Some common questions people want to know are: What are spider bite symptoms? Is this a spider bite? What spider bit me? This post answers these questions and can help guide you with what to do if you think you were bit by a spider.
Debunking Spider Bite Myths: Understanding Real Bites
One thing to understand is that spiders very rarely bite people. Many people see a bump or mark on their skin and immediately assume it’s a spider bite. It usually isn’t.
Most spiders are a “live and let live” creature that won’t usually bother humans. They attack things that they want to eat. Unless provoked or threatened, spiders wouldn’t consider a large human a food source.
Check with your doctor
Many spiders actually don’t even have strong enough fangs to pierce human skin. A spider’s bite is venomous to their prey. Humans may experience a small itch, minor pain, or swelling.
In many cases, something that you think might be a spider bite, usually is something else. It could be a skin issue, allergy, pimple, ingrown hair, bed sores, or sometimes even cancer.
We recommend reaching out to a doctor if you have skin issues you may think are spider bites. A pest control service can do little to identify what pest problem you may have from a “bite” alone. They would not have any type of medical advice or treatments to provide you.
Recently we helped a mother who was sure that her child had been bitten by a spider. The child had a pair of puncture marks that were perfectly sized for a spider. An inspection of the room showed no spider hanging out and the swelling and heat indicated some type of infection. She heeded our advice and sought medical attention. She found out it was some type of infection and the child was started on shots and antibiotics as needed.
If you really do have a spider bite, here are 8 spider bite symptoms you can expect to see
Depending on where you live, the chance of running into a highly dangerous spider in your home is rare. If it were to happen, here are a few things you should look out for as possible spider bite symptoms.
1. Headache: Your body does what it can to try and fight off the incoming spider venom. Unfortunately, this causes more blood to flow to the area of the bite as a defense mechanism. This takes blood away from your head, which can cause a headache.
2. Fever: Depending on how venomous the spider was that bit you, it could cause mild itching on up to causing a fever as your body tries to neutralize the venom in your blood.
3. Itchiness and bite marks: In some cases, a bite could cause redness, bite marks, or itchiness as your body fights off the mild venom.
4. Burning and pain: Similar to itchiness and redness of bite marks, a burning sensation may occur. Again, this is usually rare. If you are experiencing this, seek medical attention as the bite could turn into something serious.
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5. Nausea: In some cases this could happen as your body isn’t quite sure what is causing the problem. In an attempt to rid your body of any possible harmful things you may have ingested, it can cause vomiting to get rid of any potential threats. Unfortunately, this really won’t do much to neutralize anything if you really were injected with spider venom from a dangerous spider bite.
6. Joint pain and stiff joints: Depending on the kind of spider and venom, another symptom can be achy and stiff joints. Various kinds of spider venom can cause paralysis in their prey.
7. Large Blisters: Another spider bite symptom that could potentially occur around the spider bite could be large swelling and blisters forming around it.
8. Increased sweating: Sometimes your body will also start to produce excess sweat in conjunction with a fever as part of trying to rid the body of the poison.
Serious bites are pretty rare
These symptoms are from a few, potentially dangerous spider bites. In most cases, spider bite symptoms will likely be in the range of mild pain to itchiness and mild swelling. As stated above, most of the time, the things you think are a spider bite aren’t a bite at all.
We recommend that any symptoms you know for sure are from a spider bite, to immediately seek out medical attention if the symptoms are severe. Mild symptoms like redness, itchiness, mild pain, or mild swelling should go away after a few days. If they don’t, seek out medical attention. Any time you are dealing with swelling, it is helpful to draw marks on the skin to indicate the current borders of different coloration and swelling. This way, it can be monitored for spreading or diminishing effects.
If you have excess spiders in your home, a major concern shouldn’t be that they will bite you. You probably have other pest issues you aren’t seeing. Spiders feed on other pests and insects. The reason they are in your home is that you have an ample food source for them.
If you would like to have your home treated for spiders, reach out to Rove Pest Control.
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