The brown recluse

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Knifemaker
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Alright everyone recognizes the black widow. Even children. It gets all the press, but, here in the south, its not nearly as common as the brown recluse. Receltly I have had several encounters with this spider, and I think its flying under most peoples radar. I wanted to show some pictures (just went gold) so that people can identify it. Even I only just learned to recognize it, even though I've grown up in its main haunts, and now I see it all the time now. Last week my daughter came running up to me at the park and said she'd killed a spider.:eek: It was a recluse. She had smashed it with her bare hands, and luckily, hadn't been bitten.:eek: Then yesterday her daycare admdinistrator told me she'd been bitten by one two months ago, and the doctor is still cutting out chunks of her leg to get rid of the necrosis. She, by the way still had no idea what the spider looked like.:rolleyes:

So here goes. My first pics...

brown_recluse1.jpg



brownrecluse02.jpg


If the pics don't come through its because I don't know what the hell I'm doing. This thing asks for a url, but the pics are saved on my HD. Bear with me.
 
I didn't realize they were so small. They are bad, bad spiders and You're right, people have no idea what these things can do to a human. I know a guy who got tagged in Florida and spent 3 weeks in a hospital here (NY) They took out a large portion of his calf. 1.5 lbs of flesh and muscle if I remember right. The doctors filled in the hole with a sponge like material. You boys in the South get a good look at that picture.
 
Only it's mother could appreciate its beauty...
That's a blow up- not life size. I don't want folks looking for a tarantula or an alien.

Not all people react to the Spider as badly. Most will not get necrotic tissue destruction- if what I understand is correct.

Sheds, places of undisturbed boxes and stuff, that is what the spider likes.

I had it's cousin in Idaho Falls, the Hobo.



munk
 
They are nasty critters, aren't they Andy.
From what I hear, it's really hard to tell a brown recluse from a harmless spider. The differences are really subtle. However, it's better safe than sorry when it comes to a dangerous spider in your house. Spiders, like people are guests in my house. If I don't want the spider in my house it will either be thrown out or smashed (goes for people too;)). Usually I let any spider hanging out live and eat the bugs that get in. If there wasn't something to eat, then the spider wouldn't be there. The house spiders that spin their webs way up in my ceiling corners are fine. I just knock them down once a month. it pi$$es them off, but doesn't kill them. I like the little black jumping spiders with the green stripes that live in the sills of the window. You look at them and they just look back. I get a kick out of wolf spiders. They get enormous around here. I have a few that live in my store. The customers know to leave them alone. I don't like my spiders to get crushed...on purpose anyway.
However, if it's round and black...squish. If it's brown with spindly legs...crush. I'm not taking any chances with those. Sorry, spiders. You're probably harmless, but I got to draw the line somewhere.

Jake
 
When I saw this thread, I figured you were talking about a poo log (See "why is poop brown?") you'd stashed away in your closet to linger all alone despondently.
 
Munk is right about the size of these spiders. The necrosis is more common than uncommon though and children and elderly people loose life and limb occasionally. Even adults loose fingers and toes quite often. They like to hide in shoes left in the garage. Bottoms of drawyers in the shop. Piles of firewood or scrapheaps. WORK GLOVES. Dark quiet *reclusive* spots, and only tend to bite when cornered. They don't build webs, and hunt their food like wolf spiders. Wolf spiders get much bigger though, and they don't have the fiddle shaped mark on their back...(hense nickname fiddleback).

The picture shows an adult spider on a quarter...they are that small.:eek: On the farm in Mississippi I killed several in the space of an hour out in the barn. I spent countless hours in all the barns on that place as a kid not knowing anything about these little guys.:eek:
 
We had a claim from a lady who had put on a pair of pants and a brown recluse was in them and bit her on the labia. She had to have reconstructive surgery of her vagina and had terrible complications. I think we found her disabled. Poor lady:thumbdn: In 21 years of handling disabiltiy claims I have never seen but 1 black widow bite but LOTS of recluse.
 
For those that are interested in the Brown Recluse Spider, this link is a good one in that it shows how to positively identify what is and what is not a brown recluse.


Semp
 
They're nasty little bastards. Remember, not only are their bodies quite small, but so are their fangs. Even if one bites you, you may not recognize it immediately for what it is. When I got bit, I didn't know it until the next day.

Different people tolerate arachnid venom to different degrees. I'm fortunate in that I'm fairly resistant to it; I got off with a disgusting boil that healed very nicely. There was a pockmark originally but it's since faded to a scar. I've seen people wind up in far worse condition.

If you think that one got you, seek medical attention.
 
well said Dave (and others)

necrosis can also come from other sources. so, the recluse often gets the blame...since it's bite is not always "felt".
 
Semper, thanks for the link. Good information. The further link there to the map showing the range of the Recluse was very helpful.
 
That is cool as all get out. Never knew that. Can you do it with a car battery?
 
The Doctor writes about using a 25,000V Stun Gun. The lowest voltage I can find advertised is 100,000V. It must hurt like H@LL to get hit 5-6 times by the Stun gun for the treatment.
 
There's been brown recluses found in Alaska since the early nineties or so. They say they've been coming in under tourists' motorhomes and such. (I thought Border Patrol was s'posed to keep an eye out for them kinda things!;) ) I've seen a couple now that I didn't take chances with. Most here in Alaska know so little about snakes, spiders and such. When my good friends little brother was bitten by a brown recluse he was very fortunate to find a Dr. up here who could identify it.


a bit OT, but hey...lookie..Ijust now noticed...a new smilie...:jerkit: :jerkit: Very cool! doubt I'll be using it frequently though, being the nice, easy goin' sort that I am...but it's still neat!:D
 
More info on the High Voltage treatment:

THE LANCET DECEMBER 6, 1986, BIOLOGICAL BASIS FOR HIGH-VOLTAGE SHOCK TREATMENT FOR SNAKEBITE
Sir, - Dr. Guderian and colleagues (July 26, p 229) propose high-voltage shock as a treatment for snakebites. 20-25 kV current shocks of less than 1 mA to the site of the bite led to early relief of pain and diminished local toxic and inflammatory tissue. reactions. Not one of thirty-four patients had signs of systemic envenomatation. Guderian et al speculate that shutdown of local vessels by electrospasm would prevent the rapid distribution of snake venom.
Snake venoms contain a complex mixture of enzymes, neurotoxic proteins, polypeptides devoid of enzymatic activity, and low molecular-weight compounds such as peptides, nucleosides, are metal ions.1 Of at least twenty-six enzymes that have been detected in snake venoms twelve are found in all venoms (e.g., phospholipase A and hyaluronidase2). A second major group of proteins a nd polypeptides responsible for the toxicity of the snake venom is characterised by an overall net positive charge (e.g., cardiotoxin cytotoxin and direct lytic factor). These compounds act on membranes, disturbing their organisation and function.3 An electrostatic interaction between the basic compounds and the negative charged surface of the membrane is presumed to be essential to their cytotoxic action on leucocytes and nerve and muscle cells. Most of these membrane-active polypeptides can potentiate the action of phospholipase A.4
Like snake venoms hymenopteran venom contains very similar constituents (e.g., phospholipase A, hyaluronidase, and positively charged polypeptides5). Melittin, for instance, the main constituent of honeybee venom represents the c orrespondent basic polypeptide. Synergism between melittin and phospholipase A results in an enhanced toxic effect on target tissue.6
As we know from unpublished experiments with purified bee venom, a high-voltage current applied in vitro decreases the histamine-releasing activity of phospholipase A and melittin on purified peritoneal mast cells from the rat. We conclude that electrical current may directly modify the toxicity of animal venoms. Three different mechanisms seem to be responsible:
(1) The current will influence the hydrogen bonds of the enzymes, destroying their secondary and tertiary structure.
(2) The high voltage, low amperage current applied will reduce metal ions, and zinc, copper, magnesium, iron, or calcium ions are firmly bound to some venom enzymes and are mandatory cofactors for these enzymes.2
The electric particles interfere with the membrane as well as the positive charged polypeptides decreasing their cytotoxic properties.7 Taken together the protective high-voltage treatment for venomous snake bites is at least in part due to a direct action of the electrical current on the venom itself.
Medical Clinic I
and Polyclinic
Johannes Gutenberg University C. KROEGEL
6500 Mainz, West Germany K.-H. MEYER ZUM BUSCHENFELDE

http://www.spiderbitetreatment.com/otharticles.htm
 
Little over my head there. To sum up. Inlaws get the car battery. Everyone else better just see a doctor.:D
 
A coworker at my previous job got bit last year and was out for two weeks. Last week a patient came was admitted at my hospital with a recluse bite. It had become a large boil. The guy didn't come in immediately because either he didn't recognize what the spider was or didn't think the bite was serious enough.

I've seen recluses in my house, even had a few of them crawl over me after getting into bed. :eek:

Bob
 
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