CLOSED: little "chocolate" colored spider bit my 5 yr old in bathtub

henrys Shawnee, OK Dec 15, 2008

I've never seen this spider before. First we thought it was a brown recluse but it was so small and dark brown or chocolate in color. I can't see any markings on the body and I can't tell if it's hairy but from just looking at it in the light, it looks like it has a "shiny" body. My son killed it because the spider bit him on the neck while he was taking a bath and he said it "stung him like an ant" so he thought it was a big ant. It is the size of a fire ant. It was curled up and lost some legs from the swat so I can't take a good picture. We took him to the ER and the docs could not identify it and where my son got bit is just a faint red dot. But within a few seconds of being bit it swelled like a mosquito bite which I thought was odd. I also know you usually can't feel a brown recluse bite. The doc didn't even put him on any antibiotics. So the environment was a very lit-up bathroom and my 5 yr old splashing and playing in the water. I figured the spider fell off the ceiling and hit his shoulder and crawled up his neck. I wish I had a picture but can't get a clear one close enough and the spider is now in two pieces. I scanned though some pics and it looks similar to the "true spider" or "wolf spider" but it really doesn't look hairy. Sorry no pics, but any help would be great!

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Dec 15, 2008

This does not sound like anything to worry about; from your description, this spider would not be any of the few species that can pose a real danger to humans. If it was as shiny as you indicate, it may have been one of the cobweb spiders in the genus Steatoda - see http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/8033 for an example. Bites from these spiders can be quite painful, as I can personally attest. As for antibiotics, I cannot see what good that might do, unless you were concerned about secondary bacterial infection at the bite site. If you see another example of this spider, try to get a photo of it while it is still alive.

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