Recently I cut my left hand. After a few days I took the plaster off, it was healing nicely. I went to pick a bucket of grapes growing all over our garden shed and I must have brushed against a twig and it started bleeding again. What I did not know was my right hand, amongst the grapes, was bitten by a white-tailed spider.
Next day my forefinger and top of my hand was swollen and red and very sore. My doctor was very concerned and gave me antibiotics and told me to hold it up in a sling. Walking my dog later I met an old friend, who asked what happened. On being told he gave me this fact:
White-tailed spiders are not poisonous at all until they eat daddy longlegs, then the venom is.
I was quite astonished.
Ray Bovey, Tauranga.