Mark Rowland, the owner of Trinity Vet Centre and an expert in zoological medicine says he has never had to deal with something like this before. He said: "The first thing we thought when it was brought in was: 'Thank god there are not any holes in this'. At least it was secure. The thing about Chinese takeaway cartons is that they have got firm lids you can put on.
"We just had to transfer it to a more secure container and double box it so it would not cause any problems." A bite from a black widow spider can cause muscle pain and spasms, nausea, vomiting, a coma and even death. Now he is searching for somewhere, or someone, to take the spider.
YouTube link. Original video.
"I have started with the local zoological collections - I have contacted London Zoo. I have got quite a few contacts in the zoological world so we should be able to find somewhere for her. Wherever she goes they will have to have a dangerous wild animal licence because she is a potentially dangerous animal."
11 comments:
Sensationalism in journalism pisses me off...
The Black Widow's bite is by far less dangerous than a damn rattlesnake. The venom is very potent, yes, but it is such a tiny quantity and with the advent of modern medicine there is almost no chance of death these days from it.
But hey, everyone hates spiders, so let's get them crushing every one they can find, the wonder why insect-borne disease is becoming so rampant...
To be fair The Rat King, any kind of dangerous creepy crawly found in the UK is unusual.
How many of these invaders pass the customs undetected? How long till climate change makes the UK a suitable place for these critters to live? How long till they reproduce out of control, take over the ecosystem, fill the nation with web and bite everything that moves? You're all going to die!
I've enjoyed your blog, Kevin. I'm sorry for the horrible, spidery doom that awaits you.
Hahaha, it can't be long now, Insolitus!
They are already quite happy in Seattle, which has the climate of Kent. I was once clearing ivy and felt a tickle across my face. I brushed off a black widow. Yikes.
wtf. Why not just kill it? It's one. It's foreign. It's venomous. It's a total PIA to get a licence. It's only rare there.
In the hills of southern California, there are loads of these things outside and more than a few inside. I know a few friends that have been bitten by these. It's a very painful bite and it remains painful for about a week. One friend had to go to the hospital because he was allergic to the venom (his arm swelled a little), but for the most part they're not too bad.
Of course, whenever any of us see one, we scream and fail and stomp.
My mother has tons of black widows at her place, ten miles from me. I have tons of brown widows-- less toxic, smaller and less aggressive. I usually let them be (so far they've never come inside). They've killed two wolf spiders in my entryway so far, and wolf spiders freak me out far more than widows!
I once had three black widow bites on my right forearm. I felt dizzy and nauseated, had blurry vision, and was fine in about a day. We have lots of black widows here in Southern California, and whenever we see one, it is usually stomped on or otherwise killed.
@ Arbroath:
Aw c'mon; you Brits need to toughen up. Scared of a wee little crawly like that? ;)
Aussies in Sydney have to live with the tarantula-sized psychopath Funnel Web that is far, far more dangerous than the lil Widow.
And anyways, the Widow is pretty...
I just culled three from the shop at work (northern Cali)- didn't really want to kill them, but neither did I want the kids who stop by to find them...
I've found them in Illinois before.
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