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I guess this might mainly apply to the UK (countries that actually HAVE dangerous arachnids are probably laughing their asses off at us) but the UK Tabloids have been having an absolute field day reporting on the vicious killer invading spiders that have apparently been eating people alive. Its all a load of tosh and i did a guest article on a blog to set the record straight.

http://elwellpress.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/guest-post-the-false-scourge-of-the-false-widow/

Just thought this might be useful for anyone who has read the press reports and might be worries.

Rest of the world, carry on laughing......

Are you telling me that tiny spider was already being called a flesh-eater?



I can't even imagine the stories they would come up with if the spider was like, 5cm instead of 2cm. Apocalypse stories more likely.

Allen Ward is an experienced keeper and breeder of arachnids, sharing his home with more than 300 spiders and tarantulas from all over the world

Is this you? Because that right there is the scariest part of the whole story...

Interesting read. I will say that my favorite part was this:

Killers: these spiders have killed NO-ONE. Peanuts and wasps have caused more deaths than S.nobilis. Then again, so have elephants and stepladders.

Could you imagine an elephant wielding stepladders?! Might as well call the Army in that case

PhantomViper wrote:

Allen Ward is an experienced keeper and breeder of arachnids, sharing his home with more than 300 spiders and tarantulas from all over the world

Is this you? Because that right there is the scariest part of the whole story...

Yeah that's me, i have quite the menagerie

We had a similar thing happen in California with Brown Recluses.

The sad thing is that 1: The Brown Recluse is hardly a killer even if it poisonous and 2: There are very, very few of them in Cali if any.

The Brown recluse isn't quite a killer, but it sure is gnarly. I've seen a couple of those bits first hand, and if they're not taken care of, they can cause some damage.

I've seen brown recluse bites, they will feth you up. If I remember right, it basically causes the flesh around the bite to rot.

So while the bite itself won't kill you, the infection does have a chance, especially if it isn't treated.

And those fethers are all over Kentucky. I honestly think they're more likely to bite than a black widow. Black widows will hide. I've had a brown recluse stare me down as if it was saying "come at me bro"

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

And those fethers are all over Kentucky. I honestly think they're more likely to bite than a black widow. Black widows will hide. I've had a brown recluse stare me down as if it was saying "come at me bro"

I'll agree that they're more brave, but they usually run as soon as they can. They're all over Southern Illinois, and my parent's garage was infested with them a few years back. I refused to enter it without thick work gloves.

 mega_bassist wrote:
Interesting read. I will say that my favorite part was this:

Killers: these spiders have killed NO-ONE. Peanuts and wasps have caused more deaths than S.nobilis. Then again, so have elephants and stepladders.

Could you imagine an elephant wielding stepladders?! Might as well call the Army in that case

IMagaine an elephant wielding a stepladder, while shooting peanuts from its trunk. Its a WMD!

 mega_bassist wrote:
Interesting read. I will say that my favorite part was this:

Killers: these spiders have killed NO-ONE. Peanuts and wasps have caused more deaths than S.nobilis. Then again, so have elephants and stepladders.

Could you imagine an elephant wielding stepladders?! Might as well call the Army in that case

Glad to see I'm not the only one who read it that way.

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Are you telling me that tiny spider was already being called a flesh-eater?



I can't even imagine the stories they would come up with if the spider was like, 5cm instead of 2cm. Apocalypse stories more likely.

I thought smaller spiders in general have more concentrated poison. Glad to hear all these stories are crap, apparently two people in the same city that I live in had been bitten and I was starting to panic(I'm terrified of spiders).

Signed: Avid spider hater.