False widow spider
- Thread starter Micke
- Start date
Now all we need is for people to start posting links to the headline stories of "Person really does actually die after bee/wasp sting" (as opposed to "person thought they might die after spider bite" stories).
What? There are no such stories out there? Why not? It happens a lot more often than the spider bite stories do.
Not dismissing the unpleasant experiences of the people who were affected, but just trying to keep this in proportion. For some reason spider bites (or alleged spider bites) make news. More serious incidents with other invertebrates such as wasps and bees generally do not.
About eight times a year on average. Anaphylactic shock is a terrifying thing to behold
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-189290/Father-dies-bee-sting.html
Thing is though Mike, we've all grown up knowing that spider's are pretty much harmless, and suddenly there are these alien ones that aren't, iimmc.
That worries a lot of people.
I do take the point that in the scheme of things there are very few truly bad reactions to their bite, but it's still not a comfortable thought that the spider I pick up to throw back outdoors might not be a native one that causes no grief.....and I'm not frightened of spiders; a lot of people are.
I'm not running around saying kill every spider, but if I were certain that it were false widows that I had found, then I'd have no compunction.
Anyone who lives under the threat of anaphylactic shock, or the folks that love them, has my complete sympathy. I have a dread that one day I really might need the epi pen that I'm prescribed.
M
That worries a lot of people.
I do take the point that in the scheme of things there are very few truly bad reactions to their bite, but it's still not a comfortable thought that the spider I pick up to throw back outdoors might not be a native one that causes no grief.....and I'm not frightened of spiders; a lot of people are.
I'm not running around saying kill every spider, but if I were certain that it were false widows that I had found, then I'd have no compunction.
Anyone who lives under the threat of anaphylactic shock, or the folks that love them, has my complete sympathy. I have a dread that one day I really might need the epi pen that I'm prescribed.
M
I have quite a few False Widow spiders in my flat, there is one that lives on the sofa, one in the bathroom, and one that loiters near my bed.
Last week I found 4 on the underside of a plastic dustbin lid in the garden, 2 males, 2 females. One female was an inch across, the other maybe ¾" across. I wanted to use the bin lid, so was trying to move them to a better home. Using a thin stick to try and pick them up, they shot off at quite some speed, deployed a silk line, and abseiled off into the undergrowth.
I've picked up False widows on numerous occasions, and had them run from hand to hand for over 10 minutes at a time with no problem. I'm not sure what is is people do to get bitten, but from my experience, they really are fine.
I believe I have 4 different species of spider living in my flat, and I welcome them. I'm not sure I would have the same attitude if there was any chance they might be say a Sydney Funnel Web, or a Brazilian Wandering Spider, but the spiders I do have I welcome and enjoy their company.
Note, from my extensive experimentation, they are very good listeners, but the conversation tends to be a bit one sided...
Julia
Last week I found 4 on the underside of a plastic dustbin lid in the garden, 2 males, 2 females. One female was an inch across, the other maybe ¾" across. I wanted to use the bin lid, so was trying to move them to a better home. Using a thin stick to try and pick them up, they shot off at quite some speed, deployed a silk line, and abseiled off into the undergrowth.
I've picked up False widows on numerous occasions, and had them run from hand to hand for over 10 minutes at a time with no problem. I'm not sure what is is people do to get bitten, but from my experience, they really are fine.
I believe I have 4 different species of spider living in my flat, and I welcome them. I'm not sure I would have the same attitude if there was any chance they might be say a Sydney Funnel Web, or a Brazilian Wandering Spider, but the spiders I do have I welcome and enjoy their company.
Note, from my extensive experimentation, they are very good listeners, but the conversation tends to be a bit one sided...
Julia
I love that one!
I was bitten by what I think was a false widow a couple of weeks ago, I had a slight bump and irritation for a few hours. The stories in the media are all the result of bacterial infections, not of the bite itself.
I was bitten by what I think was a false widow a couple of weeks ago, I had a slight bump and irritation for a few hours. The stories in the media are all the result of bacterial infections, not of the bite itself.
So effectively by condoning their presense you encourage them to breed, and that's how we ended up with grey squirrels and mink, American crayfish, and Himalyan balsam............
If you have so many in your flat, they're breeding hundreds of others.
We are an island people; we can control our borders and we can eliminate the undesirable incomers, if we work together.
Anaphylactic shock isn't a bacterial infection, but I do take Cranmere's point on the spider bite injuries.
M
If you have so many in your flat, they're breeding hundreds of others.
We are an island people; we can control our borders and we can eliminate the undesirable incomers, if we work together.
Anaphylactic shock isn't a bacterial infection, but I do take Cranmere's point on the spider bite injuries.
M
They have been around in this country since about 1870 apparently! However, they are still relative newcomers, and I agree that they have no place here. Same with some of the breeds of Hornet we are now getting. I notice more and more Hornets every year.
I don't think they travelled very far from the south coast or docks though; the spread northwards is probably what has brought them to the attention of, and concern, the rest of the population.
http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=3392
http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=3391
Hornets always seemed sort of American Comic type mega wasps to us; but they're not found up here so we didn't have any other frame of reference for them.
http://www.bbka.org.uk/files/library/vespa-velutina-asian-hornet_1319053310.pdf
M
http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=3392
http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=3391
Hornets always seemed sort of American Comic type mega wasps to us; but they're not found up here so we didn't have any other frame of reference for them.
http://www.bbka.org.uk/files/library/vespa-velutina-asian-hornet_1319053310.pdf
M
Quite so. Although a friend of mine did get a Hornet in his motorhome in Scotland a couple of weeks ago. (Can't remember where exactly, but I believe near Loch Lomond))
Really ? I wonder how on earth it got there ? though I suppose it only takes one queen to make the journey north. Fascinating looking things, and supposedly slower to sting than wasps, unless attacked.
We have had an incredibly warm and mild end to Summer up here I'm still working around the garden in a short sleeved, lightweight, blouse.
It's been a dry end to the Summer too, only the last two days have we really had rain. It'll be interesting to see how the Winter is; the first snows have fallen on the hills, so we might get it cold
cheers,
Toddy
We have had an incredibly warm and mild end to Summer up here
I'm still working around the garden in a short sleeved, lightweight, blouse.It's been a dry end to the Summer too, only the last two days have we really had rain. It'll be interesting to see how the Winter is; the first snows have fallen on the hills, so we might get it cold
cheers,
Toddy
Hornets are very much a southern species-Sussex,Hampshire ,Dorset seem to be the strongholds. Finding one in Scotland is interesting. The weather has been kind this year or maybe it hitched a lift in the motorhome. I did find a nest in Diss,Norfolk when on holiday years ago.
Even some pest controllers with no previous experience of our native hornet go down the "superwasp ,evil alien European/Asian hornet" route when faced with one for the first time.
Doesn't help that our hornet is considered one and the same with the European species. Hence when a keen amateur identifies their mystery insect as a "European Hornet" its too easy to imagine the beginings of an invasion by those dastardly French .
Hornets are great;they buzz about like golden-brown Lancaster bombers ,have an endearing habit of tapping on windows on September evenings to get at the light (or is it to watch X F*ctor ?) and if you are lucky will treat you to display of aerial combat when they hawk moths or even wasps for food.
On the down side they tend to be a lot less benign once their nest is disturbed and turn from Lancasters into Stukka dive bombers that will often target the face of their victim .
About ten years ago a local man stepped out of the bath onto a dead hornet. By an unlucky quirk he somehow squashed the insect in a way that squeezed the sting into his foot and died .
Yet I was called to a job to deal with a hornet's nest in a farmyard where cats ,dogs chickens and horses had been stung after some children had stumbled into a nest amongst some hay bales. The children had also suffered; one with eight stings in the head!
"My God," I said to the girl's mother ", did you take her to hospital?".
She looked at me as if I'd made a ridiculous suggestion and replied",No. I dunked her head in a bucket of TCP .She's out playing somewhere".
Ye
Even some pest controllers with no previous experience of our native hornet go down the "superwasp ,evil alien European/Asian hornet" route when faced with one for the first time.
Doesn't help that our hornet is considered one and the same with the European species. Hence when a keen amateur identifies their mystery insect as a "European Hornet" its too easy to imagine the beginings of an invasion by those dastardly French .
Hornets are great;they buzz about like golden-brown Lancaster bombers ,have an endearing habit of tapping on windows on September evenings to get at the light (or is it to watch X F*ctor ?) and if you are lucky will treat you to display of aerial combat when they hawk moths or even wasps for food.
On the down side they tend to be a lot less benign once their nest is disturbed and turn from Lancasters into Stukka dive bombers that will often target the face of their victim .
About ten years ago a local man stepped out of the bath onto a dead hornet. By an unlucky quirk he somehow squashed the insect in a way that squeezed the sting into his foot and died .
Yet I was called to a job to deal with a hornet's nest in a farmyard where cats ,dogs chickens and horses had been stung after some children had stumbled into a nest amongst some hay bales. The children had also suffered; one with eight stings in the head!
"My God," I said to the girl's mother ", did you take her to hospital?".
She looked at me as if I'd made a ridiculous suggestion and replied",No. I dunked her head in a bucket of TCP .She's out playing somewhere".
Ye
It actually flew into his motorhome whilst he was on the 'phone to me, so I had to listen to his attempts to evict it!
The Hornets we get at home (Cambridgeshire) seem to be very shy and will fly away from you rather than buzz around you like Wasps do. I'm told that if they do sting it is no worse than a Wasp, despite their size, but wouldn't like to put it to the test.
One strange thing happened recently, I went out into the garden at about 10 o clock at night, and it was very dark, the security light came on, and within a coupe of minutes, there were 3 or 4 Hornets buzzing around the light. This surprised me at that time of night. (But as your post says, this is quite common behaviour?).
The Hornets we get at home (Cambridgeshire) seem to be very shy and will fly away from you rather than buzz around you like Wasps do. I'm told that if they do sting it is no worse than a Wasp, despite their size, but wouldn't like to put it to the test.
One strange thing happened recently, I went out into the garden at about 10 o clock at night, and it was very dark, the security light came on, and within a coupe of minutes, there were 3 or 4 Hornets buzzing around the light. This surprised me at that time of night. (But as your post says, this is quite common behaviour?).
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We've got a hornets nest in the roof here (along with bumblebees, sparrows and bats), they seem very active at night and you can still watch them coming and going as it gets dark. We get them banging into the windows after dark when the lights are on too.
Hi There
Can't say I've had any trouble with False widows - I've picked plenty up and they have shown no aggression.
Similarly, hornets are remarkably docile in my experience. I am fortunate to see plenty in my local woods and let one have a little wander about on my hand a month or two back.
Can't say I've had any trouble with False widows - I've picked plenty up and they have shown no aggression.
Similarly, hornets are remarkably docile in my experience. I am fortunate to see plenty in my local woods and let one have a little wander about on my hand a month or two back.
Hornets fly at night quite commonly. They regularly turn up in some numbers in moth traps, to the dismay of those emptying the trap in the morning. Up to 50 irate hornets at a time can really ruin the start to your day.
I remember Jon Pickett saying he got loads in his moth traps. He just picked them up and let them go - they are very calm creatures really (unless the nest is violated)
The county moth recorder for Gwent was hospitalised by a bunch of hornets that swarmed out at him from a trap. Presumably they had other plans for the evening and were not best pleased at the change, and took it out on him.
