A British chef claims he has been bitten more than 100 times by false widow spiders currently nesting in his flat.
Russell Davies, 55, was left covered in nasty bites all over his torso, caused by the arachnids' infestation of his home.
He has been living with the eight-legged flatmates for more than a year and has since claimed that his landlords are refusing to do anything about it.
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Only a matter of days after moving into his apartment in January 2020, Davies began to notice unusual bite marks all over his body.
The chef said he has counted around 12 female spiders and roughly 10 males loitering around his flat and, from there, it wasn't long until he also started discovering the bizarre bites on his skin.
Initially thinking he had developed a skin condition, it wasn't until he caught one of the bigger spiders in his flat that he realised the marks on his skin were not the start of a skin problem but spider bites!
The 55-year-old recounted: "My support worker at the time [when he moved in] saw these things on my body, when I lifted up my shirt and showed her."
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The chef continued, "I first thought it was my skin reacting to the treatment I had been prescribed for my eczema.
"The following year, when I was at my sister-in-law's, I cross-referenced a photo I took of a spider in my flat on Google, and it came up with a noble false widow/skull spider.
"I remember my sister-in-law asking if I was alright, and I said: 'No I'm not, I think I finally know what has been happening to my skin'."
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Davies outlined the gory details of what he's been having to endure now for more than two years, "The bites in the pictures matched up exactly with what I have. These spiders have huge fangs and they can inject a rotting agent, it's really nasty stuff."
"I just want other people to be aware of how bad they can be and to keep and eye out for them because if they bite an older person or a child it could be really bad."
The bite of a false widow spider has been compared to a wasp sting, hence Davies' concern for children and the elderly.
He added: "I have been bitten in my sleep, in my bed all the time. From my ankles to my head."
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"Without exaggeration, my bottom looks like somebody's taken a cheese grater to the pair of them – it is that bad," the 55-year-old continued.
He outlined that the spiders don't prefer any particular part of the body as they seem to attack just about everywhere, "It is so painful around my waist, my arms, cheeks, legs, chest, earlobes, the back of my neck and my face. The worst one was actually on my lip, where they bit me three times."
The company that owns the property reportedly refused to fumigate his home or pay for heat treatment and instead only offered to clear the communal areas, Russell said.
He said: "I saw them on the ceilings in the halls and pairs of them in the stairwells. That's the reason I originally reported it... People who are a lot older than me live here, and I was genuinely concerned, because they could die from a spider bite if they have underlying health problems," he emphasised.
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While the physical effects are clear, the bites are also severely affecting Davies' mental health as he has since been prescribed sleeping pills and painkillers from his doctor, but he says they do not always work.
"If a hair on my leg moves when I'm asleep, I am automatically awake and I rip the covers off."
He said: "The doctor has noticed that my mental health is getting worse, and I do suffer from problems that I take medication for anyway.
"I have to hold myself together because I don't want to fall apart."
Due to these events, Russel now believes he will not be able to go back to work as a chef because of the condition of his skin, and will be forced to pursue another career path.
A spokesperson for the housing company said: “We appreciate how unpleasant and inconvenient pests can be and we are sorry to hear that Mr Davies is suffering with this problem.
"We are committed to resolving this problem and are speaking with Mr Davies about the steps that need to be taken to support his health and remove the spiders from his home."
Rhiannon Ingle