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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by Jahon on May 10, 2009
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"i can assure you that ld50 is not right, here is some ld50 info, members.tripod.com/~c_kianwee/rpotent.htm, then i also found this but it ould not let me open the website, 'Black Widow spider, Latrodectus mactans, yielded an LD50 o f 1.39 mg/kg while the venom o f the Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, yielded an LD50 o f 0.59 mg/kg ...', but most of theses ld50's you find are bogus, arin"
That would mean a black widow does not even have nearly enough venom to kill a single mouse. I don't know about you, but I find the first LD50 a lot more believable.
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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by puffadder7 on May 10, 2009
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oh, the one that says latrodectus is 12 and 1/2 times more toxic than the inland taipan, thats just preposterous, anyway ld50's are a very complicated matter, so i guess bryan fry is the one to ask, but no hard feelings, arin
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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by Jahon on May 10, 2009
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Hard feelings for what? I can believe it being 12 and a half times more toxic than a inland taipan though because think about it. An inland taipan can inject 100 miligrams of venom and can easily kill a human. A black widow injects .02 miligrams of venom and it still has managed to kill people. You would need EXTREMELY toxic venom to be able to kill a person with that much venom. However, it being 12 and a half times more toxic than an inland taipan does not make it nearly as dangerous considering the differing yields.
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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by FSB on May 18, 2009
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OK, I changed the title anyway. Have you noticed any spidey powers yet? Able to crawl up walls or shoot webbing out of your wrists? Sorry - had to say that...
Ophidiophobia is a condition that I can rationalize about, but I still have difficulty imagining it personally. On the other hand, I can rationalize the importance and amazing attributes of spiders, but they still creep me out, and a part of is the rather mysterious properties of their venoms/bites. My father was bitten by a black widow on the hand years ago, and only suffered some minor throbbing, redness and discomfort (though with him, it could be pretty hard to tell... he's pretty stoic about pain and has never complained about anything). The big concern, especially for those of us here in the Southeast, is just how darn common Latrodectus mactans can be.... they can turn up almost anywhere, and the probability of accidentally touching one is much more likely, I think, than for any venomous snake. I remember reading a case history about a young army private on maneuvers who, against orders, used an old privvy and received a bite in the most unthinkable place. (Then there was that old movie about the incredible shrinking man that was on TV when I was really little. All I can remember is the scene with the spider...). At the same time, my brother had become interested in spiders and was keeping some really large wolf spiders in his room, in semi-opaque plastic jugs that seemed to magnify their size even more. I've been mildly afflicted with arachnophobia ever since, and though I've mostly rationalized it away, I still do not enjoy handling spiders, or walking into their webs. Yet throughout my life, people have always lumped spiders and snakes together as belonging to some sort of family of "creepy animals," (the "Halloweenidae"), and ever since second grade, my teachers seemed to assume that since I knew about snakes, that I was automatically the spider expert too. Nyet!
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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by Cro on May 18, 2009
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Fred, you are right on the mark about how common Black Widow spiders are here in the south. I can go out almost any day and find dozens of them. Once you learn to recognize that raggedy web they make, they are quite easy to find.
Not long ago, I was taking a garden hose off of a rack, and as I did, a huge black widow spidey fell out of the hose coils, and landed on my leg. She started climbing up my leg, and I was hesatant to use my hand to knock her off, as she was partially tangled in web that had come down with her, and I was concerned that she might not brush off, and would wind up attached to my hand. She also acted a bit pissed off about being disturbed, LOL.
I found something to brush her off with. Normally, Black Widow spideys do not bother me much, however, when they are crawling on me, it does tend to cause a bit of a freak-out reaction, LOL.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by earthguy on May 18, 2009
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The last time I crawled under an old house (which was last weekend) I ran across at least a dozen different black widows. I found one of them crawling on my leg :(. I like spiders, too, but that made me pretty nervous. I was bitten by one of these years ago...and it was NOT a pleasant experience.
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RE: I think it's pretty safe to say that we all ha
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by Jahon on May 18, 2009
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"My father was bitten by a black widow on the hand years ago, and only suffered some minor throbbing, redness and discomfort (though with him, it could be pretty hard to tell... he's pretty stoic about pain and has never complained about anything)."
I am not squeamish about pain in any way, shape, or form either. This was not pain restricted only to the bite area, nor was it tolerable in any imaginable way. The muscle cramps in my abdomen, back, and thighs were just horrendous. I was asking the police officer to knock me out with his night stick to get away from the pain. This was mind-altering pain. In fact, im not exaggerating anything either, I don't like blowing things out of proportion or bragging so please don't think I am, but according to the doctors had I not gone to the hospital, I would have very likely died from going into shock because of the pain alone and that was the main concern at the hospital. Initially I did not think much of the bite, I thought there would be some pain and that that would be it. Within under an hour I literally collapsed in the nurse's office, it felt as though all the muscles in my body had locked. I don't think I've ever screamed so loud in my life.
In most cases of a black widow spider bite, symptoms consist only of:
Minimal to sharp pain followed by swelling and redness at the site of the bite.
One or two small fang marks like tiny red spots.
In some cases, severe symptoms appear within 30 to 60 minutes. These include:
Muscle cramps and spasms that start near the bite and then spread and increase in severity for 6 to 12 hours.
Chills, fever, nausea, or vomiting.
Sweating.
Severe abdominal, back, or chest pain.
Headache.
Stupor, restlessness, or shock.
Severe high blood pressure.
I had EVERY SINGLE one of those symptoms.
Ironically enough, I was bitten in the same area as Spiderman. Come to think of it, I have been a little more agile lately, LOL.
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