What kind of spider is this, and should I release it or dispatch it?

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
So the spider bit you and died???

What kind of reaction did you have? A friend of mine in Florida almost lost his arm
from the reaction he had.

As the neurotoxins spread through the body every nerve lights up like it is on fire!

This is followed by tremors, and a lot of pain (and I have a high pain threshold). It lasts for 4-5 days before slowly easing. Forget trying to walk for the first 2 days, or sleep.

The flesh at the wound site begins to die, and needs frequent flushings and antibiotics to try to keep infection down. I got fairly lucky with my wound because I started flushing it right after the bite.

Oh wow man. That's tough. Glad you made it through it.
That's worse than a Widow.

 

[theOEGBman]

I didnt read through it all, did you figure out what it was? I dont know a ton about spiders, but I love em!

 

[Marian]

I grew up in the western edge of the Mojave desert so saw a lot of black widows and other creepy crawling critters, so while spiders creep me out, I can usually keep my wits about me.

But what really got me was when I was staying just north of Tucson and I woke up one morning to find a SCORPION on the bedroom wall. Even though I grew up in the desert, we never saw scorpions, not ever.

I still feel a bit panicky thinking about it.


But, like spiders, very few of them are actually dangerous...

That's what I was told, anyway.

 

[Aneesa's Muse]

It looks very similar to one of the Wolf Spider species, but I'm not sure where you are (as I didn't look ..d'oh!), and the pic is not clear. It is definitely NOT a Brown Recluse, as mentioned ...it would need some serious steroids, etc. to get to that size.

It's venom should be mild and/or not necessarily "medically significant", but the bite will hurt, nonetheless.... so don't get bit by it.

I have about 35 tarantulas and a few "true spiders" here ..some came in as rescues, while others were acquired through trades and purchases. I am a big geek when it comes to cool bugs and "creepy" things, which is probably why I ended up doing Exotic Rescue ...reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, etc.

 

[Oblio13]

It's a Dolomedes, locally known as a "Dock" or "Fishing" spider. We have lots of them living in the cracks on our dock. Their eyesight is so good and they're so fast that it's tough to get close to them, let alone get bitten.

 

[lilchick]

I am so glad I read this post! I have them in my barn and this is the first year I have ever seen them..
Even as a kid I played with snakes and crawdads but these give me the shivers....
I have to get hay from the barn to feed my goats and horses and I keep a watch for them..
First one I saw was at top of barn on a rafter and I swore he was so big you could have picked him off with a b b gun!!!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

UGH!! I don't mind insects or arachnids as long as they aren't going to hurt me. If they're in the house, they will meet an unfortunate demise (usually via a piece of toilet paper and a quick flush). I've seen some giant spiders when I worked at Cedar Point, but never any that huge here in Michigan.

I don't even want to know what a banana spider looks like. Don't those eat birds or something?

 

[ams3651]

i hate spiders but I know they do good, I usually just escort them outside. Besides, I hade the squish even more

 

[BrahmaMama]

Quote:
Cool! Another Mojave Desert inhabitant

I remember my grandmother going out on our patio every morning, to check for black widows before I could go out and play!

And yeah, I was a major tomboy-still am, lol! We used to go out in the desert, rock hunting, lizard hunting, etc. One time, I stupidly decided to dig in this cool hole I found, to see what may be living in there...yes, I knew how dangerous it was, but...what the heck

As I pull my hand out, after a couple of "scoops" here comes a big scorpion

I don't know if I actually pulled him out, or if he chased my hand out, but I was lucky either way. Needless to say, I didn't stick my hand in places it didn't belong anymore...

 

[Portia]

Gravity, That's a wolf spider (Lycosidae). You can tell by the design on their abdomen. As someone said earlier, they are ground hunters & don't spin webs. Very cool arachnids & very beneficial! We have them all over around here in varied shapes and sizes, and they do get big. Their bites are painful, like all spider bites and may produce some localized redness & swelling, but they are not considered poisonous. Of course for the young, elderly and allergic a bite may well necessitate medical attention. My dog gets bitten by them frequently b/c she chases them, her muzzle itches and swells up a bit but it doesn't seem to stop her.