A meeting with the arthropod inhabitants of Crimea can end tragically. Especially frequent are bites of scolopendras, scorpions, tarantulas and karakurt in the summer, during the period of the greatest influx of tourists. The most dangerous of all is the spider karakurt. The “kiss” of the female, also called the “black widow” for eating the male immediately after mating, exceeds the force of action of the rattlesnake venom by 15 times. Karakurt is a spider that can kill even a horse with one bite.
All summer and early fall, poisonous arthropods are in the so-called mating season - they mate, build nests, lay eggs, take care of offspring, and migrate. The mating season makes spiders particularly irritated and capable of attacking humans and animals at the slightest threat.
The spider karakurt prefers mainly virgin lands (uncultivated by man), steppes, dry fields. However, it may well settle in the coastal zones and in the foothills, hiding under stones, under dry branches, and often does not disdain other people's minks. The lifestyle is mostly nocturnal. The peak of activity is June-July.
The female is up to 20 mm, the male is three times less. The body is black, with 13 red dots on the back. Adult, more mature individuals do not have such spots, so any black spiders can be considered really dangerous. By the way, the name "karakurt" in exact translation means "black worm".
The "black widows" are characterized by periodic seasonal bursts of strong, violent activity and unpredictable occurrences in places very unexpected. Eight years ago, for example, 87 residents of the Kherson region (Ukraine) were hospitalized precisely because of the bites of this spider. They could not save one patient. Then, experts explained this activity by heavy rains, which flooded the burrows of spiders.
And in 2002, a spider karakurt bit a nurse, a resident of the same area. The woman who worked in the garden only took off her gloves for a few minutes, and when she put them on again, the spider, who managed to get inside, bit the victim by the finger. A nurse with an increased pressure, pain in the lower back and abdomen, chills was urgently hospitalized. Immediate treatment at the clinic saved the life of the victim, but the treatment was very intensive and expensive.
But if the Kherson region is directly adjacent to the Black Sea and the meeting with the “black widow” during the mating season is understandable, then the appearance of this spider last summer in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, quite remote from the Crimea, generally caused a resonance. Although climatologists allow a gradual expansion of the habitats of karakurt due to climate change.
Today, the desert zones of Kazakhstan, all of Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, the south and partly east of Ukraine, Russia (the Astrakhan region (mainly steppes), the Orenburg, Saratov, Vologda, and Rostov regions) are considered habitats of “buttons”, but not in particularly hot years the appearance even in the Moscow region, where a spider karakurt flies on its weightless cobwebs, is excluded.
Potentially dangerous summer cottages, squares, parks, forest glades. Therefore, going to a hike or a walk in the summer, take care of precautions. Avoid contact of the sleeping bag with the inner wall of the tent, carefully inspect the bed, watch shoes, clothes and backpacks (favorite places for black arthropods). If you find holes, be sure to close them, cover them with sand. Wear only shoes.
The result of the appearance of karakurt on the body is not always a bite. The main thing - do not press the spider, do not take it. Your task is to quickly shake off the spider or knock it down with a sharp click.
The bite itself is a painless, but spreading poison that causes severe pain, first in the bite itself, and then in the back and abdomen. The strongest excitement is noted, cramps begin, choking appears. Only serum can neutralize the poison of karakurt, other measures are useless here. The victim is urgently delivered to the doctor, and it is advisable (if possible) to warn doctors in advance about the bite.