Spiders
I've spent the last week packing and moving all of my things to my new apartment in Clarksdale and welcoming/helping/hosting the new Delta corps members. There were three '06 corps members who stayed for a few days with M- and me in Shelby while they found housing. Two of them will be teaching at the middle school, and I'm very pleased about that because I like them both very much. The other one, also a sweet girl, was originally placed in our high school. However, she declined the position in favor of another one more her flavor in Arkansas (math instead of sciences.)
Anyhow, at one of the potlucks (hosted around the Delta the first week the first years are here to introduce them to each other and to the 2nd years who have returned), I happened to mention how many spiders there were at my Shelby house. I'd been swatting or ignoring them, depending on their location, as I'd been packing. My friend E-, a native Mississippian, warned me to be careful. It turns out that spiders in Mississippi, unlike spiders in Massachusetts, can be very poisonous. In fact, northern Mississippi, where I live, is smack dab in the middle of the territory of the brown recluse spider.
The brown recluse spider is one of the two most poisonous spiders in the United States. The other one is the black widow. Brown recluses can be recognized by a violin shape on their back and they like to hide out in dark places. Its poison kills the cells and tissue around the bite. Fortunately, they are not antagonistic and will run away from humans unless put between skin and a hard place, accidentally or not, in which case they bite.
Learning this information freaked me out. So I looked up a picture. And, you guessed it, the plethora of spiders who live in the house in Shelby are almost all brown recluses, nickel- to quarter-sized brown spiders witha violin-shaped spot on their backs. It is an infestation. I must have killed at least a dozen just while I was packing. Luckily, I have not been bitten -- yet. But as the spiders like to hide in dark places, like the insides of boxes, I'm sure I brought a few here to Clarksdale with me.
Anyhow, at one of the potlucks (hosted around the Delta the first week the first years are here to introduce them to each other and to the 2nd years who have returned), I happened to mention how many spiders there were at my Shelby house. I'd been swatting or ignoring them, depending on their location, as I'd been packing. My friend E-, a native Mississippian, warned me to be careful. It turns out that spiders in Mississippi, unlike spiders in Massachusetts, can be very poisonous. In fact, northern Mississippi, where I live, is smack dab in the middle of the territory of the brown recluse spider.
The brown recluse spider is one of the two most poisonous spiders in the United States. The other one is the black widow. Brown recluses can be recognized by a violin shape on their back and they like to hide out in dark places. Its poison kills the cells and tissue around the bite. Fortunately, they are not antagonistic and will run away from humans unless put between skin and a hard place, accidentally or not, in which case they bite.
Learning this information freaked me out. So I looked up a picture. And, you guessed it, the plethora of spiders who live in the house in Shelby are almost all brown recluses, nickel- to quarter-sized brown spiders witha violin-shaped spot on their backs. It is an infestation. I must have killed at least a dozen just while I was packing. Luckily, I have not been bitten -- yet. But as the spiders like to hide in dark places, like the insides of boxes, I'm sure I brought a few here to Clarksdale with me.
posted by Jessica at 7:28 PM
1 Comments:
I investigated the toxicity of the brown recluse bite. Some people don't even notice they've been bitten. Others can get necrosis the size of a hand. Sometimes the reaction can take up to 8 hours to appear. Bites are rarely . Hmmm. I'm glad you're not living in the infestation any more!
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