Caught a white tail spider

**skidMark** · 20th January 2009, 22:09

Just caught a white tail spider, first i have ever seen, luckily looked em up 2-3 months ago out of curiousity.

Damn thing was 10cm from my hand running at it when i saw it.

I need a lotto ticket.

Nasty lil bastards.

**Katman** · 20th January 2009, 22:13

Originally Posted by skidMark

first i have ever seen

Say what?!!!

Is your real name Rip Van Winkle?

**skidMark** · 20th January 2009, 22:14

Originally Posted by Katman

Say what?!!!

Is your real name Rip Van Winkle?

In the quiet words of the virgin mary, come again?

**Swampdonkey** · 20th January 2009, 22:17

A mate got bitten the other day,one had got into a tee shirt he grabbed off his boat. He put it on and wack,nasty rash type sore appeared for a few days. Different folk react worse than others. Nasty bits of work.

**Katman** · 20th January 2009, 22:21

There's a theory that their bite is so severe because they feed on Daddy Long Legs (which supposedly have venom as bad as just about anything else out there).

**skidMark** · 20th January 2009, 22:22

Originally Posted by Katman

There's a theory that their bite is so severe because they feed on Daddy Long Legs (which supposedly have venom as bad as just about anything else out there).

Yeah daddy long legs is one of the most poisonous spiders on earth, but fangs are too small to bite ya.

Just as well huh.

**Max Preload** · 20th January 2009, 22:25

Indeed - different people react quite differently. I have a mate who was bitten on the foot - didn't return to work for 6 months because he couldn't put any significant weight on it.

I've had 3 bites from the mongrels (2 confirmed by the corpse) and I just get a large red patch with a puss-filled pimple like head and shitloads of itching. I've caught many more and put them together and they fight to the death! Most gratifying...

**jrandom** · 20th January 2009, 22:27

I have a year-old 1cm-diameter scar from a whitetail bite on my right foot. Happened while I was sitting in the lounge watching telly.

It took almost three weeks to heal up. For the first 12-24 hours, it was a burning mozzie-bite type bump that just wouldn't stop hurting, and then that turned black and collapsed and spread outwards over the following days, eventually falling away and leaving a bloody hole that scarred over.

Which made me pretty sure that the root cause was an infection of some sort, rather than a direct envenoming.

I didn't see a doctor or take any antibiotics for it. I was poised to, though, if I noticed any systemic symptoms or if it'd spread further.

The infection angle makes sense given that reported deaths and/or cases of gangrene requiring amputation from spider bites tend to be among the infirm and very young. My ex-wife's grandmother lost half a thumb to a whitetail bite about six months before she died of cancer.

**jtzzr** · 20th January 2009, 22:28

So if we see a 4 legged white-tail , Skid Mark taught it how to wheelstand.

**bikerboy011** · 20th January 2009, 22:29

I always see massive black one's around my house.

**Max Preload** · 20th January 2009, 22:30

Originally Posted by skidMark

Yeah daddy long legs is one of the most poisonous spiders on earth, but fangs are too small to bite ya.

Originally Posted by Katman

There's a theory that their bite is so severe because they feed on Daddy Long Legs (which supposedly have venom as bad as just about anything else out there).

The biggest white-tailed spider myth is that they carry toxins from eating daddy-long-legs.

"That is a complete, utter and total myth. 99.95 percent of spiders have a toxin, but the daddy-long-legs are one of the few species that don't. They don't actually have any fangs either."

10 chars...

**skidMark** · 20th January 2009, 22:34

Originally Posted by Max Preload

10 chars...

Not what i have heard about daddy long legs eh.

I will ask my mates dad "the bug man" (Ruud kleinpaste) next time i see him, he should know all about the lil bastards.