Picked up a Hitchhiker..Poisonous??

[Obi..]

Apparently this past weekend we picked up this little hitchhiker in the 4Runner's cabin while up in the Sierras. The way we found it was the wife freaked out tonight as it was crawling up the front passenger seatbelt, not too far from our little girl's head.

Specifics, 1cm in size, fuzzy, red marking on the back, but not the typical "U" shaped red semi circle one like the Johnson jumper, more of a red circle with a black "Y" dividing the red up, the bottom of the "Y" being oriented towards the tail section. I did not get to see if it hopped b/c I reacted so quickly.

I'm thinking from the marking it is some sort-of NorthernSierra/Caifornia variant of the Johnson Jumper, not really poisonous per-say, but I saved it in a ziplock and threw it into the freezer to take to the doctor tomorrow just in case since both the little one and I were bitten by something this w/e.

*Sorry for the p.o.s. cell shot, this is from when I first got to it, and now it's covered in frost/ice so I am not gonna thaw it out possibly making the sample useless for the doctor.

[Obi..]

*For Reference: This is what I know of for sure as a Jumping Johnson Spider..*Not the one we have.
http://neveryetmelted.com/wp-images/Redback.jpg

[MTL_4runner]

Even from the fuzzy picture, I still say you have a Jumping Johnson Spider. There is no limit to the variation of markings they can have, but the bright red/orange back is a dead giveaway. Not poisonous to any great extent for humans.

Unless you came across one of these:

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/a-list/creature-countdowns/lovers/images/redback-spider.jpg

.....your daughter will be fine.

[Bob98SR5]

freakin' hate black widows. i torch them in the summer months at night with a mapp gas torch. takes a short blast of heat to burn their legs off :P

[Obi..]

Screw that, try Hornets and Yellow Jackets, they'll hunt you down like no tomorrow! :(

@Bob, me too..but instead I'll make them fight with a Daddy Long-Legs and watch who will win. :) Learned that fun with Filipino friends while growing up.

@MTL, yeah Doc confirmed what I thought, it's just my concern initially was the bites we both got, mine is a little more infected than here, but I figured on the amount of possible toxins versus her age and small size would make things possibly worse.

I think I'm gonna head out today and pick up some dryer sheets and moth balls, this way it'll take care of the spiders as well as the field mice.

[4x4mike]

freakin' hate black widows. i torch them in the summer months at night with a mapp gas torch. takes a short blast of heat to burn their legs off :P



You're kidding right? If you were a chick I'd totally be turned on. I have to wait for Marin to go to sleep before I do that because she thinks it's mean (she's a wildlife biologist and I'm a wannabe redneck pyro). I've burn many a spider and know that with some heat their legs burn off and with more heat they can pop. Today is was a big black fuzzy one that was in the BBQ.

Last summer I stepped on a black widow while walking barefoot in the backyard. It scared me because we were letting the baby graze (ie crawl around) and her getting bit was last thing I wanted to happen. My foot got hot, swollen and I got a little worried but mostly after googling it. I iced it a little and wrote it off. I had forgotten about it until my wife asked me how my foot was the next morning. For the most part if it's a spider in my house it's dead as I assume it'll kill you. In the field and wild I assume the same for most snakes, etc. I don't kill them as I'm in their house so I walk the other way.