Hobo Season...

No, I'm not talking about the men and women you see on almost every other street corner here in the Portland area... I'm referring to the much more deadly, Hobo Spider.

This time of the year (specifically when the weather is cooling off from high summer temperatures to mild fall ones) is when the Hobo's come out of hiding. It reminds me of a little incident that happened 5 years ago.

When I was in high school I used to cheer. It was tradition that every year the Creative Captain would hold a sleepover at her house during one of the weekends during football season. Since my parents have a large house I made the appropriate arrangements to have all 20 girls here for the night. We had lots of fun... eating a huge potluck dinner, a bonfire, games, prizes, and watching movies. Soon enough it was well after 2AM and some of us were calling it quits. I retracted to my bedroom and slept with two other friends in my queen sized bed. I was almost asleep when I heard a faint knock on my door and one of fellow cheerleaders whispered through the dark... "Kati?........" I asked her when she needed to which she nervously asked, "Um, do you guys have a pet tarantula?" I was confused and she informed me there was this HUGE spider downstairs and they were scared to kill it because it might be a pet. I was sort of tired and said, "Nope, no pet spider here... kill away."

Years later this story would have more meaning when I actually SAW the type of spider she was talking about.

Here we are again.... living in my parents basement during Hobo Season and I kid you not.... we killed 8, yes EIGHT spiders thus far. They typically come out at night and they are lightning fast, which proves difficult to successfully kill them.

For the most part they stick to the family room area and hardly ever venture into the bedrooms downstairs, until recently. I was in Quincy's room turning off some desk lamps and one ran right out of from behind a dresser. I was freaked to actually see one in one of the bedrooms, especially my little TODDLER'S bedroom! Luckily Tyler got it the first try. Then the next day I was walking into our bedroom and one shot out from under a shoe box and crawled into Quincy's shoe as I stood frozen. After repeated times of hitting at the shoe the spider came out and was killed on Tyler's account. I have never had a phobia of spiders before, but I have to admit I get a little paranoid during my nightly trips to the bathroom. Luckily, we haven't seen any lately.... but I don't doubt that they're still lurking around this house in hidden spots.

The good news is that they tend to 'vanish' in October (because mating season is over). Lucky for us that will be right when we move out! How ironic!

Information about Hobo Spider bites:

Other long-term physical effects, such as intractable burning pain, damage to blood vessel valves, and cyst formation occasionally occur in conjuntion with local lesion development. The lesion that results is sometimes oblong or multiple, resulting not from more than one spider bite, but rather from gravitational drift, which moves venom components downward, away from the bite site. The process which causes the local phenomenon of necrotic arachnidism involves circulatory disturbances which result in ischemia, or lack of adequate blood flow in the affected tissues. Following venom injection, rapid coagulation of blood occurs in the smaller blood vessels of these tissues. This produces a centralized area which does not receive enough blood, and the area literally dies as a result of oxygen starvation.

Systemic, or generalized effects are seen in about 45% of persons envenomated by hobo spiders. The most common reported symptom is severe headache, which usually does not respond to over the counter analgesics (aspirin, which can prolong bleeding time, should not be used for hobo spider bite induced headaches). In addition to this, victims may experience a dry mouth, nausea, weakness and lethargy, dizziness, visual disturbances, hallucinations, joint pain and/or other undesirable effects. As with many types of complex poisoning, most victims of systemic tegenarism do not experience all of these phenomenon, but that is dependent upon the severity of the poisoning. About 15% of envenomated subjects are poisoned severely enough to require hospitalization: In rare cases aplastic anemia (bone marrow failure) can develop several weeks after the bite, which results in a fatal outcome. Another rare but dangerous condition that has been seen following hobo spider envenomation is the development of severe intractable vomiting accompanied by secretory diarrhea.

Some cardinal rules apply to persons that have been bitten by, or think that they have been bitten by a venomous spider. Above all, if you are bitten by any spider, and actually catch the spider in the act, always capture the spider for identification by a qualified arachnologist. Never discard a spider that has definitely bitten a human. In the case of the hobo spider, not only is positive species identification important, but so is a determination of the spiders sex and age; these factors can help predict the severity of potential poisoning, and assist the attending physician in charting a course of treatment. Preserve the spider (or whatever parts of it remain) and take it to the clinic with you. If you suspect that you have been bitten by a dangerously venomous spider, see a physician. Most suspected spider bites in the United States turn out to be other conditions. The vast majority of spiders are harmless and beneficial.