What is it like to be bitten by a tarantula?

Spiders have a wide variety of venoms. Some attack nerves, others attack tissues, some hurt right away, and with some there is delayed pain. Tarantulas also have widely varying venoms. read more

Other have been bitten by tarantulas in this genus and have reported that the symptoms have been very minor. (Found it. It was an Avicularia versicolor, not A. avicularia. read more

HE has been bitten twice while milking some 150 tarantulas in the name of research and still University of Queensland student Renan Santana loves his work and spiders. The 31-year-old has spent the past three years trapping, grabbing and squeezing the furry Australian arachnids to determine if DNA can be sourced from their venom. read more