Oct 21, 2026 · 2 min · 2 segments
The National Poisons Information Centre is warning that False Widow encounters may increase as the weather gets colder Michel Dougan, Principle Investigator of the Venoms System Lab, University of…
Claire ByrneHostSo first of all, should we be worried about them? Not too much, and I'll explain why actually in a minute, uh, although it's good to at least know about them.
Um, a, a false widow would measure about, in leg span, let's say an inch, maybe an inch and a half, with a body probably that would be about half an inch.
They are most recognizable because of their black, bulbous, and shiny abdomen body with k- with kind of cream markings on their back and kind of reddish legs.
So for most people, a bite by a noble false wid- widow would be kind of equivalent to a wasp sting.
So definitely not fun, painful, but let's just say that a few hours later or a couple of days later, you would have forgotten about it.
But for a minority of people, the noble false widow can actually trigger more severe symptoms that can actually engage the whole body, what we call systemic symptoms, things that would range from, uh, swelling, to nausea, to muscle cramps, uh, or, um, intense-
The best advice I can give, it's actually to not particularly try to kill them.
The best thing you can do, it's actually just use the method of the glass and a piece of paper, if you have one inside the house, and to actually just put it outside, far away from your home.
Michel Dougan, principal investigator of the Venom System Lab at the University of Galway, thank you so much for joining us.
So first of all, should we be worried about them? Not too much, and I'll explain why actually in a minute, uh, although it's good to at least know about them.
Um, a, a false widow would measure about, in leg span, let's say an inch, maybe an inch and a half, with a body probably that would be about half an inch.
They are most recognizable because of their black, bulbous, and shiny abdomen body with k- with kind of cream markings on their back and kind of reddish legs.
So for most people, a bite by a noble false wid- widow would be kind of equivalent to a wasp sting.
So definitely not fun, painful, but let's just say that a few hours later or a couple of days later, you would have forgotten about it.
But for a minority of people, the noble false widow can actually trigger more severe symptoms that can actually engage the whole body, what we call systemic symptoms, things that would range from, uh, swelling, to nausea, to muscle cramps, uh, or, um, intense-
The best advice I can give, it's actually to not particularly try to kill them.
The best thing you can do, it's actually just use the method of the glass and a piece of paper, if you have one inside the house, and to actually just put it outside, far away from your home.
Michel Dougan, principal investigator of the Venom System Lab at the University of Galway, thank you so much for joining us.
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