Jai Hawkins was lucky not to be bitten by a funnel web spider (above) found in his cubby house .
The image shown is of a female mouse spider - not a funnel web as the article suggests - it looks like snakes are not the only ones being flushed out by the rising waters! The correct first aid treatment for funnel web and mouse spider bites is as per snakes, apply a firm compression bandage and keep the victim immobilised. Want to learn more? Book one of our unique SSSAFE training seminars!
Article below appeared in The Gympie Times
Jan 12 2011
GYMPIE youngster Jai Hawkins is on the lookout for spiders and other creepy crawlies coming out of floodwaters, following the discovery of a large male funnel web in his cubby house.
It was show-and-tell time yesterday but the situation was nearly a lot worse for the curious six-year-old and his parents.
Dan Hawkins said his son found something that looked like a cocoon under the cubby house stairs at their Parsons Road property.
“He was playing with it – poking at it with his fingers to try and get (the creature) out,” he said. “I took it off him and could see there was something inside that looked like the back of a spider. When I broke (the web) open the funnel web reared up its fangs to attack.”
Jai now knows there are deadly surprises hiding in his yard and he’s not to touch without Dad’s permission.
“It was in this little cocoon…a deadly, poisonous and dangerous spider,” he said.
“Next time I will go to tell Dad and say ‘look at this’ first.”
It’s not unusual the deadly critters are on the march in the suburbs. Summer temperatures and recent rain and flooding has brought funnel webs out and it is expected they will be active until at least March.
This is the second confirmed sighting in Gympie in as many weeks - the first was found crawling on the front porch of a Bent Street house.