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!
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When I was a kid I had a small red dot that started on my bicep. I do not ever recall being bitten. After a few days it had formed into a red line traveling up my arm and shoulder. My mom took me to the med center where I was told it was spider venom following a vein toward my heart and I could have died if it had done so. I got a shot at the farthest point of the red line and was given a pill to swallow. Any idea of what kind of spider would have caused this?
I live in Southwest Michigan.
i woke up Saturday with a red spot on the back on my left hand and my middle finger on my right hand. they were bright red and then swelled and hurt really bad. and then yesterday i noticed that the swelling went down and they started to bruise. today you can feel the spot where i was bit and they still hurt. i’ve tried ice. anti itch stuff. and even allergy meds and nothing has worked. i have no idea what type of spider or even what it looked like that bit me but i’m going to keep watching and if it gets worse i’m going to seek medical help..
I have been bitten by something twice in the past three months. The symptoms are: red, hot and about 1.5 in perfect diameter and itchy in the middle of the circle. It is not painful and the redness and heat reduce by themselves over the next 5 days until it disappears. Can you tell me what kind of bite it is? Thank you.
i have a small bite on my finger i woke up from a nap and it was itching and at first there wasn’t anything there then my finger is slightly swollen and the bite is raised and a reddish pink
i woke up with two dots almost touching, black and a little bigger than a ball point pen. i didn’t know what it was. a couple days later it was red and bubbly about the size of a quarter. the black dots started to lose color and spread a little bit. i live in northern Rhode Island and I don’t know what bite me.
So recently i noticed that i had a bite, in a very awkward place that has gotten more irritating. The bite itself does not hurt, unless poked or prodded, it just itches. its appearance is like a blister, it is red and swollen and has a fairly large black…thing…in the center of it. the “blister” is about the size of the tip of my thumb, and the black area takes up about 1/4 of it. when poked at, the black area moves freely in whichever direction you so choose to move it. I noticed it itching about a week ago after going into an abandoned backyard. after a few days i poked it and realized it had started swelling to more than just an irritating itch. Anyone know what it might be, or have suggestions as to what i should do???
Thanks
I had a reaction I normally do with spiders, which is the immediate itching with a little pain. I usually just put alcohol and salt right away….not this time. I was asleep when it bit me underneath the pillow. I scratched my arm cause it itched and knew it but I waited to see if it went away. It didn’t. It got worse and infected….I continued to put alcohol and salt but my arm was getting redder around the bit and the redness was spreading in a weird pattern. The little holes became a bigger hole with pus that wouldn’t come out. It felt like someone was stabbing my arm from the blood pressure going through it.
It was warm and swollen and hurt. I put cold packs tried to keep it clean. It was getting harder around the bite and was spreading along with the redness. A week had almost passed an was getting worse so I made an appointment with my Dr. The next morning. She saw it said it wasn’t too serious but definitely infected for a moment she thought I had a staph infection. I got a shot and antibiotics hoping it would drain on its own. That night it started to feel better I could lay my arm beside my body without the stabbing sensation but not for long.
The next morning it felt worse than it did before I went to the doctor..my arm felt like it wanted to go numb from my elbow to the tip of my middle finger, like it had before but this time I got shocks of pain to my back. She said if the wound didn’t drain she wanted me to go in and have it cut open as a last resort. When I hung up the phone I tried to drain it, didn’t work. I went home and tried to drain it in the shower. I was squeezing and pushing it so hard the top layer of skin was peeling and now felt like I had a burn on top of the pain I was feeling. My honey got home from work and asked about my arm and said it looked really back, worse than before.
He looked at me and said, “you’ve been been messing with haven’t you?!” I said yes. He asked if I wanted him to push it out for me. I said I couldn’t stand it any more and I didn’t want to get it cut open. It took what seemed to be hours to get it out. I was tough at first clenching my teeth and growling. It came out with blood, a clear fluid and pus and some weird yellow sacs. My whole arm swelled up after. That night I slept with an ice pack on my arm as I had been doing. It was draining on its own…yeah! It is now healing and is now a little over a week. Hurts right on the bite hole that it left but I feel much better.
i woke up this morning with what was at first a small itch, i scratched it once and it turned into a small burn. if i look really close, i can see two small entry wounds. and now, i haven’t touched it and the area of the bite feels like a throbbing burn. all the sites I’ve read on spider bites say if the area around the bite is irritated then i should worry, but i see no skin irritation. the pain is just constantly comes and goes about every 3 to 4 seconds and has me a little scared.
i was bitten on my ring finger not to long ago and it made my bpm go up to over 140 bpm and I’m not trying to have that happen again.
please help me if you can.
I was bite by something while I was sleeping two bite behind my upper leg and two on the inside of my left wrist, the bites on my left leg have swelled up and bruised about a soft ball around the bite the actually bite point is a dark pink, even though I was bite on the inside and bottom of my leg the pain spread to the quadrcept I’ve experienced no nausea or fever just allot of agony and nerve pain so it must be a neortoxin id love to post pics I just don’t know how to if you could email me I could send you pictures asap…
I got bit about two weeks ago from something at first i had a swollen purple spot about 2 inches in diameter with red around it and a white puss spot on the purple. I could not walk for 2 days because it swelled up my ankle soo bad. Now it just started hurting again and its a 2 inch red swollen circle with two dots and the white spot below them still forming a triangle together wondering if this is a spider bite first of all and secondly should i go to the doctor because i never did i just let it heal but it still hasn’t healed and work landscaping so its constantly being rubbed…
Michelle,
If you are concerned about a bruise on your arm and it seems to be getting worse and developing a white bump I think the smart thing to do is go see your doctor just to make sure everything is OK.
Hope this helps,
Jen
2 days ago I noticed this random bruise on my arm and I didn’t know what it was I asked my mom and dad and they said to keep an eye on it so I have been watching and now the bruise is turning purple then I started to notice a small white bump in the middle of my bruise should I be worried? Should I go see a doctor?
I have a spider bite that has swelled up a part of my leg. I tried the baking soda and sitting in an Epsom salt bath, but this morning it looked even worse than it did last night. and when i touch it its really hot. i live in Florida, and i don’t know what kind of spider it is. if you could help me out that would be great (:
I had a spider bite one my one arm and it got swollen and eventually healed. Then I had about 4 on my other arm only 2 got bad. Then the weirdest thing is a spotty rash started. First just around the bites then spread to my whole arm!! I went to the doctor and he said my spider bite was infected and gave me antibiotics. Is there anything else I should do? The rash is very itchy at times… And not very pretty. I am down right embarrassed of it. The pharmacist recommends taking benedryl at night and hydro cortisone cream just makes it it itchier….
I woke up with a few bites on my leg and a bite on my stomach two weeks ago, i shrugged it off thinking it would go away. The ones on my leg went away but the one on my stomach is red and swollen, it looks like a burn, sensitive to touch an d it is hard. a few days ago a lump next to it formed that looked like a zit so i popped it, otherwise it itself has not been puss’y? what to do what to do?
I noticed a small bump on my side a few days ago. it looked like a pimple at first but I never get them on my side . then a few days later it got really swollen & hard with a dark red big ring around it. It hurt so bad and was so tender and also warmer around that area then the rest of my body. I couldn’t even sleep on my side because the pain was so unbearable. finally today I was able to squeeze it and a bunch of pus & blood came out. Could this be an infected spider bite?
OMG why don’t you people go to the doctors why wait for replies on here it could be a serious bite that needs treating not waiting around hoping it will go away. YOU will get worse and worse and with no treatment could get very serious. If you think you have been bitten and you have swelling pain and especially if your muscles are going into spasm or hard to move please seek medical help.
Brook for gods sake take your dog to the vets to get help, he can’t go himself can he. He may be in pain have an infection or worse have unknown toxins in his body. Be responsible and take him to a vet to be checked out… You won’t get a proper diagnosis here so please seek medical help some of these bites look very serious and while your all sat here waiting for someone to say what it is your putting yourself in danger of becoming very ill…
The other day my leg felt itchy in the calf area, so when I took a look and scratch, there was a mark there that honestly kind of looks like a mosquito bite except for the big bruise surrounding the bite mark. I looked closer and it is actually two small marks close together. The bruise has doubled in size since yesterday, it is now about the size of a silver dollar, with the bite mark in the middle. The bite mark is a little red and swollen.
Any thoughts on what this could be?
I was outside toady and got bit by something on my foot in one area and it is a small round red spot. I was wondering what it could be? it itches really bad. should i see a doctor?
Ive been bitten by a spider before but nothing like this, I have a mark that looks like 2 red circles right next to each other with a pimple looking mark in each circle on my arm.
Just wondering if i should worry, may not even be a bite at all.
hi. my dad says i have a spider bite, and it might be a recluse bite. but i looked up a recluse bite and all the symptoms i don’t have.
my bite only itches. and there’s a little dot but its not really white, its more red. and the area around it is perfectly round and kind of looks like a hickey
I don’t know what to do, please help!
My names Kizzy and last night I was in bed when a felt a little pinch on my arm. I shrugged it off until I felt more stinging all over my arm, I got up in a rush to get my mom. When she looked at it there were bumps all over my arm and it was very red (from me scratching it probably though) The stinging settled down a bit but I kept feeling these weird burning sensations a couple of times. I woke up this morning and it hurts when touched and there’s two REALLY tiny pink holes in my arm, which led me to think it was a spider bite. I live in Georgia and don’t know much about the spiders here, except the black widow.
Thank you~! ~~~Kizzy
I live in Southwest Florida and have seen spider sacs from brown widows, in my lanai, under tables, etc. Yesterday, I was cutting ferns and did not have my garden gloves on. Later I realized my left hand was swollen with a bite mark in the center of a lump. The skin around the bite turned very red and swollen. I took a benadryl and last night it was burning and itching.
Today the lump is still swollen and it is mostly burning. Is this a typical reaction to a brown widow bite?
My friend had a spider bite that has swelled up her whole hand. she tried the baking soda and water thing like 10 times, but this morning it looked even worse than it did last night. she told me that it was hot when she touched it. we live in Washington, and i don’t know what kind of spider it is. if you could help us out that would be great :)
Hi my name is Shane fowler, I have been bitten by a house spider but it didnt really leave any scars it left 2 little dots. And to know if it was a house spider the wound would have been as big as a peice of corn and it would of healed fast! Hope this helped!
I live in an area of the house were I ALWAYS have spiders in and about. The worst I’ve had was a spider bite that swelled up about the size of a quarter on my Achilles tendon, and i swore to myself id never get a BAD bite again, I noticed yesterday I had been scratching, both feet are completely covered in bites about the size of the head of a nail? It’s actually painful NOT to scratch. I’ve been dousing them in hydrogen peroxide which calms it down a bit. What I don’t understand is that they don’t seem to be fluid filled, they are completely hard like if i tried i could successfully cut the whole thing out because its solid. I almost drained them this morning, brought a pin to meet a friend to ask him to help me puncture each one, but until I know what they are I don’t want whatever fluid is there running everywhere. Does anyone know anything about why it would be hard?
I have this bite on the middle of my leg. It has a single whole at the top and is red around it. And it is swollen and puffy. Its sore to the touch and when I get up from sitting it starts to tingle. Any info would help. Thanks!
Hello, I have an on going issue with a few spider bites. It seems to be the worst on my right leg. It started out as a sore red spot one day then the next it had puss on the top, it was very sore to the touch. I at first though it was an ingrown hair but after I popped it it went crazy, it now looks as if someone burned me with a cigarette. The bad thing is that I did find a hobo spider under my bed which I killed. We do have a large variety of spiders out here in the country soo…..who dunnit? The only problem is now (6months later) after docs giving me misc creams and antibiotics it has seem to gone systemic and spread across the lower inner part of my leg from my ankle to my knee. I only have a handful on my left leg. I will send pics if you would like. I really don’t know what to do, our area unfortunately seems to be at a lack for good docs, but I do have an appointment tomorrow with a new one :-{
My girlfriend was bitten by a spider a couple of days ago, on Saturday, the bite was swollen at start but now it has gotten really big to the point that it has swollen all the way from the calf to her ankle. The bite is in the middle of her calf with a red rash around it, but the leg is swollen all the way to the ankle, specially around the ankle. The swollen area is distinguishable because of the slight discoloration, darker than the color of the skin.
i have a holistic remedy for all insect bites and i believe in it whole heartedly. just this weekend i was bit, maybe in my sleep because i didn’t see the culprit, but i assumed it was a spider because of the two tiny holes. after 18 hours or so my bite turned form a mosquito like itchy bite into a big itchy red spot about the size of a quarter swollen with two tiny holes leaking clear liquid…i did squeeze the liquid out as much as i could but here is the remedy. CUT AN ONION IN HALF AND PLACE THE FLAT SIDE OF THE ONION DOWN ON TOP OF YOUR BITE>Hold it there for several minutes, the longer the better> THE LAYERS AND PUNGENCY OF THE ONION DRAWS OUT THE POISON/VENOM. works to get the stinger out too if its a bee sting. trust the ONION it works, my bite today (i did the onion last night for 10 minutes or less) and my bite today is just a tiny red spot, barely swollen at all and not itchy. i would love to hear other peoples results with this treatment. i have heard that onions absorb all kinds of toxins, and were even used during the black plague to absorb infection out of the air.
about 3 days ago i felt something sting me it made me feel like i had a hot flash i looked and it was a little white spot..today its red the size of a half dollar and has red streaks down my arm itches like crazy and feels hot to the touch and feels very hard..any1 know what this might be?
I saw this thing in my garage (I don’t have a photo) it was about 3-4 inches long . It had a bone/beige colored upper body and 6-8 legs and a gray furry lower body with black circles around it, it was scary. Anybody have an idea.
Thanks.
Ann
Barb D; That looks like the bite from a Brown Recluse spider. Their bites eat away at the tissue until it’s treated. I hope he’s doing better now. Skin grafts can’t be fun! =(
I woke up this morning with a swollen, red spot on my knee. It is about 2 1/2 inches across. It is not as red and swollen as it was this morning. And the itching has subsided. Should I see a doctor?
This just in. I am a 48 hrs old female, I was bitten around Monday, July 25, 2011. I was at a friends house when all of a sudden my calf start to have a restricted feeling, I could hardly been my knee, which had become swollen and kept swelling. Tuesday morning the pain was so intense I went to the hospital. They drained some fluid off my knee cap and told me it was FINE.
I could not understand what happened. I did not see a bite mark anywhere until Wednesday, while showing. I noticed what looked like a bite mark on my right hip. It feels like my leg is paralyzed. Pain is very intense. I have been taking vicoprofen ( vicodin and ibuprofen in one pill) i sat with my leg propped for two days. It is friday and the pain still feels as bad as if it were Monday.
Please somebody tell me what spider causes you to feel paralyzed and unable to move your muscles. My muscles in my right leg are hard and stiff. And I am getting scared.
Oh yeah I am in town for my 30th class reunion……bummer.
I just got bit by a spider and it stung really bad at first I didn’t see the spider is it poisonous?
Hi I live in Moncks Corner, SC and I noticed bout three mornings ago that I had this bite close to my ankle and it was really itchy and I guess I must have been scratching it in my sleep because when I woke up it was already scabbed over but it hurt to walk and it was swollen, red, and hot. and if I just barely push down on the area around it it almost feels like its bruised and now that a couple days have gone by its not as red and the swelling has gone down but the area is dark like a bruise, except towards the center which is still red. Any ideas to what kind of spider could have done this?
i have this weird looking painful spot at the base of my neck, start of my collar bone. the first day i noticed it, the bump itched. the next couple days it looked like a black head, so i tried to pop it. now its even bigger, its red and hurts when its touched by anything. i have no idea if it a spider bite or not.
Hello,
I woke up during the night last night to unbearable itching on my upper body. When i got up to look in the mirror there were about 8 raised red spots on my back and stomach, mostly on my back. i was just wandering what they could be.
Hello,
I woke up during the night with unbearable itching all over on my upper body. When i got up and looked in the mirror i had about 8 raised red spots on my body (stomach and above.) They feel like mosquito bites but why would they appear during the night? Could they be something else? Note: Most of the bites are on my back.
Hey, my name is Selena and i was sitting outside with my friends at night time and on the top of my right forearm i think i felt a mosquito bite, so i just brushed it off but i woke up this morning and didn’t really check on is but a few hours later at my biology camp i noticed it was swollen bigger then a quarter and it hurt really really bad and its red-ish-purple but I’m tan so i cant really tell :( but its getting to the point where I’m now typing most of this with my left hand, and my arm is pretty small this bite makes it look two times bigger, now my whole arm is not swollen just that little bite and I’m really scared but we cant afford to go to the doctor just in case its not a spider bite and I’m just having a bad reaction to the mosquito bite. please please help me and let me know if this sound familiar or you know what it is. thanks so much
Hey everyone,
I live in Los Angeles, California and I hate spiders. We have probably 30 spiders in our white old house and they are mostly in my room my mom got bit on the leg in her room. It was awful, she rushed to the doctor.
Hello friends. I’m 25 yrs old and live in Jacksonville FL. I was bitten around 4 weeks ago on big toe multiple times. It itched and hurt while bending. I couldn’t believe how far apart the fang marks were. What is strange is out of 4; lets say; bites there may have been 3 diameter differences in bites. Is that normal? No red lines or bruise looking spots, just a lot of swelling and clear substance coming out to a ball shape then some times running down foot ( minor drainage ). I was fine with that bite, not my first rodeo with mother nature. I went fishing on beach, soaked in salt water and occasional alcohol swab. So 4 weeks ago, I was bitten, swelling went down and thought I was cured.
Well I woke up today with 5 bites, same exact thing that happened but now on my elbow below it and above it from triceps to 3 inches below elbow. I scratch, ooze comes out and I clean it but now I’m curious of what keep biting me. I am not scared for my life but I have a 7 inch by 5 inch red mound that has swollen a little bit on the back of my arm. This happens at night only. I wake up and ill move the bitten part of my body and then ill feel it, and its happened twice now. Night time, in bed, multiple bites per ATTACK. I don’t get on computer much but I was searching and thought maybe someone would read this and know. rblevins001 [at] gmail.com. Thanks.
I live in Orange, CA and its day 2 of my spider bite. Last night, I was playing my PS3 on the couch and my arm was itching a lot. I woke up with two little holes right next to each other on my arm. I’m not sure if its a wolf spider or not.
Hey guys, so last night I was bit by something!! Pretty sure it was a spider, but I didn’t see it… I live in Kansas where Brown recluse spiders are common… But I looked up the symptoms for having a bite from that spider and there were only a few.. It’s on my mid thigh,there’s so swelling about the size of a quarter, there’s some light bruising, and last night when it happened my leg felt really weird… Not it’s around 10am and my leg doesn’t feel weird but it still has the bruising and swelling, it didn’t increase though. But I have a head ache, and my Stomach has been queasy.. Any suggestions on what spider or bug, and what to do? Very much appreciative. Thanks!
My husband’s spider bite. [Day 2] We live in Virginia and have seen wolf spiders, black widows and brown recluses.
I live in Detroit, MI but I also work in Pontiac, MI at the ctc headquarters, and i was bitten by some poisonous spider. I woke up one day my leg was swollen and where it swelled up at was like black and red almost purple and it had one pimple like dot on my leg so I was at work and I hit my leg on something and it busted open and a lot of puss and fluids were coming out my leg and all seen was the poison that was in my leg and my white meat. So I had rushed to the ER and they confirmed that I was bitten by a spider but didn’t know which kind so after the doctor cut the poison out and cleaned my leg it look like a bullet wound so he gave me a shot and the antibiotics he told me i was real lucky because if the poison would’ve gotten into my bloodstream I could’ve died so I’m happy for that. If you what kind of spider it was please let me know.
I was driving the day before yesterday and I heard something hit the window..which then fell on my leg and began to burn immediately. So I thought something had burned me..it hurt so bad so fast I just smacked it off my leg without thinking..I think it was whiteish in color. There was one red mark on my leg and nothing else. I woke up the next day to a small raised area..but today it was a larger red area slightly raised with a pencil point size darkish bubble at the center. It is warm to the touch and slightly itchy. I wonder if it was a spider or not
When I was a kid I had what we thought were 3 spider bites that all occurred at different times. We thought they were spider bites because they started out as small red itchy bumps. The bump eventually turned flat and the redness got larger. After a couple days thin red lines started grow outward from the red circle and the bite resembled a spider. It was weird, it didn’t hurt it just itched bad and eventually went away. Does anybody know what has a bite like that?
Hello,
I live in Houston, Texas
And a few days ago I was bit by something. My friend told me it was a spider bite. I’m not sure which kind.
But the first day, my hand was itching like crazy. And of course, I scratch it. The next few days, it starts to swell up real big and it almost taken over my whole hand. Whenever I clench my fist. It hurts, and the bite sometimes ooze out clear liquid.
What insect or spider is biting me ? Please help !