Originally posted by: Sunrise089
Originally posted by: slimrhcp
Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Originally posted by: snooker
Black widow spider. I caught one the other day in my back yard. Hard to believe something so tiny can kill.
Yeah, but same for all spiders....the likelyhood of being bitten and them secreting enough venom to give you more than a bruise is doubtful. Spider venom is approximately 5 times more potent than snake venom, but there just isn't as much of it and their small fangs usually cannot penetrate our fatty tissue (especially in america) for the venom to go directly into our bloodstream.
Correct about the venom statement. The black widow's bite has been greatly exaggerated by the media. Their bites rarely lead to death of healthy adults but can be very painful. The brown recluse, which was mentioned earlier, is much more deadly in terms of the toxicity of its venom. Bullet ant bites/stings are also at the top of the list of pain.
Of course spiders aren't insects, but IMHO the black widow is more fearsome. Brown Recluse's pretty much look like a lot of brown spiders, and where is live in Florida are rare. I've had far too many black widow close calls to think of any other spider as more fearful to me. By far worst of all was the time a group of people and I were loading up large bales of hay from a field into a trailer, and found the field was infested with black widow spiders. Literally each hay bale had over a dozen visible on its surface, and looking down at the ground you saw one every few feet. Suffice it to say I didn't stick around long.
Also, as far as I know the brown recluse venom attacks muscle tissue causing a very painful but limited bite. The black widow's venom attacks the brain and nervous system, causing a less painful but much more immediately threatening bite if enough venom was injected (recluse's main danger would be from secondary infections).