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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
Bothersome Biters / Avoid an Encounter / Bitten? / Venom Science
Anatomy of a Spider / Spider Bite First Aid
Bothersome Biters
Many spiders don’t have fangs big enough to sink into human flesh, and the majority that can release venom that has no effect on mammals. Still, a few deliver a painful—but superficial—bite when provoked.
>> Tarantula
With hairy bodies spanning several inches across, this desert dweller looks scary but hardly ever bites. If you’ve pestered it to that point and it does lash out, don’t worry: Localized pain is the only by-product.
>> Golden silk orb weaver
Found in the Southeast, this spider’s toxic bite hurts, but the resulting redness fades in about 24 hours.
>> Yellow sac spider
Aggressive—with canary yellow coloring—these half-inch hunters are found in the Northeast. Their painful bite may itch for many months after inflicted.
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Avoid an Encounter
First, know this: Spiders are not out to get you. Black widows wait for prey in their webs, and while brown recluses hunt, they’re equally timid toward humans. The only time either spider will attack is in self-defense. Use these tips to prevent a chance encounter.
>> Be particularly alert for spiders at night, and between May and September when they tend to be more active.
>> Shake out gear, clothing, and shoes before packing or putting them on. Hunters (recluses and scorpions, for example) roam at night and, when daylight hits, they seek shelter in warm, dry, and protected places.
>> When collecting wood or cleaning old camp shelters, wear pants, long sleeves, and gloves. A spider’s puny fangs can’t pierce clothing.
>> Don’t reach between rocks, around trees, or into caves or crevices—inside or out—without visually inspecting the area first.
>> Before sitting outside, examine and bang your prospective seat to flush out hiding spiders. “Hover in an outhouse,” suggests Linda Rayor, a Cornell University arachnologist, noting that outhouse seats are favorite widow hiding spots and that testicle bites are especially excruciating.
>> In backcountry huts and cabins, stay away from corners. If you’re using a bed or cot, remove old bedding and anything around or under it, and pull the bed a few feet away from the wall.
>> When you’re storing gear for the season, wrap it in plastic. When you unpack it later, shake it out. Backpack compartments and loosely packed tents make perfect recluse nesting dens.
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Bitten?
Catch the culprit, fight infection In rare cases, brown recluse bites can create big problems—like this five-inch ulcer (left) shown nine days after an envenomation. If you suspect a bite and spot a spider scampering away, “try to kill and collect it so that it can be identified,” says Jeff Westerfield, M.D., an instructor at the Emory University School of Medicine. “Knowing the species gives doctors a better idea of how to treat the wound.”
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Venom Science
You probably won’t feel a thing…at first. Low-level, localized burning is possible, but initially a spider bite can be painless. It’s later—between 10 minutes and two hours—that signs may point to a specific offender.
>> Brown recluse
Its venom contains a protein that liquefies tissue. An attack won’t kill you—but within two hours, the venom begins dissolving the skin and subcutaneous fat near the bite. There’s often a minor blister at the center of the resulting bluish, quartersize sinking patch. These blisters can be severe, sloughing off and leaving a necrotic, long-lasting ulcer. The wound is an entry point for secondary infection—the real danger behind a bite. “I make sure that people keep the wound clean and that they’ve have had their tetanus vaccine,” says Westerfield.
>> Black widow
Injecting a tiny shot of powerful venom is enough to immobilize a black widow’s prey, but the amount isn’t sufficient to paralyze accidental human victims. The bite itself may be barely noticeable, but envenomation causes a systemic reaction. “After a few hours or even minutes, you’ll experience stomach, chest, and muscle cramps throughout your body,” says Westerfield, adding that radiating foot pain, weakness, nausea, and anxiety are also common. “The only risk of death is if you’re already seriously sick,” says Westerfield, “but the symptoms are painful, so a widow bite will likely be a trip ender.”
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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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