+Team Tecmage Posted June 18, 2003 Share Posted June 18, 2003 YUCK! We usually carry at least one pair of gloves along with us. I refuse to reach into some places without covering my hands. Makes me think about the scene from that cheesey remake of Flash Gordon- the scene where Baron and Flash are reaching into this portion of tree, trying to see who will get bitten by the inhabitant..... Quote Link to comment
+CYBret Posted June 18, 2003 Share Posted June 18, 2003 Yeah, thanks Leatherman....I had to reach into a hole to retrieve a cache yesterday and was just positive I was going to end up with the "meatball sub treatment!" Thankfully all that happened was I got bit by about a zillion mosquitoes. MAN, they were nasty. For some reason my left arm felt like it was burning last night (kind of like the sting after a sunburn), but I'm trying not to be paranoid about it. Brown Recluses have always bothered me. I was telling our secretary about this thread today and she said her cousin got bit on the stomach by one last year. The wound was big, nasty and smelled awful. I can't imagine what it must be like carrying something like that around. Bret "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44 Quote Link to comment
+mooremonkeys Posted June 18, 2003 Share Posted June 18, 2003 I have seen several recluse bites, but dang! I am from Arkansas and we have more than our share of spiders. I always check our clothes or throw them in the dryer at the change of seasons. Recluses are shy and like dark places like closets and corners(that is why they are called recluse, not found in the open). I had a friend in college that was bit on the neck, but went straight to the emergency room. His never even welped up. I also know a lady thats husband was bit by a black widow on the tip of his finger. He ended up spending the night in the hospital. As for wolf spiders, they are aggressive! I have had them get in my tent and come at me when I have tried to shoo them out. Spiders freak me out, but I am more afraid of being bit by a copperhead or a cotton mouth. My 7 year old slid into a cotton mouth while out geocaching very early in the spring. I think the snake had not been out of hibernation long enough to be moving very quick. Everyone just look carefully before putting your foot down or your hand in. Mooremonkeys Wife Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 Bump. A guy that I work with got bitten on the CHIN by one of these. His doctor is amazed that he isn't dead. Sngans Sacred cows make the best hamburger....Mark Twain. Quote Link to comment
opie744 Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 WOW! I didn't catch that thread before, it scares me more for my kids than anything. Theyare always picking up all kinds of crud while we are out there. Quote Link to comment
+New England n00b Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 Ahhh, gotta love snopes.com... --------------------- Don't hurt me. I'm new here. Quote Link to comment
+Etrex Pirate Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I find Black Widows around my yard from time to time. I almost stepped on this baby one a couple weeks ago. I also had one at my front door with the body the size of a marble. The UPS guy didn't like it very much. I'm the good kind of pirate... if there is such a thing Quote Link to comment
ju66l3r Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 From the Univ. of MD Medical School site: ----------------- Q: Are all spiders with violin shapes on their backs brown recluse spiders? A: No, the cellar spider also has a violin shape on its back. You can tell them apart because cellar spiders have longer legs than brown recluse spiders and three sets of eyes. ---------------- So, if you see a spider and it has a violin shape on its back, get down on your hands and knees and count its eye sets. If it has three, then it's just a cellar spider. That way you'll know what just bit your nose. -- http://magazine.audubon.org/features0101/goodwood.html Quote Link to comment
GeoWorms Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Team Shibby:Wow! That is scary!! If you got to a hospital quick enough, can this be treated before it gets like that? Unfortunately, it doesn't matter when you seek medical attention for this. The treatment is to watch the skin rot and see where it stops --then skin graft the area if it's big enough. The good news is that most brown recluse bites won't get like that . Quote Link to comment
+OneOfEm Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 The following is from snopes.com: Even if these photographs are genuine, they create an exaggerated sense of the danger posed by brown recluse spiders. As Phillip Anderson, a Missouri physician who specializes in brown recluse spider bites, explained in an article for the medical journal Missouri Medicine, "Almost all brown recluse spider bites heal nicely in two to three months without medical treatment at all. Also the long-term medical outcome is excellent without treatment." Furthermore, says Anderson, "We are not aware of any verifiable deaths caused by the bite of the North American brown recluse spider." (He noted that several deaths from such wounds "had been reported in medical journals, but none of the reports is convincing.") He also reported that out of "about 1,000 credible recluse spider bites," he was only aware of "about a dozen cases of impressive, sustained hemolysis." In fact, just about the greatest danger of a bite of this nature is not the direct effects of the venom, but rather the introduction of secondary bacterial infection due to the patient's continually scratching the site (spider bites can itch terribly!) or otherwise failing to keep the wound clean. If these photographs truly depict the effects of a brown recluse spider bite, they represent a very rare occurrence. Quite possibly they are genuine photographs of some completely different medical ailment (unrelated to spider bites) with similar physical symptoms (such as pyoderma gangrenosum or necrotizing fasciitis), and someone who came across the pictures outside of their original context mistakenly assumed them to depict the effects of a brown recluse spider bite. Quote Link to comment
+joefrog Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Etrex Pirate:I find Black Widows around my yard from time to time. I almost stepped on this baby one a couple weeks ago. http://www.tophersworld.com/images/black_widow.jpg "Almost" stepped on it? I'd be CERTAIN to step on it! Black widow bites are nothing to sneeze at! Joel (joefrog) "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for ye are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!" Quote Link to comment
mckee Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Criminal:I've seen Black Widows (they are the ones with the hourglass) in South Carolina, and I was aware that they were down there. Do we have those (brown recluse) in the PNW? We have Hobo spiders here. I've seen recluse come in on freight shipments, but they don't really have an official foothold. http://hobospider.org/ -------------------- Would you like some cheese with your whine? Quote Link to comment
+YankeeRage Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by OneOfEm:The following is from http://www.snopes.com/photos/brownrecluse.asp: _ I had just seen that! If you are reading the forums, then chances are good you are not actively caching. Check out the 'pictures' section of Snopes. Heed the warnings. Quote Link to comment
bug and snake Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Like some others here, I have been bitten by a brown recluse spider. It was in west Texas. As some one said above, they hide in your clothing - this one was in my socks that I had gotten out the night befor for the morning. It hospitalized me and had me off work for five months. The damage to my leg will never heal. I know it's just a gut reaction but I kill all spiders if I get a chance..... Only nuts eat squirrels, Snake Quote Link to comment
Dorkus&Co. Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 A while back the Missouri Conservationist magazine (printed by the MO. Dept. of Conservation) had an article about the Brown Recluse. They said that if you live in Missouri you have an average of 100 Brown Recluses living in your house at any time. I have seen them many, many times. Quote Link to comment
+Etrex Pirate Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 quote: "Almost" stepped on it? I'd be CERTAIN to step on it! Black widow bites are nothing to sneeze at! Joel (joefrog) I should have specified I almost stepped on him with bare feet. After I snapped the picture I made sure carefully move him to a better suited environment. Who am I kidding I squashed it. I'm the good kind of pirate... if there is such a thing Quote Link to comment
+ToolkiT Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Out here in Australia we've got all kinds of nasty crawly creatures... Snakes, spider, centipedes you name it.. Luckily I've never come accross one while geocaching, but my wife is too afraid to go into long grass area's... We did see a couple of snakes while bushwalking though... and 90% of them are venemous out here.. btw a good (fiction) book which talks about snakes is 'a snake in Sydney' forgot the author.. Quote Link to comment
+Team Shibby Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 quote:A while back the Missouri Conservationist magazine (printed by the MO. Dept. of Conservation) had an article about the Brown Recluse. They said that if you live in Missouri you have an average of 100 Brown Recluses living in your house at any time. I have seen them many, many times. Note to self: Never move to Missouri!!! Quote Link to comment
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