# Experience with Sydney Funnel Web?? Atrax. Robustus



## 8ball

For a long time I've been intrigued by the Sydney funnel web spider, mostly because of their body mass for a spider, aggression, notoriety, and in large part to the fact I can't obtain one (Illegal in U.S) :bruised: I've always liked coming things that were dangerous to my health like Black Widows and Brown Recluses (in safe distance) but these things are a totally different beast

So for now I've only been able to watch youtube videos and documentaries on them, they're a big reason I want to eventually visit Australia so I can observe some of them in the wilderness. But I was just curious if maybe some Australian members have kept any of these or can provide some information on them and also speak on their experiences coming across them, seems like if they were local to my area I would be wearing boots during their high season I'm not sure if shoes stand a chance against those fangs.

Picture of a male funnel web just for reference and admiration


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## The Snark

Just to put things into perspective. Wear boots... Can I then assume you have equipped your car with a 5 way full restraint seat belt system and that it has front and side air bags? Oh yes, and you chose the vehicle because of it's outstanding safety features, right? I ask because, according to a few statistics, a person is several hundred million times more likely to get in a serious traffic accident than a person who tends to go barefoot in the middle of A Robustus territory getting zapped by one of them critters.

Apologies if I sound snide. If I may suggest, buy boots with 8 inch thick rubber soles. Also buy a 2 inch thick rubber hat. For every significant spider bite in America 5 people are struck by lightning.

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## 8ball

The Snark said:


> Just to put things into perspective. Wear boots... Can I then assume you have equipped your car with a 5 way full restraint seat belt system and that it has front and side air bags? Oh yes, and you chose the vehicle because of it's outstanding safety features, right? I ask because, according to a few statistics, a person is several hundred million times more likely to get in a serious traffic accident than a person who tends to go barefoot in the middle of A Robustus territory getting zapped by one of them critters.
> 
> Apologies if I sound snide. If I may suggest, buy boots with 8 inch thick rubber soles. Also buy a 2 inch thick rubber hat. For every significant spider bite in America 5 people are struck by lightning.


 Man go take your self righteousness somewhere else, besides how many people drive cars and how many people go out in the wilderness? Plus cars are controlled by humans, all I would have to do is swerve if I wanted a wreck, humans can set themselves on fire if they wanted too. I'm not from Robustus territory either so how should I know how prominent they are or the exact spots I'll find them? Do you wanna follow statistics or become one? Hopefully somebody who's not on some high horse with some actual input will post

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## The Snark

My friend, cool your jets a tad. I've cruised the Aus east coast and chatted with the locals including several naturalists. Yes, the animal is dangerous, but rare. Only the naturalists had encountered them out roaming. Much greater hazard and concern, posted in certain areas, are, in order of magnitude of humans getting zapped, the Box Jellyfish, the 'Red Back' spider (their version of the black widow) the estuarine croc, the king brown snake and green ant invasions. By far the greatest problem is the jellyfish (and for the snorkeling crowed, that narsty shellfish that can stop your heart in a few minutes.) A woman, drunk and swimming at night, had been taken by a croc a week before I went through Queensland. Most people went 'Huh?' when I asked about Atrax.

In animal fanatic mode (Stranger in a Strange Land) I had 2 croc encounters, hunted out a few dozen red backs, examined several thousand jelly's washed up outside Darwin Harbor, met a king brown that was trying to patronize a local store at Daly River, and backed my vehicle into a green ant nest. Spent a week looking for Atrax from Surfers Paradise on down to Sydney but no luck. The worst was those green ants.


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## 8ball

The Snark said:


> My friend, cool your jets a tad. I've cruised the Aus east coast and chatted with the locals including several naturalists. Yes, the animal is dangerous, but rare. Only the naturalists had encountered them out roaming. Much greater hazard and concern, posted in certain areas, are, in order of magnitude of humans getting zapped, the Box Jellyfish, the 'Red Back' spider (their version of the black widow) the estuarine croc, the king brown snake and green ant invasions. By far the greatest problem is the jellyfish (and for the snorkeling crowed, that narsty shellfish that can stop your heart in a few minutes.) A woman, drunk and swimming at night, had been taken by a croc a week before I went through Queensland. Most people went 'Huh?' when I asked about Atrax.
> 
> In animal fanatic mode (Stranger in a Strange Land) I had 2 croc encounters, hunted out a few dozen red backs, examined several thousand jelly's washed up outside Darwin Harbor, met a king brown that was trying to patronize a local store at Daly River, and backed my vehicle into a green ant nest. Spent a week looking for Atrax from Surfers Paradise on down to Sydney but no luck. The worst was those green ants.


 No hostility meant, thanks for the good well rounded input I'm glad to hear you have first hand experience of your own journey in AUS, but yeah no way you catch me at an Australian beach in the water lol. Estuarine crocs are definitely another one of those things I wanna see since although we're on an arachnid site Crocodiles are what I've always admired most in the animal kingdom, it's too bad Atrax is more rare than I believed but would make it even more worth the trip to actually find one. Never heard much about green ants though, that's interesting.


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## groovyspider

8ball said:


> No hostility meant, thanks for the good well rounded input I'm glad to hear you have first hand experience of your own journey in AUS, but yeah no way you catch me at an Australian beach in the water lol. Estuarine crocs are definitely another one of those things I wanna see since although we're on an arachnid site Crocodiles are what I've always admired most in the animal kingdom, it's too bad Atrax is more rare than I believed but would make it even more worth the trip to actually find one. Never heard much about green ants though, that's interesting.


Nice to see your attitude has changed... and crocs you can post as much as you like about them in not so spinless wonder section


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## Travis K

The Snark said:


> Apologies if I sound snide.


No, not snide...... Snark.

LOL.

I think funnel webs would e very neat to have in the hobby.  They are probably no more dangerous than some of the hottest scorps we have in the hobby (ASSUMPTION).

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## The Snark

A naturalist I spoke to about the general hazardous spiders, sort of grouped the A. Robustus, a trap door spider, and their mygalomorphs all together in terms of darned dangerous and capable of mayhem. Atrax is mentioned more often because at certain times of year it goes roaming and occasionally turns up in the urban areas. The Red Back, Latro Hasselti, got the major spotlight as people were hunting them and casting them in plastic ornaments like gear shift knobs for your car. I heard plenty of uneducated noise about how much more dangerous/toxic/violent they were over the American varieties. (As far as I could tell they have the coloration of an over painted Mactans and were the size of the Hesperus).

The real and present dangers I encountered were:
-'Don't even think about going wading in the surf, it's that time of year' and the little kiosks every 100 feet along the beach holding a bottle of vinegar. and an informative sign: Box Jellyfish, dos and don'ts.
-Twice while camping the locals, one a rancher and one a park ranger game warden ordered us to pack up and get back in our vehicle as crocs had been spotted in those areas. We saw a croc take a feral pig. Or rather, this 150 lb or so pig was crossing an estuary and suddenly WHAM! It was thrown completely out of the water, came down splash, some ripples and gone.
-At a camp site near Mossman, Qld, we backed into a green ant nest. About the size of the large American red ant, bright green, and extremely hostile. They covered our vehicle and a local came over and splashed our truck with diesel fuel which helped drive them off.
-On the Daly River at a camp site a huge king brown, 12 foot I'd guess, actually tried to enter a store. Animal experts were called and it was capably and safely captured.
-Don't go rock or shell collecting here! A game warden warned me even my heavy engineer boots would not be complete proof against the cone shells.
-And there, at the center of the surfing world, Surfers Paradise, a 4 foot by 8 foot sign every 100 feet along the beach: SLIP SLAP SLOP! Slip on a shirt, slap on a hat, slop on the sun screen. DO NOT EXPOSE BARE SKIN TO THE SUN. Accompanying in many store windows was information signs of how to tell early signs of skin cancer. 
-And of course, while in the outback, the Australian Wave. I've never seen so many mosquitoes and flies in my life. All day long every 3 seconds you are waving insects out of your face. Watch Steve Irwin films. Even trying to not do it, he is often seen giving the wave. Going camping means erect a screen tent, dive in, kill the half million that snuck in, and stay there. Taking a stroll in the evening is insanity. Out of the question. On the Yellow River at sunset you can see gray clouds of 'mossies' rising from the swamps. And yes, they have malaria and dengue.
-While out boating a dingo barked at us.


Travis K... I need to live up to my monikers reputation now and then, yes?

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## 8ball

groovyspider said:


> Nice to see your attitude has changed... and crocs you can post as much as you like about them in not so spinless wonder section


 Oh yeah just throwing it out there, I've been here a while I know the rules and I didn't post a thread about crocs. But yeah it's just some friendly information about the spiders natural habitat and the dangers around it, this thread is about the spider mentioned. And well part of what we've learned for us who aren't local or been to AUS is that it's rare and a prize to find


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## josh_r

8ball said:


> Oh yeah just throwing it out there, I've been here a while I know the rules and I didn't post a thread about crocs. But yeah it's just some friendly information about the spiders natural habitat and the dangers around it, this thread is about the spider mentioned. And well part of what we've learned for us who aren't local or been to AUS is that it's rare and a prize to find


Funnel web spiders are by no means rare and certainly NOT hard to find. I've been here for 2 months now and have seen enough of them to satisfy my appetite. I get sick of seeing hadronyche infensa by now. I wouldn't mind seeing more hadronyche formidabilis which is the largest of the funnel webs and arboreal in habit. Many of these species are considered rare because they live in habitats that are typically far from human habitation, limited range, or activity is limited to breeding season. But if you get out and look hard enough, you will soon realize they are very common. Atrax robustus is not limited to Sydney as many people think. It has a range within about 100 kilometers in any direstion and goes even further up the coastline into far southeastern Queensland. Snark, if you spent all your time in northern Queensland, and depending on where you were, you would have been well out of the range of MOST funnel web species, if not all of them. This would severely limit your experience with them. Most species are found further south in cool rainforest settings, where they are QUITE common. I could take anyone out in a day and show them dozens of these things.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## chrisso

8ball said:


> For a long time I've been intrigued by the Sydney funnel web spider, mostly because of their body mass for a spider, aggression, notoriety, and in large part to the fact I can't obtain one (Illegal in U.S) :bruised: I've always liked coming things that were dangerous to my health like Black Widows and Brown Recluses (in safe distance) but these things are a totally different beast
> 
> So for now I've only been able to watch youtube videos and documentaries on them, they're a big reason I want to eventually visit Australia so I can observe some of them in the wilderness. But I was just curious if maybe some Australian members have kept any of these or can provide some information on them and also speak on their experiences coming across them, seems like if they were local to my area I would be wearing boots during their high season I'm not sure if shoes stand a chance against those fangs.
> 
> Picture of a male funnel web just for reference and admiration
> 
> View attachment 106112


Hi there Josh, Ive always been fascinated by 'ol Mr Atrax Robustus---aka the Sydney Funnel Web spider. Generaly regarded as the worlds most venomous spidey. But only the males----which is unusual. They are 7 times more toxic than females and the ones to watch out for as they wander out during hot humid Sydney summers looking for Mrs Spidey lol. ( The females rarely venture far from their funnel shaped web ) A freak of nature really- they dont kill mammals like cats, possoms etc but are deadly to humans. Their fangs have been known to pierce finger and toe nails. I always shake my boots out before putting them on. I had  a male a few years back as a ''Pet''. A most aggressive un-cuddly bloody pet...Their venom contains Atraxotoxin...funnily the same type as Blue Ringed Octopusses and I think puffer fish flesh. They only had the anti-venom since about 1984 or so.... most bites prior where usually fatal.Theres also the common Red Back Spider which as far as I can tell is identical to your Black Widow. ( See also Katipo spider in New Zealand,). Anyway summers coming on here--so hopefully I'll find a few out the back yard.  ----------Cheers, Chrisso.


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## chrisso

chrisso said:


> Hi there Josh, Ive always been fascinated by 'ol Mr Atrax Robustus---aka the Sydney Funnel Web spider. Generaly regarded as the worlds most venomous spidey. But only the males----which is unusual. They are 7 times more toxic than females and the ones to watch out for as they wander out during hot humid Sydney summers looking for Mrs Spidey lol. ( The females rarely venture far from their funnel shaped web ) A freak of nature really- they dont kill mammals like cats, possoms etc but are deadly to humans. Their fangs have been known to pierce finger and toe nails. I always shake my boots out before putting them on. I had  a male a few years back as a ''Pet''. A most aggressive un-cuddly bloody pet...Their venom contains Atraxotoxin...funnily the same type as Blue Ringed Octopusses and I think puffer fish flesh. They only had the anti-venom since about 1984 or so.... most bites prior where usually fatal.Theres also the common Red Back Spider which as far as I can tell is identical to your Black Widow. ( See also Katipo spider in New Zealand,). Anyway summers coming on here--so hopefully I'll find a few out the back yard.  ----------Cheers, Chrisso.


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## chrisso

How do I post pics?? Do I need to use Photobucket??.


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## chrisso

BTW
 , that pic is a female. The males have spurs on the 2nd set of legs. They use them to hold down the female whilst...( attempting..) to mate.


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## SingaporeB

"Funnel web spiders are by no means rare and certainly NOT hard to find."

I've been looking for Atrax robustus  to purchase here in the USA for the past five years and never found any. If you know otherwise please share the good news.

Reactions: Dislike 1 | Lollipop 1


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## bunniebie

SingaporeB said:


> "Funnel web spiders are by no means rare and certainly NOT hard to find."
> 
> I've been looking for Atrax robustus  to purchase here in the USA for the past five years and never found any. If you know otherwise please share the good news.


it's unlikely that they've been legally exported outside of australia due to australia's strict laws around the exportation of native wildlife.


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## SingaporeB

bunniebie said:


> it's unlikely that they've been legally exported outside of australia due to australia's strict laws around the exportation of native wildlife.


Most of the spiders in the hobby were illegally exported and then bred. Do you not get how easy it is to ship spiders out of Australia? Have you ever ordered spiders in the mail?

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## Camman1983

http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+a...Mygalomorphae/Funnel-web+spiders#.WYDblYV_XYU


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## RTTB

Those who have them don't and won't advertise.


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## Stugy

SingaporeB said:


> "Funnel web spiders are by no means rare and certainly NOT hard to find."
> 
> I've been looking for Atrax robustus  to purchase here in the USA for the past five years and never found any. If you know otherwise please share the good news.


You should've read a bit closer mate. The person who said that was saying that funnel web spiders are not rare in Australia in certain areas. Never did the person mention it being common or ever being present in the U.S.. It is very, very hard to even illegally export animals from Australia it seems as if it were easier we would have MUCH more Australian species.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Chris LXXIX

SingaporeB said:


> Most of the spiders in the hobby were illegally exported and then bred. Do you not get how easy it is to ship spiders out of Australia? Have you ever ordered spiders in the mail?


Sure. Exporting _Atrax robustus_ is one of Australia national hobby.

In fact, not only here in Italy but in almost the entire Europe, I spot those on sale, on the Internet, on a regular basis. 
Buy breeding pairs and save some money -.-

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## bunniebie

SingaporeB said:


> Most of the spiders in the hobby were illegally exported and then bred. Do you not get how easy it is to ship spiders out of Australia? Have you ever ordered spiders in the mail?


oh you're totally right, as an australian who has had to deal with moving animals around the country, i have absolutely no idea how difficult it must be. you've opened up my eyes to my ignorance, praise be.

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## SingaporeB

Stugy said:


> You should've read a bit closer mate. The person who said that was saying that funnel web spiders are not rare in Australia in certain areas. Never did the person mention it being common or ever being present in the U.S.. *It is very, very hard to even illegally export animals from Australia* it seems as if it were easier we would have MUCH more Australian species.


Is that so?

So how come Coastal and Inland Taipan snakes are bred and sold here in the USA(most venomous in the world, about $1,000 each)?

I saw a three foot Lace monitor for sale at a reptile show 18 months back for $1,100. That's one of my favorite monitor species, I know what they look like.

The reptile industry is over flowing with Australian species.

What about Australian tarantulas?

_Selenocosmia Crassipes _Queensland whistling tarantula
_
Phlogiellus Goliath _Queensland Goliath

These two have been bred in the USA for at least a decade. I've seen both slings and sexed females for sale.

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## Stugy

SingaporeB said:


> Is that so?
> 
> So how come Coastal and Inland Taipan snakes are bred and sold here in the USA(most venomous in the world, about $1,000 each)?
> 
> I saw a three foot Lace monitor for sale at a reptile show 18 months back for $1,100. That's one of my favorite monitor species, I know what they look like.
> 
> The reptile industry is over flowing with Australian species.
> 
> What about Australian tarantulas?
> 
> _Selenocosmia Crassipes _Queensland whistling tarantula
> _
> Phlogiellus Goliath _Queensland Goliath
> 
> These two have been bred in the USA for at least a decade. I've seen both slings and sexed females for sale.


Should've also bolded the "it seems" too. I put that there to show that I hadn't payed much attention so that's what it seemed to me. If the hobby was "overflowing" with Australian species, I'd have my spider-hunting scorpion and other Australian scorpion species right now. I hadn't payed much attention (if any) to the reptile hobby since I have little to no interest in reptiles though I find it rather surprising that people actually keep and sell taipans. At the same time I shouldn't be so surprised since apparently there are a few hobbyists in the U.S. with black mambas.


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## Chris LXXIX

SingaporeB said:


> Is that so?
> 
> So how come Coastal and Inland Taipan snakes are bred and sold here in the USA(most venomous in the world, about $1,000 each)?
> 
> I saw a three foot Lace monitor for sale at a reptile show 18 months back for $1,100. That's one of my favorite monitor species, I know what they look like.
> 
> The reptile industry is over flowing with Australian species.
> 
> What about Australian tarantulas?
> 
> _Selenocosmia Crassipes _Queensland whistling tarantula
> _
> Phlogiellus Goliath _Queensland Goliath
> 
> These two have been bred in the USA for at least a decade. I've seen both slings and sexed females for sale.


I don't have a clue about the Aussie animals you mentioned, available (if they are) in the hobby/trade so I will talk about _A.robustus_, now.

Ask yourself this. I have reasons to believe that in USA, and in Europe even more, there's people that wish to own _Atrax robustus_, and badly.

Among those potentially keepers, of course, a lot (if not majority) are on the experienced level so not 'wannabe'.

Now my opinion about said _Mygalomorphae _is that (leaving the issues about the potentially lethal venom aside for a minute) bugger at the end of the day isn't too much hard to care (nor defensive more) than the average _S.calceatum_ (screw the fact it's arboreal, watch defensiveness) or _Selenocosmia_ _aruana _etc

'Key factor' and the whole _Atrax robustus_ 'Pathos' is the venom... no matter how much skilled "you" are, a wrong move, and you're done. Lights out.

Now since the antivenom (or whatever the correct English name is for that) exists, yes, but readily available somewhere near Sydney (lol) you can understand why that spider isn't available outside the island (aside, I think, for very rare episodes involving arachno/labs Docs pundits or sumthin).

Think about a bite in Italy, Romania, Poland etc lol... before the antivenom shot (sometimes you need more than one) arrives (I hardly doubt in Italian hospitals is available) you're already dead.

Yeah, sure... _Sicarius hahni_ and the likes of those are potentially lethal as well (probably... because who knows for real, one moment?) yet still in the hobby available but _A.robustus_ is an Australian one and those fellas living at the end of the world (the Aussie) are serious about those stuff.

The last thing they want is to ship and deliver _A.robustus_ antivenom packages worldwide I bet :-s

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## bunniebie

SingaporeB said:


> Is that so?
> 
> So how come Coastal and Inland Taipan snakes are bred and sold here in the USA(most venomous in the world, about $1,000 each)?
> 
> I saw a three foot Lace monitor for sale at a reptile show 18 months back for $1,100. That's one of my favorite monitor species, I know what they look like.
> 
> The reptile industry is over flowing with Australian species.
> 
> What about Australian tarantulas?
> 
> _Selenocosmia Crassipes _Queensland whistling tarantula
> _
> Phlogiellus Goliath _Queensland Goliath
> 
> These two have been bred in the USA for at least a decade. I've seen both slings and sexed females for sale.


okay, so did a lot more digging around. _if _you get the right export permits, you can export aus species. steve nunn exported a number of breeding pairs of aus tarantulas back in the day, and that's likely how taipans and monitors are in the u.s (why anyone would want a fierce snake is beyond me though, that thing will DROP you.) export for explicitly commercial purposes is regulated to a few species such as bearded dragons, so it they aren't on that reg list then they've likely been shipped out under a different purpose (eg. education, household pet) or illegally trafficked. the law may have differed a bit when nunn did it, or when reptiles were exported out, i'm not sure. this is why the u.s. don't have newer varieties though, like selenotypus sp. "yellow/banana" and selenotypus sp. "platinum" (besides "platinum" being in the market for about 4 months). there's apparently little commercial market to warrant trying to export a new batch due to aus varieties being regarded as "drab", and there being few captive breeding programs, so i doubt y'all will see varieties outside of what nunn exported.



Chris LXXIX said:


> 'Key factor' and the whole _Atrax robustus_ 'Pathos' is the venom... no matter how much skilled "you" are, a wrong move, and you're done. Lights out.
> 
> Now since the antivenom (or whatever the correct English name is for that) exists, yes, but readily available somewhere near Sydney (lol) you can understand why that spider isn't available outside the island (aside, I think, for very rare episodes involving arachno/labs Docs pundits or sumthin).
> 
> Think about a bite in Italy, Romania, Poland etc lol... before the antivenom shot (sometimes you need more than one) arrives (I hardly doubt in Italian hospitals is available) you're already dead.
> 
> Yeah, sure... _Sicarius hahni_ and the likes of those are potentially lethal as well (probably... because who knows for real, one moment?) yet still in the hobby available but _A.robustus_ is an Australian one and those fellas living at the end of the world (the Aussie) are serious about those stuff.
> 
> The last thing they want is to ship and deliver _A.robustus_ antivenom packages worldwide I bet :-s


this is likely a big contributor. a. robustus anti-venom is also tricky to keep restocked as they only live for about a year (males at least, not sure if females live longer), so you need to keep catching them and milking them to keep stocks up. on this note it'd be difficult to export much of the anti-venom outside of aus as we have a limited supply here as is.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 2


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## jigalojey

Although extremely rare, they're certainly in America via illegal imports...however good luck getting someone who owns one to ever admit that to you.


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## Chris LXXIX

jigalojey said:


> Although extremely rare, they're certainly in America via illegal imports...however good luck getting someone who owns one to ever admit that to you.


Nah. I mean, also yes, because everything is possible in life, one moment. For that matter, I've heard speculations about those kept in certain Europeans house since forever, but zero facts, only rumors.

And why, IMO? Simple, because didn't happened. I think it's a 'legend'.

But assuming someone ended "I don't know how" with an _Atrax robustus_, let's say in Hungary, Poland, or what else... and he admit that (the keeping, not how he managed to get the bugger) well, Australian authorities can take actions against him for that, or they can do nothing?


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## Tanner Dzula

jigalojey said:


> Although extremely rare, they're certainly in America via illegal imports...however good luck getting someone who owns one to ever admit that to you.


this is a big part of it too. 
there ARE a few people with them here in the states. but NONE of them are going to just get on here and post about it, let alone post an add selling them. 

1. unless you work for a educational/research facility, its illegal to have them brought here without the right permits. 
2. if you paid for the right permits, you would be paying a LOT of money for a spider you might get a year or 2 out of. 
3. the venom. IF you get bit, and there is a larger chance when dealing with a spider you dont already have experience with, such as a sydney funnel web if youve never actually been to aussie and seen them, like stated, you are pretty much done. atleast with most tarantulas, unless you have a severe allergic reaction, you are most likely not going to get a lethal bite. thats completely difference with a sydney funnel web. 
4. AGAIN, because of how illegal it is, and how strict Aussie is, even if the few people that have them did breed them, it would be a lot harder to breed/sell effectively without having a lot of questions asked. the second you admit to having a sydney funnel web and it being a First generation here in the stated(without it already being from a Captive bred specimen) you are going to have a lot of discomfort in explaining where your export/import license ran off too, and will probably start to really sweat when you find out what kind of fines you can be facing, for a spider that will already have passed away at this point(especially if the specimen you receive is already a mature specimen)

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## Chris LXXIX

Tanner Dzula said:


> there ARE a few people with them here in the states.


How you can be so sure about that? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not here saying that you're wrong or that's not true, but still, aside for rumors and whatnot, unless you know personally someone with one (and viewed a specimen first hand) all of those (Europe included) are only rumors, speculations.


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## Tanner Dzula

Chris LXXIX said:


> How you can be so sure about that? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not here saying that you're wrong or that's not true, but still, aside for rumors and whatnot, unless you know personally someone with one (and viewed a specimen first hand) all of those (Europe included) are only rumors, speculations.


i can be fairly sure. i can in all honesty speak for only 1 hobbyist here in the states that has(had) one, but i can confirm that it was one. now the means and methods of getting such a species i can assure you are All a mystery to me and i wouldn't even know where to begin on getting one to the states here, but i can confirm that it is(or at one point "was") possible to do so. 

unfortunately it did not live very long, but i did have the very lucky opportunity to see a Male specimen of the funnel webs here in the states, and they really are an impressive species. it was only for a few moments that i had to look at it, and for obvious reasons I'm not going to say who's it was, but considering this was somebody who has been able to get their hands on several lesser known/documented species(more reptiles then inverts, but his collection is primarily anything rare/hard to get here in the states) that would require similar if not harder methods to obtain, i dont doubt for a second his authenticity.

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## jigalojey

I personally know of people who have owned them and I know Zoos in America who have had them handed in to them. They're more common in Europe, still extremely rare though.


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## bunniebie

hm, i stand corrected. gonna suck real bad for any of those owners if they get bit though.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Tanner Dzula

bunniebie said:


> hm, i stand corrected. gonna suck real bad for any of those owners if they get bit though.


oh yea, i can not imagine getting bit and realizing the closest anti-venom is 10k+ miles away.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## The Snark

Just a little tidbit from left field. _*"You must attend." *_This is the physicians take on the Hippocratic oath. Without regard for any circumstance whatsoever, you must undertake any and all life saving measures at your disposal.
A person gets wheeled into the ER in the US with an Atrax bite verified. ER POD gets on the phone. A few minutes later a courier is dispatched and antivenin is arranged and transport started. 'Probably going to die anyway' is ignored by the Hippocratic oath.

All the noise aside, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what the ER bill is going to be, regardless of patient prognosis and outcome.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Optimistic 1


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## Tanner Dzula

The Snark said:


> Just a little tidbit from left field. _*"You must attend." *_This is the physicians take on the Hippocratic oath. Without regard for any circumstance whatsoever, you must undertake any and all life saving measures at your disposal.
> A person gets wheeled into the ER in the US with an Atrax bite verified. ER POD gets on the phone. A few minutes later a courier is dispatched and antivenin is arranged and transport started. 'Probably going to die anyway' is ignored by the Hippocratic oath.
> 
> All the noise aside, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what the ER bill is going to be.


i can agree that the ER bill alone would be, well, incredible. 

i can only imagine the scene of somebody here in the states, having been bit by a non-native spider and going through all the pain and the process of it all. getting treatment and anti-venom, only to then have a minor heart-attack upon receiving the, what i would imagine would be, very substantial medical bill after that.


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## The Snark

The Hippocratic oath supersedes all in the medical world. Even if it flies in the face of logic and rational thinking.


Spoiler



Reported to me. A bus full of fire fighters, Mt. Lassen. A tree fell on the bus. The driver was crushed, his entire upper body inaccessible. A physician was present. He and parameds were able to get a femoral pulse of the driver.
In the bus were four other severely injured persons. They went unattended as the physician directed all operations to the driver. Two of the injured went into critical as manpower was diverted to the rescue of the driver.
Had the physician not been in attendance a paramed would have used triage and written the driver off to attend to the other injured.
The Hippocratic oath is absolute and inviolable. Atrax bite = antivenin.


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## RTTB

Kinda human nature to want what you can't have or maybe shouldn't have. I guess one has to answer what's the reason for wanting one of these spiders. I suspect the "thrill" of having such a dangerous spider is an attraction as well just like with snakes and scorpions.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## The Snark

RTTB said:


> Kinda human nature to want what you can't have or maybe shouldn't have. I guess one has to answer what's the reason for wanting one of these spiders. I suspect the "thrill" of having such a dangerous spider is an attraction as well just like with snakes and scorpions.


Staring at that post with a jaded skeptical eye. And staring some more. Nawww. I've been shot at and missed and **** at and hit so many times I'm amazed I can count 10 on my fingers. Fill my world with elderly de-clawed fluffy bunnys, please.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## AusBugKid

Frequently found around my house. People often mistake our "house spider" for them because *eek black spider* but this is not what I'm talking about. In the rainy season they leave their burrows for safer homes, and occasionally decide my house is good enough.  Have yet to be bitten, but have had 3 raise their legs and bare fangs.  More than enough to make me evict them, way into the bush behind my house.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## SingaporeB

jigalojey said:


> Although extremely rare, they're certainly in America via illegal imports...however good luck getting someone who owns one to ever admit that to you.


A customer who asked that question should instantly be rebuffed as a customer. I've never asked anyone where they got some kind of animal. My questions are only to do with the animals care.

*"A new species of iridescent blue tarantula has been discovered by zoologists in remote and mountainous areas of Brazil*"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/sep/17/blue-tarantula-new-to-nature

Six years ago. Now the Pterinopelma sazimai is common in both the USA and Europe. Is this spider legal to be exported from Brazil?

Could it be there are people in Brazil who are not a special kind of stupid and these folk went out to the area where this species was discovered, caught some, packaged them for shipment as spiders are and then shipped them out express mail - without declaring them as spiders - to people in the USA and Europe who were eager to receive them?

There are no spider sniffing dogs. Sydney Funnel Web spiders are not even a protected species in Australia, they are as common as any house or yard spider in the USA and Europe.

The only reason for Sydney Funnel Web spiders not being bred and sold internationally along with all those protected Brazilian species (and Mexican as well) is Australians must be a special kind of stupid. That or they're all pissed that it's illegal to own non-Australian species there and they refuse to share their species with the rest of us.

Reactions: Dislike 1


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## AusBugKid

SingaporeB said:


> Australians must be a special kind of stupid. That or they're all pissed that it's illegal to own non-Australian species there and they refuse to share their species with the rest of us.


While I kind of resent the stupid part, the rest sounds like us. Our import/export laws are really very strict, and I understand our import laws because so far everything foreign has done more harm than good, for example European carp, foxes, rabbits, cane toads, some might argue European settlement should be on the list...

As for export, a very real concern is wild capture... While A. Robustus is really very common, the numbers could certainly be hurt by large scale capture for the pet trade, as has happened with some of our as - yet unnamed sp. of Phlogius.
Likewise, what about the less common Blue Mts Funnel web,  H. Versuta? The average person looking to make a buck off the pet trade will probably not look for the very subtle differences between these, and potentially do a lot of damage to the population of a whole other species...

My point is that we have messed up a few times ecologically, and a few of them really very badly, so we tend to think about the long term effects of exploitation of natural resources in some depth. Or at least we should...

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Chris LXXIX

The Snark said:


> Just a little tidbit from left field. _*"You must attend." *_This is the physicians take on the Hippocratic oath. Without regard for any circumstance whatsoever, you must undertake any and all life saving measures at your disposal.
> A person gets wheeled into the ER in the US with an Atrax bite verified. ER POD gets on the phone. A few minutes later a courier is dispatched and antivenin is arranged and transport started. 'Probably going to die anyway' is ignored by the Hippocratic oath.
> 
> All the noise aside, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what the ER bill is going to be, regardless of patient prognosis and outcome.


Yes, in the U.S I'm (almost) certain of that and what you said.

But the same thing here in Italy and, despite our health care system and all the Doc efforts, "you" are long time dead by the time the bureaucrecy machine is active.

Ippocrate couldn't imagine the hell of Italian bureaucrecy :-s

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Chris LXXIX

jigalojey said:


> They're more common in Europe, still extremely rare though.


Mah... for me remains a 'myth'. Zero evidence, pics, everything... only rumors 

(Btw I'm not counting kinda zoo, labs or else, but only normal private keepers like us)


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## The Snark

Cynics corner, Peanut Gallery, somewhere in Asia.
How about Monster Media Mentality ... no, Media Monster Mentality..? Better, Media Mentality Monsters. ATRAX!! DOOM ON EIGHT LEGS!!!!! <-five of them since I don't have a dramatic narrator.
The biggest, the baddest, the meanest, the mostest, ... Hey Frank, you summed it up. WOWIE ZOWIE.

The animal gets reduced to a thing. A dramatic flag getting waved. And waved for what? LOOK AT ME AND MY THING!! I'm so cool! It doesn't withstand the reality test.
Reality test. Get a secure ventilated box, toss in some dirt. Add a heat lamp at one end and plop in a crotalid. There you go, all the drama you could possibly ask for. More than what most people are prepared for and capable of coping with. The only thing missing is the fad, the media hype. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttbbb.

Reactions: Like 2


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## AusBugKid

The Snark said:


> Cynics corner, Peanut Gallery, somewhere in Asia.
> How about Monster Media Mentality ... no, Media Monster Mentality..? Better, Media Mentality Monsters. ATRAX!! DOOM ON EIGHT LEGS!!!!! <-five of them since I don't have a dramatic narrator.
> The biggest, the baddest, the meanest, the mostest, ... Hey Frank, you summed it up. WOWIE ZOWIE.
> 
> The animal gets reduced to a thing. A dramatic flag getting waved. And waved for what? LOOK AT ME AND MY THING!! I'm so cool! It doesn't withstand the reality test.
> Reality test. Get a secure ventilated box, toss in some dirt. Add a heat lamp at one end and plop in a crotalid. There you go, all the drama you could possibly ask for. More than what most people are prepared for and capable of coping with. The only thing missing is the fad, the media hype. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttbbb.


I couldn't agree more


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