Eeeeeewwwww!!! Yuck! Do you think this is true?!

[Twisterdog]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004092008,00.html

[CathyBogart]

No. It is riddled with inaccuracies and ridiculous impossibilities.

Why would any exotics keeper be handling a widow spider? It just doesn't happen.

The article implies that he was just bitten and died....black widow bites are almost never fatal to a full-grown human, and most humans show symptoms for hours to DAYS before drying from a neurotoxin bite like a widow's.

Termites do not eat flesh.

Boa constrictors are very docile and not dangerous animals, unless they are over ten feet and unusually aggressive. Nobody would let such an animal free-roam, so there was no danger from the boid.

The types of heating elements used for invertebrates do not explode. They literally cannot. Also, most people feed their spiders CRICKETS, I've never heard of anyone feeding a spider termites.

Lizards are not in the habit of tearing flesh off of things and then leaving them around for tarantulas to pick up. Even then....tarantulas eat LIVE PREY, not chunks of dead flesh off of the floor. The only lizard mentioned was a gecko....(who knows what species) and geckos wouldn't eat mammalian flesh.

There are no bird-eating spiders besides one species of tarantula.....and the name is a misnomer, they don't eat birds!

I could keep going, but the whole thing is completely absurd and not believable in the slightest.

Edit: NYAAAAAAAH!! BLACK WIDOWS ARE VENOMOUS, NOT POISONOUS! *Explodes*

[micki76]

Oh thanks a freaking lot, Shanna! There's no way in H E double hockey sticks I'm sleeping now!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[popcornbird]

Originally posted by micki76
Oh thanks a freaking lot, Shanna! There's no way in H E double hockey sticks I'm sleeping now!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same here. YUCK! Such frightening critters. Spiders! *gasp*

[Twisterdog]

Originally posted by micki76
Oh thanks a freaking lot, Shanna! There's no way in H E double hockey sticks I'm sleeping now!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

LMAO ... Sorry, Micki!

Wolfchan ... Thanks for the specifics. I was thinking it couldn't possibly be true, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.

[CathyBogart]

Hehehe, that's the zoology major in me coming out!

[GoldenRetrLuver]

Eeeks!
I don't think it's true....it sounds pretty impossible. But if it is, that's horrible!

[Shelteez2]

Originally posted by micki76
Oh thanks a freaking lot, Shanna! There's no way in H E double hockey sticks I'm sleeping now!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I second that sentiment!! You didn't even send me a PM warning me. *faints*

Oh and I was eating at the time..... not anymore.....LOL

Hey now that's what I have to do to lose weight...... tape pictures of spiders to the fridge....LOL

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by WolfChan

Why would any exotics keeper be handling a widow spider? It just doesn't happen.

Nobody would let such an animal free-roam, so there was no danger from the boid.

There are no bird-eating spiders besides one species of tarantula.....and the name is a misnomer, they don't eat birds!

When I was younger I had a black widow as a pet, more than one but not once did I ever handle them. I just put them in a jar for a few days to watch them and then set them free again. Fascinating creatures but not something I would handle.

As far as people not allowing large snakes to free roam, that is not true. I know many people who do this. There was once a python (I think) who escaped his house and ate the neighbors pomeranian. Later the snake was destroyed. Trust me, there are a lot of stupid people in this world who are dumb enough to do this.

There are some spiders that eat birds. One man used to come into Scamps reguarly to buy finches for his spider, but I am not sure what type it was.
http://www.tenforward.com.au/spiders/facts.html

http://www.arachnophiliac.com/burrow...ing_spider.htm

http://www.phoenixzoo.org/zoo/animal...spiderbird.asp

[K9soul]

Spiders really don't bother me but I still don't like to be startled by them. If I see one on the wall or on the floor, I try to identify it. Usually it's a brown house spider or a jumping spider or something. I just leave them be

I'm not a zoology major, but I focused on wildlife ecology in college

[CathyBogart]

Bird-eating spiders are opportunistic. If they happen across a nest, yes, they will eat the young. However, they also eat anything else that comes across their path, and eat birds only rarely. That guy's spider probably died young from such a fatty diet.

Even idiots tend to only have semi-docile snakes free-roaming. Boa Constrictors are not an aggressive species unless they are teased, tormented and starved, and they NEVER get big enough to eat a person.

[bluekat]

EWWWWW!!! I hate ALL insects and bugs. Those pics are scary!
A few years ago, me and my friend were riding on my bike to the park where we found this HUGE yellow and black spider. It had a very chubby body, lol. I don't know why, but we poked a stick through it and killed it. I'm terrified of spiders...I don't know why I was brave enough to even go near that one before.

[Tonya]

I don't think it's true. We get bitten by black widows fairly often at work. (I work for the phone company.) All that really happens is the area swells up and pusses really bad.

I worry more about the wasps then I do the black widows. (Those are the two most common pests that we find in the phone terminals.)

[wolfsoul]

*cries and hides* I HATE spiders. I have terrible aracniphobia. I never used to though. In the past I've had several types of spiders as pets, including a few black widows.