False Widow Spider

[Cetti]

Has anyone seen one of these?

I had one on my patio at the weekend and did a bit of research and apparently a woman in Poole nearly lost her arm through being bitten by one of these! Frightened the life out of me as I didn't think we had any nasties like this in the UK. I now check the bed every night.....

[wildwood]

They're on the increase.

It MAY be due to global warming - more insects around etc.

[chi-chi66]

http://www.uksafari.com/falsewidows.htm

[Prudie]

I don't want to know

[chi-chi66]

I'm saving spiders all the time...so now will be more watchful.

[pusskin]

For yrs I have slept with all windows open at night, untill I became aware that spiders may crawl in, and that freaked me out. So now, all windows closed at night, and I hate it but it has to be done. Who says I'm scared!

[FredPuli43]

The trouble with these scare stories about nearly losing an arm etc is that they have no specific relation to the spider or insect. Some people have an extreme reaction to a sting or bite (and other things: peanuts, for example). If someone died, or nearly died, from a bee or wasp sting, we would not be hearing that we should avoid bees and wasps because they are deadly! There's no particular reason to fear this spider. If it really was dangerous, we'd be treating it like Australians treat funnel web spiders: public health warnings, pest controllers employed, anti-venoms stocked and so on.

[hammerman]

Have loads of false widows in the nooks and crannies in my conservatory. I leave them alone, they leave me alone and i would hope there's a few less flying bugs around.