Outbreak

Of false black widow spiders at my old school, and where my nephews attend!
Been on the news they were found in the I.T room...............no doubt looking for the "Web"   
No a bit scary though!  

Ewwww that made me all itchy!

they not to bad they only like bee has we dont have the black windows

Inezmaria70 wrote:Of false black widow spiders at my old school, and where my nephews attend!
Been on the news they were found in the I.T room...............no doubt looking for the "Web"   
No a bit scary though!  

Ha ha looking for the web

Chiara wrote:

Inezmaria70 wrote:Of false black widow spiders at my old school, and where my nephews attend!
Been on the news they were found in the I.T room...............no doubt looking for the "Web"   
No a bit scary though!  

Ha ha looking for the web

Thanks Claire I am glad the joke wasn't wasted!! 

Eeeew inez that's quite scary, perhaps they were trying to exit the it lounge via the web

Probably Hayley  
Hope you got on ok today xx

I've heard they can be quite nasty, there was article about them in our local newspapaer at the weekend.  

I think they give a nasty bite Kathy. School is closed tomorrow for fumigation  

eww thats scary.spiders  

They can be fatal... Very scary! Saw an article on the news that a man almost had to have his foot amputated when he was bit on the toe.

I've been collecting conkers on my walks to keep the spiders at bay!

They're no more dangerous than bees, really. If you're unlucky enough to be allergic to their venom then you have a problem, just like a bee sting. Otherwise it's painful but not life threatening.

And the jokes about webs & I.T. were awful! 

I cut down some bushes a few year back and the house was infested with them afterwards. I hadnt known of them before so posted a pic on autumn watch web site who confirmed what they were. Now I have a phobia of spiders anyway but when I found that these lil gits were in the house I checked everytime I put a shoe on or jacket. I know they arnt that bad but the dogs save me from daddy long legs lol.

Yes Nath I have a terrible fear of the lil beggers. I just hope none of the pupils didn't take any home in their school bags  

I saw this on the news. shudder shudder shudder.

I hate spiders in any shape or form so never look at them when I am forced to eject them from the house with my spider catcher (into the road in case you're interested, where they can get run over). But I will have to force myself in future to have a quick squizz to see if they're these black widow things.

Inezmaria70 wrote:Of false black widow spiders at my old school, and where my nephews attend!
Been on the news they were found in the I.T room...............no doubt looking for the "Web"   
No a bit scary though!  

 I love your jokes  

Sazzle wrote:

Inezmaria70 wrote:Of false black widow spiders at my old school, and where my nephews attend!
Been on the news they were found in the I.T room...............no doubt looking for the "Web"   
No a bit scary though!  

 I love your jokes  

Well thank you Daisy Duke  

Crazy thing is these little guys and girls have likely been about for ages not biting people and keeping themselves to themselves as standard little house spiders now the poor little house spiders are mistakenly getting mis identified and squished instead of being left to roam

The newspapers have well over hyped it, they have been in the uk for about 140 years, they are a small spider and mega shy, and the bite is only like a bee sting

Widely blown out of proportion. They're from the same genus as the black widow, which is why they look so similar, but in regards to the threat they pose to humans, they really aren't very dangerous. Yes, their bites can be painful, but almost all of the time are very minor.

Almost all species of spiders are actually venomous. It just so happens that certain spiders have a more potent venom and a greater ability to actually bite and inject that venom. For instance, people assume that if they see a false widow, it will bite them. There's actually roughly a 50/50 chance that it would be unable to, as only the females of the species actually have the correct anatomy to bite through human skin.

A dozen or so people die from bee/wasp stings every year in the UK, which is a lot greater than the amount of people who have even suffered significant injury from false widow bites, and these are in cases of allergic reaction.

There really isn't much to worry about with them. They're not aggressive creatures, as far as predators go, and are more likely to scuttle off when they feel somebody coming.

Yes Eleanor well blown out of proportion I think the stuff they fumigated with will do the kids more harm than the spiders! 

I'll bet a lot of the kids are wishing they'd left the spiders there! They might have given them spidey-senses!

i saw this on the news this lad was bitten and he had an huge hole in his back  

Some people do have bad reactions to it, the same as any insect bite, but so much of the news posted about them is just scare mongering. False widows have been living in close proximity to us - houses, sheds, gardens, ect. - for years. The majority of news stories regarding false widow 'attacks' have been discredited as being the result of other species. The actual articles on the bites don't ever mention this, though. They're far too interested in using fear tactics to get readers.

If I remember correctly, the footballer who was bitten on his back was assumed to have been bitten by a false widow at first, but officials have actually said that there is no proof and it could have been any number of insects responsible. So hard to tell and it doesn't help when people blow it out of proportion on Internet articles.

anything for a bit of fear mongering by the media

Our FedEx delivery man at my office got bit by a real one and spent 4 days in the hospital. Those things are no joke!

Steve wrote: