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Fear Mongering

Started by OldDominionAngler, July 01, 2015, 14:40:37 PM

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OldDominionAngler

It's really more curiosity than fear...

I was in the woods this weekend and encountered the lot of nature's scary monsters.  Ran into a bear, picked up a little poison ivy,removed an embedded deer tick from a tricky lie, and now the real mystery...I got bit repeatedly by some unknown insect/arachnid in my sleeping back on Sunday night while sleeping.  Six decent sizes welts on upper legs and shoulders.  No pain, just itchy now..growing in redness and size.  Slight swelling, biggest is the size of a half dollar.

I was wrecked on Sunday night when I came back, and didn't put two and two together because the bites were less pronounced then.  I thought it was exhaustion and soreness from sleeping on the ground...seemed a little odd though because it was more like flu-like soreness. 

I feel fine at this point but I'm curious...can you ID a spider bite by how the bite looks?  What species are limited to SNP?  Google searches bring up the standard hoopla...black widows, recluse, sac, hobos.  To my knowledge half of those don't inhabit these woods and half aren't aggressive so I'm clueless. 

Any spider experts out there? Or maybe there's another culprit.

Woolly Bugger

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

OldDominionAngler

Quote from: Woolly Bugger on July 01, 2015, 14:44:57 PM
Chiggers

Hm, I wasn't thinking along those lines. I thought they were later summer and more lowlands near the water.  We weren't near much water. 

Big J


Woolly Bugger

ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

natureboy

Chiggers maybe?  Hopefully not a flea.

OldDominionAngler

Yeah, I'm not trying to get the bubonic plague right this minute.  These are big ass red welts...the horrific google image searches I just made suggest chigger, flea, and scaby bites are all smaller.  And these aren't really all local...something was on the move. 

TylerDurden

Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else.

OldDominionAngler

Quote from: TylerDurden on July 01, 2015, 15:27:44 PM


Thank you for the computer generated newscast/death sentence.

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

I'm no spider expert.  I can ID maybe a half dozen kinds.

I am not sure if too many, or any, spiders around here inject anticoagulants or leave some substance, which I believe is what causes the itching.  Perhaps the recluse has some sulfur derivative protein that acts like an anticoagulant.  I've forgotten most of that kind of stuff. 

I'd bet in your case it was some insect or likely chiggers.  Bossman is spot on. 

I don't believe my Lyme was Lyme or even a tick bite.  The antibiotics seem to be working.  I am sure it was a Yankee spider that liked my knee.

Good luck ODA.  We can enjoy the outdoors and get nailed by nasty critters, or we can stay at home.  I like the former.   
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

Dee-Vo

I vote chiggers. Those bitches suck. I've had my legs covered a couple times. Bastards.

Dougfish

Chiggers aren't just late summer. I had a friend get eaten up by them in April on a grassy/weedy dry, rocky ridge when we were plant collecting.
But I wasn't bothered. I don't smell very good, I guess. 

driver

I have about 16 chigger bites at the moment. Chiggers are thick here in the piedmont. I usually start getting them in May. As for mosquitos. They dont bother me. They will bite the person next to before bitting me. And if i do get it bit, its doesnt welt or itch.  I wish I could say that about chiggers

revfox

Ya, I would bet money they are chiggers. I got about 15 of them a few weeks ago during an engagement photoshoot with an "outdoorsy" couple in a grassy field. We all got covered and they itched like hell for about two days and I still got the evidence all over.

Hadn't seen them since my summers in Florida at camp. Hard as hell not to scratch.

Dee-Vo

People told me to put fingernail polish on each place to seal it up where air can't get to it. Air makes it itch, evidently. I did it (clear fingernail polish). Seemed to work.