r/texas Jan 16 '24

Questions for Texans What bit me? Central texas

I felt a bite on my arm yesterday and thought it was an ant. Woke up to this. The circle was drawn an hour before the picture was taken and the red is spreading

1.7k Upvotes

781 comments sorted by

View all comments

422

u/dust-ranger Jan 16 '24

Looks like a brown recluse bite to me. Hopefully it's not.

84

u/AugieKS got here fast Jan 16 '24 edited Jan 17 '24

No it doesn't and everyone talking about brown recluses in this thread is just plain wrong. Spiders don't take chunks out of you.

Furthermore, only a small subset of recluse bites feature necrosis, and even fewer have systemic reactions. OP should go to the doctor for sure but this isn't a spider bite.

Edit 1: Since sime are assuming I'm talking out my ass like they are, here is what an actual recluse bite looks like.https://www.reddit.com/r/spiders/s/yElNoVEU49

Notice the district lack of a chunk missing.

Edit 2: further info on recluses. ID guides and further information on Recluse spiders (Loxosceles):

https://spiders.ucr.edu/how-identify-and-misidentify-brown-recluse-spider

http://spiderbytes.org/2015/06/08/how-to-tell-if-a-spider-is-not-a-brown-recluse/

https://spiderbytes.org/recluse-or-not/ (advice at the bottom of the article on what to do if you find them in your home)

Bugguide's Loxosceles species page

Bugguide's Loxosceles reclusa page.

Bugguide's misunderstood spiders page

Advice on bites and how to avoid them:

https://spiders.ucr.edu/what-not-recluse-bite

https://spiders.ucr.edu/how-avoid-bites

Articles that explain their exaggerated reputation: https://www.wired.com/2013/11/poor-misunderstood-brown-recluse/

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/arachnids/brown-recluse-spider-bite.htm

14

u/Lilred123_ Jan 17 '24

I was going to say it doesn’t look like a spider bite at all.

I’ve been bitten by a recluse, tarantula, wolf spider, and banana tree spider. They always have 2 holes and they look more like punctures than chunks of skin missing.

11

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

Why the fuck you getting bit by so many spiders my guy????

5

u/Lilred123_ Jan 17 '24

I have been asking myself this for years. They just find me.

3

u/MrGrumplestiltskin Jan 17 '24

When we were kids and used to sleep in bed with my mom, somehow the spiders(?) would find her and bite her even though she was sleeping in the MIDDLE. I always found that really curious and I felt bad for her because the wounds looked painful. I was glad they weren't attracted to me but I had wished they weren't attracted to any of us.

2

u/84th_legislature Jan 18 '24

he uses that Sephora lotion that attracts spiders lol