Brown Widow Spiders

[Buzz Mills]

Experts: Brown widow spider seen in La.

NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana bug experts say the poisonous brown widow spider, a cousin to the well-known black widow, is increasingly being spotted in Louisiana. The spiders are generally found in tropical areas but were reported along the Mississippi Gulf Coast last year.

Entomologists with the Louisiana State University AgCenter say the spiders likely migrated from Florida through commercial imports of plants, food, building materials, or furniture. LSU entomologist Dennis Ring is advising Louisiana residents to wear gloves, long-sleeved shirts and long pants when working outdoors, especially in areas that don't get a lot of human activity.

Though less aggressive than the black widow, "its venom is more toxic than the black widow's," Ring said. "But it doesn't put out as much venom in its bite. Ring says the brown widow can grow to 1 1/2 inches long. It is brown or grayish-brown instead of black and has a yellow-to-orange hourglass design on its underside, as opposed to the familiar red hourglass design on the black widow. It also has black and white marks on the top of the abdomen and often has dark bands on its legs, he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_sc/brown_widow_spider

 

[JBean]

Cousins eh? great.

This is pretty interesting Buzz. I did not know there was such a creature.

 

[Taximom]

Buzz, this is really interesting. Thanks!

I have killed about 5 spiders lately in my home. We've been here about 10 years and I've probably had to kill less than that amount that entire decade.

I have yet to figure out what type of spider it is. (Kind of hard to do when it's flattened in a papertowel!) I'm keeping the digital camera handy for next time. (goosebumps)

Glad to know the Brown Widow likes tropical environments. Hopefully it stays out of Ohio!

 

[Taximom]

Here's a picture of the brown widow spider:
http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/IPM/Images/BrWdow/Brntanab.jpg

Whew. That's not what ours looks like.

 

[philamena]

argggg That picture should have come with a warning. lol
That's creepy looking but a very interesting article and information.

 

[Ca-Sun]

That's one really ugly looking spider. Thanks for posting the interesting article, Buzz.

 

[Dena]

Here's a picture of the brown widow spider:
http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/IPM/Images/BrWdow/Brntanab.jpg

Whew. That's not what ours looks like.

AHH, EW! I just got the heeby jeebies, thanks for sharing. I don't get close enough to spiders to look at their markings. I make my husband kill them, or if I'm by myself, they get Windexed. Stupid spiders. Jerks.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Is this in the family of a brown recluse? My husband had a bite and is still not the same.

 

[sherri79]

Is this in the family of a brown recluse? My husband had a bite and is still not the same.

i dont think they are related. i checked a couple sites and didnt see anything about them being related. here is a link to the brown recluse. http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef631.asp

 

[Buzz Mills]

Is this in the family of a brown recluse? My husband had a bite and is still not the same.

Jeana,

Brown Recluse Spider (they are nasty):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxosceles

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Jeana,

Brown Recluse Spider (they are nasty):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxosceles

They sure are! My husband is about 250 pounds and is 6'5. A former competitive bodybuilder, so you would think that he could handle a spider bite. One day at a job he used to have, he was in a lab shut off from the rest of the company due to security and the computers were up on wooden slabs. Apparently, the spider crawled into his boot and bit him several times on the lower leg. He didnt' feel it at the time, but walking out to the parking lot, he collapsed due to the venom. He was hospitalized for days with mega doses of antibiotics. The skin surrounding the bites died and is still black. That was at least 13 years ago. They said that had the bites been closer to his heart, he would have died surely. I'm scared to death of them.

 

[Buzz Mills]

They sure are! My husband is about 250 pounds and is 6'5. A former competitive bodybuilder, so you would think that he could handle a spider bite. One day at a job he used to have, he was in a lab shut off from the rest of the company due to security and the computers were up on wooden slabs. Apparently, the spider crawled into his boot and bit him several times on the lower leg. He didnt' feel it at the time, but walking out to the parking lot, he collapsed due to the venom. He was hospitalized for days with mega doses of antibiotics. The skin surrounding the bites died and is still black. That was at least 13 years ago. They said that had the bites been closer to his heart, he would have died surely. I'm scared to death of them.

Brown Recluse Spider Bite: WARNING-WARNING--If you can't handle gory pictures, please don't look:

http://forum.everyonedoesit.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1528612

Brown recluse venom, like many of the other brown spider venoms, is cytotoxic and hemolytic. It contains at least 8 components, including enzymes such as hyaluronidase, deoxyribonuclease, ribonuclease, alkaline phosphatase, and lipase. Sphingomyelinase D is thought to be the protein component responsible for most of the tissue destruction and hemolysis caused by brown recluse spider envenomation. The intense inflammatory response mediated by arachidonic acid, prostaglandins, and chemotactic infiltration of neutrophils is amplified further by an intrinsic vascular cascade involving the mediator C-reactive protein and complement activation. These and other factors contribute to the local and systemic reactions of necrotic arachnidism. Although numerous cases of cutaneous and viscerocutaneous reactions have been attributed to spiders of the genus Loxosceles, confirming the identity of the envenomating arachnid is difficult and rarely accomplished.

 

[PaperDoll]

I hate killing spiders.. We get them every now and then and when I see one in the house, I get a paper towel and move it outside. I try not to kill them...

When I was younger and working as a waitress, I think I might have been bitten by a spider from what the doctor told me. I was working that day and my foot swelled up so bad that you couldn't touch it without sending me in extreme pain. Heck, just looking at it caused me pain. I left work and had my mom drive me to the doctors and he gave me a shot of something and hours later the swelling started to go down. But I was still having troubles with it days later.. I was wondering if a spider got in my shoe.. hard to say..

 

[MissieMt]

Ack! I hate spiders, but it is ironic that this was posted today. My son showed me something interesting on his lower leg today just before he left for school. He has two small "bite" looking things, they are blisters-with a clear/yellow puss (they aren't oozing). It is a little reddish around the blisters. I decided to keep him home-just in case. He showed them to me almost 5 hours ago, and they haven't gotten any worse and he's showing no other symptoms. I put an antibiotic cream on them, but if they aren't gone tomorrow I think I will take him to the dr.'s anyways-if for no other reason than curiosity. We do have brown recluses, and I'm pretty sure black widows, and we're on the MS. gulf coast-so probably the brown widows too-ahhh fun stuff.

 

[poco]

Brown widow - black widow ---- ???? Hope they can co-exist peacefully and keep the race card out of it.

 

[MissieMt]

LOL,not me-I'd love to se a race war between the two, hopefully they would kill each other off,lol

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Ack! I hate spiders, but it is ironic that this was posted today. My son showed me something interesting on his lower leg today just before he left for school. He has two small "bite" looking things, they are blisters-with a clear/yellow puss (they aren't oozing). It is a little reddish around the blisters. I decided to keep him home-just in case. He showed them to me almost 5 hours ago, and they haven't gotten any worse and he's showing no other symptoms. I put an antibiotic cream on them, but if they aren't gone tomorrow I think I will take him to the dr.'s anyways-if for no other reason than curiosity. We do have brown recluses, and I'm pretty sure black widows, and we're on the MS. gulf coast-so probably the brown widows too-ahhh fun stuff.

No, believe me, if it were the brown recluse, it would be most apparent. There are so many other venomnous spiders, that's its hard to pin point them.

 

[Rosco]

Thanks for this info.

YUCK about the pic!! WOW is it ugly. But at least I know what it looks like. I hate spiders!!

I keep remembering the news about the little boy who had two spiders living in his ear!!!

Rosco

 

[southcitymom]

They sure are! My husband is about 250 pounds and is 6'5. A former competitive bodybuilder, so you would think that he could handle a spider bite. One day at a job he used to have, he was in a lab shut off from the rest of the company due to security and the computers were up on wooden slabs. Apparently, the spider crawled into his boot and bit him several times on the lower leg. He didnt' feel it at the time, but walking out to the parking lot, he collapsed due to the venom. He was hospitalized for days with mega doses of antibiotics. The skin surrounding the bites died and is still black. That was at least 13 years ago. They said that had the bites been closer to his heart, he would have died surely. I'm scared to death of them.

Wow. Brown recluses are terrifying and they hide out in and around beds. My friend got bitten by one where her ear connects to her head. She didn't have to be hospitalized like your husband, but she really went through it - months of drs visits, drainings, antibiotics, narcotics, etc... and the skin surrounding the area is still all messed up.

Those things scare the bejesus out of me too. If you google brown recluse bite photographs, you'll bring up gruesome pictures.

So glad your husband survived. They can, as you said, kill.

 

[tezi]

My son got bit twice by a brown recluse spider two years ago when he was 13. It was the grossest bite I have ever seen. I would have to help him drain it, because of the infection. And the pain was terrible. He was on anti-biotics for about three weeks. I hate spiders, and don't hesitate to kill them!!!