So this one was entirely my fault...I'd just ordered her from somebody selling someone else's collection, and she was supposedly a Grammostola pulchra. When the 4" lady arrived, she looked downright dead -- emaciated (for a G. pulchra), immobile, not reacting to any movement of her container. Little did I know! I popped open the lid in order to take a "death photo" for the LAG and...! Yep, she leaped out of her container, teleported to the floor (a 3' drop) and made directly for my poor confused cat. I did the math -- angry spider + baffled cat = Unfortunate Event -- and, sighing, reached down and grabbed the T. As I knew would happen, she whirled around and bit me solidly on the webbing of my left thumb.
The bite itself was more startling than painful, and I put her back in the cage and had time to walk to the sink and put my hand under water before the venom started to kick in. The burning went from mild to mind-bending over a five minute period, and my hand started to swell. I spent the next 18 hours with my hand immersed in ice cold water, which was the only thing that kept the pain tolerable. I utterly failed to have on hand any decent remedy -- activated charcoal, baking soda, apple cider vinegar or Benadryl -- and, living alone, had no one to send out for them.
The pain backed off around 18 hours, but the swelling continued. My entire hand went weak, and the swelling continued for another 18 hours, eventually covered my thumb, palm and first two fingers. It took four days for the swelling to go away, and another week and a half for me to get full strength back in the hand. I didn't go to the doctor, since none of the symptoms seemed life-threatening. I was lucky in that regard; I suffered no dizziness or nausea, only pain and muscle weakness.
Since then I have stocked all the common remedies, and needed none of them so far! Here's crossing fingers!
The bite itself was more startling than painful, and I put her back in the cage and had time to walk to the sink and put my hand under water before the venom started to kick in. The burning went from mild to mind-bending over a five minute period, and my hand started to swell. I spent the next 18 hours with my hand immersed in ice cold water, which was the only thing that kept the pain tolerable. I utterly failed to have on hand any decent remedy -- activated charcoal, baking soda, apple cider vinegar or Benadryl -- and, living alone, had no one to send out for them.
The pain backed off around 18 hours, but the swelling continued. My entire hand went weak, and the swelling continued for another 18 hours, eventually covered my thumb, palm and first two fingers. It took four days for the swelling to go away, and another week and a half for me to get full strength back in the hand. I didn't go to the doctor, since none of the symptoms seemed life-threatening. I was lucky in that regard; I suffered no dizziness or nausea, only pain and muscle weakness.
Since then I have stocked all the common remedies, and needed none of them so far! Here's crossing fingers!