READERS COMMENTS

It's the ticks here in the northeast that scare the hell out of me FAR more than any other living thing in the woods!
Posted: Apr 28, 2012 Brian McCue

Should I use my bee sting epipen if bitten by a spider or snake??
Posted: Apr 28, 2012 Pfk

Thanks for the article. Snakes, bears, scorpions, and now the lowdown on spyders. Guess I'll wear a HAZMAT suit next time I go out hiking. Let me google that.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 Ralph

Thanks for the article. Snakes, bears, scorpions, and now the lowdown on spyders. Guess I'll wear a HAZMAT suit next time I go out hiking. Let me google that.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 Ralph

Lets not also forget the Corvair Spyder. Infamously tagged as being "Unsafe at any Speed" by Ralph the Green Nadar
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 OlTrailDog

This is a nice article. I don't really worry about spider when hiking or camping, I see them all the time. What I try to watch out for is snakes. I still don't worry about them, but I do watch for them more than spiders.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 Adam

This is a nice article. I don't really worry about spider when hiking or camping, I see them all the time. What I try to watch out for is snakes. I still don't worry about them, but I do watch for them more than spiders.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 Adam

Excruciating testicle bites? Liquified tissue? Are you kidding me? That's it- all of my backpacking gear is going on ebay and i'm taking up world of warcraft. Now i'm afraid to step foot outside my house! Thanks alot.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 Patrick

Black Widow venom messes with the victim's nervous system. For a child who has been bitten unknowingly, they may not feel any pain anywhere but might cry uncontrollably for no reason. Look for swelling and apparent location of bite. This happened to me when I was 4. For several yrs the location of the bite would swell about once a yr. There is no feeling at the end of my thumb where I was bitten. My grandmother was bitten at age 90 and after 3 days in ICU she was legally blind as the venom caused her retinas to rupture. Search your property for webs during the day then with a flashlight carefully re-visit those sites at night and kill the spider if you see it. If you can see where the spider may be hiding, you can spray spider poison at the hiding spot until it pools below and you may kill it that way. This proves to be successful as many times I check the following day and find the spider dead on the web or on the ground.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 AZ Hiker

A mother in Australia wrapped gauze around the wrist of her baby daughter who was bitten on the hand by a deadly spider. The Drs in the ER said that action is what saved her. We saw this on a cable show about arachnids. I have never read that we should do that as part of first aid so I am wondering if it is a good thing to do or not??
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 AZ Hiker

A mother in Australia wrapped gauze around the wrist of her baby daughter who was bitten on the hand by a deadly spider. The Drs in the ER said that action is what saved her. We saw this on a cable show about arachnids. I have never read that we should do that as part of first aid so I am wondering if it is a good thing to do or not??
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 AZ Hiker

Try not to smash the spider when seeking an ID- this makes it very difficult. You can pop in an old pill bottle or plastic film can with a some 70% rubbing alcohol, or if live, put in a leaf or lightly damp paper towel. Check with your local university or nature center for ID help. Most alleged spider bites are really something else. These bites are rare and most spiders are great to have around for pest control and beauty. With very rare exception they only react in self-defense.
Ohio Spider Society member
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 K Bradley

I know a guy who lost his arm and another who lost his life to brown recluse bites. Both developed gangrene because of the open soars that would not heal. So technically the brown recluse didn't kill him or cause the loss of the are, thus I suspect the death and maiming rate is a bit lower than reality.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 BoulderCoGuy

Agree with Chris. My dad ended up in the emergency room and nearly died from a Hobo spider bite. He had such severe head pain that they thought he was having a brain aneurysm, and it took four doses of morphine to even touch the pain. Admittedly, his experience was a bit extreme, but Hobos can be incredibly problematic for PNW hikers.
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 Amy

Brown recluse almost killed me. Once bit, I was okay till the doctor in ER lanced the bite. He thought it was a boil. I was sent to the Unniversity Hospital four days later. Once there being diabetic a lot things were going wrong from the bite. I was informed surgery now, or be dead in three hours. The rest is history and five surgeries later and learning how to walk again. My battle scar is 17 cm x 17cm and one can lay there hand in the hole. I'm alive. Becareful and check things out to make sure no creatures are around.
Posted: Feb 28, 2012 Denny

" If you’re outside their native habitat, encountering a brown recluse is unlikely." It would be nice if the article said what their native habitat *is*.
Posted: Nov 08, 2011 BradGad

with the talk of "preventing blood vessels from pumping the spiders venom much farther than the bite spot" is it suggested to hike out immediately or just get it above the heart and keep it clean for a bit?
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Posted: Oct 13, 2011 ghjkl

I think I may have seen it on <a href="http://google.com">google</a> a few days ago.
Posted: Oct 03, 2011 denny

as an aside, to FIND spiders in the night, turn on your hearlight or hold a flashlight near the plane of your eyes, and whereever you see a little sparkle, walk up close and look and you will see that the sparkle is the reflection of a spider's eyes. One of those little fun camping facts i thought you should know.
Posted: Oct 02, 2011 leo 'weisman

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