Incy wincy spider, climbed up the practice room wall...

I had a little visitor to my practice room yesterday. After taking a few photos I decided to ask a fellow bass player about the danger of spiders in Australia. It turns out the spider I’d just been leaning down to look at bites, and it can jump…

Apparently nine out of the world’s ten most poisonous spiders are found it Australia. As soon as you mention it to an Australian, they’re quick to boast of a species called the white tailed spider whose venom eats away at human flesh. One person told me that you’re left with a permanent hole in your skin, and then someone else said amputation is the only answer. It turns out both are true. The ‘hole’ in the skin is described on the internet as ‘substantial recurrent local tissue necrosis with a deep rolled ulcer involving fat and skin and exposing muscle’. Yummy.

Looking at the internet sights, I don’t think I have too much to worry about. Most bites are not fatal, but just give a lot of pain. However, there is the funnel web spider which is found near Sydney: ‘male funnel webs tend to roam about, particularly after heavy rain in summer, and often wind up indoors.’ The males are the more poisonous of the species and their venom is highly toxic. Eeek. But they don’t jump, and there is now an antivenom.

When I returned to the practice room my huntsman friend had disappeared. I was rather wary for the rest of the day when moving any of my stuff. However, I refused on principle to change practice rooms. I’ve never allowed a spider to dictate my movements before, and I’m not going to start now. So there.