Nightmare Video Shows Dozens of Deadly Funnel-Web Spider Babies Emerging From Sac

A video of baby funnel-web spiders emerging from an egg sac in Australia created a stir across social media this weekend.

The video, posted to Facebook by the Australian Reptile Park on Friday (January 21), showed an employee at the park wearing gloves and carefully opening the egg sac using a pair of tweezers.

As an opening in the egg sac widens, dozens of small funnel-web spiders can be seen crawling over each other inside and eventually emerging from the sac itself.

The clip, which can be viewed in full here, has generated over 1,000 interactions and hundreds of comments on Facebook, with users expressing their fascination and horror at the footage.

Sydney funnel-web spiders are found in New South Wales. They are capable of killing humans with their venom in minutes. They are considered among the world's most venomous spiders.

Males can grow up to up to just under an inch, with females growing up to 1.3 inches.

As depicted in the video clip, after mating female Sydney funnel-webs produce an egg sac with around 100 baby spiders.

The babies appear tiny in the footage, with the egg sac only slightly bigger than the gloved thumb of the park employee helping to open it.

The Australian Reptile Park collects and 'milks' Sydney funnel-webs for their anti-venom program, which helps authorities make anti-venom for anyone bitten.

Workers use a glass pipet to catch venom produced by the spider as it rears up into a defensive posture.

The park say the anti-venom made from the poison is then produced by injecting small, increasing doses of the venom into rabbits, whose blood then responds by producing antibodies that can then be used to make human anti-venom.

The park's website details how they are the only suppliers of Sydney funnel-web anti-venom in all of Australia, making their work with the animals key for wildlife management and health authorities in the country.

A description of the potentially lethal effects of a Sydney funnel-web bite, which inflicts a powerful toxin on the body's nervous system, are also available on the park's website:

"The large fangs and acidic venom make the bite very painful. Bite symptoms start early, beginning with tingling around the mouth, twitching of the tongue, profuse salivating, watery eyes, sweating and muscle spasms. Hypertension and an elevated heartbeat occur which, when combined with respiratory distress may be very severe and potentially lethal."