None, if it is bite from a spider or not.

Idea is to see a doctor.

If it’s a brown recluse spider it is an emergency. He might need heavy antibiotics, and it’s no joke, no waiting. I don’t know if that spider usually does multiple bites like that.

Was he cleaning up in an area that is usually not disturbed like a storage area or attic? Those spiders tend to be there, but it doesn’t have to be.

You can google the spider it necrotizing spider bite. See if the symptoms fit.

I’d go to urgent care I think and you know me, I tend to avoid doctors and wait things out.

Does it look like the irritation is spreading? Either growing bigger around or red streaks? Again—emergency. IV antibiotics most likely.

I know someone will probably get mad at me for making sound dire, but better to be safe than sorry.

See of he’d be willing to take benadryl.

If it’s a spider bite, each bite should have two holes. The longer the bite ages, the less chance you’ll have to find the holes. It might help to use a magnifying glass, and look over each bite. Take photos (preferably when first bitten, and again hourly to monitor progression). If there’s a red wheel, draw a line around the edges to observe its spread and how fast it’s spreading.

Since he’s not interested in going to a doctor, here are some home remedies that might help. https://draxe.com/spider-bite-treatment/

I forgot to mention, this is what a fresh spider bite looks like. Notice the two holes close together. https://diseasesdoctor.com/what-is-a-wolf-spider-bite-wolf-spider-bite-identification-home-remedies/ wolf spiders don’t climb trees (they prefer to stay close to the ground), but I gave this site because of the picture.

I’d go to the doctor. It probably isn’t a brown recluse…they tend to live lower to the ground and in shrubs and such. Never heard of one dropping from a tree. But any bite that is swelling with blisters needs to be looked at. His malaise is probably due to the poison from these bites. He might have a small allergy to them as well.

I missed the tree part. Still, I would push him to go to the doctor.

Let us know what happens.

A description of the spider would help

I was bitten by a brown recluse the other day. Yes, itchy! Crazy itchy! It blistered, and since then the skin keeps sloughing off. I’ve been keeping it clean with soap and water and it’s healing just fine.
If it’s making him sick it’s more likely that it’s a black widow.

How is he now?

@Dutchess_III get medical treatment right away! the Brown Recluse has an enzyme in its bite that will cause a necrotic reaction on the skin. You need to get medical treatment right away!!

If he did not see the biter, it could have been something other than a spider.
With rapid multiple bites, it could have been a blister beetle. There are several varieties.
He really ought to have the sores checked.

I was bitten a week ago @seawulf575. It’s fine. It’s healing. The biggest problem is that it’s on my instep which rubs against my shoe! So I take my shoes off when I can, and wear a gauze pad when I can’t.

Those scary pictures we see are most likely cause by MRSA, not the brown recluse.
”As Phillip Anderson, a Missouri physician who specializes in brown recluse spider bites, explained in an article for the medical journal Missouri Medicine, “Almost all brown recluse spider bites heal nicely in two to three months without medical treatment at all. Also the long-term medical outcome is excellent without treatment.” From Snopes

How is he doing now?

Spiders don’t usually bite multiple times, right? Could it have been a fire ant?

I hope he’s all right now.

Was it radioactive? Can he swing from his web?

Fire ant is a good guess if he is in the right part of the country. They will bite over and over again, and I know several people who are allergic. I’ve had cellulitis twice from fire ant bites, and otherwise I have very little reaction to a fire ant bite, but I do get the small blister. Fire ants are usually a very small blister, I was imagining a large blister from the OP description.

I was thinking the same thing…aren’t spiders kind of like snakes? Once they bite they need time to regroup and refill their venom sacks.
Fire ant sounds much more likely.

“...dropped down from a tree onto his neck and then bit repeatedly, going under his shirt, down his shoulder and arm. I don’t think he saw it. He felt it.”

First, a fire ant does not sting like this! It stays in one spot and stings in a small circle as it walks sideways around where it’s anchored to the skin.

When a fire ant stings or bites, it first grabs the skin with its mandibles. This anchors the ant so that it can thrust its abdominal stinger and venom into the victim’s skin. The problem is that fire ants do not bite or sting only once. In fact, one fire ant will sting relentlessly. This multiple stinging or biting (7 or 8 stings) is usually in a circular pattern around the area where the fire ant anchored itself. In addition, encounters with fire ants usually involve several or up to a hundred ants. Therefore, the amount of bites from fire ants in an attack can be significant with each one of those fire ants stinging multiple times. https://www.healthy-skincare.com/fire-ant-bite.html

It sounds like whatever it was moved fast, stinging as it went. That sounds more like a centipede. They can climb trees.

You know, some pictures of the bites might help us.

Only Entomologists and Arachnologists will know from such vague description alone. I will force make him see the doctor anyway. One trip and everything will come clear. Offer to pay for the medical bill and tell him that he will be treated to a nice restaurant after the check up. The days he spent just sleeping around could’ve been spent for a quick check up and enjoyable activities with his mother. He’ll bite the lure. I’ll tell him that the bites are potentially toxic and that, as his mother, I’ve been worried sick/scared for my life ever since he told me this issue. Won’t he soothe his poor little mother’s apparent distress? I’m sure he will.

Update: He felt pretty crummy for three days and did little but sleep. The welts remained red but got smaller. I couldn’t see them well enough to detect two holes. He’s feeling better now. I’m pretty certain it couldn’t have been a brown recluse or there’d have been a much bigger reaction and I’d have dragged him to the clinic. I think necrosis would be pretty pronounced, and there’s nothing like that visible now.

He didn’t see the spider that got him, but he’s seen spiders right there before. So he didn’t actually see it come from a tree either, it turns out (and so, yes, it could have been some other critter). He says he felt it go down his arm, under his shirt, and he did have a string of bites from neck down to wrist. It was no mosquito. Tonight he captured a spider that he thought was of the same sort, and best shot at ID (but not positive) is wolf spider.

Many thanks for all the comments and suggestions. They were very helpful to me.

The notion that a brown recluse bite causes necrosis is a myth. If it’s properly taken care of it is no more likely to to become necrotic than any other open wound. I’m dealing with a bite now, after more than a week. It itches like hell but it’s healing.
I’m glad he’s feeling better.
Wolf spiders are HUGE!!!!!

“The notion that a brown recluse bite causes necrosis is a myth”
It’s no myth but severe tissue destruction is just less common

Well, anything left untended to become infected can cause tissue destruction.

10% of brown recluse bites cause those nasty ulcers.

It’s itching like HELL today!!! I guess that means it’s healing.

Centipede might be right, judging from what I’ve seen looking it up. Thanks, @snowberry.

I’ve been thinking on this, though….our skin is really sensitive. I think he could feel the difference between the million legs on a centipede and the 8 on a spider running over him.

Centipedes in the US do not normally climb. They mostly live in the soil and chase bugs. And likewise for house centipedes, only they hunt spiders and other crawling bugs in buildings. In fact the links that I found said they cannot climb.

Northern California has a climate somewhat similar to Japan, and since @Jeruba mentioned that it might be some critter imported from overseas, I explored the idea that it might be one from Asia. My daughter in Japan found a huge centipede crawling across her ceiling, so I know they can climb.

It just occurred to me that he might have been stung by a scorpion. They can sting multiple times and they move fast. According to this link they are found in Northern California. http://arachnoboards.com/threads/id-request-northern-california.59173/

Scorpions here in Texas have no problem climbing but I’ve never heard of them actually spending time in trees. Still they will go wherever the dinner bill is ringing.

Scorpion crossed my mind as well…but your skin would tell you it was something much, much bigger and heavier than a spider.

The fact that he got sick for a few days is telling too….

@Dutchess_III a mature scorpion would be too large to fit his description, but it could have been a younger one. And his extreme discomfort could have been due to a reaction.

Scorpions are small like spiders too.

@Dutchess_III Did you see the spider that bit you?

@Jeruba I’m glad he’s doing better. I think as long it’s getting better then it’s getting better. Infection would not get better on its own, nor anything killing off tissue. Do you think it was partly a severe allergic reaction? I only ask because sometimes allergic reactions can be worse the second time, so maybe he should keep that in mind if he ever has some sort of medical emergency that feels similar.

No I didn’t see it, @JLeslie but I’ve seen brown recluse bites before, plus it exactly resembled the descriptions on the internet. The skin sloughed off over a period of 2 days (died off,) and the wound gives the appearance of “running downhill.”
Also, infection CAN get better on it’s own. What did we do before the advent of antibiotics in the 50s? Your body is not helpless against it or we’d never have evolved. It’s just a matter of how bad the infection is.

Cellulitis and blood poisoning infections should be treated. Sure some bacterial infections do heal on their own. I just meant an infection from a bite should be looked at and treated if the inflammation is growing at a fast rate, or if there are red streaks extending from the bite. Sometimes the redness is an allergic reaction, or simple immune reaction, but allergy doesn’t continue to grow 48–72 and more hours later, that would be very unusual. Cellulitis will keep growing and is very painful.

Before antibiotics a lot of people had serious damage from infections or died. The discovery of penicillin was a miracle.

The inflammation is not growing at a fast rate. There are no red streaks extending from the bite. Jesus. I’m not an idiot, @JLeslie. I know what to do if I have a BAD infection, which I have never had externally. I take care of my owies with soap and water before they get infected.
I mentioned antibiotics because you said, ” Infection would not get better on its own, nor anything killing off tissue” neither which is true. My spider bite killed off tissue for a couple of days and I have treated injuries that were beginning to become infected.

@Dutchess_III I never thought yours is infected and needs treatment. I was talking about when that type of infection happens no one should just sweat it out. You make it sound like the body can usually overcome any infection, it can’t. It depends on the infection.

It’s not about taking care of owies. Sometimes the owie is like a puncture and even cleaning the area doesn’t prevent it.

Another reason why Jeruba Jr. most likely wasn’t bitten by a brown recluse, is that there probably aren’t any crawling free west of the Rockies.

And they don’t live in trees either @Brian1946. They hide in dark places, like my freakin’ sock! They only bite once, as far as I know. My son was bitten on his back, while he slept, when he was little. It was my first experience with skin sloughing off of a wound and I was a little freaked out, but he healed up. There was only 1 bite.