Help Identify Spiders and More
Arrakis dune spider.
If you are reading the comments and know what type of spider bite, a visitor has, please feel free to help.
Warning: Some of these pictures may show a scary spider or a bite that has become infected and could be considered disturbing to some, so if you don’t like the sight of rotted skin or exposed bone, this may not be for you. However, it does drive home the importance of seeking medical attention before it’s too late!
Have pictures and a story you would like to share? We would happily review and display them if you upload them here.
Would you like to see our collection of spider bite photos?
i have a bite on my forearm. I belive it was saturday night. about four nights ago. there is a hard spot about the size of a nickle where the bite occured and about 3 inchnes of redness around it. it only hurts when i press on it. there is no blister of “pimple” where there was a bite. I believe it occured in fort worth tx. anyone have any idea? please email me tharlan7 @yahoo.com
Question for #199 – I live in Nashville, TN and have the same kind of bite – did you ever learn what kind of spider bit you? Did you eventually need medical treatment? Thank you.
I don’t remember a bite but this came up this am as a red bump, changed to this. It is sore but not bad and I thought it was a tick bite till I saw a picture on here of a spider bite that looked just like it. Does it need to be checked? I hope you are still here!
Deb
I was bitten in my sleep by something..not sure if it was a spider..it has swollen to a size of about 6-8″ in diameter ..very painful and firmness under the skin that is tender to the touch, also muscles and tendons near the area have tightened and are sore. I did not find any dead insects in the bed. It has not gone away over a week now. Any ideas?
thanks,
I live in a desert community in the mideast. I was in a semi-enclosed building with an indoor pool at night, when I felt something bite me on my inner left thigh. I figured it was an ant and didn’t have a look. The following day it was dark with red around it and raised. The nurse at the clinic marked it – around 8cm. diameter. It didn’t itch but was painful and throbbing.
The next day I went to the doctor. The redness and swelling had spread all over my thigh and the dark, lined area of the bite was now the size that the nurse had marked the day before. In addition, I had a light red rash – like a shaving rash – on the lower part of both legs. I was given an oral and cream antibiotic, antihistamine, and told to take ibuprofen for pain.
Two more days have passed – 4 all together since the bite occurred – and a small clear pimple formed where I was bit and has turned purple and elongated – around 2 cm. in length. It still hurts terribly and will go back to the doctor tomorrow. I don’t know if it was a spider or scorpion bite, or something else. Photo enclosed – any ideas?
Thanks. SN
I live in Florida. I woke up this morning to notice a bruise on the top of my foot. I looked even closer, and there are three, barely visible fang-looking marks. I am not experiencing any nausea, pain, or sickness and the bruise does not hurt, but I would still like to know if this could be potentially dangerous. Any help as to what this may be would be greatly appreciated.
hi: i am temp. in bostn, mass. i have been bitten by a spider several times in 3 months any where from one bite to 4 bites at a time, i have sprayed bug spray and ste off several bombs, but they keep coming back for more. how do i get rid of them.
tony g
Dont know if your still giving advice on spider bites but im worried can you help?
I think that these pictures are grose but i do feel sorry for those people though!I do think that they should SPRAY for spiders so they wony get bitten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A follow-up: i got bad stomach aches on the 3rd and it took a couple of hours for them to pass. The hospital had closed their urgent care section so I rode it out until the morning and had an appointment. They said that it was most likely a black widow and I should be fine now. Just thought it would be helpful for anyone with a similar looking bite.
Thanks again,
Ali
I have bites all over my body, including my face, my pinky finger, my arms and shoulders. In some places there are up to three close to each other. i get at least on new bite every night. At first i thought they were mosquitos or bed bugs (because i get them at night) but now i dont think so. They get very big (as much as 2.5 inches across) and they have tiny raised bumps in the middle. They are itchy but also painful and swollen. They dont feel like mosquito bites. The I researched bed bug bite and they dont look anything like them. there are lots of webs in my room and i’ve see a silver spider and also a black one. Maybe they are the culprit?
I was bitten by what Ibelieve could have been a brown recluse.I’ve always herd about the spider so I new a little about the symptoms.I noticed the bite on oct.11th and went to the emergency room on the 14th as I saw the wound progressing.My wound looks alot like the ones on this site.I’m sending photos from my email(roscoewedderburn @yahoo.com). Please check them out and get back with me.
I have these bites on me like 4 of them in random spots with huge red area and a big white pus in the middle there itchy and swollen. I live in California in the bay area. Yesterday I was mud sliding could it be from bugs in the mud?
For about 4 months now I have been getting bitten every once in awhile by something with fangs while asleep. It has never swelled or itched very much so I haven’t put any thought into and just let it scab and scar. Distance-wise, the two holes are always about… half the size of a pencil eraser. I stopped getting them for about a month or two and was just glad that whatever it was had found something better to chew on. However, two nights ago I got bit on my ankle. It is now swollen and it hurts to walk. The distance of the two marks is larger (and the actual holes are doubled in size) and I am worried that I may get bit again and it will be even worse than it is now, as it must mean that my little friend is growing.
Thank you for your time.
I sent pictures along of my husband’s ‘bite’ so to speak. The pictures are taken on day two of the bite.
He indicates it look close to the ‘white mosquito bite’ on the knuckle and then progressed to look more along the lines of excema or poison ivy. By the second day, late, he went to give it a scratch (it is itchy but not painful) and found it blistered up as you see in the pictures.
As any normal person would do, he grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and a pin and drained it. it was filled with clear yellowish fluid. It continued to fill up for the next day or two and he drained it, bandaged it and put a polysporin type cream on it.
On day five, it does not appear to be filling as much and the shape has turned more into a cauliflower with ragged edges. To ME it looks as if the ‘fluid’ have more yellowish tinge.
I did find a picture online of a man from Alabama with the identical bite pictures.
We live in Central East Ontario, Canada
hi im brianna i live in salem indianna i got a spider bit and its really infected i dont know what kind it is!!!!!!!!!!!
I woke up today, there was nothing. Later on like 10 minutes ago, I looked back at my arm. I saw a red thing and when I scratched it a little big, I saw white stuff showing on my hand like.. in the middle of the red spot. -o-;’ It was itching at first, but after a while it stopped itching and later like 2 minutes later, it started to hurt.. Like a bee stinging it. =X I was wondering, which kind of bite this is? If you can tell me..please. =X
(The red spot, right now it got a little smaller not as big as earlier. =X, It just got like.. wider.. o_o; Flattener..)
hi i think i got bite by a spider but not sure..i hadnt bumped or dropped anything on my foot when randomly it got very swollen, red and felt hot the whole top of my foot is in pain could this be a spider?
my friend was taking a nap and woke up w/ a swolen spot on her leg w/ a small black center by the next moringin the swelling was about 1 1/2 in and the black center was about a dime she has been to the E.R. four times w/ in three days and they are clueless i know for a fact that it is a spider bite w/ my medical background but i know what spider the photo by melanie posted 7/4/2007 looks like hers exactly including the swelling markings by docs w/ the marker please let me know asap i dont want her to loose her leg
I have had these spiders forever in my home, but this is the first time
that one has bitten me. It bit me in the garden 2 days ago, and it has just started to get hard, swollen and very itchy! The adults can get up to the size of a half dollar. They are a brown spider, 6 legs and black stripes stripes down its back. I made the mistake of once stepping on a swollen female and about 200 baby spiders ran out of her into my bedroom. I have never been able to get rid of them since. They are a year round problem. I live in Rosarito Beach, No. Baja Calif., Mexico (about 17 miles south of San Diego, CA). Any clues as to what kind of spider I am dealing with? Any ideas on how to finally rid my home of them?
My boyfriend and I are moving into a new apartment, and we live in Tucson Arizona. He was moving some stuff over while I was at work yesterday, and when I came home he had a bite of some kind on the calf of his right leg.
It had a white head in the middle, almost like a zit, and the surrounding skin is red and hard to the touch. It is extremely painful to touch it and the surrounding several inches of skin. It hurts when the blanket it bed touches it, or when he flexes the leg muscle…
I told him he needs to seek medical attention, but he is very stubborn. Does anyone know what this might be? or what to do about it? Advice is very appreciated. Thanks!
I am 14 and live in NY. I was bitten by a spider the other night and b/c I’m allergic I kept a close eye on it. I almost died from one when I was three. This time my foot swelled to 3 times the size it should be and I can’t even fit it in my shoe. The area around the bite is red and swollen… it looks more like 2 or 3 bites and it is spreading all over my foot and up my ankle. It itches and is very painful… I can’t even walk up the stairs at school. I feel like my foot is going to pop when ever I step on it. My dad took me to the hospital yesterday and they don’t know what kind of spider it was if it was a spider and not MRSA. I really want to know what type of spider it was so I can take care of it properly…
Ne suggestions plz email me at tampabaylover9 @ yahoo.com
Thanks
michelle
I live in Santa Cruz, CA about five minutes walk from the beach. We are in a studio appartment with high ceilings. It is an old studio with lots of old wook and brick and LOTS of spider webs. We knocked a lot of the webs off of the ceiling on Monday. I woke up yesterday (Tuesday) morning with my upper left thight itching. I looked at it and there was a raised up, thumb tack sized white puffy circle surrounding a puncture hole.
At first I thought there was just one puncture hole, but when I stretched it out this morning it looks like there might be two and one is just bigger. I’m still not 100% if it’s one or two holes though. Surrounding the area is a bunch of red blotching looking skin that is also slightly raised up. That makes the entire area about the size of a quarter. It doesn’t really hurt, but it itches pretty bad and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. When I woke up this morning I was thinking it would be smaller, but the red area has just expanded. Does this sound familiar. If so, should I seek medical attention or just wait it out. I thought I should mention there is no purple or black around the bite so probably not brown recluse. Right?
Two days ago I noticed on my thigh a bump that looked like whitehead. Thinking that I had a pimple on my thigh, I scratched it off. I thought the problem would go away. Two days later I have the worst pain in my leg. I feel like all of the muscles in my right leg are cramping. I have a hugee red circle about two inches wide and in the middle of this red circle is a smaller, but more red circle. In the middle of this small circle where the whitehead once was is a small black mark that i can feel on top of the skin almost as if it a hair trying to come in. I can barely sit, stand, anything and I am in so much pain. As for a spider and any sightings, I think this happened when I was in bed because I don’t recall being bit. I would send a pic but I don’t know how to do that here.
Hi there,
I was worried about the marks that have traveled down my chest from a bite on my shoulder. I live half a block from the beach on the central coast of California, but we have our house sprayed inside and out every 3 months. The last time was about a month ago. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Have you?
Thanks…
Francine
Hi, I think I may have been bitten by a spider, but I’m not sure. I live in Northwestern Ontario, and while I know that there aren’t really any poisonous spiders up here, I’m also aware that, working in a retail setting(Convenience store) occasionally Widows have been found here as well as we have lately had many articles in the paper about a certain kind of Recluse spider that, while not near as harmful as the Brown Recluse, can still be fairly painful and even fatal if left untrated for a long period of time(we’re talking months here) A common spider we have around here is a yellowish colour and tends to be about the size of a Canadian penny on average(not including the length of the legs) and I know there are several of these living in and around the store i work at.
The possible bite looks similar to John K.’s just a touch bigger and easily visible without a magnifying glass. I cannot post a picture due to the lack of a webcam. It happened at some point while I was at work last night. I’ve slept a bit since then and I haven’t experienced any symptoms but I’m curious nonetheless. I did have some cramping-like pain in my arm shooting upwards from where the punctures are but that stopped hours and hours ago.
It looks like to red dots maybe a milimeter apart on my wrist just below where the palm meets the wrist. As nothing has happened thus far, I’m not too worried, but I do feel like indulging my curiosity.
Luckily I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow for an unrelated condition so I’ll ask then, but I still like to find these things out before a doctor’s appointment.
Anyone got any ideas?
My son have got bitten by something but I don’t know what it is, it has swollen his head up. The area that is affected is like a big knot on his forehead and it look kind of like a pimple that is oozing some pus when I put a hot towel on it. It do not look like a ulcer but it kind of look like a rash a little bit but it is very big. I think that a little house spider bit him or something. I don’t know what to do
I think I was bitten by a spider in my sleep or something.It has bitten me on my head. There is now a black scab.The poison or whatever it is has gone into my lymph gland and down the back of my neck. There is a throbbing pain on the scar but worse is the throbbing in the glands. If I take just two paracetamol tablets the pain subsides for about 3 hours and then returns and is quite debilitating. I am on antibiotics and am halfway through the course (have taken 5 out of 10 tabs), the throbbing pain just doesnt seem to be getting any better. does anyone know how long i will have to endure the pain now that i am on the anti biotics? THANKS, Bev -South Africa
Hi my name is Jennifer and I believe my daughter was bit by a spider but I am not sure. I have enclosed the pictures of the bite can you please let me know what it is whatever you can help me with will be great
How about this one?
For #9 question about the red marks on skin after shower or hot tub. This is just a heat rash. It is common after a shower or hot tub. Nothing to worry about. Just cool the tempersture in the shower a little if it bothers you. But It’s nothing to worry about. Some people will get it on a hot summer day too or even after excersize. As long as it goes away once you cool off you are fine.
Hi, this is BIanca i have been getting bit by somthing i sleep with someone and they dont get bit only me and so we decided to switch sides of the bed i still got bit and he didnt and they are red and very itchy on my upper leg and i have about 20 by my underwear and 10 down by my knee please help because i dont know if ican die from so much poisin or is it just taking blood and also i would want to know what kind of spider it is hlp please!!!
Me & my boyfriend were visting his father in Southern Spain (not far from Murcia/Alicante). I was bitten by what locals told me was one of the small jumping spiders they have out there. We did see one of these outside his fathers house, my boyfreind poked it with a pen & it did indeed jump. (We did not realise that its bite is as painful at this stage.)
It happened on an evening when we sat in a bar. I had my foot on the rung of a bar stool and when we came to leave my ankle hurt a little. I found over the next couple of days that the more I walked on it, the better it felt, until the evening when it was rested & it caused me a considerable discomfort.
Gradually through the week, it was getting redder and the redness seemed to be spreading around my whole foot. It was more painful & swelled more & by Thursday morning when I got up I could not walk on it at all and it was extremely painful! Infact it is probably the most painful thing I have felt ever! I had shooting pains going into my ankle as well.
We went to a local pharmacy and I was prescribed some anitbiotics and a foaming spray called Hidrocisdin Espuma (which is what you can see on my ankle in the attached pictures.) The spray was an instant relief! After a week, my ankle was so purple it looked as though I had been hit with a sledgehammer!
It did not clear up properly for just over two weeks in all.
Would you agree this was a spider bite?
PS Ironically, I am scared of spiders & this incident did not help!!
Kind regards,
Shelley A
Good day
I am from Cape Town in South Africa. I have been bitten by something in the garden – I suspect a spider (as I have bitten 3 times before) as the symtoms started the same. Bite mark, but this time there was not two fang marks, but one sting. It started itchy and started swelling and became hard. (Bite on Left hand). I was put on antibiotics which brought the swelling down, but the area has changed composition – it is now full of closely knit blistering. Would you be able to assist in what this could be. I was bitten last Sunday 05 October 08 and picture was taken today 13 October 08.
i got bit about a weak ago and ther are two small heads the size of pencil erasers and they are swollen about two inches around.
my friend got bit by a spider. she didnt see what kind of spider it was. the area is probably the size of a nickel and it looks blistered. does anyone have any idea what kind of spider bit her? is it poisonous?
Can you please help me find out what spider bit me?? This bruise has gotten bigger since TUES…it is now SAT. Swelling is lessened since yesterday. I was sweating, chills, nausea and weak yesterday….not today. It sems to be subsiding…I didn’t even feel it at first…I thought I had banged my right arm. I live in Eastern NC…in a wooded area….I was planting trees on Tues……
The spot has 6 distinct round purple circles…all in a circle with the 1 in the center. No scabbing or bleeding. I have been on antibiotics since TUES for an unrelated cold…I did not even realize this mark until Tues night…..
Have you seen this before, if so, please let me know what it is. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Christine C.
Hi I’m Morgan and when I woke up this morning I had severe back pains and rib pains. I noticed a large bite on my lower back, about the size of 3-5 mosquito bites. I live in Arizona.
Danny R. you are asking exactly what I asked earlier. I too, have gotten ‘bites’ MONTHS later. I live in Riverside (SoCal) I have moved into a new house & have had all the furniture exterminated, yet these ‘bites’ continue to surface in the same general area as the original bite, which was very big. They have popped out while I have been in different locations, such as: on vacation, visiting out of town & also in different times of the year. The only thing the remains the same is the general area that these ‘biteless-bites’ have surfaced. I would like to know if the posion/venom of whatever type of spider bit me can remain in my body & for what ever reason can JUST reappear?? My Dr, has NO answer for me!!
i got bitten by a spider last night and now it is huge, raised, red, and very itchy. i am scared and do not know wat to do
I have one question, let me expain. In December 2006 I was bitten very badly on my back. This bite was very painful & grew to the size of a softball. So, much ‘stuff’ came out of it & of course it was red, hot & very inflamed. But, since then I have not (to my knowledge) been bit again. BUT…I HAVE SINCE THEN GOTTEN ABOUT 6 -7 MORE BITES IN THE SAME GENERAL AREA – I kinda of think of them as ‘absesses’
What I’d like to know does anyone know, if the poison stays in your body and continue to cause these ‘biteless-bites’
Please someone advise me. My doctor (quack that he is) does not seem to have an answer for me. (I have to stay w/this dr. because I don’t have health insurance)
I think I was bit by a spider on Tuesday. I was a passenger in our car around *:30pm I felt heat and pain shoot through my left leg, by the time I got home every few minutes I would have pain shoot through my leg from my hip to my calf. I took a sleeping pill and went to bed really not thinking much of any of it. The next morning while in the shower when the water was on my back side it felt like I got bit or like when you receive a shot. I felt and could tell from feeling that I was swollen and my leg still had pains shooting through it. I had my husband look for a bite but only saw what we thought was a pimple.
I went to work and things got worse more pain and swelling. He took me to the hospital which by that time the pimple had gone away but they could still see the small mark and said I was bit by soemthing. The gave me 3 medications. MethylPREDNISolone 4mg, CEPHALEXIN 500mg,and hydroxyzine 25 mg. plus Vicodin for pain. So far not a whole lot of change. The bit never got red or hot to touch, the pain and discomfort was more interntal. The swelling hasn’t gone down yet but Ihave only been on medication for one day. The pain if the same.
Hopefully after beign on the medication for a couple days things will get better.
I have had a hard red bump on my forehead for about a month. I thought at first it might be one of those underground pimples but, it hasn’t gone away and it hurts to the touch. It is slightly reddend and when I try to push on it it hurts my eye and head. It must have been a bad spider because a good one would have left a bite that went away by now. Anyone ?
My wife recently developed what appears to be 5 or 6 seperate bite marks on her leg. This cluster of bite marks soon developed some bruising around the bite zone.
See attached photo. Perhaps you could help us solve the mystery as to what is dining on her leg, at night!
Thanks for viewing,
i have numerous lil bites on my leg that look like a blister/pimple with lil blackish looking spots in them. can you tell me if this is possibly from a brown recluse?
I live in Florida. About a week ago i noticed a dime sized, hard, red bump on my leg. Now it has grown into a half dollar sized red area, with a soft, dime sized black-and-blue area in the middle. It is sore to the touch. If you can please give me some closure to this mysterious bite, it would help alot.
About a year ago I got bitten by a spider on my shin, dont know what type it was but I got bitten. When that happened my shin got all swollen and red, i felt really weak and sleepy, after a few days that went away. But now a year later that came back. My shin got swollen and I press on the wound an my finger marks are left on my shin. They make like a “little hole” on it. Do i still have the spiders poison or what do i have. I keep on going to the doctor and they say its an infection of some sort and give me pain relievers and antibiotics.
i woke up this morning and i had big bites on my back then one wee bite on my leg then i had about 12 on my stomach and now their turning into scabs do you no what they are please can u help me thankyou
I have a very large bite (the size of a tennis ball), on my forehead from an unknown source. I have two quarter sized bites under my hair, but still close to the BIG one. It’s hot to the touch, I have a slight fever, and I feel dizzy and nauseated. This bite has no apparent puncture wounds or bite marks. I woke up this morning with these horrid bites. Also two weeks ago I woke up with 17 bites, some were small and some were as big as a half dollar. These bites were also accompanied by a fever and nausea. I researched insect bites and flies seemed to be the main culprit for multiple bites.
But this LARGE bite is very different than any I could find. I will send photos. This morning, (6:00 am), it looked like a knot from being hit, with a bruised hue to it. Now its much larger (9:15 pm), and mostly swollen and red, itches like no other bug bite I’ve had before. To the touch it is sore. I’ve taken been taking Benadryl and using rubbing alcohol on it.
HELP! I stayed at my friends, who lives on a farm, and the next morning I woke up with a few tiny bumps on my elbow. Its been exactly one week and its just getting worse. Its warm to touch. It doesnt itch at all but is very painful. It hurts to bend or straighten out my arm. I have 2 pus filled bumps one bigger then the other. The area around the bite hurts like a bruise althought there is no discoloration yet. But the bite itself is very red. I’m assuming its a spider bite. I dont know anything about spider bites. If anyone can help me figure a way to treat it or suggest a doctor let me know. PLEASE.