Spider bite allegedly leads to amputations as woman sues landlord over infestation
Patricia Shields is taking legal action after her apartment was allegedly overrun with venomous spiders, forcing her out after losing two toes to bites.
Ms Shields moved into the Florida unit in November 2024 and noticed spiders emerging from her bathroom vent just two weeks later.
When she alerted management, they reportedly said they only handled cockroaches and suggested she pay to clean the vents herself.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.She claims bites soon followed, first on her forehead, then her legs and feet, requiring multiple doctor visits and ongoing treatment.
Ms Shields even delivered a bag of spiders to the front desk, but staff insisted they weren’t venomous.
Her own research identified one as a brown recluse, whose neurotoxin can destroy skin tissue, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In June 2025, a large brown spider bit her big toe as she left the bathroom, with symptoms progressing until amputation was required.
Her doctor warned her that staying in the apartment meant “risking her life”, according to the lawsuit. Yet the Grand Oak Apartments in Largo refused to release her from the lease.
A second toe was amputated in August after another bite, bringing her total to nine attacks and leaving her homeless since.
“It’s been a long year, I just want it to be over,” Ms Shields told WBDJ. “They hurt. They burned. It’s a burning feeling.” And she said, “it’s embarrassing and I hate having to explain myself all the time.”
Ms Shields, who is disabled and on a fixed income, is suing her landlords for $50,000, alleging negligence despite her complaints.
World’s largest spider web discovered
It comes as a team of scientists found an “extraordinary” yet skin-crawling colony of more than 110,000 spiders.
A dozen researchers, led by biologist István Urák published a paper on October 17 detailing their findings on the gigantic spider population in Sulfur Cave, stretching across the border of Greece and Albania.
While the sheer number of arachnids would be enough to inspire nightmares in most, Urák was instead overwhelmed with gratitude and respect when he first saw the web.
“You have to experience it to truly know what it feels like,” he told Live Science.
The research paper found the massive web covers more than 100sqm and was a unique example of two arachnid species living symbiotically.
Images from inside the cave show the thick web covering its walls and roof, even forming a stalactite formation in one section.
The massive web had mostly been constructed by about 69,000 common and harmless barn funnel weavers coalescing with about 42,000 Prinerigone vagans, also known as dwarf weavers.
