Re: Spiders
Originally Posted by
AnnieS
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I have managed to overcome my spider phobia because I am in the UK where hardly any will bite you. But if I lived in Oz I would be absolutely terrified. Aren't quite a few of yours deadly? Even if not deadly I've seen photos of spider bites - yikes!
All spiders are venomous (even UK ones) the difference is whether they can break human skin. We have a couple of dodgy ones - Red Backs and Funnel Webs but I have always had Red Backs in my garden and living in my garage door without any incidents.
If you get bitten they usually wait to see what happens before doing anything but no one has died from a spider bite since the 1970s or whenever it was they invented the antidote.
White Tailed Spiders have a reputation for causing necrosis of the flesh but the jury is out whether than is actually true.
Huntsmen usually can't break the skin but if they do the bite is painful but otherwise harmless, a bee sting is worse.
I had one dog die from what we think was a spider bite (but it could have been a snake) like most Australian "dangers" the fear is far greater than the chance of anything untoward happening. You are still more likely to die crossing the road.