{"id":33469,"date":"2021-11-12T10:07:16","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T23:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.star1045.com.au\/?p=33469"},"modified":"2021-11-12T10:07:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T23:07:19","slug":"biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.star1045.com.au\/home\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest Funnel Web Ever Handed Into The Australian Reptile Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Look away now if you don\u2019t like spiders because the Australian Reptile Park has had their biggest Funnel Web Spider ever handed in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t say we didn\u2019t warn you because the massive Funnel Web handed in measures 8cm foot to foot and is comparable to the size of a Tarantula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and we should also mention that its fangs are almost 2cm in length meaning this not-so-friendly creature could bite through a human fingernail. Check it out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oh,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Keepers<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keepers at the Australian Reptile Park<\/a> have dubbed the beast of a spider MEGASPIDER. (And yes, her name is spelt in all capitals \u2018cause she\u2019s that big)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spider arrived at the Australian Reptile Park as a part of the weekly collection from all the drop off points around Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEGASPIDER was in a Tupperware container without any labels to signify where it came from, with keepers are eager to find out the area in which it came from with hopes of finding more of the large spiders as they produce larger amounts of venom for the antivenom program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Editor\u2019s note: Can we just say props to the member of the public for catching MEGASPIDER safely. It\u2019s no mean feat… just saying!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Tate, Education Officer of the Australian Reptile Park said in all his years working at the Reptile Park he has never seen a spider that big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving MEGASPIDER handed into the venom program is so amazing, in my 30+ years at the Park, I have never seen a funnel web spider this big!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mr Tate, MEGASPIDER will save multiple lives through her venom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe is unusually large and if we can get the public to hand in more spiders like her, it will only result in more lives being saved due to the huge amount of venom they can produce. We are really keen to find out where she came from in hopes to find more MASSIVE spiders like her.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Australian Reptile Park regularly encourages members of the public to SAFELY catch funnel web spiders for the Park\u2019s antivenom program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spiders that have been handed in participate in the vital lifesaving milking program, with the venom milked by staff is turned into antivenom which saves up to 300 lives per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian Reptile Park is the only facility in Australia that milks funnel-web spiders for their raw venom to be made into lifesaving antivenom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Tate said people can. Bring spiders to the Reptile Park after collecting them safely or drop them off at the designated drop zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople can bring any collected spiders to the Reptile Park itself. However, if they can\u2019t get to us, we have drop off zones around Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle and all facilities are provided with a spider safety kit to house the spiders until the Australian Reptile Park staff can come and pick them up each week,\u201d Mr Tate said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen via the Star 104.5 Player, download it now via the <\/em>App Store<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>Google Play<\/em><\/a> and take Star 104.5 wherever you go.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images:\u00a0Australian Reptile Park <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bek Lougher<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look away now if you don\u2019t like spiders because the Australian Reptile Park has had their biggest Funnel Web Spider ever handed in! Don\u2019t say we didn\u2019t warn you because the massive Funnel Web handed in measures 8cm foot to foot and is comparable to the size of a Tarantula. Oh, and we should also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":33472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[1784,1381],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-33469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-lifestyle","tag-australian-reptile-park","tag-best-of-the-web"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBiggest Funnel Web Ever Handed Into The Australian Reptile Park - Star 104.5 Central Coast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Look away now if you don\u2019t like spiders because the Australian Reptile Park has had their biggest Funnel Web Spider ever handed in!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.star1045.com.au\/home\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biggest Funnel Web Ever Handed Into The Australian Reptile Park\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Look away now if you don\u2019t like spiders because the Australian Reptile Park has had their biggest Funnel Web Spider ever handed in!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cms.star1045.com.au\/home\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Star 104.5 Central Coast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-11T23:07:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-11T23:07:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cms.star1045.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Jake-Meney-Spider-Keeper-with-MEGASPIDER-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bek Lougher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bek Lougher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/home\\\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/home\\\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bek Lougher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6a5adc5c77f0323219f7987427851ae9\"},\"headline\":\"Biggest Funnel Web Ever Handed Into The Australian Reptile Park\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-11T23:07:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-11T23:07:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/home\\\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/home\\\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Jake-Meney-Spider-Keeper-with-MEGASPIDER-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Australian Reptile Park\",\"Best of the Web\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home\",\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/home\\\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.star1045.com.au\\\/home\\\/biggest-funnel-web-ever-handed-into-the-australian-reptile-park\\\/\",\"name\":\"Biggest Funnel Web Ever Handed Into The Australian Reptile Park - 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