Quote:
Originally Posted by trailblazer295
How do you handle/clean the cages of venomous spiders that small? One bite could kill you but at the same time they are so small it wouldn't be hard to squish them by accident with protective gloves.
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Widow bites are seldom fatal, it's true that they have a very potent venom but they don't have much of it.
One of the key components is Alpha-latrotoxin, a excitatory neurotoxin that overstimulates your nerves, it creates a condition known as "Latrodectism" symptoms are: sweating at the site of the bite, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting etc.
It won't kill you if you seek medical care and it's very slow in onset, so you have time.
There is a antivenom available, however usage of the antivenom is associated with anaphylaxis, so it's only used when the pain is either unbearable or the patient is surely going to die without it.
That being said, even though the bite won't prove fatal in most cases, it's incredibly painful and even with pain medications you still feel alot of the "frying" of your nerves.
People of old age, the young and the ones with a weakend immune system are most at risk for a potential fatal envenomation.
Hypotension may even cause rhabdomyolisis, a condition where muscle cells burst open and release their contents in the blood stream, clogging up the kidneys and causing renal failure.
I don't work with gloves with any of my animals, even the cobra.
It just doesn't work for me, i feel more comfortable without them.
Thereby, this little redback is still a juvenile and only bites from adult female widow spiders can cause severe envenomation in some cases.
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