Our Pet the Black Widow Spider

I think people like your husband that learn and teach about wildlife are wonderful - especially the bits about how things like black widows are only defending themselves and do not have to be killed if you understand how to live with them safely - as he obviously did.

There is a big fuss in the UK at the moment about false widow spiders. They were introduced to this country over 100 years ago but have been getting more common. People here do freak about the fact that they will bite, lots of people in the UK think there are no biting species here. Their bite can be nasty as it is the type of venom that kills cells making secondary infection very likely and while the venom wont kill you an infected bite can lead to blood poisoning which might. Although nobody has died from a bite people make more fuss about them than wasps which cause several deaths every year.