Australian Reptile Park Breaks Open Egg Sac And Finds Hundreds Of Baby Funnel Web Spiders

For some people, spiders are cute, adorable, furry creatures that deserve our love and attention.

However for most of us, the eight-legged things are creatures sent straight from hell as a way to constantly freak us out with not only their appearance but also their behaviours.

Well, if you're in the latter category then you should probably turn away now because we've got some pretty horrifying footage.

The Australian Reptile Park has been kind enough to share what baby funnel web spiders look like fresh out of their egg sac and it's nothing short of terrifying.

Keepers were tasked with opening the sac and making sure they were all okay and thankfully the procedure was a raging success...for them. For us, it just looks like hundreds of mini-devils that might kill us one day.

However, you might be thrilled to know that this whole operation will actually save your life because these babies will be put into a room full of more than 3,000 more spiders.

I know, I know, that sounds terrifying. However this room is designed to help keepers get venom from the spiders so that they can develop more antivenom.

Australian Reptile Park's Head of Spiders Kane Christensen said: "Our aim is to milk 3,000 funnel web spiders annually to send the raw venom we milk to Seqirus, who create the antivenom for hospitals around Australia. We're so excited to call this a step in a right direction and a true indication on how hard our keepers are working.

Australian Reptile Park

"The spiders will eventually become a crucial part of education and hopefully the antivenom program.

"But we cannot express how important it is that we still receive spiders handed in from the public. Catching funnel webs can be a safe practice for sensible adults. When collecting spiders adults should be equipped with a spider safety kit including a glass jar with air holes in the lid, and a plastic ruler to guide the spider into the jar.

"We encourage parents to educate children that should they locate a spider of any kind that they find a parent immediately and do not try and touch the spider with their hands."

See, they're not all bad, even though they still seem like the anti-Christ. Just relax in knowing that without this program, we'd all probably be dead from funnel web spider bites.

Topics: Community, Animals, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie