First of all, that's a fairly blurry pic, so it's probably gonna be hard for someone to make a definitive judgement call.
There's a chance it could have been a white-tail spider. These leave a characteristic bite which is very slow to heal and very destructive to the tissue surrounding the area of the bite.
My brother was bitten by a white-tail and it took ages to clear up. It left quite a hollow from all the tissue which was lost.
But yours could also be a large number of other things.
I'd go see a GP if it gets any worse. Otherwise go to a chemist and seek advice.
My money is on a white tail.
I got biten by one on the thumb, after I put a jacket on that had been left on the floor for a few hours. Again, no real pain, not even when it happened, but started feeling itchy. So I shook the jacket and your truely fell out on to the floor (was a huge sucker). So I put two and two together.
I scooped the eight legged little bustard up in a glass, and repaid the favour by putting him in the microwave on hight till he was nice and crispy.
Lucky I never had any bad reaction, just a bit of swelling, and itchy. Also weeped for a week or so. But I never ended up with the pussy bite marks.
I have also seen some bad spider bites over the years attributed to white tails. One guy his entire hand swelled up twice its normal size, with a red and purple lump right in the middle with a puss filled weeping ulcer the size of 10 cents on the middle. After a few weeks of antibiotics the doctor squeezed a horrific amount of gunk out of this blokes hand, but it eventually cleared up.
Have a look at these images if you ain't to squeemish.
Hi John, It looks like a White-Tail bite and probably twice I'd say. I'd be checking it out with your doctor to be on the safe side.
The problem with White-Tails is not their venom it's with all the bacteria on their fangs including golden staph which is really nasty. The venom produces the redness and pain but the bacteria is doing the real damage.
I tend to the white-tail, John. A couple or three years ago I had a series of five similar looking swellings on my left forearm. They were very itchy for day after day; they were also surrounded by a very hard area of tissue (compared to, say, a mosquito bite) and lasted for weeks. The itchiness finally subsided but the hard lumps persisted for what seemed like ages.
I don't know that it was indeed a white tail, but it's the only thing that I can put it down to. Like yourself I have and hadn't any recollection of being bitten. My guess is that I hopped into bed, or donned some apparel which the beastie had adopted for shelter (we do get a fair number of them around the place at certain times of the year).
Necrosis did not seem to be an issue in my case so maybe I'm blaming the wrong source.
Yep seems like that dreaded Whit Tail, I had one 4 years ago and it seems to come back as a rash an stuff like that each year, just about the same time each year around the time of the bite.
If that's as bad as the bites are after 2 weeks I'd say you have little to be concerned about. I have been bitten twice by spiders in the past year, both times in bed and the wounds became started stinging and weeping, then became ulcerated within a couple of days, eventually turning a very nasty black colour at about day 3. One bite started as 2 small dots well under the size of a pinhead, but spread to around 6mm diameter before stabilising. Still wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the bite/s though.
if you are still about and able to read theses replies, we can safely rule out Funnel Web
Red backs hurt like a son of a ***** right from the moment you're bitten.
Futher to what Leon said, I had a friend who got nailed by a white tail on the leg in bed about 12 years ago and her eyes swelled shut. Every year since and almost to the day, her eyes swell shut.
White tails pretty much give a different reaction from one person to another
Looks like two bites from a white tail or a wolf spider. Either way keep a close eye on the area and if the necrotic area starts to enlarge seek medical assistance quickly. If the area doesn't heal and becomes necrotic you could require surgical assistance.
It seems that white tail spiders have had a pretty bum wrap. See http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/...b10785_fm.html
I'm not sure what the bite is but I would guess that it is 2 separate bites and not one with wide fangs and that white tail spiders probably don't cause anymore necrotic wounds than any other spider.
Just to be on the safe side, run your arm over the scanner at Woolies or Coles just to eliminate "Alien Abduction" and the depositing of a microchip under the skin.
If you beep, better call Scully & Mulder.
On the serious side, it does look like a couple of bites from a white tail.
Part of the problem with White Tail bites is the germs that spider initially carries on its fangs including its venom and the person who has been bitten scratching the living daylights out of it causing a greater wound and ensuring the bite becomes infected causing further complications.
Hi Terry, thanks for the article it was a very interesting read and as a first aid officer with our RFS brigade it is good to know as well.
I was lucky not to be bitten myself today. I could fell something rattling around in my boot this morning but didn't check until lunch time and out dropped a very dead Huntsman with a body the size of a twenty cent piece.
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