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Unwanted Backyard Guest - In the House

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OzDave said:
They are deadly, but you cannot walk (or ride) into a Funnel Webs'
web! The majority of bites occur when they find a comfortable spot
in your shoes, clothes or bedclothes. Because they love moisture a
lot are often found in backyard pools in the northern part of
Sydney and can survive in that environment for days.
Dave
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Oh yeahhhhhhhhh... I'm headin' to the travel agent to plan my trip to Australia now. LOL

Are there any bugs down there that do NOT kill you?
 
Michael Berg said:
OzDave said:
The Sydney Huntsman (Holconia immanis). This one measured about 4
Click to expand...
The Hulconia Immanis is poisonous. Its bite may cause necrotising
arachnidism (progressive tissue death around bites) for which there
is no effective cure.
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Sounds like it's a really (REALLY) large version of the Brown Recluse we have in my area. Ours are only the size of a nickel, but cause anywhere from mild to massive tissue destruction - in worst case scenerios people have had to have limbs amputated (due to allergic reactions). I got bit by one a year or so ago but the result luckily was just a quarter sized scar on my arm.
 
Greg Henry said:
OzDave said:
They are deadly, but you cannot walk (or ride) into a Funnel Webs'
web! The majority of bites occur when they find a comfortable spot
in your shoes, clothes or bedclothes. Because they love moisture a
lot are often found in backyard pools in the northern part of
Sydney and can survive in that environment for days.
Dave
Click to expand...
Oh yeahhhhhhhhh... I'm headin' to the travel agent to plan my trip
to Australia now. LOL

Are there any bugs down there that do NOT kill you?
Click to expand...
Greg,

These ones don't even bite ....



and these you don't have to worry about at all ... unless you're a cicada :-)



--
Dave
 
OzDave said:
gordonkeyes said:
OzDave said:
jump as far as 6 feet.
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Please, Dave, more flowers and landscapes, Please.

Gordon
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Just to soothe Gordon's jagged nerves. :-)



--
Dave
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I have a hole (scar) the size of an American Half dollar on the back of my left leg...

I felt a "pinch" on the back of my leg one day while in a pet store (2 or 3 years ago).

Didnt think anything about it.. it was one of those spots you cant see, someone ELSE has to see it!

I kept thinking about it for a few days, because once in a while it would pinch..

Then my wife noticed in the kitchen... HEY! there is blood running onto the floor out of you!

Long story to short.. Medical center said it was a "spider bight" and from its age (4 or 5 days) size and depth (about 1/2 inch) it was most likely a spider bite .

Doctors dont like to commit to anything, but the only spiders we have around here that can do that to 'ya is the brown recluse...

From thier habits and such, he may well have been in that pant leg for a week or a month.. since they were OLD but clean and hadnt been worn for more than a year...

As I have always understood them (a long time since they live in my area) I had been told they are not agressive, wont come after you, and wont BITE you unless they are annoyed...

Walking in the pet store that day must have annoyed him.. too bad.. that afternoon when I changed my trousers he was just a little brownish red dot (1/2) from being "squished" by my right foot when I rubbed the back of my leg when it hurt..

--
L.L.
Mystic, Ct.
click below for one of my web pages
http://home.comcast.net/~equinepix/index.html

 
Joe Louvar said:
Wow, if I had any old trousers I might burn them after reading that
story, you're lucky if it had been a poison spider you could have
died.

--
Joe Louvar - http://joelouvar.zoto.com

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The recluse is VERY poison, BUT only if you are a small (

If the infection from the bite had been ignored on my leg for another day or so, (actually a necrossis wher the tissue just DIES) it could have bee serious it could kill a man. Fortunately Even if I were not married and alone I probably would have found it on my leg and had it treated in time.

If the poison that causes the Necrosis, (dying of tissue) gets into the bloodstream it can go anywhere in the body and you WILL die eventually, but it has only been known to kill the old and infirm (int the last 50 years)

Before then (before 1950 -1960-) the Recluse was known to bite, but no one knew how to treat it.

Fortunately, unless the bite is MUCH worse than the one I had, it was found that simply soaking with sterile gauze soked in strong sterile salt water, will clean and close the wound. Even non sterile seawater will make it better if it gets it every day..

Im pretty sure thats how the current treatement was developed. Somewhere along the line, someone noticed a Recluse bite, got it soaked in the ocean, and then they noticed it felt and looked better, but Im sure most cures were by accident until a LOT of people figured it out, and then the doctors of the time decided that sterile saline on gauze 3 times a day, would work as well, (and be sterile)
--
L.L.
Mystic, Ct.
click below for one of my web pages
http://home.comcast.net/~equinepix/index.html

 
Never heard of the "Brown Recluse" Larry, but it's comforting to know that we don't have a mortgage on dangerous spiders. The only North American spider that I've heard about that is considered dangerous is the "Black Widow".

As for necrosis, there was a scare around that a common Australian spider caused necrosis in some bite victims; namely the "White-Tailed Spider". The newest research tends to suggest that these stories are apochryphal.

Hope your leg is better now! Cheers
--
Dave
 
OzDave said:
Never heard of the "Brown Recluse" Larry, but it's comforting to
know that we don't have a mortgage on dangerous spiders. The only
North American spider that I've heard about that is considered
dangerous is the "Black Widow".
Click to expand...
In North America we only have two arachnids which are somewhat deadly. The Brown Recluse is the most dangerous because it sometimes results in death and in some cases the necrosis never heals. The Black Widow's bite "can" be fatal to young children and possibly to ill or very old people but for healthy adults it's more of a major annoyance than a serious danger. I've had the misfortune to have been bitten by the Black Widow on several occasions. When I was a young man on our ranch I spent a number of years hauling and handling alfalfa hay which seems to attract Black Widows. They tend to get on your shirt sleeves and sometimes get down into your gloves and that's how I was bitten each time. The bite feels a lot like a wasp sting to me and the area around the bite swells up a bit and itches like a fire ant bite. The first time I was bitten I got a dandy of a stomach ache, but after that just some localized pain which went away in a few hours. In about a week I couldn't see any more redness around the bite and I was pretty much over it in a day or so - actually never missed a day of bucking hay because of the bites.

The Black Widow gets her name from her habit of eating the male after mating and only the female has poison venom.

Lin
OzDave said:
As for necrosis, there was a scare around that a common Australian
spider caused necrosis in some bite victims; namely the
"White-Tailed Spider". The newest research tends to suggest that
these stories are apochryphal.

Hope your leg is better now! Cheers
--
Dave
Click to expand...
 
I can't believe that is real!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would die if I saw that in my house!!! I am so glad I live where there is no such beast!!!
 
You people here are very intelligent. How do you all know so much about spiders???!!! Scary. I hate bugs. Ewww!!
 
Lin Evans said:
In North America we only have two arachnids which are somewhat
deadly. The Brown Recluse is the most dangerous because it
sometimes results in death and in some cases the necrosis never
heals. The Black Widow's bite "can" be fatal to young children and
possibly to ill or very old people but for healthy adults it's more
of a major annoyance than a serious danger. I've had the misfortune
to have been bitten by the Black Widow on several occasions. When I
was a young man on our ranch I spent a number of years hauling and
handling alfalfa hay which seems to attract Black Widows. They tend
to get on your shirt sleeves and sometimes get down into your
gloves and that's how I was bitten each time. The bite feels a lot
like a wasp sting to me and the area around the bite swells up a
bit and itches like a fire ant bite. The first time I was bitten I
got a dandy of a stomach ache, but after that just some localized
pain which went away in a few hours. In about a week I couldn't see
any more redness around the bite and I was pretty much over it in a
day or so - actually never missed a day of bucking hay because of
the bites.

The Black Widow gets her name from her habit of eating the male
after mating and only the female has poison venom.
Click to expand...
Lin,

The " Black Widow" has an Australian equivalent the "Redback". The are both form the same genus, lactrodectus; Mactans in the case of the Black Widow and Hasselti in the case of the Redback. I was cleaning out the garage on the weekend and discovered 4 of them, however in my 42 years I have yet to find one in the house.

Google image search them, they look identical. I'll get my own shot in the next couple of days, there's plenty around!

--
Dave
 
gk08 said:
that is an amazing picture - the little "toe" in the frame elevates
it to a new level!
Click to expand...
Thanks guarav.
I was really out of bounds with that one! :-D

That beasty was no more than the size of a quarter (toes and all). Glad I didn't have to stay 6 feet away!
R2

--
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries
 
Hi Dave,

We actually have three variants of this spider in the U.S. In the Eastern U.S. we have the L. mactans and in the Western U.S. the L. hesperus. We also have a non-native "import" commonly called the "Brown Widow" which is found in the South sometimes in Florida, Texas and the Gulf regions where they apparently come into the country on ships from S. America. Most of our female Black Widows have a very shiny coal black back with a large button shaped abdomen and a bright red hour-glass figure on the bottom side of the abdomen. I've never seen the Redback except in pictures, but they appear to have a very similar body shape but the hour-glass is more orange and with colors on the back which our Black Widow females don't have. Our male Black Widow's are much smaller and less attractive without the coal black color and with no distinguishing hour glass on the underside.

Best regards

Lin
OzDave said:
Lin,

The " Black Widow" has an Australian equivalent the "Redback". The
are both form the same genus, lactrodectus; Mactans in the case of
the Black Widow and Hasselti in the case of the Redback. I was
cleaning out the garage on the weekend and discovered 4 of them,
however in my 42 years I have yet to find one in the house.

Google image search them, they look identical. I'll get my own
shot in the next couple of days, there's plenty around!

--
Dave
Click to expand...
 
The Aussie bugs are fun...but don't forget to mention that you guys have 8 of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world...including the fun taipan, with enough poison in one bite to kill 100 men. And what, 100 different venemous species of snakes?

That's if you don't get taken by a croc first. Or go to the beach and snapped in half by a Great White. Or get tangled with a box jellyfish, or blue-ringed octopus. Or step on a stone fish.

No wonder Aussies seem to fearless...with all the things that can kill you down there, I guess you get used to the danger! ;)

(I'm actually quite a reptile lover...so I love everything from snakes to crocs. I just don't want to go for a swim in a mucky brown river in Northern Australia and meet a croc on his terms!).

--
Justin
 
I always grab them with a cloth and throw them outside.But 4 inches,that's quite a spider!I can understand your arachnofobiac family too!

Best regards,

Walter
--
http://www.leonhardsgallery.com

 
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