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Anyone ever been bitten by a spider?


Delta68

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Last night, just as it was getting dark we revisited a local cache to make a note of some bonus co-ords we'd forgotten to get on our first visit.

Anyway, as Mrs D replaced the cache in the bush/tree thing she got stung by something. There was no sign of any bee/wasp etc nor stinging nettles.

 

She said that it felt like a bee-sting but the discomfort seems to last a lot longer. I assumed it had been a drowsy wasp or something. Anyway, today she asked on another forum somewhere about stings and someone (from the UK) suggested it might have been a spider!

 

I wasn't aware that any spiders bit people in this country but I remembered that I did see a spider whizz back up its thread when I shone the torch into the bush.

 

Further investigation today (always a bad idea) leads me to think she might have been bitten by a False Widow. The symptoms seem to fit the bill.

 

Anyone else (UK only please) experienced this

 

Thanks

 

edited to add:

Oh yes, we're in Warwickshire

Edited by Delta68
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Anyone else (UK only please) experienced this

 

Not a spider no, but I have been bitten by a Bat!!! :D

 

And had to go get a Tetanus booster jab by the docs! :huh:

 

The joys of Night caching I guess....

 

...and before anyone asks, even though I have good friend called Robin, we do not dress up in Lycra & Rubber and run around the streets at night... :huh:

 

Jon.

Edited by dakar4x4
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My boss was bitten by a spider in the UK earlier this year and a few people at work think they have.

 

In this warmer weather many insects that normally get killed off in the winter have survived and built up breeding populations in the UK. (source british pest control association)

 

Would not like to lift a cache to find one of these either.

 

http://www.introduced-species.co.uk/Specie...%20scorpion.htm

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...and before anyone asks, even though I have good friend called Robin, we do not dress up in Lycra & Rubber and run around the streets at night... :huh:
Ah, so you're strictly a Spandex man? Fair play...

 

On topic, I've never been bitten by a spider as far as I know, but I've often come back from summer caching with unidentified lumps and bumps which may have been the result of insect bites. Nettles are still my chief nemesis though.

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The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust http://www.warwickshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/ would be very interested if you told them - it could be a first for the county. L and I are in the Worcs WT and there are people who get very excited about such things. Yes, seriously :huh:

You could ask them about putting caches on their property then..........

 

Edit - more info here: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/in...ites/index.html

 

H

Edited by L8HNB
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My boss was bitten by a spider in the UK earlier this year and a few people at work think they have.

 

 

I presume they lived to tell the tale then.... 18.gif

 

Yes he did :huh: the problem here is that the spider could be from anywhere in the world just look at the country of origin on most of your fruit and veg :huh:

 

and yes our insect guy gets really excited when something new turns up in the traps

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Everyone seems to have gone worst case scenario! :huh: Some of the bigger British spiders (which are still diddy compared to some others elsewhere in the world) can bite. And it will be sharp nip. Native British spiders are just not known to be fatal. I reckon it will just be a bit sore for a bit and then you'll be okay! Think positive!

 

Linky more info on British spiders

 

Thank all the (insert own belief, deity etc here) that my other half doesn't bother with this forum. If she saw that there were biting spiders in UK I'd be having to search the place from top to bottom every day! :blink:

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Yes. I was bitten by a spider when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was rescuing this large spider with my bare hands from a cardboard box I was about to play with when the thing bit me for my trouble. :blink:

 

Since then I've always used the glass and cardboard method, ladder in the bath or soft towel. :huh:

 

Of course this doesn't help when poking around in holes whilst geocaching but then thankfully our spiders aren't poisonous.

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My Insignificant Other was bitten by a UK house spider when he was a child. Well, to be more acurate, he trod on the spider when running up the stairs, and it's teeth stuck in his foot. Apparently, it was swollen and itchy (his foot that is, the spider was dead!)

As we both are consequently scared of spiders, we have a glass and postcard waiting on the coffee table at all times! The other night, we were watching tv when a spider came through the living room door, across the room, and under my armchair. This was bad enough, but when another and then another followed it, I started to feel like I was in a Harry Potter film. The Insignificant Other just laughed and left me stranded, with my feet up on the chair!

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My dad got bitten by a spider he was trying to remove from our shed a few years ago. He said it was a bit sore for a while but fortunately there were no further problems. Looking at the Team Incredibles post:-

 

Not sure if it was spider or not, but I got stung / bitten by something at a cache recently and spent 2 days in hospital on a drip. :)

.........

 

......It might be worth keeping an eye on it and going to a doctors if it shows any sign of infection.

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Yes and only last month as it happened, and while I was laying in bed, by what I beleive was just a very large house spider! Well large for these shore anyway. It's well known house spiders can bite apparently........Had a fair bit of swelling, similar to a horsefly bite, another creature that seems to enjoy having a munch on my flesh! Must be my group A neg blood I reckon...LOL Anyways, liberal amounts of anti-histomine cream (Boots) kept the swelling and irritation at bay....

 

Ade

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Yes, when I was about 7 I was picking up a rake and didn't see the garden spider on the handle. Got a nasty nip like a wasp sting. I think that started my phobia... which is much better after I was forced to handle a red-kneed tarantula in from of my class of 30 kids. Couldn't let them see that I was a gibbering wreck!

 

A few weeks ago we had a house spider and went for the glass and postcard method but the thing was so big a pint glass wouldn't fit over it without nipping a leg!

 

Also been bitten by a ladybird. That hurt but it was more physical than chemical if you know what I mean.

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My dad got bitten by a spider he was trying to remove from our shed a few years ago. He said it was a bit sore for a while but fortunately there were no further problems. Looking at the Team Incredibles post:-

 

Not sure if it was spider or not, but I got stung / bitten by something at a cache recently and spent 2 days in hospital on a drip. :)

.........

 

......It might be worth keeping an eye on it and going to a doctors if it shows any sign of infection.

 

Very true, i got a mega swollen hand from a beetle bite and ended up at A&E and put straight on Antibiotics. I've also been bitten by a house spider in bed which has left a scar where the centre went necrotic. If you get bitten by anything (even in the UK) you can still be subject to Anaphylaxis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis

Edited by Realmofchaos
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Last night, just as it was getting dark we revisited a local cache to make a note of some bonus co-ords we'd forgotten to get on our first visit.

Anyway, as Mrs D replaced the cache in the bush/tree thing she got stung by something. There was no sign of any bee/wasp etc nor stinging nettles.

 

She said that it felt like a bee-sting but the discomfort seems to last a lot longer. I assumed it had been a drowsy wasp or something. Anyway, today she asked on another forum somewhere about stings and someone (from the UK) suggested it might have been a spider!

 

I wasn't aware that any spiders bit people in this country but I remembered that I did see a spider whizz back up its thread when I shone the torch into the bush.

 

Further investigation today (always a bad idea) leads me to think she might have been bitten by a False Widow. The symptoms seem to fit the bill.

 

Anyone else (UK only please) experienced this

 

Thanks

 

 

edited to add:

Oh yes, we're in Warwickshire

A friend of mine has a holiday caravan near here. A couple of years ago she was bitten on the bum, in bed, by a spider and had a bad reaction. Without going into all the details, she had to rush to hopsital and was kept in on a drip overnight, her backside was very swollen and red for quite a long time and she was prone to flare ups afterwards. I think this is an exceptional case, but it pays to be aware! :)

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I hope the Australian spiders are a bit more friendly when we move over in a few weeks :laughing:

In that case don't read this thread on nwcaching.co.uk :lol: , but it looks like rogerncook may be a good contact for you in Oz.

 

Yes he has been in touch and we are meeting up when we arrive. I think we need very long sticks for Geocaching in the outback!!!!

Hi I was biten by a spider last summer it was a large garden spider. I was shocked to see two small pin holes in my finger. Have learnt to look before i put my hand in to holes these days.

Sharm Light

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I've had some massive spiders in the house over the last couple of weeks, the most recent being the one who was running around yesterday. It is possible I disturbed him fiddling around with wires behind the computer and printer. Shortly after I noticed a bite on my foot, and this is how it now looks

 

a8a1577c-3cb9-449c-9bdc-d06a4e94bd5d.jpg

 

It is extremely painful and itchy. I'm taking Piriton to ease it and bathing it with calamine. I thought it was just another insect bite, although its very much like the horsefly bite I had at the Oxford camping event last year. I'm now wondering whether it could have been a spider that's done the deed.

 

Lots of links to identify the spider on this thread, but I can't bear to look at them as they make me shudder. :laughing:

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AFAIK, ALL spiders a poisonous, but the venom is intended to kill or paralise small insects, not us big humans!

 

I have heard of people getting bitten, but nothing more than a little discomfort. You have to allergic to get any nasty effects.

 

I love spiders, they are great at keeping the nasties at bay, and really are quite harmless (most of the time).

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Poor old Boris! He knew you were lurking with a broom to swat him with Liane!

 

Now all we need is that stat about how many spiders per year they reckon each person in the UK inadvertently eats when they are asleep! I think it's about three!!

 

I heard it was five and I don't even want to think about it too much .... why did you bring it up Alison!!!??? I won't be able to sleep now! Argggggggghhhhhhh!

 

Edited to add: Found this straight after posting eating spiders

Edited by The Cache Hoppers
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The good thing about British spiders is that only about half a dozen of them have fangs that are long/strong enough to pierce our skin and in all cases they need a lot of provication before they will actually bite. I did come across a beautiful Dysdera crocata (woodlouse spider) which was trapped inside the cache container at JJ's Cache in Norfolk last year; they are a wonderful rose pink colour with whitish abdomens. This particular specimen ran across my hand then off into the leaf litter in search of woodlice.

 

The large house spiders that lurk in sinks at the moment are all males which have crawled up the plug hole in search of a mate, while the larger females are probably hiding in the crawl space under your house and certainly not in any geocache.

 

Even the spectacular wasp spiders (Argiope bruennichi), which I frequently saw in the grasslands of Dorset last year never caused me any problems. Anyway just to chear you all up I should point out that a typical square metre of English grassland contains between 250 and 500 individual spiders and that the spider population of the UK eats the weight of the human population of the UK in insects each year! :laughing:

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The large house spiders that lurk in sinks at the moment are all males which have crawled up the plug hole in search of a mate, while the larger females are probably hiding in the crawl space under your house and certainly not in any geocache.

 

I'm glad someone else says they crawl up the plugholes! PopUpPirate says they do not but I was positive he was wrong. :sad:

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The large house spiders that lurk in sinks at the moment are all males which have crawled up the plug hole in search of a mate, while the larger females are probably hiding in the crawl space under your house and certainly not in any geocache.

 

I'm glad someone else says they crawl up the plugholes! PopUpPirate says they do not but I was positive he was wrong. ;)

My better half says she doesn't like it when they crawl up the plug holes. I say they must be bloody good swimmers to get past the U bend. :sad::D

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My better half says she doesn't like it when they crawl up the plug holes. I say they must be bloody good swimmers to get past the U bend. :sad:;)

Except they don't crawl around the P- or S-trap, or U-bend, or whatever system you have :D ; they actually hide in the overflow pipe between the overflow outlet and the bottom of the basin/sink/bath, which is relatively dry unless you're in the habit of overfilling said receptacle. It's amazing how big a spider can squeeze through the filter thingy in the plug hole and scare the carp out of you. :lol:

 

Edited to say that obviously they get into the house using a different, non-plumbing-associated technique.

Edited by jerryo
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Warwickshire has had some foreign spiders around.

 

The Safeway store (now Morrisons) in Stratford had a nasty spider in their Bannanas.

A semi-deadly* Indian spider was found in someones patio slabs -delivered from India- and taken to Stratford Butterfly Farm...

They have taken in several non-native spiders found in the area.

 

Not that I'm trying to worry you!

 

G

 

*Semi-deadly - It was a bird spider, deadly to birds, just a bit of a bruise to a healthy adult...

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Warwickshire has had some foreign spiders around.

 

The Safeway store (now Morrisons) in Stratford had a nasty spider in their Bannanas.

A semi-deadly* Indian spider was found in someones patio slabs -delivered from India- and taken to Stratford Butterfly Farm...

They have taken in several non-native spiders found in the area.

 

Not that I'm trying to worry you!

 

G

 

*Semi-deadly - It was a bird spider, deadly to birds, just a bit of a bruise to a healthy adult...

 

Not one that half kills you, then. :D

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I was thinking about this thread when driving oop t'North on Friday night. Currently I have a LARGE garden orb web spider living in my car. I have noticed it before when driving, but when I pulled up to chuck him out, he was hiding. So driving over the Woodhead Pass in the dark, on the most twisty turny bit, I am following some moron doing 25 MPH and breaking to a standstill at unpredictable moments, when Brois reappears and decided to build a web between the sun visor and the steering wheel. So suddenly, on coming truck, moron stands on brakes, and Boris drops down on a silken thread right in front of my nose... Eeek! I managed to brush him aside, where he went p my sleeve, so I had to shake my arm to dislodge him, whilst avoiding death on the road. Later, he contented himself with building a nice web across the passenger side window... much more interesting to watch than concentrating on the M60....

 

Note to self : spider hunting in the car, later on today...

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My better half says she doesn't like it when they crawl up the plug holes. I say they must be bloody good swimmers to get past the U bend. :):D

Except they don't crawl around the P- or S-trap, or U-bend, or whatever system you have :D ; they actually hide in the overflow pipe between the overflow outlet and the bottom of the basin/sink/bath, which is relatively dry unless you're in the habit of overfilling said receptacle. It's amazing how big a spider can squeeze through the filter thingy in the plug hole and scare the carp out of you. :D

 

Edited to say that obviously they get into the house using a different, non-plumbing-associated technique.

Yep I could go with that solution if it wasn't for the fact that an overflow pipe generally runs into the pipe just below the plug hole and above the U bend, which is still wet!

 

To even get into the overflow pipe they would still have to go over the lip and enter it either by the top of the overflow or through the plug hole. I still believe that spiders get into baths and sinks because they walk over the lip and slide in. It is to me the only logical solution. :D

 

On another note I walked straight into a spider web yesterday. Got it full in the face. I immediately thought about this thread and danced about the place trying to get it off. Yuk! :)

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To even get into the overflow pipe they would still have to go over the lip and enter it either by the top of the overflow or through the plug hole. I still believe that spiders get into baths and sinks because they walk over the lip and slide in. It is to me the only logical solution.

Oh I agree with that entirely. It's when they're in the bath that they investigate the chilling possibilities of lurking in the overflow. Then they die, one way or another. :D

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Sorry I'm not UK - because I've now been in Sydney 4 weeks now....

 

But on Friday a woman in the office brought in a funnel web spider in a jam jar - one of teh most posionous spiders in the world sat on my desk.!!

 

BTW - She was taking it to the reptile centre so they could extract its venom for antidote,

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Well I am glad I missed this one .... away at the camping event in Lancs for the weekend, and teenage daughter (yes she is old enough to be home alone!) had a big spider in her bedroom. According to her it was chasing her around the room. As soon as her exit route was clear, she ran out of the bedroom and waited for her boyfriend and his mum to arrive. Boyfriend's mum scooped it up in her hands and calmly took it outside! :laughing: Eeeeeek! The woman deserves a pint next time I see her. :wacko:

 

PS LMAO at Alibags' spider in the car tale :D

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Well I am glad I missed this one .... away at the camping event in Lancs for the weekend, and teenage daughter (yes she is old enough to be home alone!) had a big spider in her bedroom. According to her it was chasing her around the room. As soon as her exit route was clear, she ran out of the bedroom and waited for her boyfriend and his mum to arrive. Boyfriend's mum scooped it up in her hands and calmly took it outside! :laughing: Eeeeeek! The woman deserves a pint next time I see her. :wacko:

 

PS LMAO at Alibags' spider in the car tale :D

 

A spider is as scared of you, as you are of it.

You run away, the spider thinks you know of a safe place to hide, so follows you!

 

Deadly spider in car link

 

G

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