Just saying that for many people "squish and ask questions later" is unrelated to how dangerous they are
Myth of the Brown Recluse
41–50 of 158 posts
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#42Growing up in TX my sisters and I were sufficiently scared to death of "fiddlebacks". I've never known anyone to be bitten but my wife got a nasty bite from something about a week ago. Big red swollen spot on her ankle and it immediately made me think of the Brown Recluse bite stories i was told as a kid. I asked my wife to keep an eye on it and if it looked any worse in 24 hours we're going to the doc. Fortunately, the swelling went down and things turned out fine.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#43I've had people tell me that brown recluse don't live in Washington, and that it's a similar "myth", but one of my friends got bit by one in high school and ended up with a hole in his leg the size of a marble
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#44As a native-born Californian, I’m glad to hear it. As a long-term, transplanted resident of Virginia, however, I’m keenly aware of the statistically small, but non-zero chance of running afoul with a (suspected) brown recluse. In 2014 I spent six days in the hospital after being being bitten on the ankle. Extensive courses of I.V. antibiotics were used to combat the necrotizing aspects of the venom. Along with a numb…
Not that I don't believe you (the word 'necrotizing' sends shivers up my spine) but since you didn't catch the spider itself, are there any other species of spider that may have been the biter?
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#45Growing up in California, I was always fearful of black widows. I had no idea the availability of antivenom was so great.
Black widows are not aggressive. They won't bite you unless you crush them or threaten their eggs. You can even pick them up and play with them without a bite. (Not that I would recommend testing their limits). That being said, I do wear gloves when picking up firewood or moving stuff around my property, because if I grab one accidentally, that does crush them, which is exactly when they bite.
One of my parents friends had two black widows living in this small enclosed area of their backyard. The wife was a photographer and let them live their so she could take pictures. You could get within inches of them with a camera or whatever else, and they wouldn't even move
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#46Growing up in TX my sisters and I were sufficiently scared to death of "fiddlebacks". I've never known anyone to be bitten but my wife got a nasty bite from something about a week ago. Big red swollen spot on her ankle and it immediately made me think of the Brown Recluse bite stories i was told as a kid. I asked my wife to keep an eye on it and if it looked any worse in 24 hours we're going to the doc. Fortunately,…
Same here. I grew up on a farm in TX. Brown recluses and black widows were always things to look out for doing work out in the barn.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#47My sis-in-law had a necrotic bite from a brown recluse that nearly required surgery to stop the decay. This was in the Midwest. One of the happiest points of moving to CA is not finding them on my pillow. Creepy little creatures. I haven’t met anyone in 16y of life in CA that has heard of them.
> One of the happiest points of moving to CA is not finding them on my pillow. Christ this thread is seriously nightmare fuel for someone who grew up in a country where literally no dangerous wildlife exists. I cannot imagine dealing with deadly animals on my pillow.
Where is the place with no dangerous wildlife?
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#48I read a similar article to this a while back about lack of Brown Recluse populations in Michigan despite a healthy fear and misreporting of sightings.
As a Michigan resident and someone with severe arachnophobia, I'd like to read this article.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#49[flagged]
Biologists have complained for years about fear-mongering by the media when it comes to certain scary animals (sharks probably being the #1 victims). It's not that the media is lying per se, it's just an overstatement of the danger presented by these types of animals. It's not a conspiracy to lie, just sensationalist journalism (a problem, but much less sinister)
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#50i love how sassy this articles is -- mostly borne out of anger on how stupid people are.