So, since the little creature bit me in Patri's room, I've been
quite content in my own little bed. However, although I have washed
guilty pajama pants, I don't think that I killed the spider when I
took them off, and odds are that it found a new home between the
bitting and the washing, and that it's still hanging out in Patri's
laundry basket, or somewhere else in his room. Perhaps I should do
Patri's laundry... with thick leather gloves... but its still
unlikely that I'll actually find the thing. According to the first page I turned
up on google in a search for "brown recluse life span", The site also lists some common misdiagnoses, but according to the
sequence I recall of being bitten, that eliminates the first several
(thankfully). And would someone have such a reaction to the other
biting things (besides spiders with fangs long enough to penetrate,
such as perhaps a hobo spider: if what I have always been told is
correct (and it has just been demonstrated that that deserves an if
;) all spiders are poisonous, its just the ones with the correct
fangs that are dangerous to humans) listed who did not get such
allergic reactions like that all of the time? Also, I did try taking
Claritin, and the bites did not seem to respond to that, although I
don't know enough about allergy meds to know whether or not they
should have if it was an allergic reaction. Plus, it seems like an
allergic reaction would not be helped by an antibiotic (which has
helped a lot in this case), which deals with bacteria, but I am not
knowledgeable enough to be certain about that. And of those other
critters listed, how many of those them would be hiding out in
someone's pajama pants? Particularly inside one's room without
windows open in suburban Northern California? If that bed has bed
bugs its news to me.
This web page does not say whether or not the other recluses are
poisonous, but given how it put in caps so proudly that the brown
recluse does not live in California, my guess is that it would have
stated with as much authority if the others were not poisonous as
well. Hence, perhaps they are poisonous but not as bad: why I just
got a big swelling rather than loosing a chunk of my leg ;) (at
least, nothing has fallen off yet: I suppose I shouldn't talk such a
big line until it is all healed...) ... (just checked another web
page: recluses in general were listed as poisonous, and it also
agreed that there aren't any "brown" recluses around here)
Anyway, any suggestions for dealing or not dealing with trying to
find a little fanged venomous creature, probably one known for being
reclusive? If that's even what it is? The site recommended strongly
against dousing with pesticides, and I'd really rather not douse
Patri's room anyway, and it may not even still be in there, but I
think my odds are slim of finding it now and crushing it
with a shoe or catching it in a jar.
In all reality I don't think I have much of a chance of finding
it, and if it is a recluse it would rather keep to itself anyway, but
I don't envy Patri having to sleep in there, particularly given that
he's less fond of spiders than most people to begin with. I suppose
that if anyone else (or myself again) does accidentally try to wear
it with their clothing, at least we know what to do now, its not that
bad if caught early, and makes for something to write about ;)