about 2 months ago a mate got bitten by a taipan ,he killed it and its mate afterwards ( must get a bit stroppy if interupeted having fun) drove himself to hosp as thought would be quicker then waiting for ambo , 25 mins away ) was in hosp for 3-4 days being monitored every hr or so after first few hours , wasnt given anti venom as told now days only given as last resort as the side affects can be worse than the bite and long term , reckoned a lot of pain / sweats / and a bit of delirium and on a drip most of the time ....after let out of hosp aches and pain for about a week with no energy at all .. but after that came good fairly quickily , few yrs back i got bit by either a python or a low dosage snake and was amazed how gental the bite was , hardly felt a thing , mates said the same thing with the taipan , hardly felt it and had to check for bite marks to make sure ... some of our snakes (not taipans) will dry bite just to warn you off .. and as far as our famous red back spider goes. normally just makes you hot and sweaty for about 1/2 hr or so and thats it .. withg most of our nasties , leave them alone and they do the same .. except for that odd one that wanders into your house .. at least here except for sharks and crocs they just bite and not try to eat you