MATTHEW STEVENS’S first reaction when he was bitten by a giant spider that he disturbed while cleaning the freezer in his pub kitchen was to take its photograph with the camera in his mobile telephone.

The chef’s impressive presence of mind, prompted by the suspicion that his mates would never believe him, may have saved his life. Within minutes his hand had swelled to the size of a balloon. Later as doctors fought to save his life in hospital they were able to send the picture to experts at Bristol Zoo who identified his assailant as a Brazilian Wandering Spider, one of the deadliest arachnids in the world.

Mr Stevens, 23, was bitten twice by the 5in spider which is believed to have taken refuge under a dishcloth after stowing away in a box of bananas delivered to the Quantock Gateway pub in Bridgwater, Somerset.

He said: “It was hiding in a cloth and when I squeezed the cloth it bit me. It was about as big as the palm of my hand. I went to try and pick it up and it bit me again. It landed in the freezer, which stunned it.”

Assuming the spider was dead, Mr Stevens took its picture for posterity. Shortly afterwards he was in such pain with dizziness and the shakes that a colleague drove him to the local community hospital. He said that staff had a look at him and then sent him home to rest. Mr Stevens said: “They told me they couldn’t see anything wrong. They said to go home and keep an eye on it.”

Not long after getting home Mr Stevens collapsed as the venom worked through his system. His partner, Cara McSweeney, 19, called an ambulance and he was rushed to Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, where doctors placed him on a saline drip. His condition worsened as staff tried to diagnose the bite.

Mr Stevens said: “I thought I wasn’t going to make it. My chest was so tight I could hardly breathe. My blood pressure was going through the roof and my heart was beating so hard I could feel it hitting my chest.

“The doctors didn’t know what type of spider it was, but I’d got a picture of it on my phone and they sent it to Bristol Zoo to identify it.”

As his condition deteriorated further, doctors gave him oxygen and increased the flow of saline to flush the toxins out of his system. He was discharged the next day but it was nearly a week before he felt well again.

Meanwhile, inspectors had visited the pub and caught the spider in the kitchen. Warren Spencer, head of invertebrates at Bristol Zoo, said: “I’ve heard of only a couple of instances where they have been found in the UK.”

The Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera) is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s most poisonous spider, with venom glands up to 10mm long containing enough poison to kill 225 mice.

The spider’s poison can provoke severe symptoms, including an irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, vomiting and death. Since 1926, 14 people have died from bites, though none since 1996 when an antidote was developed in Brazil.

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