As is the case with snakes, many people are bitten when they try to kill or remove a spider that might better have been left alone. Spider bite can usually be avoided by taking a few simple precautions. Outdoors or in a shed or garage, look before you put your fingers in or under an object, especially if it has been in place for some time. Shake out boots and shoes. Firewood can harbour funnelweb spiders, scorpions and centipedes.
Gloves give some protection, although they can be easily pierced by large fangs.
Dangerous spiders seldom enter Sydney homes, but white-tailed spiders hide in clothes on the floor or bedding, and huntsmen in curtain folds. Today, the production of the antivenom requires copious amounts of funnelweb venom and the Reptile Park is the sole producer of that venom. There is always a requirement for male Sydney funnel-web spiders at the Park, and local residents are depended upon to provide spiders for identification and possible inclusion in the venom extraction program. All there is to know about possums and how to co-exist with them. Also loads of other information about our parks and the creatures that live in the parks.