Black widows also seem to like outdoor toilets (I don't know about porta poties with all the chemicals.) Pardon the indelicacy but as regards the black widow and the privy, one of the frequent bite sites is the male scroutum.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Ahhhh! That dosn't make me feel any better... we found one in our house the other night. First time we ever found a Black Widow in the house (seen them outside a couple of times around the wood pile... which is a good distance from the house on purpose).
Wife says, "beautiful spider"... really, as spiders go, they are a magnificant spider... only I don't want to get bit!... especially there! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
- William
Pat, you really know how to make me worry! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
MarineJAG, My father in law used to raise black widows. He would have zillions of them when an egg case hatched out. The black widows silk is super sttrong for its weight and was prized for optical reticles (Cross hairs in rifle scopes and other instruments, to bring it closer to home.) Actually in the beauty contest, I'd like to suggest the golden orb spider.
Be advised that more folks die each year in the US from bug bites than from snake bites by a fair margin.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Wow... and I spend my time these days buying... scopes of all things... I heard that spider web (pound per pound) is one of the strongest materials on earth... someone even suggested making bullet proof vests out of them! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
- William
I have lots of black widows (BWs) where I live. I know when I'm getting near one when I find the web. It is really amazing how much stronger the BW strands are than other spider webs. They make an easily heard snap when you break them.
One decided to take up residence under the hood of my tractor - found the web when I was checking the oil before starting it up. I never did see the spider - after running all day I think it left for cooler pastures [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]. I'm pretty sure it is gone since I'm not seeing new webs under the hood.
But to get back to the topic - if anyone gets an unknown bite that is really painful, it really is important to have it looked at. A lot of the bites from critters can cause really nasty side effects.
MarineJAG, I will stick to Kevlar with ceramic inserts till someone does the field testing on the spider man version.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
<font color="blue"> </font color> [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
what was the reason for raising these particular spiders? i am just wondering. I saw a spider bite on a friend of mine's leg and it turned very black and the flesh began to rot around it. It was a very long time and doctor treating to heal. have a good day! [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
thechilliness, Let me ELABORATE on the comments I already make as to why my father-in-law raised numerous black widow spiders. You see there are lots of Jamaican types who believe in voodo living in Florida and he saw this huge economic potential...
Just kidding... My F-I-L was a man of many talents which included masters degrees in psychology and physics, garnered with the SAME THESIS. His specialty in physics was optics. Black widow silk is highly prized for crosshairs (reticles) in optical instrumentation. To have a reliable and economical source of black widow silk, he grew his own spiders. My wife recalls (from her childhood) the containers with zillions of itsy bitsy baby spiders. No one was ever bitten in this enterprise, except the spiders lilve food.
P.S. To see an example of his work, the next time you are in the Smithonion AeroSpace Museum take a lok at the surveyor spacecraft on display. The surveyor was a "soft" lander that checked out prospective landing sites for the manned lunar landings of the Apollo program. The stereo camera system was his baby.
Sorry about the Jamaica thing... Although he did hire a village in the Bahamas to make gravel by smashing rocks with hand held hammers though. I don't think there was any vodoo involved, just a shallow harbor that would not admit the ship carrying a big rock crusher machine.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Interesting comments. I will also wait for testing before wearing a spider-man vest! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] The spider bite that started to rot may have been a brown recluse spider. They are know for bites of that nature.
- William
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