More details are needed. A number of spiders may be referred to as funnel webs.Does anyone know where you can purchase these? Or if anyone has any? A friend of mine is really looking to pick one up. (Not literally, but you know LOL)
thanks
I know nothing about their nomenclature, or names, i guess the Sydney funnel web; is that the one you're breeding?
---------- Post added 04-26-2012 at 05:46 PM ----------
After a little reading, those are not what we are looking for. The one's you are talking about look nothing like the Sydney. ::
Why not look for something locally don't you have any Segestria florentina where your from? Nice little species female have iridescent green fangs.Hopefully I'll get lucky then.
Rod Crawford has argued that the characterization of the Sydney funnelweb spider as "deadly" is an exaggeration.The only thing I'll add is this spider will easily kill a healthy adult, unlike widows, wandering spiders, and recluse tallying up deaths on young kids and the sick elderly. No other spider has the high risk this one does. In Australia the only reason people stopped dying to this spiders bite was the introduction of anti-venom. In the states anti-venom will not be available.
Nonetheless, I wouldn't want to keep a Sydney funnelweb spider or any other medically significant species, especially one that can't be legally imported.According to the Australian Museum spider page, the number of human deaths from authentic spider bites of any kind in Australia since 1979 has been zero. A recent published medical study followed 750 genuine Australian spider bite cases with identified spiders over 27 months (1999-2001). Only 44 bites (6%, mostly redback spider bites) had significant effects. Only 6 redback bites and 1 Atrax bite were serious enough to need antivenom. In no case was there any sign of allergic response to spider venom, and I have only seen one such case in North America in 35 years.
Atrax robustus, the Sydney Funnelweb Spider, is often publicized as the "world's deadliest." Authentic medical information (click here for details) suggests otherwise. There have been no deaths (out of 30-40 bites per year) since antivenom was introduced in 1980. During the 53 year period 1927-1979 there were 13 or 14 known deaths, which would be a death rate of under 1%! Although one child died in 15 minutes, adult fatalities typically took 2-3 days. 90% of Atrax bites are judged not serious enough to need antivenom.
Not to mention if you or someone around you gets tagged wether they die or not the media will have a field day reporting it a spider that isn't legal to export from Aussie tags someone in a country there not local too 1) I dunno if you could face jail time (dunno what the US laws on the subject are) 2) it's gunna make an easy argument for the public/government too start adding more species to the illegal to own list, this hobby isnt very highly thought of outside the boundaries of other hobbyists as it is.Rod Crawford has argued that the characterization of the Sydney funnelweb spider as "deadly" is an exaggeration.
Nonetheless, I wouldn't want to keep a Sydney funnelweb spider or any other medically significant species, especially one that can't be legally imported.
Even experienced handlers make mistakes. If you're inexperienced, you're just asking for trouble. If you were bitten and needed antivenom, how likely is it that anyone in your area would have any on hand? If it bit someone else, you could lose everything.
"Atrax robustus, the Sydney Funnelweb Spider, is often publicized as the "world's deadliest." Authentic medical information (click here for details) suggests otherwise. There have been no deaths (out of 30-40 bites per year) since antivenom was introduced in 1980. During the 53 year period 1927-1979 there were 13 or 14 known deaths, which would be a death rate of under 1%! Although one child died in 15 minutes, adult fatalities typically took 2-3 days. 90% of Atrax bites are judged not serious enough to need antivenom."Rod Crawford has argued that the characterization of the Sydney funnelweb spider as "deadly" is an exaggeration.
Nonetheless, I wouldn't want to keep a Sydney funnelweb spider or any other medically significant species, especially one that can't be legally imported.
Even experienced handlers make mistakes. If you're inexperienced, you're just asking for trouble. If you were bitten and needed antivenom, how likely is it that anyone in your area would have any on hand? If it bit someone else, you could lose everything.
Thank you. I do agree with his logic in some sense. But I think you can still measure which spiders have the most dangerous bite.Steve Irwin once did a film clip demonstrating this trucker. Fangs as large as a king cobra (or possibly larger) and leaving droplets of venom on a stick were clearly visible. It was a little comical in that towards the end of the shoot his hands were shaking.
Ciphor, the relevant part of Crawfords page, explaining his logic, is at the bottom:
"Most medical conditions blamed on spiders by physicians lack confirmation that any actual spider was involved in the case. Spider bites of all kinds are rare events (as opposed to other bites and medical conditions that get wrongly blamed on spiders). Although it is possible for a spider bite to cause death, that is a very unlikely outcome and does not happen in enough cases to justify calling any spider "deadly." "
I couldn't agree more, and love Rod.I don't quite agree with Crawford, but I see his point. His logic works out that a nuclear armed ICBM isn't deadly because it has never been used. On the other foot, Crawford has been subjected to so many sensationalist glops of bullfeathers he is very justifiably fed up with all the crap. There are deadly spiders, but the average Toyota/Honda/Nissan/Etc kills more people each day than all the spiders in the entire history of humans stomping the planet. Let's keep things in context.