Thursday, 2 June 2011
I am not interested in spiders. And picking them up with my bare fingers is a NO NO! Accidentally, I picked up a spider about 9:40 am today!
My eyesight are not perfect. It looked like a piece of black thing on the glued floor carpet, below the computer desk. It was where my feet would be if I sit down at that desk. Can't make out what black thing it was even. Didn't look nearer to see what it really was. I took for granted it was trash and that I have to pick it up and throw it into the trash bin. I bend down and picked it up with my right fingers, and immediately threw it down. The black thing was moving!
I saw it crawling away on the Persian carpet but couldn't find it, after coming back with an empty container. Felt the middle finger of my right hand tinkling like it was pinned by a few needles. Didn't think about washing my hand except to apply "Kum Peng" Relief Liniment (as insects bites was listed as one of the application). Even though I knew it was not an insect I did not have any other medication available.
I was worried because of the things I have read about spider bites so I went to our apartment complex office. I asked if I could sit there for a time, just in case something went wrong with me. I was thinking of the worse scenario of being bitten by a poisonous spider and my body's reaction to it!
The office manager poured hydrogen peroxide over my hand, wiped my finger with an antibacterial towelette and applied antibiotic ointment. Even though she did not think I have been bitten because there was no bite marks, she gave me a packet of the towelettte and a packet of the ointment to take home and to apply after lunch. She also gave me a "Catchmaster" sticker and if it catches spiders or other bugs, to report back to her. She would send their pest controller to our apartment.
Back home, I tried again to look for the spider, underneath the Persian carpet, thinking that was where it went. Instead I saw it on the top of the Persian carpet, around the place where I had thrown it and saw it crawled away. It was a dead spider! I must have walked over it. The Persian carpet is dark and the spider is dark too. I had the house shoes on when I picked up the live spider.
From the internet, it looked like Phidippus audax - black with small white triangle on its back and the bright metallic blue chelicerae.
The tinkling feeling on the finger had disappeared after a few hours. I am alright. Poor spider, I didn't mean to kill you. It was a common jumping spider in North America. And I read somewhere that it eats insects and other spiders.
