The first "Questions about Australia" entry!
This is one that so many people ask. They're terrified that they'll be bitten and killed.
The thing is... yes. There are spiders. We have the most poisonous spiders in the world, and there are quite a lot of them. However, most of them are outside, being poisonous to other insects. They don't usually enjoy being inside- there's not much for them to eat.
They do get inside though.
A few weeks back, my friend and I were at a party, and we were helping clean up afterwards. And we came across a red back spider- one of the most scary ones. They've got a black body and a red line/streak on their backs. They're not huge compared to other spiders, but I hear they're a *lot* bigger than American or English spiders. We had a great time trying to kill it! (sarcasm). One of the guys was trying to spray it while standing on a chair, and it was just flailing around rather than dying, and then it decided to drop from the ceiling and because it was night time we couldn't see it for a while. We eventually had to squish it because we sure couldn't kill it with the spray fast enough! That was however one of the only poisonous animals that my friend definitely saw.
Again a few weeks back, there was a nasty looking black spider running around in my dvd collection- cue me squealing and getting my friend to catch it for me.
A few years back, there was a really big huntsman spider (they're HUGE, look them up!) in our kitchen. I couldn't squish it because it was huge, I couldn't spray it because again, it was huge, and there was food around the place that Mum had prepared for that night. The only option we had was to catch it.
It was so big, I had to catch it in a sieve. One of those big ones.
It was pretty horrifying!
Basically in answer to your question- Yes, there are spiders. Yes, they come inside. Yes some are huge and some are poisonous. But with a bit of common sense you can avoid them or get rid of them, and if you're here on holiday you shouldn't have too much to worry about.
Ten Years Today
5 years ago
OMG, I looked up a hunstman spider and once it came up on the screen I couldn't get it off the screen fast enough! I don't like any kind of spider ... add huntsman to the list, ha! I'm terrified of them all regardless of the country of origin! Be careful out there in Australia!
ReplyDeletei looked up that huntsman spider too. they are nasty little bastards. i just saw what i thought was a giant spider in my garage and we had an epic battle. victory was mine when i smashed it with a license plate. i was feeling pretty cocky until i stumbled upon your little bloggy. now that i see your creepy critters i sort of feel like mine are pretty small. maybe that's a good thing though. next time one of those tiny spiders crosses my path i will not scream like a little girl. i will have the strength of a thousand lions.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should get a pet snake--don't they eat spiders? Happy New Year's!
ReplyDeleteProdigal Tourist- nope, snakes eat small animals, like mice or even small wallabies!
ReplyDeleteyeah i saw humongo spiders. people asked me this a bit. i guess it's a common known fact/stereotype indeed!
ReplyDeletei said they were all radioactive and swam across the ocean originally go get there. hahah...