an aussie spider story (or why not all aussie blokes are really that blokey)

[Figgy]

This week is domestic violence awareness week, and we've had some very high profile cases of men murdering their partners this year, police have changed their focus and moved away from 'oh gawd, not another DV' to being very proactive about responding to domestic violence reports....

however things aren't always as they appear (warning, educational video on how to catch a funnelweb spider)

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/wollstonecraf ... l8v7b.html

[bascar]

'and what do you do for a living?'

'I milk spiders'

I hope she's well paid....

[Wicky]

Ewwww. Maybe I will never return to Sydney.

I am less afraid of spiders than I was when I was young, but - still....

[Moutaineer]

My stepson says this is why he doesn't live on the North Shore, because that's where the funnelwebs are... (there were a few expletives involved in this convo, too:))

[Figgy]

I never saw a Funnelweb during the 10 years I lived in Sydney. Lots of huntsmen (large hairy non toxic beasties), some redbacks.

Spider milkman is not high on my list of career options

[Flight]

LOL! There's a big huntsman in my house at the moment. It's more scary trying to catch it to take it outside (don't like killing them) so I just let it appear now and then, hoping it wont next appear on my face when I'm trying to sleep!

[Figgy]

I don't like killing spiders either, I prefer to catch them (Tupperware is my preferred method) and then take the Tupperware container, throw it outside and then retrieve it the next day when I'm confident that the spider is far far far away.

Thankfully I don't see snakes in my backyard.

[Shirrine]

Problem with huntsman is they like cars. Very disconcerting when it is crawling along the dashboard then disappearing only to appear again.

Shirrine

[Figgy]

yes, I've been known to hit the brakes very hard in the middle of a highway and leap out of the car in terror because of a huntsman running across the inside of my windscreen.

Boyfriend leapt out of the car just as quickly as I did and then got upset that i'd stopped without pulling over

I Did check behind me first to make sure there were no cars/trucks (empty road) then hit said brakes

[texsuze]

OK, Aussies, we need some graphic pictures of your huntsman here, with warnings for the squeamish. Spiders are cool.

[Shirrine]

Danger danger Will Robinson, huntsman spider.

Shirrine

[Shirrine]

I had one join me in the shower, that was the last straw, he DIED.

Shirrine

[Jp1]

Fun aren't they. Lying in bed one night reading a book, a rather large huntsman crawled across the bedside lamp. The shadow that spider put on the ceiling was huge. I think my heart stopped for a moment before I realised what it was.

[Niki]

I've just moved to my new property on 13 acres. You wouldn't believe the number of spiders in the bush here. I'm used to the Aussie bush but it even suprised me. While putting a temp fence of about 200m in a big square i started by bashing all the pickets in. I then went to put all the offsets on them to already find spiders on the pickets creating webs. The smallest huntsman we've seen so far was the size of my partners hand

[Figgy]

they are harmless, they are just big and hairy is all

[Moutaineer]

Like mice with looooong legs