What Will Happen If a Spider Bites You

[Music] you wipe the sweat from your brow you've rented a country cabin out in the woods desperately needing a break from the city it's summer way too hot you set your suitcases on the living room floor go to turn on the light and nothing the power's off great you head down to the basement to turn the breaker on there are cobwebs everywhere but you wouldn't know it it's so dark down here [Music] you reach for the switch when ow prick myself on something the pain's not too bad so you go ahead and switch the breaker the lights flip on and that's when you see her a little black spider hanging in a web right where you pricked your finger you start to shrug it off probably a harmless little thing but you look closer uh oh that infamous bright red hourglass shaped spot it's a black widow and she must have bitten you one thought comes to mind this isn't good the black widow is one of the most venomous fighters in the world 15 times more potent than a rattlesnake they won't touch you if you don't touch them that's why they prefer quiet undisturbed areas like attics and sheds but if they feel threatened or worse she's got eggs to protect this normally shy eight-legged introvert will come for you that's when you see the smooth white ball hanging nearby her web an egg sack yep you had this coming the moment your hand entered her do not cross line her motherly instinct took over she sunk her pincer-like jaws into your skin and from those jaws protrude two tiny fangs no longer than a grain of sand zoom in closer and you see they're hollow if you could follow this itty-bitty tunnel it would take you to the spider's venom gland in female black widows it's pretty large for a small enough spider if not for the babies she probably would have just scurried away from you in fear and if she did bite she wouldn't waste her precious poison on you human that's better left for her next meal she'd rather just scare you away with what's called a dry bite without venom but no this black widow was protecting her precious eggs so she sinks her fangs into you like two needles and the venom comes rushing from the gland two small red dots remain at the bite site it's not very painful but this is only the beginning within the first 15 minutes your arm starts to cramp you see spider venom is a special neurotoxin a protein that gets in the nervous system through the blood it spreads in the body from the tiny capillaries near the surface of your skin and deeper from there the toxin grabs onto the protein receptors of our nervous system our immune system can't prevent this because venom proteins have very tenacious and strong grips but your body tries to fight the bite begins to swell and turn red it's a sign your immune system is rushing blood full of infection-fighting white cells to the site too bad it won't be enough in 30 minutes this poisonous protein has attracted loads of calcium to your nerve receptors the result your body starts pumping out hormones that contract your muscle tissues dilate your vessels and slow your heart rate within one hour your nervous system is going crazy the toxic protein spreads from the site on your finger now extremely painful and burning up your arm into your shoulder down your back and chest further to your stomach onward down the legs you're getting severe spasms and cramps all over it's hard for you to walk three hours later the venom has made it to all parts of your body your muscles are rigid like you have a full body charlie horse your abs are so tight it feels like you have a hard plate under your skin you try to move but your legs don't work paralysis sets in over the next few hours your condition gets worse you're now fevered as the immune system kicks up the temperature to burn the poisonous protein sweat is released to cool the body down your skin becomes clammy the neurotoxin reaches your respiratory system and heart you have trouble breathing and your heart rate is way down by now you feel sick to your stomach just when you've accepted your fate the poisonous effects finally start to wear off 12 hours after the bite the black widow's neurotoxin is losing its power your body is gaining the upper hand the receptors of the nervous system are freed from the venom's protein the pain decreases it gets easier to breathe your muscles have finally started to relax after two to three days the bite symptoms will completely disappear you are a lucky one your own body managed to come back from the brain for many people their immunity isn't strong or developed enough to take the attack on its own they need medical help and an antivenom to get rid of the neurotoxin all that from a tiny little dime-sized spider but it could have gone a completely different and no less pleasant route say it had been a brown recluse like with the widow the initial bite isn't very painful some people don't even know they've been bitten but as soon as it sank its fangs into you its venom starts to do its dirty but silent work within three to eight hours you get redness and swelling at the side yep there goes your body sending its natural healer white blood cells it's starting to burn and the pain intensifies the red patch will grow around the body when the fangs entered you might develop a blister within the next few days for healthy people the decline stops after three to five days then you start feeling better for others the wound continues to grow and worsen this is when you need to let a doctor know with a brawn recluse the toxin is absorbed into the blood vessels and destroys their walls when the spider has injected a lot of venom or your immune system can't cope on its own it can actually cause tissues to lose blood supply and oxygen and that's what gives them life it usually takes three weeks for a brown recluse wound to heal in the worst cases it can take two to three months when the wandering spider bites you its toxin can cause heavy salivation and a very erratic heart rate it's often called a banana spider because it likes to hang out on banana leaves this notorious little monster even ran one uk family right out of their home they brought some bananas at the store and the bundle ended up hiding a wandering spider's egg sack the sack opened when the family came home and the whole house was crawling with baby spiders at least this one will give you a warning before it fights it raises its front legs in a defensive mode if you see this dance you better run a bite from a wolf spider isn't too serious for humans if you're an insect though bad news for people the site will be red swollen and itchy like with bug bites or bee stings and you definitely know when you've been bitten by these powerful fangs the wolf spider doesn't weave a web it hunts its prey by stalking and pouncing on it this arachnid speed and look are scarier than its bike for non-venomous spiders that wait for their lunch to fly into a sticky webby trap they get right into action they quickly run up to the prey and start spinning it in 460 feet of silk enough to stretch across two boeing 747s these orb weavers can turn their lunch 28 000 times while trapping it in this cocoon and if all of that has your arachnophobia meter going off the scale just be glad you weren't around 400 million years ago there weren't any dinosaurs yet but there were spiders big ones mega ratning was over a foot long with a leg span of almost two feet about the length of your arm okay the scientists who discovered it fossils misidentified the great spider the creature was actually a euryptiarid something like a giant marine scorpion hey close enough i'm out of here

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Views: 1,391,771

Rating: 4.8714247 out of 5

Keywords: bright side, brightside, bright side videos, spiders, poisonous spiders, dangerous spiders, venomous spiders, what to do if a spider bites you, spiders in your house, spider bite, bugs, insects, venomous insects, dangerous animals, dangerous creatures, poisonous insects, phobias, Arachnophobia, fear of spiders, how to beat arachnophobia, spider fear, what to do about a spider bite, what happens when a spider bites you, black widow, what venomous spiders look like, spider venom

Id: fiV2bYzWH-o

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 05 2020