D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
August 2010
Ouch!
The desert's biters, stingers, stickers and poisoners — and what to do if you're a victim.
Story and photos by Jay W. Sharp
In the desert they say, "Everything bites, stings, sticks or poisons!" That — like most things "they" say — embodies considerable exaggeration. It also holds some truth: Many desert wildlife and plant species can inflict painful wounds.
Personally, however, if I had to choose between the arid lands of our southwestern New Mexico and the densely forested and overgrown coastal estuaries of, say, Texas' Galveston Bay — with its infestations of venomous snakes, black-and-gold garden spiders, mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, fire ants, chiggers, baldfaced hornets, yellowjacket wasps, bees, nettles, poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac — I'll happily take our area. At least, in the openness of the desert, you can watch for — and usually avoid — the biters, stingers, stickers and poisoners.
Still, you've got to be on watch. You wear long pants and sturdy hiking shoes in the wilderness areas, where you need protection for your legs and feet. You avoid reaching into dark burrows or crevices or other places where you might unexpectedly encounter a surly occupant. You skirt dense growths of thorny shrubs, cacti and agaves. You carry a first-aid kit, which can reduce the risk of infection and help relieve the pain and itching of a wound.
Biters
Some of the more common biters in our desert include the rattlesnake, the tarantula, the centipede, the praying mantis, the harvester ant and the assassin bug.
 |
Rattler, ready to strike. |
You are most likely to encounter that most feared of the biters — a rattlesnake — in early morning or late afternoon or on mild days, when it emerges from sheltering retreats such as burrows, rocks or thickets to prey on rodents, birds and lizards. Its bite, while rarely fatal, ranks high as a matter of serious concern. A rattlesnake bite can cause rapid swelling, a bloody discharge, intense local pain and often other physical complications. It calls for an expeditious trip to emergency medical care. En route, you should wash and cleanse the fang marks to reduce the potential for infections. As far as possible, keep the victim calm, remove or loosen constrictive jewelry or clothing, minimize physical movement, and immobilize the wound site. As soon as possible, have the victim lie down, with the wound site below the heart. These actions will help reduce the effusion of venom into surrounding tissues. Once at the emergency room, medical personnel will assess the severity of the bite and set a course for treatment, which may involve the administration of an antivenin and a stay in the hospital.
Typically, you will see the fearsome-looking tarantula most frequently during the summer months, often after a thunderstorm, especially when the male seeks a mate. The rest of the year, the spider normally stays near its burrow, preying at night on just about anything it can catch and subdue, including insects, other spiders, even small lizards and rodents. Despite its imposing appearance, its bite usually has comparatively mild effects, often amounting mostly to redness, swelling and localized pain. Its "urticating" (barbed, mildly venomous and readily shed) abdominal hairs, however, can produce intense irritation, especially if they get into a victim's breathing passages or eyes.
In treating a tarantula bite, you should promptly and thoroughly cleanse the site to minimize infection risks, then apply ice, then a meat-tenderizer paste, then a topical cortisone — actions that will reduce swelling, alleviate pain and sooth the irritation. If exposed to the urticating hairs, try to keep them out of the nose and eyes; use tweezers and duct tape to remove them from the skin; apply steroid cream to the exposed skin to reduce irritation. As always, be on guard against possible infections or allergic reactions, which may require prompt medical care.
 |
| Centipede: The left end is the head, with its distinctive antenna, and the right end is the tail, with modified legs used in defense and mating. The intermediate parts have segmented, clawed legs. |
Normally, you have to really hunt for a centipede to find one. During the heat of a desert summer, it seeks out the cool and moist sanctuary of burrows, caves and ground cover during the day, coming out only in the darkness of night to hunt its prey — scorpions, lizards and small rodents. You may sometimes have an unwelcome encounter with a centipede when pulling on clothing or getting into bed, where it may have sought refuge. It can inflict an intensely painful bite, or, more precisely, a "pinch" administered by modified, hollow, clawed legs located just behind the head. It uses the legs like twin syringes, drawing venom from a body repository and injecting it into its victim's flesh. Additionally, it may, with its clawed legs, leave small venom-filled, blister-producing puncture wounds, or tracks, where it crawls across the skin.
A centipede's victim will experience immediate pain radiating from the bite. That will be followed by swelling and redness and, often, intense itching and, sometimes, nausea, heart palpitations, increasing blood pressure and other symptoms. You should wash the wound area with soap and water, apply an ice pack (10 minutes on, 10 minutes off), and, if available, apply a local anesthetic agent. If the more serious symptoms occur, you should promptly seek medical care.
It takes some luck to spot a praying mantis, that master of camouflage, stealth and ambush that hunts in desert foliage throughout the day. Driven by a voracious appetite and armed with spiny, clamping front legs, it preys on insects as well as spiders, salamanders, frogs, mice and even hummingbirds. Despite its threatening appearance, it bites, or "nips," humans only infrequently, and since it has no venom, it inflicts only a minor wound. It can also pinch with its front legs, but again it leaves only a minor wound. The bite mark usually calls for relatively minor care — a cleansing of the site, perhaps a bandage if the skin is broken.
You may come upon a harvester ant almost anywhere in the desert from spring through fall. You can follow it to its plainly visible surface mound, which may crown labyrinthine underground chambers sometimes housing 10,000 to 20,000 individuals. Primarily, they collect and store seeds for food — hence the name of the species. According to Bastiaan M. Drees of Texas A&M University, "Worker ants can give a painful, stinging bite, but are generally reluctant to attack." They may, however, become more aggressive in defending their colony. As Stephen Welton Taber said in his book, The World of the Harvester Ants, the bite can induce, in a sensitive individual, ailments such as extended pain, burning, hives, swelling, wheezing, sweating, faintness, nausea and piloerection (hair standing on end). Wash the wound, apply an ice pack and a local anesthetic agent to help relieve the typical pain and itching. Seek prompt medical care should the more serious symptoms develop.