Ain’t no friend of mine.

[Tom dinning]

The funnel web spider is a family of arachnids known as Atracidae. They are mostly found along the east coast of Australia and have a bad but well deserved reputation.
There’s nothing funny about having one of the suckers hurl itself at you from a hole in the ground or an overhanging branch.

This one is an exceptional example. It was collected and sent to be milked.
I wonder who put the bucket under it.

When I was about 15 I had one crawl across me while in bed.

 

[Asher Kelman]

What do they milk it for? Is that to make venom or to harvest enzymes for biological chemistry.

It’s a frightening thing to have crawl across your face....zzzzzz...

.....or who knows where!

Asher

 

[Andy brown]

Living in the bush, it’s not unusual to have a snake in the house every now and then and shitloads of spiders 🕷 who don’t generally bother you.
I did swing out of bed one morning to the sight a big black ugly funnel web right where I was about to put my foot.
That was a bit close for comfort.

Got bitten a white tail once. Considerable grief! Mind altering itching periodically for about a decade.

 

[Andy brown]

And don’t get me started about paralysis ticks!

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. LOL
Don

‘Very, very large’ funnel-web spider found in NSW astonishes reptile park staff

When the Australian Reptile Park put a call out asking for people to bring in funnel-web spiders, they never expected to receive one this big.

7news.com.au

 

[Tom dinning]

And don’t get me started about paralysis ticks!

You’re such a girl, Andy.
Toughen up.

The beloved Christine found a brown snake behind the draped one evening. I had to rescue the snake while she stood screaming from a sanding position on the couch.
She also called me on another occasion while I was in the middle of a class with news that she’d trapped a spider in the spare room and wondered what to do next. Big as her hand she said. I got home later to find the entire house reeking or fly spray and a poor defenceless arachnid shrivelled up under a pillow.

It ain’t a real Australian house if it’s not been invaded by a few toxic animals and a couple of possums, tree rats, cockroaches.

On a more somber note, a woman close by was bitten by a white tail a couple of years back. She lost her arm and eventually died a painful death.

 

[Tom dinning]

What do they milk it for? Is that to make venom or to harvest enzymes for biological chemistry.

It’s a frightening thing to have crawl across your face....zzzzzz...

.....or who knows where!

Asher

Anti venom made from the venom. Saves a few lives each year along the coast.

 

[Asher Kelman]

You’re such a girl, Andy.
Toughen up.

...........On a more somber note, a woman close by was bitten by a white tail a couple of years back. She lost her arm and eventually died a painful death.

The white tail spider has been seriously studied. In many many cases where spider was recovered and expertly identified, there was only a red spot and swelling but never ever any necrosis or death.

The cases where necrosis occurred, the spider not found: just “presumed” to be a white tail! So likely as not, we cant blame the white tail on your neighbors lost arm!

BTW, my visiting mate, also a retired physician, (also a certified pervert), and a gynecologist, suggests that this could be a case of “acute wanking necrosis”, if she was a really generous lady at the pub!

Asher

 

[Tom dinning]

The white tail spider has been seriously studied. In many many cases where spider was recovered and expertly identified, there was only a red spot and swelling but never ever any necrosis or death.

The cases where necrosis occurred, the spider not found: just “presumed” to be a white tail! So likely as not, we cant blame the white tail on your neighbors lost arm!

BTW, my visiting mate, also a retired physician, (also a certified pervert), and a gynecologist, suggests that this could be a case of “acute wanking necrosis”, if she was a really generous lady at the pub!

Asher

I know the woman personally. No, she’s not a wanker.
The spider was identified as it was captured for identification at the time of the bite.
She was treated at the local emergency ward.
Two weeks later she still had a growing sore on her arm.
Within days she was considered a candidate for amputation of the arm.
Within a week she was dead.

This is the first reported death from such a spider in the NT. It’s not the first reported case of necrisis.
She was a young woman. Her husband and three children seem to be managing without her but would much prefer her to be wanking away at the pub with them.

These are the facts, Ash.

 

[Tom dinning]

And go tell your gynaecologist mate to stick his proboscus up the fanny of a well respected socialite and leave it there.

 

[Asher Kelman]

It’s amazing and tragic!

Asher

 

[Peter Dexter]

Every once in a while we are reminded that we share the planet with creatures that aren't out pets. My spider encounter was with a Brown Recluse in the US Midwest. Left a four inch hole in my arm. Closest call though was finding my self in a bat cave just one meter away from a Chocoan Bushmaster. They reach 3 meters or nine feet and can deliver a huge amount of venom which produces effects like Ebola virus. My quick snap before my companion who knew what it was said we're getting the fuck outa here!