Bite Report

This happened 9/14, however I thought it was pretty good information to share. Though I wasn't able to record it as detailed as I would've liked, I will run through the few days of hell.

Scientific Name: Latrodectus mactans
2. Size of Tarantula: 2"
3. Sex of Tarantula if known: Female
4. Name of Forum Member: Jynx
5. Where did the bite occur? Herp room; Tarantula shelf
6. What part of the body was the victim bitten? Left middle finger, between distal and medial joints
7. Age of victim: 26
8. Does victim have any known allergies: no
9. Sex of victim: female
10. Medicating taken for other reasons other than the bite: None
11. Was any alcohol consumed around the time the bite occurred? No
12. Any known illnesses: None
13. Where any symptoms noticed? Oh yeah... (see below)
14. Did the victim visit the hospital? No.

Incident Report: It was feeding day. I picked out a cricket and unscrewed the top of her jar off. She was halfway to the bottom of the jar under her leaf. Threw the cricket in which seemed to startle her. She ran quickly up her twig towards top as I tried to shut it quickly. She had herself pinned in between my finger and the lip of the jar when I realized she was there. Started to pull back, and she struck my left ring finger, then scurried back into her jar.

Immediate - burning, swelling, redness, itching at site

approx 1 later - sever cramping in hand, slowly progressing up towards elbow. Large muscle twitching in back and thighs. "Fuzzy" feeling in head.

approx 1 hour later - Pain/throbbing around site, cramping and pain travelling up to shoulders, pain and cramping in back, abdominal cramping. After realizing that I was going to have a pretty nasty reaction to this, I dug out the Skelaxin (a muscle relaxer used to treat a recent cervical disc injury) and Vicodin.

approx 3 hours later - Skelaxin and Vicodin helped immensely, though the nausea was horrible. Hearing became very muffled, and lost sense of balance. Very dizzy and unsteady. Abdominal cramping worsening. Heart rate/respiratory rate increased. Sweating, but no raise in body temp. Called coworker, told her to bring vial of c. gluconate and a syringe.

approx 5 hours later - C. Gluconate injected. Pain/throbbing becoming more tolerable, muscle cramping still continuing. Severe abd pain comparable to appendicitis/cholethiasis. Nausea persists; very similar to flu symptoms.

approx 8 hours later - major symptoms start to subside, pain is tolerable with help of meds. Cramping "twitches" occur often, but mild in severity. Abd pain lessened to dull throbbing pain. Redness at site has spread to entire hand, and hand is swollen. Applied ice. Dizziness has subsided, but leaving me unsteady still. Ringing in ears. Sporadic back spasms. Meds helped enough to let me fall asleep.

Next morning (approx 14 hours later) - bite site becoming bruised, small amounts of clear drainage oozes from bite site when pressure applied. Area still tender and swollen. Redness has subsided. Stomach is very sore, comparable to after a rigorous workout, but nausea has subsided for the most part. Phantom tremors in left hand and arm occur sporadically. General "crappy" exhausted feeling, kind of like a really bad hangover or remnants of a horrible flu.

Even though the worst of the reactions onset at an early stage, and dissipated shortly thereafter, random effects were felt for about 5 days. I didn't attempt solid food. Instead kept myself on a liquid diet. Made sure to stay well hydrated. Continued to take Skelaxin for the better part of 4 days which helped immensely. Last symptoms were felt 9/20.

Wow, well at least you were knowledgeable about how to treat it.

And you keep those for pets???

I have one. I found her on my patio in a web under one of my patio chairs. She was just a little baby back then. I figured it was a perfect opportunity to educate the boys, plus some of the kids around the neighborhood. That and I'd rather I find her the dog or any of the kids. She's not the first L. mactans I've had though.

I see them around every once in a while. Your bite report is very interesting! Was the c. gluconate for cramps?

Wow, Catherine!!!

No wonder you were willing to get an OBT. After a bite from a "Southern Black Widow" an OBT bite would be a walk in the park! I'm glad that you have recovered well (hey, I SAW you at the Reptile show 14 days later). Thanks for logging it in and for letting us know what you experienced.

Do you still have her?

I would humanely euthanize it! :sidestep:

Can we see a picture of it?

You should have bitten it back!

Oh, and I see Black Widows here [Louisiana] pretty often. Even when I go in Home Depot and Lowes, I see them sometimes in the Lumber areas.

And Brown Recluses. Ouch. Their bites are worse than Widows :O

A great remind to be cautious with my widow, she is a spaz who reliably runs for the door whenever I feed her. Glad you are ok

Here is my girl, Illyana

And a pretty girl she is!!! Is she as big as the one that bit Jynx (2")?

No, the widows this far north are quite a bit smaller. stretched out diagonally leg tip to leg tip she is just a bit over 1"

Of course I still have her! She's still little Fred, but the Southern Widows are generally bigger.



I've heard that an OBT bite can have pretty much the same effect, but I've yet to attest to that. This was the first time I've ever been bitten by a Widow. The experience was definitely one that deserves respect. I can't blame the poor girl though; in that situation I would've bitten me too.

When I decided to keep her, I did extensive research about the bite and treatment. C gluconate (calcium gluconate) is said to have helped at one time, however most medical treatment doesn't include this anymore. After researching the type of proteins that Widow venom is made of, I decided that, should I ever get bit, thats exactly what I was gonna do. Calcium can't stop the effects, but it can help to alleviate the severity of them. So when she bit me, I had a friend of mine that worked in the ER bring me a vial from the hospital.

Since I didn't suffer any really severe reactions (ie chest pain, tachycardia, severe hypertension, or cardiac/respiratory distress) I opted not to go to the hospital. Besides, I'm a nurse... I knew what was going on with my body and why. Also, there have been cases of Widow antivenin serum causing one to become sensitized to the serum. This is the same type of serum that just about all antivenins are made from, including rattlesnake antivenin. Considering my close proximity to some wandering rattlers, I decided that I'll just eat the widow bite and save the serum should I get nailed by a rattler again.

As crappy as an experience this has been, I now know how I will react. Some people really don't react as severely as I did, some have a much worse reaction and death can definitely occur. I can assume that should I get nailed again, there is a good chance the effects won't be as bad.

I guess I'm looking at this as another notch on the headboard: I can't count how many times I've been nailed by scorps, was nailed by a Widow, nailed by a sidewinder... pretty soon I'll have Az venomous animals covered!

Jynx said:

Of course I still have her! She's still little Fred, but the Southern Widows are generally bigger.
I can't count how many times I've been nailed by scorps, was nailed by a Widow, nailed by a sidewinder... pretty soon I'll have Az venomous animals covered!

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OUCH!!!! Even by a sidewinder... that's a pretty infamous list there, Jynx!!!

Congrats? Kudos? LOL!

A Sidewinder?!?! Wow.. I had no idea you've been through all that Jynx! You're a much braver and tough herper than I...:bowdown: Heck, I've only ever been stung by a scorpion.. at least, that's that I think it was.. Do you have any battle scars from it like Dr. Funk does?

Lol no where near what he has! I was able to get to the hospital pretty quick. We weren't out that far. I used to be able to see the scars, but they're almost invisible now. The sidewinder was about 10 years ago at my aunt's old house. Don't start oooohing and aaaaahing to me yet! That could've all ben avoided if I was waering the right clothes while tromping around in the desert. When my brother yelled out "Rattler! Hey Casey, come look at this!" I should've known better. Ah well, no harm no foul.