Tegenaria bite?

[galeogirl]

I woke up the other morning with three spider bites on my upper leg, all very painful and itchy. Two are fading but one, just above my left knee, has started to ulcerate.

I'm pretty sure it's a bite from a Tegenaria sp. since that's the main spider that I've seen around the apartment.

I've been taking ibuprofen and drinking lots of fluids, keeping the wound clean and doused with a mix of tea tree oil and Neosporin. It appears to be healing up. No joint pain, no oozing, no spreading, but, man oh man, does it itch!:evil:

 

[Scolopendra55]

Well you sound to be doing alright, just keep putting salve on and it should heal up nicely soon enough

 

[Venom]

If it gets any worse you may want to lance and drain the bite. The only Tegeneria sp. that should cause any significant symptoms is T. agrestis ( hobo ), and Oregon is within their range. I'd also recommend taking some of the Tegeneria your house is full of to an entomologist for identification.

 

[JPD]

Did you catch the culprit?

 

[galeogirl]

I didn't catch the one that bit me because I was sleeping and unaware of the bites until I woke up but there are a lot of Tegenaria agrestis in Oregon, so it's a fairly safe bet that that's what did the biting.

It still seems to be healing. The bite is dry and the raised edges of the ulceration have reduce significantly in the last 48 hours. Still itches, but less so. At the worst, it was about the size of a dime, swollen, and tender. It has visibly reduced in size in the past 24 hours.

I had three bites, though, so I wonder why only one ulcerated. Maybe it got more venom than the others.

 

[misfitsfiend]

I know what thats like. A few years ago I keept getting bitten in bed. It didn't really bother me too much, but MAN THOSE THINGS ITCHED! soooo much more than mosquito bites or fleas....

 

[galeogirl]

Yeah, crazy how much they itch. I've had to keep it bandaged so that I don't scratch a hole through my leg. Way more painful and itchy than the H. gigas bite I got several years back. Different pain, too, sharp and burning instead of throbbing and aching.

 

[Venom]

Well, about 40% of T.agrestis bites are dry, so the other bites may not have gotten much or any venom.

 

[Python]

It could be that the one bite was the first one given so after that there just wasn't as much venom to inject. Just a thought

 

[JPD]

there are a lot of Tegenaria agrestis in Oregon, so it's a fairly safe bet that that's what did the biting.

T.agrestis populations in the Northwest are actually fairly low now. Greater popluations would be found on the leading edge of their expanding range in places such as Utah. Out of the 100 or so specimens that I have collected in and around Washington, not one was T.agrestis.
What methods do you use to ID suspected T.agrestis?

I know what thats like. A few years ago I keept getting bitten in bed. It didn't really bother me too much, but MAN THOSE THINGS ITCHED! soooo much more than mosquito bites or fleas....
12-21-2005 10:02 AM

Did you actually recover any spiders?
I hate to play the Devil's advocate here, but how do we know for sure that any of the purported bites are, one, Tegenaria at all, and two, T.agrestis to boot? No mention of recovering the spiders.

If it gets any worse you may want to lance and drain the bite

Probably best to consult a physician rather than attempt this. A secondary infection as a result of an incorrectly performed procedure could cause many more problems then you have described thus far.

 

[Venom]

JPD has a point, it may not have been a Tegeneria sp. at all. The symptoms you describe could very well be from a Cheiracanthium sp. Steatoda sp. can also cause some mild symptoms among which be itching.

And yes, I've heard that the hobo population is shrinking. Have you heard why this is? Competition from T.gigantea and others?

 

[JPD]

Competition from T.gigantea and others?

Right on the money! Also, I have read some articles stating that L.agrestis are found in great abundance in the webs of S.triangulosa - It seems the Hobo's wander into the webs at which point, they haven't got a prayer.

 

[orcrist]

Sounds like ceiracanthum bites to me. Have a bit of personal experience with those. When I was younger, I thought it was jumping spiders that were biting me, because those were the ONLY spiders I ever saw in the house. Then one morning I woke up with a crushed ceiracanthum plastered to my leg and realized that they weren't jumpers at all. The most visible spider available is not necessarily the culprit. Most houses in the USA have a good population of ceiracanthum, but they're rarely seen.