I’m being eaten alive by spiders infesting my home – I can’t live like this but no one will help
A TRAUMATISED man is being bitten to shreds in his own home by Britain's most venomous spiders - but no one will help him.
Russell Davies is in so much agony from hundreds of bites all over his body he is sleeping in a tent outside his Southborough flat.
The false widow is said to have a bite as painful as a wasp’s sting and Russell’s body is covered in them.
The 55-year-old tenant's skin is so sore he has been forced to stop working as a chef.
The infestation has also driven him to sleep in a tent rather than in his flat.
He told the : "I'm in pain. It feels like when I shiver that I've got shards of glass in every part of my body where I've been bitten.
"I've been sleeping in a tent for roughly a week and a half.
“In the daytime I'm walking around looking for things. My mind is constantly on edge because I'm looking for a web, spiders. I don't want to live like this."
Russell has been bitten ever since he first moved into the Kent home in 2020 and raised the issue nine months ago with Clarion Housing Association which owns the flat.
They told him it is his responsibility to deal with the spiders and have repeatedly refused to fumigate it.
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Although the company did arrange to fumigate the hallways and landings in communal areas, Russell said they shunned his pleas to specifically fumigate his home or pay for more intense heat treatment.
He said: "My body started to get bites, and then splits on my chest and my arms, which were almost like lesions, I didn't know what they were at the time.
"When I actually found the spiders in my property 15 months had passed by and I was what you would call an all-you-can-eat banquet for these spiders, while I was asleep.”
Russell said he "tore [his] flat to pieces" searching for the spiders and he’s been reduced to poor struggling with poor sleep and mental health.
He said: "I don't know if I've got them all.
“This is the frightening part for me, I don't sleep very well at the moment because it's got into my mind so badly because I was bitten while I was asleep.
“Clarion have, three days ago, flatly refused to come and fumigate the property that I live in. "
A Clarion spokesperson said: “We appreciate how unpleasant and inconvenient pests can be and we are sorry to hear that Mr Davies is suffering with this problem.
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"Clarion’s pest control specialists are contracted to focus on communal spaces, but this is an unusual and difficult case so we have offered to arrange for the treatment of Mr Davies’ home ourselves.
"Mr Davies has declined this offer but we remain committed to providing any support we can.”
What is the false widow spider?
Are false widows in the UK?
- False widow spiders arrived in Britain on cargo transporters from Madeira and the Canary islands before 1879.
- The nasty species is thought to have thrived in the UK in recent years due to milder winters.
- The spiders like dry, warm environments, are nocturnal and will normally spend the day sleeping inside a crack or hole close to its web.
- They started making their way into British homes when temperatures dropped in 2017.
- Eleven schools were even forced to close in 2018 after invasions of thousands of false widows.
How can you spot them?
- The false widow is a medium sized spider with a round, brown body and cream coloured markings.
- Its legs are a reddish-orange colour.
- Females range in size from 9.5 to 14mm while males are 7 to 11mm
- The spider's body and legs will have a glossy appearance.
- The species closely resembles the black widow spider, aside from its colouring.
How bad is their bite?
- Most bites result in symptoms similar to a bee or wasp sting.
- The females bites are more severe than the males and typically result in intense pain radiating from the bite, along with fever.
- There have been no reported deaths in the UK resulting from false widow spider bites.
- But, there have been a number of incidents where people have had severe reactions and required hospital treatment.
