Mum-of-two scared witless as huge false widow spider leaps on her as she painted her garden shed
A MOTHER-of-two has been left terrified after almost being bitten by one of the most dangerous spiders in Britain with the family discovering a nest of the eight-legged creatures in the family garden.
Laura Kirk had been painting the shed in her back garden when the false widow spider pounced on her, sending the 30-year-old running for the house.
She said she had just reached around the back to start painting the shed when the spider ran out.
She told The Sun Online: "As I lifted my brush up to the top of the roof it ran out from the panel of the roof.
"As soon as I saw it, I knew it wasn't a normal spider, it was horrendously chunky.
"It literally came for my hand."
The mum of two managed to flick the venomous creature off her hand in a panic and immediately called her partner for help.
Her partner, Ben Jones, and his workmate Adam Smith raced to the house and tried to coax the spider out.
Ben, 26, eventually managed to catch the spider in a jar later that night - but the family has since discovered an entire nest in their garden shed.
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The mother, from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, has now been left having "nightmares for days" with her partner finding a nest of the small but dangerous arachnids living in the roof of the family's garden shed.
She said the spider they had caught had been identified as a false widow spider with spider experts speculating it was a pregnant female given its size.
She said she was now worried about the safety of her children, six-year-old Jack and 12-year-old Evie, who often played in the garden.
She said: "I'm not much of a spider fan anyway, I haven't been sleeping much.
"I haven't had my windows open since I saw it."
The false widow spider has a venomous bite but its effect is usually mild on humans and likened to a bee or wasp sting.
The spiders can have legs that grow up to 15mm long.
People bitten by the spider can suffer numbness, severe swelling and discomfort as well as varying degrees of burning or chest pains.
Earlier this year, a man was left with a gaping hole in his leg after being bitten by a false widow spider.
A mother was also left horrified after finding the spider in her grapes.
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