10 Natural Remedies for Spider Bites

Baking Soda

Posted by MISTI (Killeen, TX) on 09/17/2007
★★★★★

My boyfriend recently got bitten by a spider which caused his hand to swell approx. 3 inches where the bite was at. After almost a week we decided to look into home remedies to heal it. One of his co-workers suggested using a baking soda paste: 3 parts baking soda 1 part water. A little while after he applied it the sore opened up and started oozing. I had read about the salt and garlic cure on this website so as soon as he came home we poured the salt on the wound, left it for about 20 minutes, rinsed and applied a fresh garlic clove overnight; kept this up for about a week and the bite has almost completely healed. All that is left is a small scab where the bite had once been an open wound about the size of a dime. Thanks for the home remedies!

Salt

Posted by Tammy (Wellston, Oklahoma) on 11/09/2006
★★★★★

Salt cures Spider/Insect bites, poison ivy. Last year I had a spider bite on my inner thigh. At first it was just a small red bump, but then it grew into what looked like a ring worm. A week later it was the size of a tennis ball and the center of it was a infection white and itchyyyy as poison ivy. I showed it to my family in India via web cam, she knew immediately what to do. Said just wet it, pour table salt on it and let it sit for at least 20 min. After about one minute it began to burn some, nothing unbearable, although i only let it stand for about 5 min as I'm a big baby. It WORKED!! Dried it up in a matter of days. Since then, I have done this remedy for a number different insect bites, even have done on poison ivy and same result. A few days of doing this once at night cleared it. You can literally feel the salt drawing out the poisons.

Activated Charcoal

Posted by Julie (Lakeland, Florida) on 02/18/2013
★★★★★

Thank you for the advice about the activated charcoal! I got bit by a brown recluse and started using it at about 30 hrs in. My bite was starting to turn black and was almost the size of a baseball. After just one patch, it was smaller and turning pink again. A couple days of that and it is almost flesh tone with no wound! It was the only thing that seemed to work and I think it saved me from what would have been a horrible situation!

Peppermint Oil

Posted by Julie (California) on 07/21/2021
★★★★★

Just tried Peppermint oil on a six day old spider bite that was continuing to get worse every day. Had been using iodine and toothpaste which would both work moderately well and for a while, but it was starting to itch and swell worse today.

Using the Peppermint oil straight on the bite worked amazingly well for me with decreasing (almost completely) the itch and with swelling also.

Baking Soda and Echinacea

Posted by Stephanie (Georgia) on 05/04/2017
★★★★★

Spider Bites:

Baking soda poultice made with baking soda and just a few drops of water. Apply as soon as you see the bite, don't wait to see if its gonna be a nasty one, the sooner you draw out the toxins the better. I also mix in equal parts of cayenne pepper, it kills any bacteria and stops infection (optional).

Also take 3 500mg echinacea capsules, then one capsules every hour for the first day as you see improvement you can start to back off the dose to 3 caps twice a day making sure to always take a dose before bed.

This worked miracles on brown recluse bite. I will now make sure I always have plenty of echinacea on hand!

Flaxseed Poultice

Posted by Melinda (Bothell, Wa) on 07/09/2016
★★★★★

A spider bite on my elbow swelled up to about softball size and hurt a lot. A flaxseed poultice brought the pain levels and swelling down about 75% within 45 minutes. Since then I always keep flaxseed in the refrigerator, as it has drawing properties whether used on a splinter, a boil, or a venomous bite. Grind the flaxseed (a blender does a great job), add just a few drops of bath temperature tap water, make a paste and apply. Cover with plastic wrap and then cloth, or just use a regular adhesive bandage.

Baking Soda

Posted by Traci (Galveston, Texas ) on 08/03/2015

I have a spider bite on my arm but it never looked like a pimple at all. Looks like a small bite and was itching and now looks like a big red ring with white center that itches like crazy at times. Nothing is working will baking soda paste help? Need to get this itch gone.can't sleep for the past few days.

Baking Soda

Posted by Jamie (Largo, Fl) on 05/06/2013
★★★★☆

Two days with what I think is a spider bite. I had a dark crater the size of a penny and the swelling the size of a half dollar. Made a thick paste and had it cover the crater and red area. I then used a big adhesive band aid to cover it. After four hours, I looked at it and the selling went down to a quarter. But the crater is no longer a dark color, it's white. Also, it is no longer a crater. Meaning, it filled up no longer be crater. Reapplied baking soda. Waiting to see results later.

Baking Soda

Posted by Missharvey73 (Seattle, Wa) on 09/19/2013

This sounds like a recluse bite. I lost 65% of my thumb... Go to the DR!!

Tea Bag

Posted by Sarah (Dallas, Tx) on 09/05/2011
★★★★★

I got some bites on my hands and feet from walking and sitting in dead grass at night and I live in Texas. From the internet descriptions, I think my bites are also from wolf spiders. Awesome little creatures, but they cannot tell us from the bugs they are hunting. The mother spiders carry their babies on their backs for awhile, like opossums and scorpions do, and also, they hunt nocturnally. Anyway, they are worse than mosquito bites, because half of the top of my foot was swollen and itching so bad I could hardly study. So I put a green tea bag (only kind I have right now) in boiling water for a minute, then put it, still hot, on my foot. It felt SO good! And the itching stopped right away. Tea leaves are pretty amazing.

Baking Soda

Posted by Mare (Auckland, New Zealand) on 02/21/2008
★★★★★

My daughters were playing outside in the garden and one after the other, they both started screaming, crying and running toward the house. I couldn't understand what had happened but they both had similar red marks on their skin. I assumed they had been bitten by spiders as there was no obvious sting. I quickly applied a thick paste of Baking Soda and water and within minutes both girls were calm and happy. Praise God for Baking Soda!

Baking Soda or Butter

Posted by Wooly (Joshua Tree, CA) on 01/29/2008
★★★★★

Use Baking Soda/butter as a Poultice/remedy for Brown Spider Bite. I was a teenager riding my horse and a spider got in my long hair, when i went to take a shower, I was bit by a brown recluse spider. For two weeks my father put this poultice (size of a large patch) on me and it was the only relief I had. Who knows what would have happened without the baking soda. I hope this saves someone else's life. God Bless

EC: We emailed Wooly for more details

Salt

Posted by CLH (PDL, United States) on 07/24/2007
★★★★★

I was bit by a brown recluse, when I sat down on him, caught the spider, Went to doc day after bit, black area had started forming. doc gave me antibiotic shot and said to watch it over the weekend and he would check it on Monday, I looked at your site and started doing the home remedies. I soaked it in very hot water with epsom salt and sea salt, lots of the salt every day; I put triple antibiotic ointment, once a day.

I took fresh cut garlic and taped it to the black area, every day and also, taped a green banana peel to the black area every couple days.

Went back to doc on that Monday. He said it looked bad but not as bad as he expected it to look, he wanted a surgeon to look at it. Could not see surgeon for a week. I kept doing the remedy above, then one day a whole thick layer of skin let loose of the black area but black area was still there, kept doing remedy till I went to surgeon, I told the surgeon what I was doing he laughed and said keep doing it because it was working and that he would not have to do surgery if it kept getting better, but not to pick at the black area let it fall out on its on, kept doing the remedy till the black area fell out about a week later.

Aspirin

Posted by Everett (Kitts Hill, OH) on 10/21/2006
★★★★★

I HAVE USED AN ASPIRIN SOAKED IN A LITTLE WATER TO MAKE A PASTE AND PUT IT ON A SPIDER BITE. YOU KNOW THEY ITCH PRETTY BAD, AND THE ITCHING STOPPED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. HALF AN HOUR OR SO. I HAVE NOT TRIED IT ON BROWN RECLUSE AS I HAVE NOT BEEN BITTEN BY ONE OF THEM.

Activated Charcoal

Posted by Elizabeth (Woodbury, TN) on 09/29/2006
★★★★★

We've used activated charcoal many times in our family and friends for the brown recluse spider bite. Even a couple of doctors here were amazed at what it did! We would make up a paste and change the first day about every 2 hours and then the next day just a few times and would keep watching it. Usually the bite was shrunk and just a little scab after a few days. Usually we would also drink some so that we would have any poison from the bite eliminated from our system.

EC: Read more charcoal cures here.

Activated Charcoal

Posted by Dave (Fountain Inn, Sc) on 09/30/2011

Charcoal is good to draw out poison but try Echinacea.

I found a book written by an MD published around 1920 on an Herbal web site: Case studies on snake bites, spiker and other insect bites. Echinacea was the cure. I've experiemented on useage and have found it to be the best thing I have ever come across for almost instant relief and CURE for insect bites. On a mosquito bite, for instance, apply topically with five drops. Apply again in five to ten minutes. Itch and irritation gone.

Another anacdotal: My wife and I had friends over to our house for supper and they brought their 12 year old son. He had a large red bite on his neck... Much larger than a mosquito bite. He kept scratching and rubbing it. His mother said she had thought it was just an insect bite but now was believing a spider was most probable.

I asked permission to use echinacea to treat the wound. I held a poultice of twenty drops on the bite for five minutes and then the boy held it for another ten minutes. I gave him a fresh poultice with another twenty drops when they left and watched him with poultice on his neck as they drove away. That was on a Thursday night as I recall. Sunday at Church, I saw him and the bite redness was gone. You could barely tell anything had been wrong with his neck.'

For snake bites the book I mentioned above discussed the method that the author asserts is good for even the most dangerous North American snakes. He kept repeating that he could only comment on the case studies out of North America because that was the only case studies he had access to. He did not know if echinacea would work on bites of snakes outside America. He had a lot of examples from Texas because that is where he practiced. (The writer was an MD.)

For snake bites, apply an echinacea poultice of forty drops directly to bite, replacing every hour. Also once an hour put five drops of echinacea in water and have victim drink. Have victim drink five drops evey hour for ten hours. Apparently too much echinacea over time consumed internally might create problems and that MD was aware of that but in none of his examples did any side effect come about from the echinacea taken in those quanties for a ten hour period. (He is giving case studies of poisionous snakes and poisionous spiders.)

Now obviously I am not recommending treatment of a snake bite in lieu of seeking immediate medical treatment at an emergency room. But I'd sure take echinacea with me on a wilderness trip. Or I'd use it on my way to an emergency room.

Activated Charcoal

Posted by Jeanne (Portland, Or) on 08/31/2012

I found this website and remedy treatments after I was bit on my thigh by a hobo last month. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the people who posted! We made a paste from activated charcoal, echinacea drops and plantain. I applied that every 4 hours for the first two days and then twice a day for a couple of weeks after. I had 3 boils from the bite and only one popped (naturally) which has left a small hole. Otherwise the other 2 boils healed naturally. I used ice packs (not heat, as advised), kept my leg elevated and avoided strenuous activity for the first week. I feel fortunate because I noticed the bite within a few hours after it happened so caught it early. We have since, caught multiple hobos in our yard using glue traps. Thanks again, everyone, for sharing!

Salt

Posted by Tak (Eugene, Or) on 08/27/2016
★★★★★

My mom got a brown recluse bite while living in Arkansas. Noticed it when a large pit started forming around the bite but had no money to see a doctor. A neighbor told her to make a paste with 1/2 teaspoon vaseline and as much salt (she used table salt) as you could and still have it be sticky and apply directly to the bite as a compress. She did this for about a week and though it hurt alot the bite was healed completely.

My boyfriend was recently bit by something, it swelled immediately then started bruising after 30 minutes. I immediately cut a potato in half and taped it to the area. The next day a large bruise appeared on his inner thigh everywhere the potato wasn't. It has a small red area in the center and very dark rings. He was also feeling sick with hot/cold flashes and a fever. I then applied the salt paste using epsom salt, changing after 4 hours to sea salt. It looked better when I went to change it and he was feeling much better.

Today is day 3 and I'm still waiting for him to wake up to check progress, I'll update when I see how it goes.

Tea Tree Oil

Posted by Laura (Pennsylvania) on 09/10/2015
★★★★★

I used to be an independent rep for a company called Melaleuca (trademarked the real name for our Tea Tree Oil. They sold products with Melaleuca /"Tea Tree Oil" in them. Their oil is pharmaceutical grade, comes from the leaf of a plant in Austrailia, is medicinal and is good for spider bites.

I was bit on the hand in 2011 by a spider while sleeping. I knew it was a spider because the bite had 2 dots where the teeth went into my skin. My hand swelled up like a balloon in 3 days. I went to the hospital and was given an atibiotic and cream which didn't do much of anything.

I remembered the Melaleuca or Tea Trea Oil. Walmart sells the pharmaceutical grade for $7-$8.

I put it on twice a day and covered the bite with gauze. It went away and NO SCAR TISSUE left behind.

It happened again recently on the back of my leg. I keep the oil in my house. Needless to say I skipped the ER and put the oil on my leg. It worked great. Praise the Lord for His natural medicine the world cannot match.

Baking Soda and Charcoal

Posted by Islandmeg (Modesto, Ca ) on 03/14/2014

Aloha everyone,

I recently was bitten was a Black Widow spider and was lucky enough to find this site. What a mess they make.

I had cellulitus and the poison was spreading up my foot, heading toward my ankle. It was skin splitting sore and swollen. Also very itchy. I decided to try the baking soda and charcoal. Wow.

I was bitten on Saturday night. By Sunday night, I was a bit worried, watching the toxin spreading. I drew on my foot with a marker pen, so I could chart it's progress - just in case.

On Monday, it wasn't settling down. I found this site and made up a batch of baking soda and water. Just mixing it in with a little water to make a toothpaste like consistency. I smoothed it all over my foot and left it on there until it had dried up and was caking off. That took a lot of the itch out straight away.

When it would play up again, I'd then put some anti-histamine cream on and an ice pack. About every two hours on the Monday, I did the baking soda routine again. Each time it took out a bit more itch, a bit more pain.

I also tried one batch with some charcoal mixed in but this was stingy and I my foot stung afterwards. I had to wash it, so I just kept to the baking soda. And took the activated Charcoal (2 capsules) a couple of times a day, around food.

When I woke up on Tues, my foot had improved by about 30 to 40%. The toxin had also stopped spreading.

On Tues I did the same routine but wasn't having to do it as often. I was going about 3 to 4 hours between baking soda poultices. My friend rushed around here on Tues night, prepared to bodily take me to hospital if necessary. (She's an allopathic trauma nurse) And was floored when she saw how much it had gone down. She'd seen it on the Sunday night. (Now a keen Earthclinic phone. I put it on her phone for her. :-) ) Although, I did take some Bactrim antibiotics she had (Sulfurmeth) as well.

When I woke up Wed, my foot was probably about 100% improved. I had lost all the itchiness and most of the soreness. Slightly tight and tender to the touch, but nothing like it was. I thought my skin was going to pop. The toxin line was receding too. I only did 3 baking soda poultices.

Today is Thur and I've only done one baking soda poultice today, no ice or anti-histamine cream. I woke up and you can see the original toxin line but otherwise, barely any discoloration in the foot. I will continue to poultice it, internal charcoal and the antibiotics, which are probably only kicking in tonight anyway. :-)

In short - wow. I'm sold. Thank you all so much.