Category Archives: Poisonous Animals

Brown Recluse Spider – Know Your Enemies

Posted on by
1
English: Adult male brown recluse spider dorsa...

English: Adult male brown recluse spider dorsal view. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jim is a news junkie and relies on the internet more than I do to stay up on the latest news.  He sent me an email today from work with a link to an article in the Knoxville News about a brown recluse spider bite that Anderson County Commission Chair Chuck Fritts had received.  It put him in the hospital for 4 days. This made me realize that I have no idea what a brown recluse spider looks like.  I better find out.

English: brown recluse as compared to a U.S.A....

English: brown recluse as compared to a U.S.A. penny (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. These two photos show the distictive “violin” marking on the back of the brown recluse spider, as well as its size.  (NOTE:  I’ve learned that other spiders may also have a violin marking — the distinguishing feature for the brown recluse is its eye pattern of 6 eyes in pairs with a space separating the pairs (see photo).  Most spiders have 8 eyes in two rows of four.)

2. Below is a video that talks a little about its habits.

3.  Below is a very graphic video that shows the horrible damage that the brown recluse’s toxic venom can do to human tissue.

GOOD NEWS SO YOU DON’T PANIC

Even if you have a brown recluse, bites from them are extremely rare, despite all the stories.    Many of the really graphic nasty wounds you see on the internet as recluse bites can also be other conditions like necrotizing bacteria and pyoderma gangrenosum.  Ninety percent of brown recluse bites are not medically significant, heal very nicely often without medical. intervention and treatment for most brown recluse bites is simple first aid

 

Be Aware to Be Safe

Here is a great website to learn more about the brown recluse (includes a territory map, and yes, Sharps Chapel appears to be on the fringe of the area).

But at the very least, don’t leave work boots or jackets outside and know where you put your hands and fingers.

Life is an Adventure!

 

Black Widow Spider in Sharps Chapel

Posted on by
Reply

We decided to move the fire circle from an area near the house to a more remote location out in the field.  Jim moved the rocks with the tractor’s bucket loader and dumped them in a pile for me to edge later.  I did that today, and as I was arranging the rocks, I noticed this spider. Immediately, I thought “Black Widow”!

I quickly took a picture of it.
I’ve learned that I need to take photos from multiple angles to capture all the identifying marks correctly, otherwise identification can be inconclusive.

I’ve since been easily able to identify this as a male Black Widow spider ( Lactrodectus mactans).  Although my speciman’s legs are 100% black, not brown and segmented like the one in the link’s photo, I have learned that there are variations that include all black.

The bite of the male is harmless, but not so for the female. Female Black Widows are highly venomous. But the good news is that “these spiders have a neurotoxic venom which is rarely fatal when they bite. However, the venom can cause severe pain.”
Black Widows are often found near homes in dark corners of basements, under flower pots, wood piles, in water meters, in porch light fixtures, etc.

FYI, there are only two poisonous spiders in TN, the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse.

So, if we are keeping a list of poisonous animals in Sharps Chapel, TN, we have these two plus — the scorpion, which I saw mentioned in the Union County News a month or so ago.

Yes, life is an adventure.