Midwesterners, I have a spider-related question

CoffeeBeen · November 2012

An area newspaper is running a piece about a union strike or something. I don't know though, because I couldn't get past the first paragraph:

Kelly is a single parent who took a job in 2007 at the former Ford Motor Company and Visteon interior components plant hoping for better healthcare coverage. He needed the coverage to take care of his nearly 9-year-old old son who has ongoing medical complications due a spider bite.

The story goes on to talk about the guys employment. How can they drop that bombshell without further explanation?

What spiders do we have in the Midwest that could cause ongoing medical complications? I'm terrified of spiders, and now I'm terrified of spiders biting DS. On a scale of 1-10, how much do I need to panic?

LaylaPartDeux · November 2012

Burp.

LaylaPartDeux · November 2012

Brown recluse can be found just about anywhere...

I'd say you should panic at a level 1 (aka: don't worry).

CoffeeBeen · November 2012

LaylaPartDeux:
Brown recluse can be found just about anywhere...
I'd say you should panic at a level 1 (aka: don't worry).

They can? I thought that was a southwest thing. I'm just going to assume that you forgot the 0 in 10.

Littledeer84 · November 2012

Brown recluse? I hate spiders...maybe ignorance is bliss in this case.

LaylaPartDeux · November 2012

CoffeeBeen:
LaylaPartDeux:
Brown recluse can be found just about anywhere...
I'd say you should panic at a level 1 (aka: don't worry).
They can? I thought that was a southwest thing. I'm just going to assume that you forgot the 0 in 10.

I probably would've given you a 0, but you said on a scale of 1-10. Stick out tongue

I've lived in the midwest my entire life (29 yrs) and I've seen a brown recluse once--the house was nearly abandoned (no one had lived in it for months) & we were cleaning it all out.

No worries...I'm petrified of spiders too.

CoffeeBeen · November 2012

Layla, how did you recognize it?

I agree with lildeer, ignorance is bliss. I'm really mad at the newspaper, they could have just said "medical condition."

Karschingham · November 2012

I hate this thread and I'm crying.

also I had no idea coffeebeen was in the MW! holla!

[Deleted User] · November 2012

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[Deleted User] · November 2012

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CoffeeBeen · November 2012

Karschingham:
I hate this thread and I'm crying.

also I had no idea coffeebeen was in the MW! holla!

Represent, yo

argonne · November 2012

You have Brown Recluse spiders and Black Widows. I would assume, since it's ongoing, it's probably a Brown Recluse bite. Those can be nasty. Their bite causes necrosis (death) of the surrounding tissues and if you don't mitigate it, it can spread.

A Black Widow bite is more of an acute illness. Usually, you'll get sick (almost flu-like) and then get better. I Black Widow bite can be fatal, though, to the young, immune depressed and elderly. We have tons of Black Widows around the outside of our house. I'm not too concerned about them, but I do kill them if I see them. They are pretty shy and tend to stay in their webs.

lildevil968 · November 2012

Brown recluse, and Black Widows. We have found both of them in our house. We pay Orkin to come out once every 3 months, and spray for spiders. I wouldn't panic unless you find one in your house.

argonne · November 2012

SookieFrackhouse68:

I don't think our spirders are more poisonous or anything.

They are, however, big as fcvking fcvk. I thought Virginia spiders were massive.

We've got giant wolf spiders here. Those things look like tartantulas and they are f'ucking aggressive as f'uck. Not poisonous, though. They also like to be outside. I saw one on the trail once, and it was probably a good 3-4 inches in diameter. It jumped at me when I went to look at it. I ran away.

LaylaPartDeux · November 2012

CoffeeBeen:
Layla, how did you recognize it?
I agree with lildeer, ignorance is bliss. I'm really mad at the newspaper, they could have just said "medical condition."

My dad likes to trap big spiders we see (it scares the ever-loving shiit out of me when he does this, but he's always done it). He had it in a jar.

Brown recluses are pretty easy to identify though--they have a distinct violin shaped mark on their backs (on the top of their back). A lot of people wrongfully identify wolf spiders or grass spiders (both harmless) as brown recluses around here though...it has to have the violin on its back.

I'm really sorry I've freaked out the midwesterners here...

mhaas28 · November 2012

argonne:
SookieFrackhouse68:

I don't think our spirders are more poisonous or anything.

They are, however, big as fcvking fcvk. I thought Virginia spiders were massive.

We've got giant wolf spiders here. Those things look like tartantulas and they are f'ucking aggressive as f'uck. Not poisonous, though. They also like to be outside. I saw one on the trail once, and it was probably a good 3-4 inches in diameter. It jumped at me when I went to look at it. I ran away.

I read wolf spiders were poisonous... But their bites only really bother the young and the elderly. Not deathly poisonous, but they will give them a headache maybe some vomiting. I did read that you should call your pedi if your kid gets bit. Not a spider expert here so take this with a grain of salt. I live my life assuming all spiders are poisonous and must die!

JPinkman · November 2012

Brown recluse - big problem. When I lived in Southwestern PA, my neighbor was bit by a brown recluse. He had a lot of problems from it - but it did actually benefit him because the docs discovered he had cancer while he was being treated for the bite and were able to treat the cancer to prolong his life. If it would have continued undetected, he would have passed away very quickly.

LaylaPartDeux · November 2012

mhaas28:
argonne:
SookieFrackhouse68:

I don't think our spirders are more poisonous or anything.

They are, however, big as fcvking fcvk. I thought Virginia spiders were massive.

We've got giant wolf spiders here. Those things look like tartantulas and they are f'ucking aggressive as f'uck. Not poisonous, though. They also like to be outside. I saw one on the trail once, and it was probably a good 3-4 inches in diameter. It jumped at me when I went to look at it. I ran away.
I read wolf spiders were poisonous... But their bites only really bother the young and the elderly. Not deathly poisonous, but they will give them a headache maybe some vomiting. I did read that you should call your pedi if your kid gets bit. Not a spider expert here so take this with a grain of salt. I live my life assuming all spiders are poisonous and must die!

Hell, I learned something today.

I found this on identifying spiders (though the pictures totally freaked me out...I hate spiders.):

https://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

footnotegirl · November 2012

Brown Recluse. Only poisonous spider in the midwest, but it's a doozy.

JoJoMama730 · November 2012

Yup, brown recluse. I've seen shows about the bites from those things, and that is some nasty shiit.

argonne · November 2012

footnotegirl:
Brown Recluse. Only poisonous spider in the midwest, but it's a doozy.

You have Black Widows, too. In reality, all spiders have some sort of venom, that's how they catch and eat their food. It's just a question as how toxic it is to humans.

MrsWindyCity · November 2012

Brown Recluses are not very common in the Midwest (well, they are more common in the south MW), but it's possible. Or maybe they were on vacation when he got bit.

A friend of mine from HS got bit by a brown recluse (in TN) 4 years ago and has had complications ever since. Over 100 blood transfusions, a lot of skin grafts, the triggering of an auto-immune disease that almost killed her. And on and on. (She's actually from MI, like me, so her parents who still live there are definitely feeling the weight of her med bills). It's a giant mess, and of course now she has a "pre-existing condition" so trying to get insurance blows.

CoffeeBeen · November 2012

Wolf spiders? Grass spiders? Blah, disgusting.

I recently found the courage to start killing my own spiders, but I think I'm going to make DH kill them from now on. This thread reminds me of how much I do not like spiders.

Karschingham · November 2012

LaylaPartDeux:
CoffeeBeen:

Layla, how did you recognize it?

I agree with lildeer, ignorance is bliss. I'm really mad at the newspaper, they could have just said "medical condition."

My dad likes to trap big spiders we see (it scares the ever-loving shiit out of me when he does this, but he's always done it). He had it in a jar.

Brown recluses are pretty easy to identify though--they have a distinct violin shaped mark on their backs (on the top of their back). A lot of people wrongfully identify wolf spiders or grass spiders (both harmless) as brown recluses around here though...it has to have the violin on its back.

I'm really sorry I've freaked out the midwesterners here...

DO F'UCKING NOT GOOGLE IMAGE THIS.

I have skeevy skeeved out goosebumps and I cannot unsee the sickness I just saw...FYI not just the fact that they are bigger than QUARTERS there are Disgusting (with a capital D) pictures of people's heinous infected bites.

excuse me whilst I puke.

facking google!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

missymo · November 2012

While we do have brown recluse in Michigan, the only person I know ever bitten by one is like this one guy's cousin's sister's friend's nephew. Seriously though.

Not to downplay the suffering of those who have been bitten, but its not something common.

That's like a major bombshell in the article. Something abnormal that should have been explained, dammit!

ridesbuttons · November 2012

No panic required.

Also: who knows where the child was bitten. Perhaps it happened on vacation.

RockyTopVols · November 2012

When I was 15 I was bit by a brown recluse on my left shin area.

Long story short- I had a cavity the size of a softball in my leg after the surgeon had to lance the wound, drain the bile/puss/etc, and then cut out the necrotic skin. It has healed since then but it looks like I took a gunshot to my leg. Looks like an indention the size of a golf ball.

mhaas28 · November 2012

LaylaPartDeux:
mhaas28:
argonne:
SookieFrackhouse68:

I don't think our spirders are more poisonous or anything.

They are, however, big as fcvking fcvk. I thought Virginia spiders were massive.

We've got giant wolf spiders here. Those things look like tartantulas and they are f'ucking aggressive as f'uck. Not poisonous, though. They also like to be outside. I saw one on the trail once, and it was probably a good 3-4 inches in diameter. It jumped at me when I went to look at it. I ran away.
I read wolf spiders were poisonous... But their bites only really bother the young and the elderly. Not deathly poisonous, but they will give them a headache maybe some vomiting. I did read that you should call your pedi if your kid gets bit. Not a spider expert here so take this with a grain of salt. I live my life assuming all spiders are poisonous and must die!
Hell, I learned something today.
I found this on identifying spiders (though the pictures totally freaked me out...I hate spiders.):
https://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

And that is where I read it! I had that page pulled up after a vacuumed this huge spider off the back of my son's anywhere chair. Tried to identify it, but in the end I concluded that it must have been a brown recluse trying to eat my poor baby and it must die!

I wish I had a video to show everyone how big this spider was! If nothing else, everyone would have laughed at me having a panic attack on the phone with my mom trying to muster the courage to vacuum the spider up... you would have also heard my son laughing at me from his high chair.

Sonadora · November 2012

mhaas28:
LaylaPartDeux:
mhaas28:
argonne:
SookieFrackhouse68:

I don't think our spirders are more poisonous or anything.

They are, however, big as fcvking fcvk. I thought Virginia spiders were massive.

We've got giant wolf spiders here. Those things look like tartantulas and they are f'ucking aggressive as f'uck. Not poisonous, though. They also like to be outside. I saw one on the trail once, and it was probably a good 3-4 inches in diameter. It jumped at me when I went to look at it. I ran away.

I read wolf spiders were poisonous... But their bites only really bother the young and the elderly. Not deathly poisonous, but they will give them a headache maybe some vomiting. I did read that you should call your pedi if your kid gets bit. Not a spider expert here so take this with a grain of salt. I live my life assuming all spiders are poisonous and must die!

Hell, I learned something today.

I found this on identifying spiders (though the pictures totally freaked me out...I hate spiders.):

https://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

And that is where I read it! I had that page pulled up after a vacuumed this huge spider off the back of my son's anywhere chair. Tried to identify it, but in the end I concluded that it must have been a brown recluse trying to eat my poor baby and it must die!

I wish I had a video to show everyone how big this spider was! If nothing else, everyone would have laughed at me having a panic attack on the phone with my mom trying to muster the courage to vacuum the spider up... you would have also heard my son laughing at me from his high chair.

I'm afraid to vacuum up big spiders because I fully believe that those mfs just crawl right back out as soon as I turn the vacuum off.

After hurricane Isabel I had a nest of wolf spiders take up residence in my townhome when their home was blown over during the storm. Those things are enormous and heinous and it takes like half a can of Raid to kill each one. I would get up in the morning and crowded in the entry way along the baseboard would be dozens of them. Like living in my own version of arachnaphobia. Seriously gave me anxiety attacks.

14kgirl · November 2012

Sonadora:

I'm afraid to vacuum up big spiders because I fully believe that those mfs just crawl right back out as soon as I turn the vacuum off.

After hurricane Isabel I had a nest of wolf spiders take up residence in my townhome when their home was blown over during the storm. Those things are enormous and heinous and it takes like half a can of Raid to kill each one. I would get up in the morning and crowded in the entry way along the baseboard would be dozens of them. Like living in my own version of arachnaphobia. Seriously gave me anxiety attacks.

OMG that is my worst nightmare.

::Looks under desk and behind chair for spiders::

I hate them so much. Nothing freaks me out more than bigass spiders.

mhaas28 · November 2012

Sonadora:
mhaas28:
LaylaPartDeux:
mhaas28:
argonne:
SookieFrackhouse68:

I don't think our spirders are more poisonous or anything.

They are, however, big as fcvking fcvk. I thought Virginia spiders were massive.

We've got giant wolf spiders here. Those things look like tartantulas and they are f'ucking aggressive as f'uck. Not poisonous, though. They also like to be outside. I saw one on the trail once, and it was probably a good 3-4 inches in diameter. It jumped at me when I went to look at it. I ran away.

I read wolf spiders were poisonous... But their bites only really bother the young and the elderly. Not deathly poisonous, but they will give them a headache maybe some vomiting. I did read that you should call your pedi if your kid gets bit. Not a spider expert here so take this with a grain of salt. I live my life assuming all spiders are poisonous and must die!

Hell, I learned something today.

I found this on identifying spiders (though the pictures totally freaked me out...I hate spiders.):

https://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

And that is where I read it! I had that page pulled up after a vacuumed this huge spider off the back of my son's anywhere chair. Tried to identify it, but in the end I concluded that it must have been a brown recluse trying to eat my poor baby and it must die!

I wish I had a video to show everyone how big this spider was! If nothing else, everyone would have laughed at me having a panic attack on the phone with my mom trying to muster the courage to vacuum the spider up... you would have also heard my son laughing at me from his high chair.

I'm afraid to vacuum up big spiders because I fully believe that those mfs just crawl right back out as soon as I turn the vacuum off.

After hurricane Isabel I had a nest of wolf spiders take up residence in my townhome when their home was blown over during the storm. Those things are enormous and heinous and it takes like half a can of Raid to kill each one. I would get up in the morning and crowded in the entry way along the baseboard would be dozens of them. Like living in my own version of arachnaphobia. Seriously gave me anxiety attacks.

Yeah, my vacuum cleaner stayed in my garage for a week after I vacuumed up the spider... As soon as my BF got home he emptied the bag and the vacuum was invited to live inside my house again.