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Two points. (Or maybe more...)
The pic looks like a species of Palystes all right. (Rain spider, Lizard-eating spider, etc. Even called bobbejaanspinnekop, though they are not really; they are not even closely related.)

Very unusual to get bitten. You had accidentally alarmed it in your sleep. Naughty you!

In fact, like almost all spiders (except the Uloboridae afaik), Palystes definitely is venomous and produces a fair amount of venom, but not generally dangerously so. Our cat caught one and got his paw bitten. He came to no obvious harm, except that the paw swelled up to double its normal size. This puzzled him, but did not seem to bother him much. Next day it was nearly back to normal.

In his book "Wayward Naturalist in South Africa" Dudley D'ewes described how his wife got bitten properly by a female guarding her nest. She suffered some marked, but minor, neurotoxic symptoms. (The wife, not the spider; they let it go unharmed.)

No doubt greatly to your doctor's relief, I fully agree with his assessment and treatment. My point being that secondary infections are IMO a greater threat than venom in most cases of spider bite. When the really nasty bites cause tissue death and festering, I believe that the poison just starts the damage and the injected bacteria aggravate and extend it, sometimes for months. IMO it is then far more important to apply the antibiotics, early and vigorously, preferably by injection, and never mind the antihistamines.

FWIW!

Jon

Hi Jon! A warm welcome to the forums.
When you suffer from severe arachnaphobia you tend to read everything about it - well, you wrote a nice sensible piece there.
And I'm going to sit with the nightmares tonight!

Yeeeks!

Great to have you on the forums, Jon .


I am sure the doctor must feel very relieved.

Thanks for your succinct reply Jon..and welcome to our forum

Big Spotter .... Have got a note on my fridge reminding me not to visit your house!!
Spiders and snakes are not on my list of friends!!
These rain spiders seem to be quite common in suburbs of Jhb. I know a lot of people who have encountered them recently.

I think this may be one



I was going to open the latch from the other side, when my hand touched something that was NOT metal! I didn't get bitten, thank goodness, but it was the biggest spider I had ever seen! Spiders here in this part of Canada are not this big.

I had one on the wall just above my head at 3am I heard it in my sleep Soon woke the SO

I closed a window the other night here in Sabie , and felt my fingers itching.
I brought my hand up to my face to see what was causing the itch , and there was a young but big enough rain spider on the back of my hand , now centimeters from my face ! Centimeters were converted to meters by survival mechanisms kicking in.
Did not kill it , it survived the fall, will now grow bigger to scare me another day.

eeeuuuuugh I am not one who does spiders or snakes. Last year there was the biggest ever rain spider on my car. I would not get into my car (it was on the drivers door) until I found someone brave enough to remove it for me.

Terryc, that must have been a loooong search!

Give me a Snake any day I dont like Spiders they are creepy

Holigan, I agree 100%!!

Will post a pic of my tarantulas just for all the mates that seems to like spiders so much