And you thought you were having a bad day...

*shiver*
I have the creepy-crawlies now.

A MAN who lived in his own “zoo” of lizards and insects was fatally bitten by a pet black widow spider — then eaten by the other creepy-crawlies.

Click to expand...

He died doing what he loved.

Living in a zoo of lizards and insects.

And I'm sure he was happy to provide a meal for his lizards and insects considering that he was no longer around to feed him.

I THINK this might be the definition of a win/win.

I think all the creatures got together and said:
"You know, he looks tasty."
"I was thinking the same thing!"
"Hey, Widdow Maker, you bite him, then us reptiles will finish the job."
"I'm in!"
And they set to work on their goulish plan...

alinasandor said:

I think all the creatures got together and said:
"You know, he looks tasty."
"I was thinking the same thing!"
"Hey, Widdow Maker, you bite him, then us reptiles will finish the job."
"I'm in!"
And they set to work on their goulish plan...

Click to expand...

I smell me a Pixar film.

Mmmm...I smell Oscar!!

Let's hope, or rather, let his neighbours hope that none of those creepy crawlies escaped and are now roaming around that appartment block.

Oh, NASTY.

So the way I read this story is that the lamp thingie exploded on accident and his black widow got out and bit him?

Because at first I was thinking, "This dude let his spiders roam all over his house?"

JoNightshade said:

Oh, NASTY.

So the way I read this story is that the lamp thingie exploded on accident and his black widow got out and bit him?

Because at first I was thinking, "This dude let his spiders roam all over his house?"

Click to expand...

That was my first thought too, until I read about the exploding lightbulb. I still think he was a nutter though.

OK! So, are we missing anyone here at AW? Maybe someone with a fondness for creepy bitey things. Is everyone accounted for in Horror?

He probably belonged to Politics and Current Events. They got some real weirdos over there.

I'm going to avoid the article (arachnophobic, here) and just ask: I was under the impression black widow spider bites were rarely fatal?

Please pass the Raid.

MidnightMuse said:

I'm going to avoid the article (arachnophobic, here) and just ask: I was under the impression black widow spider bites were rarely fatal?

Please pass the Raid.

Click to expand...

That is my understanding but I assumed the spider(s) might have made him ill enough to make him vulnerable to the other critters. I think the Black Widow has a neurotoxin that can inhibit movement. Still, a honey bee can kill if the allergies are severe enough.

So Yesterday there was a post about a man who was shot by his puppy......ok so...this blows that away.

MidnightMuse said:

I was under the impression black widow spider bites were rarely fatal?

Please pass the Raid.

Click to expand...

I don't wait to find out!!! I just killed one of those suckers yesterday in my laundry room (her shiny black body was about the size of a nickle)-- and I know for a fact that she's dead -- pate and crackers, anyone?

That whole story was so...ewwwwwww!

GAH!!! Why did I click on that link!? WHY?!

OK, no sleep for me tonight. There aren't, of course, any black widows in Chiswick, where I live, but just for tonight, my brain will refuse to be convinced.

I know a girl who came down from the Midlands to stay with a male friend, to catch a plane the next day. She arrived, in the middle of the night, to find that his pet tarantula had escaped and was somewhere in the house. She had nowhere else to go and not enough money for a hotel, so she spent the whole night wide awake in a chair, with her hair on end, jumping at shadows.

I'd have slept in the streets, me.

zahra said:

OK, no sleep for me tonight. There aren't, of course, any black widows in Chiswick, where I live, but just for tonight, my brain will refuse to be convinced.

I know a girl who came down from the Midlands to stay with a male friend, to catch a plane the next day. She arrived, in the middle of the night, to find that his pet tarantula had escaped and was somewhere in the house. She had nowhere else to go and not enough money for a hotel, so she spent the whole night wide awake in a chair, with her hair on end, jumping at shadows.

I'd have slept in the streets, me.

Click to expand...

I'd have boarded up the doors and windows and sold the house.

(Did she find it?)

jvc said:

I'd have boarded up the doors and windows and sold the house.

(Did she find it?)

Click to expand...

No, but I believe she's still having therapy.

Anyone heard from Spooky? Wasn't he going back to Europe?

Okay, what the heck's going?! All these stories popping up about pets killing people? Are they just getting ready for Dec. 21, 2012?

um...yes.

aadams73 said:

Pet Spider Kills its Owner.


Excuse me while I hurl, and slather myself in bug spray.

Click to expand...

Holy cr*p.

Right. *looking a bit more green than normal* I have been bitten by a Black Widow spider and had the anti venom for it which has left me allergic to horses but, on another occasion I was bitten by a baby one. So, knowing what it entails and how sick you get and how deadly they are, I can only imagine how much venom the man had pumped into him.

My brother used to let the black widow spiders live in his pig sty of a room till my parents found out. Honestly, it is ridiculous to think that the bugs know any better than to bite the person keeping them.

You go into the pet shops over here and I think it is positively irresponsible to sell some of the various dangerous not to mention deadly pets they do.

*hides in the corner with OFG* bleh. I feel sick now.

I think I've told this story before on this forum, but it's worth retelling....

My paternal grandfather was a fisherman and construction worker all his life, with huge callused crab claws for hands and a fondness for chewing tobacco virulent enough to kill lizards and stun fish.

We were building my Dad's summer home on Man-O-War Cay, and while moving some stacked wooden shingles, I saw Pa draw his hand back suddenly and then laugh.

A yellow scorpion hung from the tip of his right index finger, waving its claws frantically. Pa pulled the tail out and threw the scorpion away - and then turned to keep moving the shingles.

When I asked him about it, he just shrugged it off: he was the kind of man who only spoke when it was necessary, and when it improved on silence.

Later that night, after supper, I asked to see his finger. There was a small hole in the callus, but no swelling or redness at all.

'I'm immune," he said, and told me how he got that way.

When Pa was about 10 years old he got 'caught short' as we say down here, while out working the fields with his father. He went to answer the strident call of nature, and as he pulled his pants down, he backed up into a sugar wasp's nest.

It was a long nest, apparently.

He never knew how many times he was stung: he never got the chance to count, since he was unconscious for the better part of two days, and his er, 'particulars' were swollen to the size of small grapefruit.

"And ever since then," he said, "I bin immune to was' stings, bee stings, scorpion stings, ant stings, jellyfish stings, you name it."

And then he smiled again, his face wrinkling like an old leather shammy. "But I sure don't recommend the method of it."

Wow.