Deadly Widow Weaves Web Across Britain

Deadly Widow Weaves Web Across Britain

uk.news.yahoo.com

The False Widow, a purple and black creature with a body the size of a 1p piece, is said to carry enough venom to kill a human.

Since arriving in Devon from the Canary Islands, the spider has established colonies in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It seems ages ago when I first heard about spiders and the like coming in on ships from tropical countries, hiding in the fruit boxes.. It was inevitable really that eventually some of these critters would adopt to conditions in our colder climate. Of coarse there are also the pets that people keep in their home's which escape from time to time and this could also be a source of these migrating critters.. None the less I would imaging that they will be here to stay..

peace

daz__

uk.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

ya they will prolly stay and adapt

it is interesting how often cross contamination of ecosystems happens

the earth today looks totally different in almost every way than what it looked like right before the age of exploration when we began sailing everywhere transporting all these animals and plants to foreign lands

The article is a tad misleading starting out by saying it carries enough venom to be deadly. But the last sentence says

Its bite is not deadly but can cause swelling and severe pain.

Live and grew up in the American southwest im used to black widows, brown recluse, scorpions etc. I am thinking this spider would be on par with that.

And if bitten, a spiked electrical gradient with high voltage and low amperage will neutralize the toxin.

Like a spark plug wire on a lawnmower or auto.

That isn't pleasant, but it's quick, and it's over.

I have never heard of that for neutralizing a spider bite. Gonna have to look into that.

i've also heard of modified 'stun guns' being used for neutralizing the toxins in snake bites, and would imagine it's the same general concept.

double post

[edit on 22-5-2009 by drift393]

Looked int this a bit and found it isn't usually a good idea to treat bites with electricity. But I did find this, paraplegic man got bit from a Brown Recluse and regained the use of his legs!! Bad thing though afterword he got arrested for an old domestic abuse case..

Crazy world

forgot to add link to storylink

[edit on 22-5-2009 by drift393]

reply to post by drift393


The medical community won't tell the truth on this for some reason. Most have no idea that it works, and who's going to volunteer to get "sparked."

In South American where medical treatment is scarce, but boat motors and truck motors are common, this is used. Successfully.

And they have some really bad things such as the fer-de-lance.

I was bitten by a brown recluse, I was about to start losing a lot of tissue, and out of desperation I tried it.

Within three minutes the pain was gone, in hours the swelling had drastically reduced, and I lost nothing.

The sharp gradient knocks a couple molecules off the delicate protein toxins, and they are no longer toxins.

All my family and friends know what to do in the event of snake bite or spider bite.

All I want it to do is work. And it works.

reply to post by dooper

Wow that is just an amazing piece of information.. never heard of anything like that before.. Over the years I have seen alot of programs on spiders and snakes and what they tell you is get to a hospital and if you are lucky enough to get the antivenom then you survive.

If this is for real it certainly sounds more efficent than running to the hospital just as long as you have a lawn mower handy.

peace

daz__

I got bitten by a false widow 3 years ago. The bite was painful i admit but i had no serious reaction from it. Then again there are 100+ in this specie and it also depends on the individual itself.

reply to post by qonone

that is a hell of a lot of different species of widow.
Guess most people will not react to a bite.
but I guess also a small percentage of people will react.
You have to be unlucky I guess.

peace

daz__

reply to post by daz__


In South Africa there is this one false widow which we find in our cupboards hence we name it a cupboard spider. My bite though was from one that was black, looks like a black widow but smaller.

I guess in certain countries we just tend to know what we are dealing with and this baby in the U.K looks like one of those that certainly leads to more severe reaction.

Down south we keep 3 spiders at bay or kill them straight away when we see them in our homes. The violin spider (brown recluse), sac spider (which are to blame for 90% of spider bites in our country) and the cupboard spider.

Black widows do not come in our homes and stay outside. They do love to hide in dark places as they are lovely mothers. I have respect for the Black Widow as on two occasions my hands have been in biting distance and not once was i bitten. At one i count myself really lucky is when only realized when i saw these small babies running all over my arm, and then by tilting the pot plant....there she was about 2 inches from my hand.

I have also seen a Black Widow jumping that made my heart skip a beat. I have never seen one jumping and she was hopping like mad. I locked up the front gate for my bigger dog and the chain hit a spot where she had her sleeping spot. Now that one had one thing on her mind to bite me, she was hurt and did not have any attention of backing down.