At present the UK is a generally too cold for black widow spiders, they prefer somewhere warmer and the nearest they can be found is in southern France, in small numbers.
A 3°C rise in temperatures would see southwestern England warm enough to accommodate the spiders. At 4°C their territory could extend into much of southern England, Wales and Ireland. A further 1°C would enable them to populate all of the UK apart from Scotland. By 6°C they’d be as far north as Edinburgh and with a 7°C rise in temperatures they’d be able to live throughout the UK.
If global warming goes unchecked then it’s likely that by the end of the century the temperatures will have risen by about 3°C. Theoretically then, the UK could be warm enough in about 100 years for black widows to survive, just about, in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
Simply being warm enough does not in itself mean that the spiders will take up residence, there are parts of the world that already have a suitable habitat but there are no black widows.
The UK also has the advantage of being an island, any spiders that do arrive would need to come in shipping containers, cargo etc and this greatly reduces their change of making it to the UK. Madagascar for example is much warmer than the UK but the fact it’s an island has probably been the biggest factor in keeping it free of the spiders.
A bite from a black widow is not usually fatal to humans even if it goes untreated – painful but not fatal. Antivenin is available. Bites are perhaps a lot less common than many people imagine. In the US about 2,500 people are bitten each year, less than one in a thousand of these will die.
If they came to the UK in the same numbers as in the US then you’d be more than 1,000 times as likely to win the National Lottery (buying two tickets per week) than die from a black widow bite and the odds of being bitten would be the same as winning the Lottery. You’d be 44 times more likely to meet your maker by drowning in your own bath, 120 times more likely to expire by falling from a ladder and 22 times more likely to suffocate in your own bedding.
We live with black widow spiders here and I'll tell you they are nothing to be worried about. I've never encountered anyone who has had an issue with them. Just have to be alert when reaching into dark places.
What is a problem is the Africanized killer bees. Those violent little bast***s are a real threat to humanity.
C - There has been no net warming for the past 17.9 years. Get over yourself already. There's a reason Antarctica has had increases in both sea ice mass and area during the past few years and it's not because the world is getting hotter. LOL
1. Black widows are not a tropical species
2. They are not the most venomous spiders
3. There are no verifiable cases of anyone ever dying from a black widow bite.
It is venom (injected) not poison. Nope. Black Widow venom will certainly evolve specifically to kill Brits and there will be no antidote available. You should worry more about Australian Red Back Spiders or even worse, their Funnel Webs relatives. They have already made travel plans.
Kano Lying again about no warming How can you respect yourself when you do that The original info I gave to you proving this came from a link you posted a couple months back quoting Phil Jones 2 other deniers posted the same link in the same week, all of you not actually reading the article Very impressive
not poison
Amm... hmm... let me add this to that and that to this... Looks like depending on Doppler equation either in 100 thousands years, or never. That is most precise prognosis to this date. =D
Hmm I live in the Phillipines and it is definately hot enough for black widows to live here, but we don't have any in fact we don't have any dangerous poisonous spiders, and anyway the climate is not warming and hasn't for 17yrs
I am quite concerned about this. The main thing is; when will the climate be suitable enough to host Black widow spiders in this country, and even if they do come will there be an antidote available in this country (UK) for their poison?
