Jeff, I was bitten many years ago, but never found the "source". What started out as a bump, spread into what looked like a massive mosquito attack, to swelling my joints and having what looked like one giant swollen rash. I was achy, itchy and didn't feel 100% for about a week. I think it was a black widow, but will never know for sure.

BTW, I don't react to bee stings.

Dave

Love the description of Arizona wildlife posted by a resident of another state!! (yeah...you used to live here, I know....)

Yes....we have some critters here that can be dangerous, but common sense will help you avoid them and therefore avoid injury. Yes, you can call in an exterminator every month if you are truly paranoid but any of the "Home Defense" types of products used frequently will work just as well. Like was state, keep junk to a minimum, don't reach into dark places and you will be OK. I have seen a few wildlife around my house like a tarantula, but they are quite docile and eat their weight in bugs. A few miles away I can see all the javalinas I could ever want to see but to be honest the only place I have seen anything truly dangerous (except in the deep desert where there are some gilas and snakes) is in the zoo.

When I was a resident of the great state of New York, a hike in the forests of the mountains could result in finding all kinds of critters who can do you harm as well. Spiders, snakes, bears, and so on. Every state has things to avoid.

hey heres an angle to look at from an AZ NATIVE who has been bitten by a black widow. i was about 12 cleaning some debris out of a century plant when one crawled on my hand and nailed me. i freaked, thought i was gonna die on the spot!

mom called dr cuthbertson who has a file on me a mile thick from various crash and burns thruout life(accident prone). doc stated i would probably be nauseous and there would be some swelling. and for the next coupla days my hand swelled and i threw up alot. after that and packing it in ice swelling went down and i was ok.

now i posted earlier in the year about walapai tigers or cone nose bugs. they live with packrats and come out about 745PM to feed on anything with blood. probiscus sharper than any needle known to man. you will never feel them until next morning. they go after my dogs and i go after them everynight.

key is to wipe out packrat nests. but living smack dab in middle of real sonoran dezert, its kinda hard to wipe them all out. have gone on crusade on my property but the winged bastards still fly in and sneak into house.

i have had bug guy over a bunch of times to spray. but they still fly in. they are killed on sight and resemble a giant tick when smashed. blood everywhere. real gross!

anyway got nailed over the past few years by them. recently as two weeks ago. 4 bite marks across my lower back about dime size. hurt like hell and in a day or two get itchy like a mutha. after about a week they go away. scab over and thats it.

look up assassin bug/cone nose bug/walapai tiger. then go out at night and snoop around and see if you find any. then youll have an answer.

black widows leave a huge thick white web with white pea sized eggsacs.

good luck.

Lived in Arizona for about 20 years on and off. Seen fewer than 5 scorpions, 1 black widow, 3-4 snakes and no gila monsters.

Rick,

The scorpions are either in your area or not, they do not just appear. Ask anyone you are looking at renting or buying from if there are snakes, scorpions and such there or not. Scorpions do come after crickets, so if you have/see crickets in or near your house, get it sprayed to end the food chain.

I have seen exactly 1 black widow here in AZ and you are not going to like where I found it. Was cleaning up my BMW a while ago. Opened the seat and pulled the tool kit out looking for something. Closed the seat and opened the tool kit roll on top of the seat. As I was rolling it open noticed something funny, a small black ball in a fold, so I just flicked it trying to get it out. It did not move so I started to do it again then it started "unfolding"....

It was a black widow about the size of a pea and I have no idea how it did not come alive when I first flicked at it because it could have easily gotten me. I smushed it a shop towel I had right there but it really got my attention and have been much more careful since then.

We got's to realize that we are the intruders in their world and they are going to outlive us. Unless they are getting in my world and inside my house I usually leave them alone. If they are deadly then I dispatch them.

BL webs are very easy to spot. Unlike the attractive symmetrical webs most garden spiders make the BL web looks like something out of a Wes Craven flick. Random strands of VERY resiliant web silk. If you take a stick to the web you can actually feel the tension as you pull the web apart. The BL comes out just after dark so before bedtime is the best BL hunting. During the day they fold up and hide someplace dark but still in/near the web. I have found that a shot of brake cleaner usually encourages them out of hiding where they can be easily dispatched with a stick.

I think I'm going to store my riding gloves in ziplock bags when I get ot AZ.

Well Porsche has nothing to worry about until he starts to find the "spider woman" attractive.

A co-worker of mine was bitten on the side of his d1ck while taking a piss in a portajohn.

Poor guy was out of work for a week, came back, got bitten AGAIN but on the other side of his d1ck. In the same portajohn!

Just thought I'd throw that in there in case you thought it couldn't have been any worse.

ouch, that is why you never utter these words..
It cannot get any worse...cause
it can and will
Rika

i got bit in early spring by what i now believe was a spider on my shin just above my ankle and it is STILL there. at 1st it itched but became an abcess sort of thing over the summer and now is akin to a sliver you can't remove trying to heal. you know it tries to heal but becomes like a calas and just wont go a way.

its been a pain in the ace and i still have to put itch cream on it so i dont scratch it in my sleep. been quite an ordeal and now i kill them all on sight.

T$

"...Not a lot of brown recluse spiders in Cali...."

If I can believe a friend who volunteers as a guide in the insect dept. at the LA County Museum of Natural History, he reports the only brown recluse in CA is in a display case at the museum, and it's dead, demised, past on, no more, ceased to be, it's expired and gone to meet it's maker, this is a stiff, berift of life, it rests in peace. It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex....., (oops, sorry. This sequed into Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" skit).

Jeff. Whatever caused the bite shouldn't be as serious as a recluse or even a widow (from others' comments). Hope you feel better soon.

craigster59. Groucho Marx nose/glasses. LOL. No mercy. That was cruel.

Sherwood

Jeff,
I'm sure you can find a guy down on 2nd street to suck the puss out of your nose. ;)

They do exist here. They are hard to find, but don't crawl under a house and put you hand up on a girder in a dark place, or you might find one. Phone company guys get into it with these rascals more than they want. A BR is probably not what walked up on your bed and took a sample of your nose. In fact, it my not have been a spider at all.

Recently, there has been a bad outbreak of bedbugs. Now, bedbugs have always been thought of as bugs from a dirty, unkempt household. That is not necessarily the whole picture. If you have been traveling recently, you may have brought one or two home. They don't always live in the bedding either. They will take up residence in that picture on your nightstand or behind the baseboard. They are not as small as you might think; about 1/5th of an inch. They are easily spotted when they are out on the prowl. Their bite can be just as you describe.

Rick,

If it makes you feel any better, just found another Black Widow on the back porch tonight. She captured a cricket and I noticed something moving in the corner. It was her wrapping it up.

Will dispatch her tomorrow with some brake cleaning fluid...

Try to make her talk first.

I was bitten by a Brown Recluse spider at Camp Pendleton, CA back in 1988 or so. I still have the scar on my back where i had a 2" hole that had to be debrided and packed with gause while it was healing. You could look into the hole and see the underlying muscle. Very painful and something I'll always remember as will my wife as she had to take care of me while it was healing.

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