My neighbor came over yesterday and asked me if I could teller her what to do about a lump on her arm. She pulled up her sleeve and on her for arm was the nastiest lump about the size of half a boiled egg. I have seen one like it once before a few years back. I was multi colored and very sick looking.
What it is, is a bite from a Brown recluse spider which we also have plenty of here in West Florida. I don't know if I can get a photo but let me warn you don't look at it any where near lunch time.
What happens in the case of a bite from a Brown recluse is much worse then a widow, The poison makes you sick, it takes about 3 days to notice the bite so the poison is already circulated in your system, it can kill you but also, actually starts to digest the skin and muscle in the area of the bite and will make a huge rotten area around the bite usually 3 to 5 inches across. It is nasty.
Fortunately like other spiders Recluses generally avoid human contact if they can. Both bites I have seen were in areas wher it appears the spider was trapped between the skin and clothing one on the fore arm and one in the kidney area of the back. As a side note both were hot blonds (females).
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