a big black spider with its legs curled up. I spread its legs out with a pencil or something and sure enough, there was the little red hourglass.
Anyway, I had a very tender bump about the size of a goose egg on my thigh for about 6 weeks, but I don’t recall any other ill effects. Mind you, this was about 30 years ago, but I think I’d remember being sick, if only for the story-telling aspect of it.
Nowadays, I tend to be proactive in my relationships with spiders, since I’ve noticed that they seem to consider me a free lunch. My advice would be to hunt it down and kill it.
GEEZ, people!! Dont you know it’s BAD LUCK to kill a SPIDER!! No wonder you are getting bitten so much. Brush them gently outside and they wont try and eat you.
Sneeze, who will probably find a whole pound of spiders in her sheets tonite
I almost always catch spiders and release them outside. But I cannot abide black widow spiders, nor brown recluse (“fiddleback”) if I see any of those nasty beggars. (Fortunately, I haven’t.)
My dad was bitten by a black widow just above his eyebrow (had his head up under some facia boards on a house) and it really swelled up, to about the size of a golf ball. He looked downright depraved, and this was about ten days before my wedding!
Luckily the swelling went down before we took all those pictures!
IIRC, it hurt (not that he admitted it), but no real damage done. I would be worried only if a child was bitten.
Brown recluse? Whole 'nuther ballgame. Remember Desperation?
Until a couple of years ago, I thought they were really deadly. Then I read that of every 200,000 people bitten, 50 die. There are worse odds…
I’ve never been bitten by one, fortunately, but I’ve encounted both black widows on vacation and its cousin, the northern widow(similar venom, just a heartier breed. joy) at home. With luck I’ve avoid their bites, since frequent wolf spider bites are bad enough even without deadly venom.
Haiku? no.
More like the
poetry of William Carlos
Williams, who I hate.
Anyway. Nope, never been bitten by a widow, but I’ve seen them in the house. Spiders and I are at war. Open hostilities on both sides. Their last assault consisted of one infantryman sliding down a long line right in front of my face as I sat on my couch watching TV. Shortly thereafter, he felt the “Clap Of Death”.
And don’t even get me started about the sneaky one that was squatting on the “hidden” side of the toilet paper roll…
My father was bitten by a Sydney Funnel Web spider in the days before they’d developed an antidote. Slightly different odds than for the black widow, ie. you get bitten (in those days) and you die. My dad was lucky though; this one was under some clothes in a wash tub (they can survive underwater for days), and the water had made it a bit dopey so it didn’t bite deeply. My dad made a tourniquet for his upper arm, and sliced the bite area with a razor blade, and sucked the venom out. Silly old bugger wanted to be tough and didn’t go to a doctor, but he was ok. On the other hand, if it had been a direct bite by an alert spider, it would have been goodnight nurse.
An uncle of mine was bitten by a black widow a couple of years ago. He’s OK now, but had to spend some time in hospital. Though it wouldn’t have been quite so bad if he’d sought immediate medical attention - but he’s a golfer, you see, and was bitten somewhere around the fifteenth hole, so obviously he had to finish the round first…
Hoping you were right, and fearing I may have been a victim of childhood scaremongering by my mother (I grew up at funnel web central), I did a spot of Googlin’. Turns out we’re both right. The venom of the Sydney Funnel Web is one of the world’s most toxic, and if you get a full dose, the recommended treatment is to sit back and smoke a cigarette, because that’s all the time you’ll have. However, it does seem that a full dose is a rarity, and most people therefore survived. Some didn’t even develop symptoms. I stand corrected.
Sorry to hijack, but this brings up a question I’ve had for awhile. Why does Australia seem to have so many horrifically poisonous animals? Considering its size, it seems like an awful lot of the most poisonous things in the world live there.
