I did not mean to come across as minimalizing the severity of a black widow bite. Definitely requires rapid medical care. If you want to talk pain, a friend of mine got it on the end of his penis while sitting on an outhouse toilet seat!http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/chix.gif BTW, they like outhouses because of the darkness, moisture, and ample supply of bugs for food.

I have heard that the Widow bite is probably one of the most painful things you can endure. There is an anti-venom made available for a widow bite, but it's a one time use. Once you've had it, you can never have it again. So, if you are ever bitten, you'll have to decide if that's the worst it'll ever be, before taking the anti-venom.

The pain generally subsides on it's own in a week or so.

There's an iconic song/poem from Australia (which has redbacks a plenty) that has to do with redback spiders on toilet seats. 50+ years ago outside toilets were very common in Oz. You always had to check "who" your were sharing the toilet with before you even bothered to unzip.

Here's the song/poem

THE REDBACK ON THE TOILET SEAT
by Slim Newton

There was a redback on the toilet seat
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
I jumped high up into the air
And when I hit the ground,
That crafty redback spider
Wasn't nowhere to be found.

I rushed into the missus,
Told her just where I'd been bit.
She grabbed a cut-throat razor-blade
And I nearly took a fit.

I said, "Just forget what's on your mind
And call a doctor please,
'Cause I got a feeling that your cure
Is worse than the disease."

There was a redback on the toilet seat
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.

And now I'm here in hospital
A sad and sorry sight,
And I curse the redback spider
On the toilet seat last night.

I can't lie down, I can't sit up
And I don't know what to do,
And all the nurses think it's funny
But that's not my point of view.

I tell you its embarassing,
And that's to say the least,
That I'm too sick to eat a bit
While that spider had a feast.

And when I get back home again
I tell you what I'll do,
I'll make that redback suffer
For the pain I'm going through.

I've had so many needles
That I'm looking like a sieve,
And I promise you that spider
Hasn't very long to live.

There was a redback on the toilet seat
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.

But now I'm here in hospital
A sad and sorry sight,
And I curse the redback spider
On the toilet seat last night.

That's why I am actively hunting the beasties. You see I'm one of the unfortunate guys that had a kidney stone and no way can the body endure more pain than that and survive...and I have kids running around all day long.

Charlotte....This was a few weeks ago, when she was only 6 inches across. She's bigger now...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1122267050.jpg

close up

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1122267073.jpg

She's a beauty! Common Garden Spider. They get pretty big but are somewhat harmless. Still, I bet their bite hurts but least you won't wish you were dead!

i do not wish to frighten anyone more than they already are, but in my never ending search of this thing called the "internet" i came accross some pics and the first few dont look so bad but im warning that the last two are very graphic, so view at your own risk

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/spiderbite.html


so judging from this set of pics, i would say that even though it takes a lot of work for a B. reclouse to bite a person, it looks as if the outcome would quite possibly be the worst size to pain ratio ive ever seen

That is an unverified bite, it's on Snopes. However, the type of injury is along the same lines as the Recluse, and could actually be a Recluse bite.

However.... From what I've read and heard(Discovery Spider shows, and Venomous creature shows), the Black Widow bite is actually more painful. The only deal is that the BW bite can heal, and the pain subside in a week or so, the Recluse bite keeps on going for 3 months to a year, and may even re-lapse years down the road. The Recluse bite also results in nasty scarring, and occasionally missing muscle tissue, so it's usually disfiguring in some way.

The recluse bite looks nasty, and there is no way to 'cure' it. The best medicine has been said to just leave it to heal on it's own. Antibiotics could at least help you from getting infections, and some times stun guns are 'pre-scribed' to help deaden the nerves around the wound. It's been said that any skin grafts or other surgery can actually make the injury worse, which might actually be what's depicted in those pictures.