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Communing With Spiders

Web used to trace deadly spider

A woman from Cornwall used the internet to identify a poisonous spider after she was bitten by one hidden in bananas bought from a local supermarket.
Kim Boxwell, 24, of St Columb Minor, near Newquay, was bitten by a Brazilian Wandering Spider which was in a bunch of bananas from a Co-op store.

She was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital and given antihistamines.

The spider, which is known for its speed and aggression, is usually found in banana plantations.

'Rare occurrence'

Ms Boxwell developed a rash from the bite after buying the bananas on 11 August.

As her symptoms got worse, she called NHS Direct and was taken by ambulance to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

However, the spider could not be formally identified because it was not captured.

A Co-op spokeswoman said: "Our customer relations manager did speak to the customer to check she was OK.

"We have apologised and she will receive a gift to compensate for any concern or unpleasantness this may have caused.

"This is a very, very rare occurrence. There are a number of stringent checks in place and our supplier hasn't known of any spiders to be harmful."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4182228.stm
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A co-worker told me this story. It makes want to smash every wolf spider i might see even though it's my policy to choke down my fear and gently remove spiders from the house and transplant them oustide (if they permit me to).

Her friend lived next to a great swamp in the Carolinas. One day she was mowing the lawn while my co-worker was visiting. She spots a wolf spider the size of a tarantula on the lawn nearby. Not liking spiders, she tries to run it over. As she's chasing it, it turns and starts chasing her. She let go of the lawn mower and ran into the house, with the spider in pursuit. When she came out later it was sitting by the door waiting for her! :shock:

ironyboard
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The other day I was at Wal*Mart, I hadn't been in a while, and I was taking my wallet out of my purse and a house spider dropped off my wallet! I just about burst out laughing.
 
Wolf spiders seem to do that. I get them in my house and have to broom them out the door because they're too big to squash. As soon as you get them out of the house they immediately dash straight for your open front door. Why do they always do that? You have to rush inside and get the door shut before the spider can reach it, then it crawls up the wall and sits just above the front door waiting to drop down on you the next time you go out the house. (and this thing is the size of your fist)

I think they just have this thing about going upwards when they are scared and are just looking for the highest nearby thing to crawl up, which might be a person if nothing else is around.
 
There is a whitetail living in my letterbox.

Do you know how long it has been since I've collected the mail?
 
mossy_sloth, why not use a pair of tongs to see it isn't on your letters, just give each a little shake. White tails are the only ones I dispose of rather than release them. Hairspray makes them go stiff really fast.
 
wonderful! Why didn't I think of tongs?

yeah I usually kill the white tails as well, much as I dislike killing something just because it had the misfortune of being a particular species and allowing itself top be noticed by me. Hairspray is unusual though, how on earth did you come up with that one?
 
ironyboard said:
A co-worker told me this story. It makes want to smash every wolf spider i might see even though it's my policy to choke down my fear and gently remove spiders from the house and transplant them oustide (if they permit me to).

Her friend lived next to a great swamp in the Carolinas. One day she was mowing the lawn while my co-worker was visiting. She spots a wolf spider the size of a tarantula on the lawn nearby. Not liking spiders, she tries to run it over. As she's chasing it, it turns and starts chasing her. She let go of the lawn mower and ran into the house, with the spider in pursuit. When she came out later it was sitting by the door waiting for her! :shock:

ironyboard
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Forget the south!! They got all sorts of creepy crawlers.
 
Mossy_sloth I think it ws the thought that spiders are hairy and hairspray makes hair stiff. It also probably blocks the breathing holes. I don't like to use insect spays as I wonder what they do to us and I have fish as well. Mind you, the hairspray is an old can left by my eldest.
 
Do they take a long time to die with the hairspray Isis? (and I like your reasoning - made me giggle).

What is the most humane way to kill a spider if you really really have to?

Sorry, I know this is meant to be a communing with spiders thread, but I promise, I don't kill any other type of spider. Not even redbacks.
 
there has not been a recorded event of a red back (spider) being responsible for the death of a human....
 
wombat103 said:
there has not been a recorded event of a red back (spider) being responsible for the death of a human....
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Oddly enough, I was teasing my barber tonight about all the poisonous beasties down under (he's planning on emigrating there), and he said that with modern anti-venom treatments, there have been no deaths from the most poisonous spiders there for decades now.


Which will not prevent me from trotting out this old chestnut
(Whachya mean, mixed metaphors?):

Two diggers in the outback; one gets bitten on the bum by a poisonous snake. His pal goes to find help, but the nearest doctor is tied up with other emergency cases. The Doc tells the friend, "The best thing you can do for him is to try to suck the venom from the wound."

So the digger goes back to his mate, who asks, "What did the doctor say?"

And his mate replies...

"The doc says you're gonna die!"
 
there has not been a recorded event of a red back (spider) being responsible for the death of a human....
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erm...

Mortality/Morbidity:

The last confirmed fatality caused by L hasselti occurred in New South Wales in 1955 (the year before the antivenom became available from Commonwealth Serum Laboratories [CSL]). However, in 1962, a 32-year-old man may have died from an allergy to the venom. Before 1956, 13 deaths had been attributed to the species, although the reported details are somewhat inadequate by present standards. The true number of deaths is probably larger. As recently as the 1920s, whether or not the redback was dangerous was a matter of debate. Because of the scarcity of useful preantivenom-era data, the exact cause(s) of death and incidence of envenomation are difficult to determine.
One of the great successes of Australia's CSL, before its privatization and pursuit of more economical projects, was the development of antivenoms to a wide variety of dangerous Australian animals. Since the introduction of redback spider antivenom, no confirmed fatalities have been documented.
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source

But still, even if death isn't a likelihood, PAIN is. And i'm not a big fan of pain, and am still creeped out by redbacks.

But I don't kill 'em, just the whitetails. Because even if it's never been proven that they cause necrosis, it's not something I'm willing to risk.
 
thankyou...i had not seen that before....much appreciated.
 
mossy_sloth it's been awhile since I used any but I think it was within seconds, much quicker than insecticide that seems to take ages. I see the redbacks outside sometimes but we look at each other and go our separate ways.
 
Just Quick Question...

To the people in Australia...I'm curious as just how often you guys see spiders? In England I see a small spider every couple of weeks maybe longer and the occasional large british house spider every couple of months...this is enough to freak me out...How often and do you guys come into contact these slightly larger arachnids that live over with you?
 
Depends where you live really..here in the suburbs we get huntsman spider the size of your hand (actually the size of my hand, and I have small girly hands) coming in the house maybe once every few months... If you live closer to the bush it's different, they get in your car and it is damn freaky seeing one run across the windscreen when you are in a moving car.

Never seen a funnelweb in my life, rarely see redbacks and almost never inside the house. I had never seen a white tail until I moved to my current house, but here, just in the last year I have seen maybe five or six of them. Probably see small house and garden spiders every day. Of course I don't spray my patio or anything so there are loads there. Basically the closer you are to the bush the more you tend to see.

oh and thanks Isis, I shall keep the hairspray ready as it sounds like a fairly quick death. The whitetail in the letterbox seems to have disappeared though, so thankfully it doesn't look like I will have to perform my speciesist elimination programme on him!
 
Thanks for the info Mossy :)

I don't know If I could handle A Huntsmen scrambling across my windshield lol. Then again I don't love the thought of waking up and having one on my wall or bed. (Happend to old friend)

Those White-Tails don't look too friendly either, I know they say they are harmless, but still I wouldn't like to get within 10 feet of one.

The reason I ask is my parents want to move to australia...and I'm at the age where I can decide wether or not to join them or stay in England and belive it or not spiders are playing a large role in my decision.

(sorry for going off topic)

On topic though, From what I know spiders are almost completly driven by predatory instinct, The reason for spiders not running when we appear to notice them is that in the wild they are used to being able to stop and blend in to their surroundings, plus the predators they run from generally don't have the best eyes either...But actually building a relationship with one...I'm not sure...maybe if the spider realised it couldn't hurt you and realised you wasn't going to hurt it, maybe that would explain it
 
Well if I had have known that Mulder I would have played it down a little! No seriously they aren't that bad, and if you don't mind spraying them I guess you would probably see a lot less of 'em about. And like I said, it would depend on where you would be living.

And you know, for all the spiders I see, I only know ONE person who has ever been bitten and suffered any serious effects.

Anyway, hope I haven't put you off too much.
 
Nah don't worry... The upside is that although they scare me like nothing else on earth I do have an odd facination with them. So if I do join my parents I will get a chance to see some of the more exotic species out there, Plus even over here in England we are constantly hearing of brazillian wandering spiders being found in banana's from supermarkets. (good job I don't eat banana's lol)
 
Mulder I'm in a suburb of Melbourne so am not really close to the bush.I do have a lot of plants in the garden so if I'm out there I usually see a few. I find the bluebottle and jumping ants much worse as they give a nasty bite. As for inside, we do have screens but still get some black house spiders near the windows and daddy long legs but the huntmen usually come out when it's going to rain. They are better than the weather bureau that way.
 
Forget the south!! They got all sorts of creepy crawlers
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Yes. I've always wanted to move back down south, but that story gives me pause. It kinda makes the 7 months of snow we get a year here in western New York State seem more bearable. Of course, I think there was slight exaggeration on the size, but still. Then again, I've seen the pic of the Huntsman of Australia, (supposedly the same thing as our wolf spiders) posted somewhere on here. It showed one sitting atop a roll of tp; it was straddling the entire width!

If I saw anything like that around me and it didn't leave me alone, I'd immobilize and suffocate it with hairspray, then the Raid and then:

:splat:

ironyboard
 
We had this one come in a couple of months ago. Think it might be the same one as a few months previous to that as well. Seemed to have the same damaged legs you can see in the pic.

spid.jpg
 
if I saw that on my living room wall I think that I would rather sell the house than have to deal with it.. :shock:
 
The poor thing. Is there anything sadder than a spider with broken legs?
 
Went to a marsh recently and there was a whole field of these guys

Spider.jpg
 
That picture is scary Mossy, I don't think I could deal with that if I saw it...I wouldn't be able to crush it or shoo it away...but on the same coin I wouldn't be able to let it still be in the house without me knowing where....so I would probaby wait for hours watching it (from a decent distance I might add)...then prehaps try throwing some shoes. lol.
 
Bucket and a piece of cardboard usuallly does the trick. That one was a little too big for a glass and piece of paper.

But really, they aren't that bad, at least the huntsmen aren't dangerous.

And Rainy Ocean, that pic you posted was quite beautiful. What sort of spider is that?
 
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