If someone is bit, they will feel a bit of a pin prick sensation.  This will be followed by a dull numbing pain throughout the extremity.  The venom may cause the feeling of a heart attack or appendicitis.  During this, nausea, headache, vomiting and black widow face may occur. Black widow face is having red, swollen, droopy eyelids.  The complexion will become flushed and jaw muscle spasms also occur.  Mental psychosis occurs in severe cases.  Heart failure can occur in very young victims, very old victims or victims that have been bitten several times.  There are no known medical remedies for this, but there is an anti-venom that works on red- and brown-widows available.36

The spider got the name because of the female's mating ritual.  She kills her mate after he impregnates her and devours him as a post intercourse snack.  One source mentioned that if he does get away, he will die in a few days anyway because his male sex organ breaks off during violent  intercourse. This is a misnomer.  Actually, when black widows mate, the male cautiously advances toward her.  If the female is receptive, she will allow him to slowly advance closer.  Eventually, he reaches her and is able to touch her with his legs.  With her consent, be bonds her with his silk.  It is not strong enough to hold her for good.  After she is bonded, he impregnates her and leaves as soon as possible.  She comes out of her "spell" and breaks her bonds with ease.  The bonds give the male an extra split second to get away.  If she has the urge, or is hungry enough, she can usually catch him, and then eat him.  Surprisingly, he often shares her web, but keeps a safe distance.

Sometime after mating, she constructs an egg sack.  It is water tight and strong enough to protect the young from most predators.  She guards the egg sack for days.  She is a jealous mother and rarely leaves the egg sack.  When the spiderlings are born, they must leave right away.  The mother has been known to devour her young.  Even the young can devour each other.

If you want to avoid this deadly spider, check out the photo linked to my links page.  You will be looking for a spider that is black and shiny with a red hourglass on her underside.  Her abdomen is very round and her legs are long and elegant looking.  The male has a duller hour glass marking with red and white markings on his back and underside.  The markings aren't always prominent on the males.

If the bite is even felt, it might feel like a sting.  Hours later, itchy eyes and ears are noticed.  The skin of the face and upper eyelids become red and irritated.  Chills, nausea, and severe pain in the bitten extremity are common symptoms.  The bite itself becomes deep purple.  It gets larger all the time because the venom is continuously eating skin cells.  It will form a crust with a hard shell.  By this time, medical help is HIGHLY advised.  The venom goes to work by killing body cells, mainly red blood cells.  This is followed by a week of prickly pain that turns into blisters.  The blisters turn into leathery scabs.  The result of this is a greenish, yellow pus oozing out of broken scabs.  Other symptoms include fever, shock, vomiting, and joint pain.  The liver and kidneys are so severely affected that death is not uncommon.38

         If professional help is notified, the doctor would cut away damaged tissue and inject cortizone, which is a pain killer.  In cases that weren't caught right away, skin grafting and plastic surgery are highly likely.   It takes about four months for the wound to heal and a scar will always remain.

These little monsters originated in the southern states like Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.  With the settling of man they have spread throughout the United States.  They live under rocks and ledges, warehouses, vacation homes, campers, and behind books, furniture, in shoes, in corners, and especially in a pile of bunched up, forgotten about clothing.

The brown recluse is typically light brown with a dark brown violin pattern on its back.  It can reach a half inch in body length, but a quarter inch is more common..  It's body is narrow and its long, slender leg span can cover a half dollar.  This spider also has an extra appendage extending from the front, kind of appearing like the neck of a violin.  This pattern also gives this spider other names like fiddle-back or violin spider.

          JUST A NOTE... it is interesting to know that compared to the abundance of the species, the actual number of bites is relatively small.  It is unfortunate that the number of bites has increased over the years.