Black Widow Crawled On Me?

Question

I was sitting on the floor putting on lotion when I felt something on my arm. It was a black widow trying to crawl on me. It was a black widow for sure, it had a glossy black color, and bloated abdomen with an hourglass-shaped red mark on its underbelly.

I waited for it to crawl back onto the cabinet and then I panicked that it may have bitten me while on me. I trapped the black widow in a jar, its been 2 hours and I don't feel anything. What should I do and what I should I do with the spider in the jar?

Answer 1

just let the spider out outside.  if you dont feel anything yet it didnt bite you

Answer 2

Kill the black widow in the jar, or release it somewhere, whatever you want.

Black widows are not aggressive and do not deliberately attack humans.  Usually when they bite it is because one is trapped between the clothing and the skin, and gets squished, causing it to bite.  It can also bite if it is on your skin and you swat it to kill it; its fangs would be driven into your skin.  I have read that they will attack if you disturb their egg sac; but I have disturbed plenty of black widow egg sacs without making the spider aggressive.  

They will not bite you just walking across your skin.

Considering how abundant black widows are in Southern California, people would get bitten all the time if they were the least bit aggressive.

Answer 3

Keep the spider just in case so that a specialist can verify it is a black widow and administer the appropriate antivenom if needed, but if you want you can put the spider down by pouring rubbing alcohol into the jar.  The alcohol will also preserve it.

I believe that you should have local pain and swelling at this point by now, but be ready to be taken to the hospital.  Effects start really kicking in about 2-3 hours according to anecdotal reports I have heard, so you would start feeling a fever, abdominal pain, dizziness, and some cramps besides the local effects.  Get someone to drive you to the hospital at this point.  In worse cases, spasms, panic attacks, and a severe fever that has been known to cause a coma or even death are a result of the bite.  Death from a black widow or any spider bite is extremely rare though.

*I just saw the link that says 20 min to an hour... you are in the clear then.

Answer 4

you would know if it bit you. If it did, the are would start to necrotize

Answer 5

you would defintiely notice if it bit you, im guessing you would feel the sting, and you would see the mark.

so i wouldnt worry about that.

with the spider in the jar, i would either kill it, or take it far  far away.

Answer 6

just tell her to p**s off and go find a husband, and why do you have a spider in a jar?

Answer 7

u would have felt something by now..... ur ok..... keep the spider as a pet.... feed it other bugs they are cool to watch feed

Answer 8

if you make any type of contact with a black widow,you should call the local doctor.if it starts showing any sign of irritation,redness,or swelling call a hospital quick.

Answer 9

Yes a black window bite will make u sick for 3 days. U will know if u have gotten bitten. U got lucky it didn't bite u if u didn't feel anything after that happens. By the way kill the spider those are not good to keep. They release venom into ur blood and it can be quite fatal if u don't watch it.  

Answer 10

if a black widow bit you, you would know it within one minute.  you're in the clear.  it would release a hemotoxin that would immediately begin eating away at your tendons and muscles.

Answer 11

No, its a neurotoxin, Brown recluse is a hemotoxin that eats flesh.

You should feel cramps, nausea, amdominal pain, dizziness. Symptoms present within one hour.

The bite is also painful, you should feel the pain from the bite within 10 minutes.

You are in the clear, kill the spider in the jar.

Answer 12

put the spider outside

where do you live, that is so scary..we dont have black widows here

Answer 13

don't worry about it.  if it bit you, you would definitely feel it by now.  black widow bites are very painful, and within 20 to 60 minutes the area becomes infected and many of the surrounding muscle groups are numb and even paralyzed.

as for the spider, just slide a piece of paper underneath the jar and carry it outside and throw it somewhere.  or you can flush it down the toilet if you want.

Answer 14

last summer i was on a trip with a bunch of youth from my church. one of the kids woke up in the middle of the night and said that he had a headache and was sore all over. he had been bitten by a black widow.

so unless you start to feel like you just went through a day of extensive PT and you hurt all over, im pretty sure you'll be fine. ;)