Bitten by a white-tail.....

Yes

Hi Royce

SHKE is most likely right that many bites will go away without much fuss; but some don't. They are very common nocturnal household spiders and rarely bother anyone; there was one trapped in the sink when i got up this morning. I use to pick them up when i was a young child (before the white tail hysteria).

My daughter hates spiders and kills any in sight. A friend once commented that she buys Mortein by the six pack. While we were away touring, she was bitten on the leg whilst asleep, and woke with her whole leg burning and red. It later localised into an infected patch about the size of a 5c piece. It may her feel quite unwell for some weeks, and despite hospital dressings, medical advice of keeping it covered, it only healed many weeks later after asking for antibiotics and allowing the air and sunlight to dry the wound. She now has a dark coloured indent on her leg around the size of a 10c piece. I have seen worse necrosis, but that was complicated by the person being diabetic.

I hope you are in the group who get no reaction (which i believe is the majority), but i would put Betadine on it now to improve your chances. If it starts to go 'mushy' and white seek medical advice, and if that doesn't work, try the old fashioned sunlight.

Motherhen

Most likely, but only after suffering months of agonising pain.

Your flesh will rot and drip all over the place.

I think its much like bee stings and mozzie bite etc etc
I blow up with bee stings and the mozzies make me itch for ages
wife...the only thing that bothers her is me ...maybe its the italian blood in her...why else would oz mozzies not want a taste

but do keep an eye on it.

Perhaps we could run a betting book on whether Royce's leg will drop off or not.

Mh

Royce

You could try putting medicinal honey on it. Can be good sometimes for infections. Cousin used it once on a spider bite that would not go away. Fixed it (maybe a placebo affect maybe real). Have seen it clear up small ulcers.

Disclaimer: This is not medical advice blah blah . If you want that you gotta pay a doctor.

Flynnie

Yep been bitten twice, no long lasting effects....both times on the leg, just a pain kinda thru the muscles in the area & upwards.


Yes I think the necrosis is debunked....

The other thing I have heard is that white tails eat other spiders, so depending on what they have eaten will depend on what they bite you with....

Some big buggers getting around too, about an inch in the body....& they love being inside (unlike redbacks thankfully!)

Cheers

Royce, I can't help myself.
This spider that bit you. Was he licking his rear end trying to get the taste out of his mouth when you looked at him?
But wait, there is one more.
Did he die if food poisoning? :-)

Cheers

I got bitten by one and it swelled up a little but really wasn’t all that bad. I didn't even know I had a chance of my leg falling off. That would have been most inconvenient.

Having had hubby bitten several times now we just rub a cut fresh lemon over the bite area. the acid in the juice seems to kill the bacteria.

Sorry to hear this Royce, I used to enjoy your posts.

Most of them where entertaining and/or informative.

Geoff

Being bitten by a White Tip spiders are much like getting a Be sting.....some people may die from it and others wont even know it happened.

And you might get bitten 10 times will no effects and the 11th one will kill you or make you very sick.

The other thing with bites is they might make you sick for a short period of time and go away only to return every 6 months for the next 5 years.

White Tips are no different to most other spiders except they are hunters and can become aggressive.

So I came in for lunch and posted the topic. WOW! Nice response everybody.

Well I just looked at my knee. Disappointing really. The little red dot went away.... my leg didn't. I didn't feel any pain.

But... today as I got to work on fitting out my fire fighting trailer, the 1000l tank had the most ENORMOUS redback I've ever seen! Didn't bite me so I guess that's not really so interesting. If it did though.... I reckon my body would have fallen off.

Anyway: the theory is that these spiders are actually black widow spiders that came with the early settlers. They live in human inhabited areas generally and are almost identical the the norther hemisphere black widow. I remember the Sun having a pic of one that had caught a skink in its web. I aways worry when I visit an outdoor dunny.

I saw the foot of a bloke who ignored a white tail bite - not pretty. He was one of the contractors demolishing the squats at Moreton Island. He ignored it for a day or two and ended up being choppered off the island.

Bundy cures everything!!!!!! Go have a bottle


Cheers

You may be one of the lucky ones -- the bites effect some people and others have no effect - similar to a bee sting - if you are allergic to a bee sting , you can be in trouble in a very short time .... if not -- its just a painful sting that will go away in about 15 min

so the necrosis stories are not debunked , as they happen and there is many cases surporting it .... Your just one of the lucky ones


Boc

I lived in Tassie for a couple of years where white tailed spiders are prevalent. At the time I was there the hospital in Hobart released a report they had done on white tailed spider bites. Over a period of about 10 years (from memory) their records showed almost 50 reported cases of white tailed spider bites and a number of these had the typical symptoms expected from white tailed spiders such as massive ulcers, etc. However, their investigations proved that in every singe one of these cases where there was a severe reaction it was not actually from a white tailed spider bite. Either the spider had been mis-identified or the reaction was from another cause altogether.

Their conclusion was white tail spider myth busted.

A neighbour of ours was bitten on the hand by one. 8 years on, she still has very limited movement in her hand which is always supported in a brace. At one stage there was discussion regarding amputation. This is probably a worst case scenario.

If you haven't already done so...I'd consult a doctor and ask for a referal to see a toxicologist.

Some nasty stuff on YouTube regarding spider bites.

Fab.

home life is littered with old wives tales except not so old and now spread by the internet

-anti persperant gives you alzimers

- diet coke gives you parkinsons

and now its white tails.

garantee anyone thaty gets a bite reaction will be told by all and most knowledgable sundry they have just been bitten by a white tail .

heck i used to believe redbacks were dangerous until i was bitten 3 times by one

both the hospital and posoin info centre told me it was nothing to worry about-------------- and it wasnt