I found this sheila in my shed today, about 30mm in length. Probably the biggest I've seen yet. This is called a white-tail or white-tipped spider. There are a lot of myths going around about necrotic wounds, people's flesh rotting and dropping off and what have you.....
P.S. if anyone you know has been bitten by CONFIRMED white tip spider, I am researching them and would love an email detailing your symptoms, prognosis and doctors advice, treatment and any other details about the incident.
Last edited by bloodhound31; 06-12-2011 at 10:23 PM.
Was interested to check this myself. From the Australian Museum website:
Quote:
Do white-tailed spiders cause the skin condition known as necrotising arachnidism?
There is an ongoing debate among toxicologists and spider biologists about the effects and dangers of white-tailed spider bites. Most of these bites appear to cause little or no effect beyond transient local pain. However a small number of cases do cause more extensive problems. Whether this is a result of the spiders' venom or to bacteria infecting the wound at or after the time of the bite has not yet been resolved. It is also possible that some people may react badly to white-tailed spider bite, possibly because of immune system susceptibility or a predisposing medical condition. References
Meier, J. & White, J. (1995) Handbook of Clinical Toxicology. CRC Press, Florida USA.
Troy, I read an article once from a West Australian research team which also suggested that rather than the venom being the problem it was the bacteria living on the spiders fangs.
They are known to be scavengers and the team identified Golden Staph as one of the bacterias.
Had a friend at work (lost contact with him now) who was bitten by one that was in his Ugg Boot.. He had the problem of hi skin dissolving around his heal and had to have skin removed from elsware and grafted onto his foot.. He was in a real bad way and it happend within 12 hours of the bite. I also don't trust them and all of them I see simply get killed...
Baz, I've posted the question in the spider Q&A section of the Australian Invertebrates Forum http://inverts.com.au
Those guys really know their stuff I think, keep spiders as pets, know the IDs if they were bitten by one. Will keep you posted as info feeds in.
Had a friend at work (lost contact with him now) who was bitten by one that was in his Ugg Boot.. He had the problem of hi skin dissolving around his heal and had to have skin removed from elsware and grafted onto his foot.. He was in a real bad way and it happend within 12 hours of the bite. I also don't trust them and all of them I see simply get killed...
Spider Murderer
Mardy
Thanks Mardy. If you ever got in contact with your friend again, I would very much like to hear the story first-hand with all the details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by troypiggo
Baz, I've posted the question in the spider Q&A section of the Australian Invertebrates Forum http://inverts.com.au
Those guys really know their stuff I think, keep spiders as pets, know the IDs if they were bitten by one. Will keep you posted as info feeds in.
Troy, you are already awesome enough in my book, now I have to think of a bigger word to beat awesome because you are awesomer than awesome.
I got bitten by one (I saw it bite me) it was a bit like a bee sting.
There was very little reaction for a week or so then I realised that the small scab was covering a 'core' that was like the core of a boil.
I removed the scab and scoured out the junk (which was notpainful in any way.) It scabbed over and then got better after being a bit red for a few days. It has left a small indentation in the back of my leg and a scar about 10mm across
I've been bitten by both a white tail and a funnel web. I'll take the white-tail any day of the week.
The funnel web made me feel like I had been run over by a truck for days.
I got bitten by one (I saw it bite me) it was a bit like a bee sting.
There was very little reaction for a week or so then I realised that the small scab was covering a 'core' that was like the core of a boil.
I removed the scab and scoured out the junk (which was notpainful in any way.) It scabbed over and then got better after being a bit red for a few days. It has left a small indentation in the back of my leg and a scar about 10mm across
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poita
I've been bitten by both a white tail and a funnel web. I'll take the white-tail any day of the week.
The funnel web made me feel like I had been run over by a truck for days.
Thanks guys! Would you be willing to PM me with all the gory details for my research compilation?
LOL. Reading through AIF in the spiders section and someone dared to talk about squishing these white tails. Note that this was in the sub-section of the forum specifically for people who keep spiders as pets, breed them, love them. Needless to say it didn't go down too well.
One poster reckons she(?) had no allergies, got bitten by a white tail, bit of the skin necrosis, and now is allergic to several other insects/spiders that she wasn't allergic to before.
