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Backpacker Magazine – September 2011
Rip & Live: Spiders
Itsy bitsy? Sure, but spiders loom large in hiker phobias. They shouldn't: Only a few subspecies of the black widow and brown recluse can inflict enough damage to cut short a hike. Here's what you need to know about North America's most venomous spiders, from how to avoid them to treating their bites.
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Tags:
- Health & First Aid |
- Wildlife |
- Threats |
- Survival |
Know Your Arachnid / Assess the Risk
Bothersome Biters / Avoid an Encounter / Bitten? / Venom Science
Anatomy of a Spider / Spider Bite First Aid
Know Your Arachnid Bothersome Biters / Avoid an Encounter / Bitten? / Venom Science
Anatomy of a Spider / Spider Bite First Aid
BLACK WIDOW
Ranging from southern Canada to Mexico, five species of black widow crawl across North America—inhabiting every state except Alaska. The dangerous female is shiny, black, and about an inch-and-a-half long when her legs are fully extended from her lightbulb-shaped body. The characteristic red pattern on the underside of her abdomen is hourglass-shaped, with slight variations in subspecies. Males have smaller bodies and are an inch long when their legs are extended, and their coloration is also more variable: They can be black, brown, or gray, and, if they do have an hourglass marking, it’s typically yellow or white. Though both sexes will bite in self-defense, beware the femme fatale. Males aren’t venomous, but the female’s neurotoxin is 15 times more powerful than a rattlesnake’s and causes debilitating pain. Fortunately, the dose is small and very rarely deadly (see “Venom Science,” next page). Black widows nest close to the ground in irregular silk tangles; they build small, offwhite webs and hide from predators in tunnels they weave or in nearby nooks incorporated into the web. Beware of them in outhouses, and under logs and rocks when you’re setting up camp.
BROWN RECLUSE Not always their namesake color—they can be light yellow to reddish—brown recluses have solid coloring on their legs and abdomen. These quarter-size hunters’ most famous marker is a dark brown violin shape directly behind the eyes, but this “fiddleback” pattern fades if an individual has molted recently—and it’s also a trait for two non-venomous spiders. To make a positive ID, focus on a trapped (or dead) spider’s eyes: Almost all other species have eight, but recluses have six in a semicircular set of three pairs. Misidentification causes massive over-reporting of brown recluses—and their bites—says Rick Vetter, a University of California arachnologist. If you’re outside their native habitat, encountering a brown recluse is unlikely. Within their range, they thrive in human-altered environments like sheds and old houses. In camp, watch for them when moving rocks and collecting wood. By day, these hunters hide in small, irregular webs spun in dry, dark corners, but they emerge at night to scavenge and hunt. Because of their delicate carapaces, they avoid live prey and eat mostly dead insects so they’re not injured in a fight.
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Assess the Risk
Experts agree that the chance of being bitten by a brown recluse or black widow is low, and the risk of death is almost nil. Even before antivenin, a black widow’s tiny injection killed fewer than five percent of victims. Nationwide, the average annual spider-related death rate is less than four people, most of them children. That said, collecting wood, using an outhouse, or moving rocks from a wouldbe tent platform can increase your risk of a painful—but very unlikely fatal— arachnid encounter. Within hours of a bite, a brown recluse nip can cause an ugly ulcer; a black widow bite may cause excruciating abdominal cramps.
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I was bitten in 2007 by a brown recluse at work. While researching for information on remedies I came across the Brown recluse first aid kit at http://www.brown-recluse.com/spiderinfo.html I bought one of the kit rush delivery and after using it quickly reversed the narcosis in the wound in 1 day and I was completely healed in 4 days. The product worked for me then and also worked this week when my wife came home form work claiming she had got bitten on the leg at work. I examined the wound and could see two puncture holes and concluded it was a spider bite. The bite swelling was already about 2" round. I applied the product twice a day for 3 days and it never reached the narcosis stage is completely healed now.
Congress should all have testicle bites, lmfao!
Testicle bites.... Ouch! lol
I can deal with spiders. But congress is another problem.
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!
Should I use my bee sting epipen if bitten by a spider or snake??
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.
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.
Lets not also forget the Corvair Spyder. Infamously tagged as being "Unsafe at any Speed" by Ralph the Green Nadar
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.
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.
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.
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.
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??
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??
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
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.
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.
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