[stanman13]

I've been tromping around the Michigan woods for a long, long time. I've never run across a Missasauga Rattler. I've seen them in captivity, and notice that you'd pretty much have to go kicking the thing around for it to strike. Picking one up in the garden would not be a recommended practice.

Never seen a Black Widow spider, and my understanding is that the Brown Recluse is very rare here. I believe someone else mentioned that there was one confirmed sighting, and that essentially concurs with what my understanding is. I have known guys that will claim that every brown spider around is a Brown Recluse, though.

Not sayin' they aren't out there, but I think you'd have to go looking. Not something you have to particularly worry about. The Black Flies will give you more trouble.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by stanman13

I've been tromping around the Michigan woods for a long, long time. I've never run across a Missasauga Rattler. I've seen them in captivity, and notice that you'd pretty much have to go kicking the thing around for it to strike. Picking one up in the garden would not be a recommended practice.

Never seen a Black Widow spider, and my understanding is that the Brown Recluse is very rare here. I believe someone else mentioned that there was one confirmed sighting, and that essentially concurs with what my understanding is. I have known guys that will claim that every brown spider around is a Brown Recluse, though.

Not sayin' they aren't out there, but I think you'd have to go looking. Not something you have to particularly worry about. The Black Flies will give you more trouble.

Just because you personally haven't seen anything doesn't mean they are not there. I personally HAVE seen a couple Rattlers here in mid-Michigan and I have seen plenty of Black Widow spiders.

As for the Brown recluse, my wife works in a local ER, they are around and several people every summer are treated for their bites. I personally have never seen one in the wild.

[stanman13]

Originally Posted by stanman13

...Not sayin' they aren't out there, but I think you'd have to go looking. Not something you have to particularly worry about. The Black Flies will give you more trouble.

Originally Posted by Bydand

Just because you personally haven't seen anything doesn't mean they are not there. I personally HAVE seen a couple Rattlers here in mid-Michigan and I have seen plenty of Black Widow spiders.

As for the Brown recluse, my wife works in a local ER, they are around and several people every summer are treated for their bites. I personally have never seen one in the wild.

Well, that's pretty much what I said, isn't it. Note the part that says "Not sayin' they aren't out there..."

There are lots of bites that could be mistaken for certain spider bites after the fact. Even in the ER. Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders, and Missisauga rattlers are out there, but their bites are rare, and it is not something that the vast majority of Michigan residents will ever see.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by stanman13

Well, that's pretty much what I said, isn't it. Note the part that says "Not sayin' they aren't out there..."

There are lots of bites that could be mistaken for certain spider bites after the fact. Even in the ER. Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders, and Missisauga rattlers are out there, but their bites are rare, and it is not something that the vast majority of Michigan residents will ever see.

Well yes. One brown recluse sighting is more than very rare. It is safe to say that they are not out there. They do not live in temperatures below 40 degrees so they are definitely not out there. If there are any they are indoors. Of course maybe the DNR is lying when they say that there has only been one confirmed sighting and those came in a shipment from a southern state.

I was told by an ER intern that he gets people coming in regularly saying that they got bit by a brown reluse. He seemed to think that everyone who sees a brown spider and gets bitten by something runs into the ER. If there ever was a real confirmed toxic bite, it would be all over the papers.

I also laugh when someone says that they saw "a" brown recluse spider. The live in Colonies, very large colonies. You do not see one. You see dozens or hundreds. We found some of them in California once. We called the city and they got us in touch with someone who came and confirmed what they were and collected them. We then fumigated and never saw one again. We were lucky, not to avoid being bitten as much as to avoid the press learning about it. I think I would rather have a spider bite me than be inflicted with those vultures. Even in California where the brown recluse actually lives, if someone found them in a residential area, it ended up in the paper.

[Bydand]

Actually Brown Recluse have a pretty unmistakable bite (and VERY nasty). The way it affects the surrounding tissue is very apparent what type spider bite it is. No other spider in Michigan will do the type of damage they do. Unmistakable by itself, let alone in an ER setting.

[Coldjensens]

I have seen quite a few black widows. Far more in California than here (they were all over our back yard), but a few here once in a while. I have swatted them off me and I got stung or bitten or whatever. It was no big deal. Bee stings are worse. There is a risk if you are allergic to them. So many things are overblown. Humans love to pani themselves. I guess we all crave drama in our lives and if we do not have it, we create it.

[Coldjensens]

"Doctors are horrible [about] misdiagnosing any kind of necrotic-looking wounds as brown recluse bites," says Sean P. Bush, MD, a professor of emergency medicine at Loma Linda School of Medicine. An envenomation specialist, he has become the "go-to doctor" in Southern California for suspected spider bites. In the emergency department "you see a necrotic wound every other shift," he says, but spider bites are a rarity. Even with black widows, which "are totally ubiquitous here," he only sees about half a dozen bites a year. "If it's an 'exciting year,' maybe 10."

[stanman13]

Here's what Ohio State University has to say about it.

[Coldjensens]

INtersting. Brown recluse does nto normally live in California. We apparently had some and occaisioanlly we woudl read about some being found in various places. Prehaps they were imports that cam in with Southern goods like the one identified bunch found in Michigan.

Back to bugs that acutally live here in Michigan, has anoyne seen much of the Orange Ladybugs recently? About three or four years ago, they were everywhere, you would fund huge quantities of them dead in your light fixtures or window sills. IN the last two years, I cannot remember seeing one. Have otehr people seen them in quantitiy? What happened to them?

[stanman13]

I can't say that I saw even a single one this summer. The orange ladybugs if I recall correctly, were a Japanese version? Although I didn't really see many of our native red ones, either.

I have seen some hyuuge praying mantises this season.