Quote Originally Posted by poison View Post
Black widows really arent deadly. Though their venom is strong, they don't deliver in large amounts. Usually all that happens is pain and swelling. I'm sure it depends on the person as well. I'm not sure if they have anti venom out here.
Actually watched a fascinating documentary about this this past weekend. While it's true that the bite isn't always deadly, downplaying it with pain and swelling is an understatement. The pain associated with a female black widow bite causes excruciating pain. Pain to the point where victims of bites have attested to high doses of morphine not being able to control it. Neurotoxins such as are in their bite should never be down played.

Antivenin is given as a last resort only due to it sometimes causing adverse reactions in the patient. Also, it can only be administered to a patient once in their lifetime. It also takes the venom of 2000 spiders to make one dose. Antivenin also takes 2 years to make and is only made every 5 years.

Fascinating little Arachnids though.