Brazilian Wandering Spider

The Brazilian Wandering spider is also known as the Banana spider. Its venom contains serotonin, making the bite extremely painful, and neurotoxins, which cause paralysis and death. Its bite is more likely to kill a child, due to their smaller size.

The Brazilian Wandering spider can be up to two inches long, with a six inch leg span. They are hairy, mostly brown, and have a black spot on their stomachs. They are considered the 9th largest spider in the world. To eat, they actively hunt insects, spiders, small amphibians, small reptiles, and mice. They’re nocturnal hunters on the forest floors of Brazil.

As a warning, they will raise their first two pairs of legs. This is to tell you that they are prepared to attack. Brazilian Wandering spiders only attack in self defense, whether provoked purposely or accidentally.

When a person is bitten, they will experience burning pain at the injection site, sweating, at goosebumps. Within 30 minutes, there is high or low blood pressure, fast or a slow heartbeat, nausea, abdominal cramping, hypothermia, vertigo, blurred vision, convulsions and excessive sweating associated with shock. Medical help should be obtained immediately.

Luckily, most bites do not contain enough venom to require the antivenin. Only 2.3% of bites have required its use.

The females are larger than the males, and there is mating dances (and often fights between males) to impress the female. Often, the female attacks the male after they do the do.

LiveScience

Inland Taipan

Oxyuranus microlepidotus, or the inland taipan, is a snake found in Australia. It has the most toxic venom of any land snake. However, there are no recorded deaths from its bite.

The head and neck do not have a distinct separation. The scales are light brown to black, and its underbelly is creamy to light yellow. The snake is 6.5-8.8 feet, or 2-2.7 meters. It is more likely to retreat if approached.

The inland taipan’s venom contains enzymes and other agents that paralyse nerve endings, destroy muscle tissue and cause severe bleeding. Their fangs are ¼ inch long. Due to where they live, very few people have been bitten, and those who have were professionals.

BillaBongSanctuary

Brown Recluse Spiders

The brown recluse spider, in a group called ‘fiddleback spiders’, lives in the southern US from Texas to Florida. The occasional spider can be accidentally carried to other states in moving boxes or similar.

These spiders are from .25-.75 inches long, and have unpatterned legs/abdomen (butt segment). Their head has a darker brown fiddle or violin shape, with the neck pointing towards the abdomen.

Brown recluse spiders are considered to be docile, because they have lived in houses for years with no incident. as the name suggests, they are reclusive and prefer to hide out in woodpiles, boxes, or other similar things. Most incidents, the bitten people have few or no symptoms.

When they do bite a person who will react, usually a child or elderly individual, the flesh around a bite starts rotting within 12 to 24 hours. The bite becomes a multicolor lesion that can last for three weeks. Theoretically, people can die from the venom, but fatal bites are considered highly unlikely, and more than 90% of recluse bites heal without complications Some bites, normally in children due to smaller size, can leave permanent scars.

http://www.brownreclusespider.biz/

National Geographic article

King Cobra

Ophiophagus hannah, or the king cobra, reaches 18 feet, or 5.5 meters, in length and 20 pounds or 9.07kg. They can “stand up” to look an adult, of up to 6 feet tall, in the eye.

King cobras are shy and do not attack unless threatened, but when they do attack they growl - similar to dogs. Their bite contains 7 milliliters of venom, that despite not being near the most potent for snakes, is enough to kill 20 people or an adult elephant.

They live in the rain forests and plains of India, southern China, and Southeast Asia, and their coloring can vary greatly. They live in the trees, on land, and in water, feeding mainly on other snakes, lizards, eggs, and small mammals.

National Geographic has more- and, as always, I'm open to suggestions for future posts!

Pufferfish

Pufferfish are found near Japan, China, The Philippines, and Mexico. It contains tetrodoxin- a toxin that causes nausea, a burning in the mouth/throat, headaches, speech and coordination problems, convulsions, paralysis, cardiac arrhythmia, and ultimately death. Select natural predators are immune to their toxins.

Also known as blowfish, some of the 120 species have spines to make them even more inedible to predators. They are up to 3 feet or one meter long, and the tetrodoxin contained is 1,200 times deadlier than cyanide for humans, with enough toxin to kill 30 adults in each fish. There is no known antidote.

Pufferfish range in size, depending on species: one inch to a few feet in length. They do not have scales, and their teeth are fused into a sharp beak. Some are brightly colored, others a brownish color.

My sources were National Geographic and the Conservation Institute.

Poison Ivy

Toxicodendron radicans, or poison ivy, is found in North America and Asia in 30 varieties. The oil from the plant that causes itchy, blistering rashes on most people is called urushiol, and the rash takes 12-72 hours to set in. This means you could unintentionally spread the oil to other people, or to other parts of your body, before the rash sets in.

The symptoms include itchy skin, red streaks, hives, swelling, blisters, and crusting skin (after blisters burst). Some people are severely allergic to the oil.

If the individual has any of the following symptoms, get them to the ER immediately:

Trouble breathing/swallowing

Rash covering most of the body

Many rashes/blisters

Swelling- especially eyelids

A rash on the face or genitals

Much of the skin itches or the itch will not go away

85% of people are sensitive to urushiol- the other 15% never develop a sensitivity.

If you'd like to know more, check out AAD and amnh.org.

Castor Bean plants

Ricinus communis, the castor bean plant, contains ricin and RCA. It is poisonous to people, animals, and insects if it is eaten or if put into the bloodstream. seeds touching skin will cause irritation.

The symptoms start as abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea and escalated to severe dehydration, a decrease in urine, and a decreased blood pressure. A single bean can kill a child and because of this, it is not recommended to have these plants in your house or yard if you have pets or children. Any that are grown in a garden should not be permitted to flower or seed.

Most varieties are green, but some have a reddish brown. The flowers are usually green, but red or pink in pigmented plants. Outdoors, they can grow to 15 feet tall.

Castor oil, used for medicinal purposes, does not contain the toxins. Ricin is a water-soluble toxin and is removed from the oil during production.

Cornell U has more information on castor beans and how the toxins affect whomever ingests the plant.