A horrified mum has told how her three-year-old boy was bitten by one of the world’s most venomous spiders after mistaking it for a plastic model in his toybox.

Curious Theo Henrique went to pick up the deadly creepy-crawly and screamed in agony when the huge Brazilian wandering spider sank its fangs into him.

The spider, with the scientific name Phoneutria, is considered highly toxic and particularly dangerous to humans because of the huge amount of venom it can deliver in a single bite.

Quick-thinking mum Ellen Martins rushed her son to hospital in Nova Lima, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

Footage of her trapping a spider in a transparent plastic food tub notched up more than 2.3 million views, local media reported on 5th March.

And she warned: “This is a video to alert you that, at this time of year, these little animals enter our homes, hide and, sometimes, they can go unnoticed.”

She said of Theo: “He had an immediate allergic reaction in his body and felt a lot of pain in the finger where he was bitten.

“But he treated and, thank God, he woke up much better. In fact, the next day, we took another look and found another spider.

“We stayed alert and let’s be very careful.”

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It is unclear if the spider in the video is the one that bit her son or the second creepy-crawly.

Environmental educator Matheus Silva Mesquita, from Nova Iguacu. In Rio de Janeiro, explained how dangerous the spider is.

He said: “This spider is from the genus Phoneutria. It is the most venomous spider in Brazil, the Americas and also considered the most venomous spider in the world.

“Its venom affects our blood pressure and our heart rate. So if the person is cardiac or is a child, the risk of death exists.”

Experts say the spider is responsible for many deaths all across Latin America.

Its common name comes from its method of hunting for prey on the ground in the rainforest instead of building webs.

It is often found hiding in cupboards or boxes in homes.