UKC

Do schools really need to be closed (some for "weeks" according to bbc) because of spiders that give a mild bite?

This seems like a) a massive over reaction and b) a huge disruption to childrens education and parent's lives c) unnecessarily killing wildlife.

Just teach the children not to touch spiders outside and run the hover around a bit more

There’s a simple test to see if a spider bite is poisonous. Ask the victim to stay calm and roll up their sleeves. Then they must turn their forearms so that their palms are facing up. Then ask them to clench their fists at the same time.

If a stream of silk doesn’t shoot out from their wrists then they’re probably ok.

I reckon bitey spiders could cause considerable disruption to lessons.  Children tend to get a bit excitable about such things.  

All this fuss would be solved if they lifted the Brussels unelected snowflake Muslim bureaucrats’ elf and safety ban on conkers in schools

I feel sorry for all the children in other countries who never get chance to go to school because they live in the same place as so many poisonous species of spider. 

Try telling the school/state that you’re not brining your children in for a few weeks because of spiders in the car...

School closed for strikes/spiders/broken heating/snow - parents suck it up.

Pupil absent for some reason - go after the parents.

Seems like Buglife agree with you:

https://www.buglife.org.uk/news-and-events/news/buglife-reaction-to-london-...

False Widow spiders live and breed in dank dark parts of buildings particularly in outside meter boxes, junction boxes, and other electrical/gas units. They are timid and avoid bright, clean, warm well lit areas. They are present in very many buildings throughout the land and are rarely seen. So unless the kids are going around opening outside meter boxes and rummaging about in them, the chances of them being bitten are very, very slim. It's meter readers, and electricity/gas engineers who are most at risk from a bite.. I have never been bitten by one, although when I used to read my meter i did sometimes see one quickly scuttle away to hide in a corner and have seen lots of little black dots, their baby spiderlings, scuttling about in the webs and general dust in a meter box. 

Last year I had a problem where False Widow activity in an outside junction box caused my Broadband to fail. The Open Reach engineer told me he finds them all the time, always outside, never in a building. He too had never been bitten, but he had colleagues who had. Apparently, the pain is somewhere between that of a stinging nettle and a wasp sting. It could be unpleasant for a child, particularly if they had an allergic reaction. 

Closing a school down sounds like an over reaction, because it seems that the risk is very very small, however I can understand the H&S concerns in the very unlikely event of a child with a low tolerance getting bitten. Having said this, the risk of them being bitten at home, or being stung by a wasp or bee at school is probably much greater.

Do schools close down if wasps are seen buzzing around?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2018/sep/22/stephen...

It has happened.......

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/8428733.Wasp_nest_closes_school/

Unfortunately once a risk has been identified, something has to be done. Or rather seen to be done.

Quite.  About four people a year are killed by bees in the UK, and, as far as I can see, only one person has ever died as a result of a spider bite - and that was from a secondary infection, not the venom itself.

We used to have brown widows round the house in Cape Town and you just learned to quickly check before you sat down, especially if you were wearing shorts. No big deal. 

Of course, there are quite a lot of other spiders in Britain quite capable of biting you, if you are stupid enough to give them no alternative.

I got bitten at Rocklands in the Cederberg by an unidentified spider. My finger swelled up, then after about half an hour my hand and wrist area, followed about half n hour later by my whole arm. At that stage I decided to go into Clan William to find a Doctor. She gave me two in injections and told me to return if the swelling didn't subside within 24 hours. By the next morning the swelling had gone and all I had were two tiny puncture marks in the back of my finger.

Quite useful for baggy finger jams! 

My most vivid venom-related memory was of trying to photograph a puff adder as it disappeared into some long grass.  As the tail vanished, the head unexpectedly reappeared close to my feet (I was wearing shorts and open-toed Tevas).  As I jumped back I saw the bluish flash of the inside of its mouth...

I was incredibly lucky.  I was already moving before it decided to go for me and I think it must have been a slightly half-hearted defensive bite because it's just not humanly possible to get out of the way of a puff adder strike.   

It would certainly have spoiled my weekend and I could have lost my foot. 

When I was at school someone spotted a bee hive on a tree branch which overhung the football pitch.  We threw stones and footballs at it until it fell to the ground and then took turns running through the smashed up remains for a dare.   Spiders would have had no chance.

Did you enjoy some special Deadpool time

Cheers

Toby

Yeah, it didnt really even make the news beyond

"Hi mam"

"Hi, had a good day? anything happen at school today?"

"Nah, not really. Some second years* found a wasps nest and 3 or 4 got stung"

"Ok, put your shirt in the washing basket"

*year 8 for the younger element on here......

Yes, an overreaction but unfortunately the reaction of some people to any creepy crawly and especially spiders is also way over the top. Imagine what would have happened if a child had been bitten. The tabloid press would have had a field day.

I think it would have been better if the schools had said, "A number of these spiders have been found and we are dealing with it. If left alone they pose no danger".

Like many stinging and biting insects and spiders if left alone there is no problem.

Dave

Mrs Diluted has the unenviable claim to fame of having stood on a Puff adder unharmed. She was living on a game reserve in Botswana with her then husband who was a hunter. They were in a rondaville and had a seperate building for toilets. She got a bit blase about the wildlife and regularly had Leopards, Hunting dogs and buffalo in sight of the farm.  At the bottom of the garden was the Limpopo with assorted crocodiles and hippo. One night she came back from the toilet and swore blind she had just stood on a snake. Her husband did not believe her and went out with his shotgun and torch. Sure enough a Puff Adder was right on the path looking disgruntled and with a wound in its neck. She had stood on its neck and prevented it biting her. An inch or two down the body and she would be in big trouble, they were 200km from any help.

She was a teacher, and regularly found all kinds of nasties in the grounds. School didn't stop for much more than a few moments when an errant scorpion was discovered.

Indeed, but they have to cover their backs; can you imagine the reaction / compensation claim had little Tarquin been bitten by one of these horrendous monsters?

Are conkers really banned?

no. Well maybe in some particular schools but the red tops keep screaming that there is a blanket ban

Bloody hell, those boarding schools are harsh!
Then again, they are educating the next leaders of the country, so it only stands to reason that they need to be toughened up and prepared for anything...

Duvets allowed!

The article I read was more along the lines of the schools being closed for fumigation before the eggs hatched rather than in case anyone got bitten. I don't know anything about fumigation or how long it takes but I'm fairly sure it's not something you can do in a school full of kids. 

I suspect you are right; however isaw a spider specialist on the beeb friday morning; her basic message was that they are pretty harmless anyway, and even after fumigation, it will be a matter of days before various spiders return after fumigation.......