Attack of the killer spiders ...... don't click if ya hate arachnids ....

It's also worth noting that highly venomous is NOT always the same thing as highly dangerous. The really dangerous spiders, snakes etc are the ones that are venomous and highly aggressive. A lot of highly venomous creatures are very shy and will run away from you if given the chance. Great example australian snakes. Some of the MOST highly venomous snakes in the world live there, but compared to world wide snakebite #'s (something like 40,000 fatalities/year?) the australian #'s are remarkably low in the single digits IIRC. Much of the danger is based on proximity to and aggression towards people, not actual lethality of venom.

That said, I'd like to have all of 'em (8 legged and no legged) well away from the kids!
 
Alice said:
Prepare yourself!!
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2007/may/news_11767.html
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Bizzare all of the symptoms from being bitten by one of those is what I had around about 2 months ago... But I was taken to A&E and they ran all sorts of tests on me thinking it was some sort of heart issue, ECG, etc...

Now reading that has made me think it is possible as there were previously spotting of false black widow spiders in my fiancées work not much before that.

Symptoms I had were, Sevear chest pains, shoulder pains and my whole left arm went numb (why they thought heart - well that and previous family history of heart problems) but they found nothing from the tests...

Heh unlikely but possible, cool though.
 
Miko said:
hahaah ;)

We have a few white tails but they are not as common as redback luckily.

White tail are nasty!
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Naturally the Queenslanders just have to go over the top

GIANT spiders have invaded the North Queensland city of Bowen.

For about six weeks, residents have reported seeing huge bird-eating spiders crawling around their backyards and gardens.

Amalgamated Pest Control Bowen pest technician Audy Geiszler took a photo showing the size of one of the spiders he caught wandering across the garden of a restaurant near the town’s centre.

Mr Geiszler estimated its body alone was 5cm long, a specimen declared “especially large” by the Queensland Museum.

Most grow to be the size of a man’s hand.

“It was found in a public area, just wandering around the garden areas. It’s a bit scary for the people,” Mr Geiszler said.

While at this stage there had only been about five sightings of the giant spiders, Mr Geiszler said it was unusual to see that many in such a short period.

“Normally they live in and around gardens and that type of thing,” he said.

“They are very shy. They normally never venture out too far but obviously these ones have been flushed out for some reason.

“It’s more than enough to scare a few people. It’s not plague proportions or anything.

“That in itself is unusual because you don’t normally see these species out in the open.”
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Tigratrus said:
It's also worth noting that highly venomous is NOT always the same thing as highly dangerous. The really dangerous spiders, snakes etc are the ones that are venomous and highly aggressive. A lot of highly venomous creatures are very shy and will run away from you if given the chance. Great example australian snakes. Some of the MOST highly venomous snakes in the world live there, but compared to world wide snakebite #'s (something like 40,000 fatalities/year?) the australian #'s are remarkably low in the single digits IIRC. Much of the danger is based on proximity to and aggression towards people, not actual lethality of venom.

That said, I'd like to have all of 'em (8 legged and no legged) well away from the kids!
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that is true, however we do also have a very good antivenene programme - so long as you can get to a hospital/Medical Centre or the Royal Flying Doctors can get to you in time snake bite fatality is somewhat rare - whereas in less developed parts of the world with deadly snakes it might be very difficult to get to a hospital in time, or they may not have any etc - that and we can run really fast :p

Some of our snakes are super aggressive, like the Tiger snake and Taipan, both of which will chase you down and bite you until you stop moving, you do not want to come face to face with one of those! Conversely we have some very shy snakes too fortunately!

And I completely agree with your last statement..not just kids.. me as well!
 
Been seeing alot more white tailed spiders in my area in the last year (sydney)

!!! i still get goose bumps thinking about spiders, not a good thread to read at 4:30am before bed, will have to strip the bed now cause i wont sleep lol... even though i have never found a spider in my bedroom. I usually find them in the garden thank god.
 
Luckily -and thank GOD for that- we don't have much spiders here, never came across any know as dangerous one at home (in fact I don't know much about which spiders are dangerous and which are not), but once there was a red spider running towards me while I was with some friends when an old man jumped and killed it, then told me it was a dangerous one, I was going to catch it. :oops:
But I've killed about five scorpions at home last month, not black ones, they were somehow light orange or something like that (I don't know where they come from and how the get inside the home). I've been stung by one of this kind of scorpions once (my mom twice), but it wasn't worse than when I got stung by an ant several years ago, ant sting hurts like hell.
 
We see black widows regularly here but I have never known anyone to be bit by one of those. Brown recluse are in very large number and a small number get bit, I was bit once and it was not a very good thing but I have not heard of a fatality here. There are those that get stung by scorpions here but it is more like a very painful bee sting as ours are not deadly.

We have lots of very large tarantulas but they do not harm anyone.
 
Griffin said:
Been seeing alot more white tailed spiders in my area in the last year (sydney)

!!! i still get goose bumps thinking about spiders, not a good thread to read at 4:30am before bed, will have to strip the bed now cause i wont sleep lol... even though i have never found a spider in my bedroom. I usually find them in the garden thank god.
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Yeah I have seen quite a few of those too over the last little bit, don't ever remember seeing them before about 5 years ago.
 
Maybe we are more aware of them recently following the arach attacks in South Australia (that RSL dude that got bitten) .... dunno...
 
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