Victorian gold prospector finds black mouse spider

A prospector made a rare – and near deadly – discovery while digging for gold.

Chris Bogusis, 33, discovered a highly venomous black mouse spider in late April while hunting for gold in the remote bush of northeastern Victoria.

Bogusis shared a video of his encounter with the spider online.

“I’ve found something much rarer than detecting gold from metal,” he said in the clip.

“While digging in a gold mine waste pile from the 1890s, I accidentally discovered an incredibly dangerous animal.”

Footage shows Mr. Bogusis shoveling the spider, hidden in a mound of dirt, into his shovel with his hand.

A few seconds later he saw the large spider and was startled by its large ‘fangs’.

“Look – woah,” he said, poking the spider.

“There aren’t many things in Australia that make me nervous, but spiders with fangs like that do.”

The black mouse spider is found throughout Australia and its venom has been compared to the Sydney funnel web spider – one of the most dangerous spiders in the world.

While the mouse spider’s venom is not lethal, it can cause serious illness, especially in young children.

Mr. Bogusis moved the spider to a nearby tree and continued the search.

The black mouse spider is found throughout Australia and its venom has been compared to the deadly Sydney funnel web spider

Mr Bogusis (above) said he first thought the spider was a funnel web and was shocked by its large ‘fangs’

He remembered the incident with Nine News earlier this week he said he thought it was a funnel web spider at first.

“I saw a big black soft thing that was definitely not a stone,” he said.

“I’m just thankful that when I pushed him, he must have pushed him in the butt first by the way he was aimed in the shovel.”

“It was very unusual. I didn’t see any of the webs, normally when you make a funnel web you see the webs and the silk.”