Australia: Just when you thought it was safe to go camping.
 

So Australia has lots of things that want to kill you - but fortunately for the poisonous ones we have lots of antivenin , especially for spiders.

The most deadly Australian spider is the Funnel Web which can live to around 40 - 50 years in the wild, sometimes older.

Well now scientists have found a type of Funnel Web spider they hadn't known about before and we don't have anti venom for this one :helpme

http://bbspics.com/images/2015/09/08...19f4c30.md.jpg

http://bbspics.com/images/2015/09/08...5150319.md.jpg


Scientists discover possible new funnel-web spider species near Jervis Bay

What's the worst thing you've been bitten by or stung by there?

Big flying Florida cockroaches make me react like an 8 year old girl. I'll pass on the real scary stuff.

I call bullshit on spiders living 40 - 50 years.

New Years Eve (daytime) 1985 I got bitten by a Redback spider while clearing the back yard up for a NYE party we were having. Although I didn't know it at the time.

By 2am I was really itchy, like all over my body, by 4am I had blown up like a balloon, my limbs were double their size (literally) and I was having difficulty breathing. I had really bad pain on one hand like someone driving a nail into it and that hand was sweating profusely.
My girlfriend at the time called an Ambulance and I was taken to hospital. They diagnosed Red Back spider bite and gave me anti venom but by then it was too late so I spent the next few days in hospital recovering.

I never want to have that happen again.


http://bbspics.com/images/2015/09/08/IMG.md.jpg

Setting aside the venom part, looks like lunch in some countries.

Holy shit!

Males take four to six years to reach sexual maturity and most males of the species die around 6 months to a year after that.

The more domestic Sydney funnel webs are regularly recorded at 6 - 8 years around humans.

Sydney Funnel-web Spider - Atrax robustus - Australian Reptile Park

Females, the nasty ones, have been recorded at 30 - 35 years in the wild. The one noted in the article is said to be around 25 - 30 years old.

Dr Struan Sutherland of Melbourne Zoo told Douglas Adams in an interview he did for "Last Chance to See" that he had studied female funnel webs as old as 40 years and suggested they could live longer in the wild.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Chance_to_See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struan_Sutherland

impressive lifespan on them nopes.

I guess I won't be travelling there any time soon

Damn, that's brutal.

I spotted (and took a few pics) of a brown recluse spider here locally a few years back. LUckily didn't end up tangling with it. They're rather rare in these parts from what I've read. But their bite causes a condition very similiar to flesh-eating disease.

I was bitten by a White Tail - It must have just scratched me because I had just a slight reaction...

This what they can do -

Link only because it is gross - http://i.imgur.com/ZH4436s.jpg

It was bad enough that I was paranoid when I lived in NZ where some cunt has introduced them - Why would you do that?....

Needless to say I wear gardening gloves these days :) Red back spiders are everywhere and they are good at hiding and often you don't feel their bite. Fortunately death from such a bite is very rare and the venom moves very slowly, but you still probably won't have a great time while you recover.

We've got white tails here also and they were introduced to NZ some time ago. White Tails aren't native spiders , I reckon they hitched a lift on containers and under cars etc on ships.

Marlboroack.

:1orglaugh

I got bit by a little whatever just last week and still have the wound healing. The itching around it was unbelievable. Some of the most intense itching I can recall, I can only imagine what that's like all over holy shit! Plus prolly wondering all the while if your e gonna die.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh Now that's funny (aside from what he didn't pay you)

Holy crap!

Christ, I thought alligators and boa constrictors were bad. I'm never going to Australia.

When the doctors at the hospital told me I was too late for the anti venom they gave me I almost died of fright. Fortunately what they went on to say is that anti-histamines and a stay in hospital was all that would happen.

That itching was something like I have never felt before, it was awful, probably the worst thing about the whole event.

Redback spiders can be very small and you don't necessarily feel them bite, so obviously when you're out the back cleaning up, moving wood for a bbq and so on you won't always notice the initial bite - I didn't - but by 2am my NYE had kinda gone bad that year :warning

Now I use gardening gloves all the time if working outside.

I was lucky got the stinging in my hand and numb and sweaty hand for a couple days. Wrapped it up in tight bandages overnite so it may have stopped the venom spreading



http://mrpopups.com/sink.jpg

Used a fuckload of spider spray in that place!

Some people just get that and don't get sick. Not many people die from the bites, however they can kill. You got off lucky :thumbsup

A camping in Australia is something that I would never ever do. All the nature of continent is gonna kill you. Even an African lion or a big Canadian Grizzly can be fight off with a rifle or simple torch, but those small insects or deadly jelly-fishes don't afraid of your guns. You barely can even see which one has killed you.

this one reminds me

More people get bitten and stung at home than in the bush.

I've been camping many times and the worst that's happened is a Magpie swoop.