I've read that brown recluse's cannot bite humans without some sort of counter pressure. Anyone have further knowledge? If so, is this true for babies/young children?

"Brown recluse spiders cannot bite humans without some form of counterpressure. This pressure usually occurs when they are trapped against the skin."

Examples:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/spiders/types.html

http://extension.missouri.edu/p/g7386-3

I've always heard this too, but thought it was just a wives tale.

Same with you don't actually feel them bite you, and you don't know you've been bit until you see the bruise.

Don't really know how valid that is, but very bite that I know of has occurred due to pressure and; either brushing up against one or under the sheets or inside clothing.

I've never heard of a BR just biting someone on top of the hand let's say for no reason and seen proof of this having occurred.

Now your everyday garden spider? They'll bite if handled and they are aggressive, same with wolf spiders.

Well, frankly I'd be surprised if that was true , but you've cited some pretty good sources.

In med school, during my surgery rotation, I did a debridement on a guy with a spider bite on his leg (resident: "You want to do it?" Me: "Hell yeah!" Her: "OK, but if the attending comes in, just put down the scalpel so he doesn't see"). Kind of an ugly looking, quarter sized wound if I remember correctly, but the fat under the skin was necrotic. I ended up taking about a 6 inch diameter patch of skin and underlying necrotic debris off. I always figured it had to be a BR, but don't know for sure.

Gangster Octopus said:

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We get black widows at work all the time. We have stacked product coming in from Mexico (think bowls stacked upside down on each other so that there are voids between them) and we usually kill one or two a week when the weather is right.

Brown Recluse, on the other hand, are a rarity. I was in the laundry room at my house in December and saw a massive one crawling up the wall behind the washer. I don't usually get freaked out by spiders, but with a 1 year old and a 6 year old, I said hell naw. Killed it with a chancla and called the pest guy to unleash hell the next day. He "left it wet" for me and I haven't seen a bug inside since he left. **** a brown recluse.

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The Chancla. Solving problems since the dawn of time.

Had to come back to this thread and say thanks for helping me learn how to identify BR's.

My dad and brother went in on a ranch outside of Harper texas. Went out there today and we were working on a well pump and there were some spiders.

My brother looked at one and said pretty sure that's a brown recluse. I looked at it and said no. Then I looked and saw another spider and sure enough, fiddle back. So I got to show my brother how to ID them also.

Also saw a ton of Black Widows. Scary country out there haha

Also, which bite is worse? Brown Recluse or Black Widow?

Recluse is the most destructive. Necro vs Neuro toxins.

This. I think there is a potential for a more adverse rxn to a widow bite but it's few and far between where as a recluse bite kills tissue almost always.

Self diagnosed, but I had a spider bite on the back of my thigh a couple of years back that I'm pretty sure was a BR. Turned into a 1" diameter festering boil. Ended up popping it and a bunch of puss came out and then it looked like the typical abscess pictures you can find online. Took several months for it to fully disappear.

Did the flesh rot away and leave a nasty looking hole?

If not imo not a BR bite.l, just some other abscess - splinter or ingrown hair most common.

Didn't rot flesh away, but as I understand, not all BR bites react the same way. It was pretty wide open hole, though, with grayish scar tissue looking circle all the way around it.

I get ingrown hairs pretty regularly all over my body, and this seemed to be very different from an ingrown hair

Not a dr. so don't hold me to it BUT that sounds like staph.

Got bit by a BR when I was younger. Skin on calf turned red and then two tiny black dots formed on day 2-3. After that a black sore about the size of a silver dollar. Extreme muscle pain in the leg like a cramp. Used crutches for a few days. Ultimately the sore harden and the remaining black skin was peeled out (painful scab) and I could balance a quarter in the hole for a month or so.

I had the same exact thing about 15 years ago, went to the doctor, and it ended up being staph. I thought it was a spider bite too and the doc said it's the most common assumption by most people.

Same as yours all the way down to the hole in the leg and color of the scarring.

You're right they don't react the same way, but a very high majority due. I'm not a spider expert by any means and defintely not a toxin expert but did get enough exposure to it in college that I can speak somewhat educatedly about it.

Either way sounds nasty.