Just a little warning

[Dawn]

Friends of ours returned recently from 3 weeks in a Florida villa. Mrs was telling me last week that her sister had to spend the night in the emergency room.

She was bitten on the shoulder by a spider. She didn't think anything of it at first as it was inside the villa and she thought that the bad spiders were all outside. Several hours later she felt very unwell. Turns out it was a Brown Recluse.

Just a little warning - indoors doesn't mean safe.

[Tink]

A brown recluse? Not good. Not good at all. She can end up with serious complications.

Also, a spider doesn't have to be "poisonous" to cause trouble. All spiders carry bacteria and if you are bitten you can expect at least a painful reaction from same.

Indoors does NOT mean safe by any means. Snakes get indoors too.

Boy, you must all think I'm totally phobic! No, but I sure am alert to things that can cause problems. Spiders are silent and if you don't look for them, you can easily be surprised by them. No real way to be positive they are not in the house other than keeping areas clean of course, and not having "nesting" areas, but that's so subjective you can make yourself crazy with that too!

Also, another little known reality is that those nasty roaches (even the big ones people call palmetto bugs-roaches by any other name) can and do bite.

[Dawn]

Yep whenever we are in Florida shoes get shaken before being put on, and bedcovers pulled right back before getting in.

Luckily she's ok and the insurance covered the medical expenses but it does remind us not to be complacent.

[Britchick]

brown recluse complications can be horrendous, yikes.

[Tink]

Yes, they can. A woman I once worked with had her 13 year old daughter taken to the Miami hospital as a result of a brown recluse bite. The child almost lost her leg. She didn't but has really, really bad scars from tissue death. The child was in hospital for almost six weeks.

[Britchick]

when we first moved to SC i checked everything religiously but after a while i stopped. After an encounter with a spider the size of a tea plate in Daniel's room that wouldn't die after a whole can of black widow spray was sprayed on it we decided to have the house fumigated every few months

[Keith]

I check shoes, bedding and generally make sure that the places we stay are kept tidy without crumbs or bundles of clothes anywhere. IMHO that, and the critters wishing to stay away from humans as much as possible, is going to take care of 99% of problems. The other 1% of freak encounters probably can't be anticipated and just need to be dealt with as and when.

Having said that a colleague of mine who is absolutely terrified of bugs had an encounter a few years back. Staying in a villa and because she was so nervous about bugs she checked every room, sprayed all the entrances etc.

Came to leave, pulled the suitcase out of the cupboard (didn't leave it on the floor because that would have been an invitation) and was bitten twice on the hand and arm by a recluse.

Went immediately to emergency and they monitored the bites until it became obvious that yes there had been some envenomation where upon they administered anti-venom. Despite all that, the wound on her arm did go necrotic and put her arm in jeopardy.

She eventually "recovered" but has a horrific scar where the skin was just eaten away and has relapses of the pain every few months.

They kept the spider and preserved it for her. When she brought it to show me I was expected a huge female spider but in fact, it was the tiniest male! Wouldn't have believed the little thing would have the venom to be able to inflict that damage but it also proved to me that you just can't hope to see all the threats.

[Tink]

No you can't and that experience is definite example of the reality of that statement. Just like the little boy at WDW in 2009 who dropped his toy along the walkway. When reaching to retrieve it, he was bitten by a cotton mouth (driven inland by the heavy rain). He ended up ok, but what a battle.

Keep in mind that prolonged heavy rain that causes mild (or more than mild) flooding is a real warning. It brings creatures that aren't normally part of every day life, into the spectrum of where you may be. Snakes, spiders, even 'gators all "come with the water" so be alert to that too.

Now, having said all that, going along and enjoying yourself needs to be priority, yes?

[Wendy]

Ok, now I'm going to be manic I am paranoid about bugs, heck I don't like love bugs, I do a rain dance if they land on me and they are harmless.

One good thing about where we stay is that it is spotlessly clean and I tend to vaccum every other day, not because it needs it, it's just something I do at home anyway.

We never leave the front door or patio door open, even if we are just popping out for a couple of minutes.

[Keith]

One good thing about where we stay is that it is spotlessly clean and I tend to vaccum every other day, not because it needs it, it's just something I do at home anyway.

We never leave the front door or patio door open, even if we are just popping out for a couple of minutes.

Absolutely... they came round last time we were there and sprayed around every possible entrance point etc ... it's the difference between a really well looked after villa and well you know :/ bugs can get anywhere of course but that level of attention really should minimise the chances