My high school's resident huntsman was Bruce! He preferred the English and history classrooms, but occasionally wandered over to the languages block to expand his horizons. (I don't think he much cared for maths or science, though...)
Omg we actually have a huntsman we call steeve with 3 e's because we spell it exactly like that.
We also have Barry the doorbell spider, a little jumping spider
Ditto with this, they are non venomous and pretty harmless. If you do want them out, get a piece of cloth and capture it with your hand and release it outside. I generally draw a line at having one in the bedroom.
They have venom, and if they bite it will hurt but it won’t kill or maim you. They tend to only bite when provoked. And even then, they like to make a big threat display first with their front legs up in the air to warn you away!! I’ve handled hundreds and have never been bitten, so you’re right in saying they’re pretty harmless 😊
I love them and their tippy tappy feet noise when they do that big leggy walk!! I have one living in my car at the moment, she’s great. Her name is Sweetie!
Fun fact: Male Huntsman drum as part of their courtship.
So of you're waking up to an unexplained rapid tapping that lasts a couple seconds there's a guy in your room looking for a date.
This happened to my grandpa. (Who loved spiders and insects, never killed one). He crashed the car, writing it off and hospitalising himself. We assume the spider survived.
As a teenager in the 90s, I drove a Holden Gemini on which the door seals needed replacing, but, as a poor student, I couldn’t afford that luxury. I parked the car beneath a jacaranda tree, which huntsman evidently loved. I nearly crashed the car several times because of huntsmans scurrying across the inside of the windshield.
Hope your grandpa wasn’t seriously injured.
When my daughter was 7 we picked up an elderly friend from the hospital after she had a stent put in her heart.
My daughter was a screamer, she was also terrified of spiders (she's not now) but back then she saw a Huntsman in the car and screamed so loud and high pitched. Poor Renee I was convinced she was going to have another heart attack. Fortunately I was eventually able to pull over and remove the spider from the car. But I'll never forget it 🤣
I was staying with a friend when I was a kid and his mum made me go to church with them. On the way we were driving directly into the west and a huntsy did the sun visor trick. Mate's mum took both hands off the wheel and started stamping, mashing the accelerator in the process nearly sending us off the road into a dam. I took it as a sign and never stayed with them again.
Lol Australians are a different breed. Any critter in my home that has a bite that hurts is OUT!
Australians are like "this creature might hurt me but won't kill me, unlike all the others, so it can stay! Also cute."
>and pretty harmless.
Not entirely true. @OP be warned that if you try and kill one with a shoe it's more likely to beat you to death with said shoe. Then go after your family with your collection of shoes. Then subjugate the country.
We have a very fragile alliance with huntsmen. You're best off just leaving them be but you're within the terms of the treaty to simply relocate them back outside. If you do this, though, prepare for retaliation in the form of spot incursions on toilet paper rolls, the backs of doors (so you can't get back out), and possibly being dragged outside while you sleep.
Yep, this was me one night. Tiny toilet, walked in, light off so not to wake anyone. Shut door, turned on light.
Huge mothef*cker sitting two inches away from door handle waiting to eat me alive.
At least you have water to drink. I guess door dash can slide pizza under the door. Get a current affair involved.. you are being held prisoner and need compensation. Film crew interviewing Spider.. yea well it's my door, I was there 1st, kunt shouldn't have invaded my place. Ps get a lawyer, this could turn ugly fast. Still it's been 16 years, you have my sympathy.
They do have venom, but you would have to be allergic to have an adverse reaction to a bite.
HOWEVER, they do not brush their teeth, so they do have some bugs in their mouths which might cause a few problems. If you get bitten and some sort of reaction at the site over the next few days, see a doctor.
They're best placed just outside your house, where they can eat your big ground bugs like roaches before they get indoors. If you keep them inside they eat your daddy long legs, and you need *them* to catch mosquitoes.
Spider diplomacy is a delicate business.
More so the other way round....
White tails are the spider hunters and actually hunt actual dangerous spiders that can kill, like red backs.
I bet you kill them based on the widely held myth they cause necrotic wounds..... search "white tail myth" and you'll find credible links dispelling as such;
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/04/the-truth-about-white-tail-spiders/
Research paper..... https://biomedicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/department-of-biochemistry-and-pharmacology/engage/avru/discover/spiders/white-tailed-spiders/necrotising-arachnidism
This first aid pro link sums up all the information in that paper in a simple way....
https://www.firstaidpro.com.au/blog/white-tail-spider/
You don't have to love them, but you don't have to be as afraid of them.
Thanks for advocating for the science side!!
People love to hate on white tails but their reputation is super unearned. They’re actually pretty shy. Also, any ground dwelling spider’s bite (any open wound, no matter what the cause, for that matter!) is at risk for bacterial infection if not properly treated.
Or the linen closet and run up your arm when you grab a towel making me..uh I mean, maybe making a person scream. I leave em be in my house because they're harmless but stay the fuck away from me 8 legs.
Or under your shampoo bottle in the shower, which you don't know until you're naked, wet, and vulnerable, trapped in a tiny glass cage with a soggy, probably pissed off arachnoid nightmare.
Outside of that context they are totally fine, live and let live.
Like in the hundreds we’ve had in the house there’s been maybe 2 or 3 arseholes that just wouldn’t chill out and they’d run across the wall at you. Those ones got moved on, but most are happy to hang out and eat bugs and stuff and keep to themselves.
It’s generally an accident when the get close like I’m cars when you start driving and one pops out to see what’s going on and you both lock eyes and think oh shit and it’ll go back and hide or run across your dashboard.
Most Aussies live in, or near big capital cities, and our huntsman spiders rarely ever get past the size of say… the bottom of a coffee mug.
In the outback, they get much larger. When I was 8yo, I was staying in a farmhouse that had an outhouse, and in the middle of the night came face to face with a huntsman the size of my head.
It’s the only time I’ve ever seen one that big, until I went to the far north of Australia, but they weren’t hunstsmans, they were orb spiders.
Anyway, that’s totally off track. I let huntsmans live.
a- they’re pretty chill. Unless they feel threatened, they move pretty slowly. They don’t flit around, but they can jump if they think they’re in danger. They’ll jump away before they try to bite. And their bite isn’t venemous. So no, they try not to ever get close to you.
b-they stick to the high ground. Above cupboards, high walls or cornices. Nice and warm, and out of everyones way.
c- they eat other spiders. Here we have white tail spiders too. They’re famously venomous, but I’ve learned that they’ll only kill you if you’re allergic. Which you don’t know until you’ve been bitten. But the venom can spread in your muscle, making it look (and feel) like it’s being eaten away. If you’ve got huntsmans, you don’t have white tails.
I let my huntsmans chill. I used to worry when they went out of sight, but usually they’ll move around trying to find the best hunting ground for bugs. If you see one in the same spot for a bit, it means they’ve found a good place.
They don’t spin webs, so they don’t leave a mess when they’re gone.
My last one was called Steve, and he was with us for around 3 weeks before he went missing.
NB: lots of people confuse huntsmans with wolf spiders. Wolf spiders have the same colouring, and a similar shape body to some types of huntsmans, but shorter legs. They also move really quickly and stick to low areas. Wolf spiders are like the huntsmans 8yo cousin. They aren’t venomous, but because they’re fast, agile little buggers, and like playing hide and seek, they normally end up dead. Otherwise we’d find them hiding in our shoes or coats.
If the wolf spiders could calm the f down a bit and choose a spot that wasn’t my shoe, I’d totally let it live too.
Spiders I don’t kill: huntsman, daddy long legs, black garden spiders, those cute little crab looking jumping spiders.
Spiders i do kill: wolf spiders, white tails, redbacks, funnel webs
The rest are out in the wild and don’t really come into my arena.
the infections aren't even unexplained, staph lives on everyone's skin, literally any wound that breaks the skin can result in a staph infection from your own damn skin bacteria. Disinfect your wounds.
I evict hunstmans, my wife is the sheriff. Into a container and out into the garden.
Smoosh redbacks, whities and stay the hell away from big fat black ones.
I hate to be that internet "actually" guy. But white tails have been unfairly treated apparently. There isn't evidence that they cause the flesh decay that they have a bad rep for. Apparently if they had any weird unidentified abscess they would call it a white tail bite. I have stopped killing these little fellas since I read this. It's an interesting rabbit hole
I pretend I don’t see them and act surprised when my husband points them out
Then he gets to play chasey up the wall and ceiling with an ice cream container
Same. My wifes not a fan and she has terrible eye site. Usually after several weeks she will say is that a spider and I say no its a leaf then Leo moves and its like uh oh.
Bernadette lives in the corner of my bedroom and eats smaller spiders and bugs. She's very polite and never drops on me in my sleep, unlike Bastable who did so once and I had to put him outside after a good talking to.
I name them and sometimes assign them little personal quirks so we have stuff to talk about. Huntsman are welcome, I like the tappy tap sound when they run and they don't even leave cobwebs around. I tried to buy some once to have extras but they were really expensive.
If a huntsman shows up, I’m happy. Like others have said, they eat other bugs. They become pets and I definitely name them. They tend to stay away from humans, almost always they hang out on the wall right up near the ceiling, or near the tops of windows. They’re so big that they’re easy to spot so you don’t get surprised by them once you know they’ve moved in. My last one was called Margaret. Haven’t had one for awhile now.
We haven't had one for ages either. Ours are always Henry the Huntsman, I started naming them so the kids wouldn't be scared of them. Had no bloody idea everyone else does it too haha
When they fall out of the car visor and into your lap, immediately exit the car even if in traffic. We Aussi's see this all the time and it's the law that you must give way and/or render aid to anyone attacked in the car by a Huntsman. Otherwise, you can either leave him in the house and give him a name or gently move him with a broom to the outside.
That last bit about giving him a name is so true.. My wife is foreign and thinks we are all nuts. Every one of my Aussie mates has a huntsman room mate with a name and everything, and she can't fucking handle it.
I’m reading through this thread and losing my mind. I let brown recluses and wolf spiders stay for pest control and name them, but I can’t imagine not having an issue with a spider that fucking big!!! Even me and my spiders have a shaky relationship
We kinda get used to these big cunts climbing all over a walls.. Theres a certain point in every Aussies life where we just go from 'AHHHHHHHHH' to 'Ahhh that's just Fred, he lives in the corner above the TV.. Say Hi fred'
🤣🤣🤣 ‘it’s Aussie law to render aid to anyone attacked (by a huntsman) in the car’ holy shit is this true?? I’ve lived here 17 years and have been citizen the past ten - I have never once seen anyone stop in traffic and leap out of their car after being attacked by a huntsman 😆. I know it happens, especially the ol’ under-the-visor trick, but you’ve got to be pulling a leg to say that if I saw someone do this I would be compelled by law to pull over and offer assistance? I mean, I would, but…
Aussie gal here. When i lived in Qld (lotsa spiders there) I felt something drop from the sun visor into my lap while in car at traffic lights. I then saw huntsman running up my leg. I jumped out of the car, trying to get this spider off me but i didnt know where it was, so i just kept jumping and swinging my arms around looking foolish at the traffic lights. While I was in panic mode, a couple of pedestrians stopped and I assumed knew what i was trying to do cause all of a sudden 3 people yelled "there it is" as said huntsman ran off along the road. The lights had turned green and back to red by this time but it seems like they all knew what was happening and no one complained about me holding up traffic. It was a scarey moment but its so normal here that everybody understood. When i drove off, i saw a police car was also watching me. He gave me thumbs up signal (asking if i was ok) i returned thumbs up signal (stating i WAS ok). And we all went about our lives.
Although, even the Police did not get out of their car...... i guess they knew i was not intentionally holding up traffic, but they technically didnt help either. We all know huntsmans are not deadly, we just dont want them touching us. 😊
I guarantee everyone in this situation was just thinking ‘lucky it happened when she was stopped at the lights’. The crazed swoops of the huntsman removal dance are familiar to all Australians.
I invite all the Canadians I know around for a BBQ, and then casually point out the huntsman. After the Canadians leave, the huntsman and I generally sit and have a beer, and we laugh and laugh and laugh.
That's what I don't get about the fear of Aussie animals. Other places have big things that could chase you. With our small venomous stuff you just walk a few metres away and you're good.
The fear of our wildlife is on our minds so little that we make animals up when we try to scare tourists.
They are more dormant in winter when it’s cold, but many will still be alive.
Depending on the type of huntsman and where you are in Australia, they can multiply quickly. However, even though their babies grow in egg sacs in groups of up to 200, not all will survive. They can live a solitary life, though some species will live in colonies (Delena cancerides).
The Australian museum has a good page of basic info if you’re interested [Huntsman Spiders](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/huntsman-spiders/)
Fellow Canuck here. Been in Oz 20 years. You get used to them. We name them and call them pets. It’s just a bit unnerving when they get big enough that you can hear their footsteps.
Hi. Canadian here too. Have lived in Melbourne since 2006 and met my first huntsman not long after arrival 😧😱. You cannot just hit one of these fuckers with a shoe and kill it. It’s far too big for that. And the general Aussie ethos is live and let live — they totally frown on killing any creature (I once flattened a bull ant crossing a stage in a rehearsal and was met with a collective gasp of absolute horror by everyone in the room, as if I’d strangled a kitten); they much prefer a trap and release approach, which is what I now do too. Nothing a clear bowl and some card stock can’t fix. I’ve had to grow a pair and get over my revulsion at all things insect, particularly spiders, but that’s what ya gotta do if you wanna be a proper Aussie Shiela…😉
sometimes the clear bowl must be replaced with a ten-litre plastic tub to allow for the spider's trajectory & avoid crushing one or more legs the split second you bring the container down, but either way the see-through category is a must. I admire your ability to adapt to local conditions with grace and courage
Look, I now see the error of my ways. This was many years ago when I was still a Shiela Noob.
The thinking behind this is: kill or be killed, basically. It’s a North American thing I suspect, if you want to psychoanalyse it. But effectively my mentality was that bull ant bites are very painful, which would be disruptive to the rehearsal should an actor be bitten, and the bull ant in question was walking very close to where an actor was crossing, barefoot, unawares. I was the stage manager. I felt it my duty to intervene, and next thing you know the savage Canuck in me took control and smashed that fucker with one blow as if I was wielding a hockey stick.
That was several years ago now. Present day Wonderwoman_420 would have found a glass and slid some paper underneath and taken the evil beastie outside.
My cat catches them ever so softly and brings them to me. Drops it, they run, I scream, cat chases again, I call on partner to catch it while I corral the cat.
We have a cat platform that goes around our ceiling for the cats to run around if they wish. My partners desk is under the platform. One evening I heard my partner shriek for the first time after being together for 14 years - our big orange fluffy boy had gently tossed a live huntsman down to my partner 😅
I leave it alone, I have a big one in my house and it feasts on the bugs that get in. It’s the only spider besides daddy king legs that I won’t squash.
Ask it his name (curiously, it is always Hank). Then we enter a housemate's contract where we both agree to leave each other alone. Side-eye Hank whenever he invades my privacy against my wishes. Hank is a tidy housemate since he doesn't make a web.
It’s an unwritten law in Australia that every good household needs a pet Huntsman. They will kill all other bugs and spiders and never bother you once. I’ve got one in my bedroom named Frank. He watches over me while I sleep like a guardian angel.
As long as you provide suitable and regular sacrificial offerings they generally leave you alone … goats and your first born are generally considered suitable
1. Scream, because the buggers are sneaky and always scare me
2. Cuss it out for giving me a fright
3. Remind it that rent is due on Friday's, and no hatching babies in the house
Same but replace parents with partner. I know they are not harmful and eat other bugs but I can't deal with spiders, even less with big and fast huntsman. I don't care about the smaller versions though.
Yeah, nah, they go alright. A decent sized one can help put the bins out and mow the lawns. Useful as! But watch out because Huntsy willl definitely go Nan's shitzu
If you really can't deal with having a house guest who cleans up all the other insects for you then obtain: a large preferably clear container, like a bowl or takeaway container; a piece of stiff card a bit bigger than the container.
1) Take a deep breath, steel yourself and place container quickly over spider, being careful not to pinch its legs. It'll run about a bit and hopefully move away from the wall and further up into the container. 2) Slide the card between wall and container until card is completely covered by the container, but you can still hold the card tight against the opening. 3) Thank your spider for its service and explain that unfortunately it will no longer be required, and 4) take it out to the garden.
5) lean RIGHT out over a plant, turn the container upside down, remove the card and shake the container in one manic movement.
6) run back inside and reap accolades from your household as they praise you for your bravery.
I give the kids a bag full of breadcrumbs and tell them to hide in the forest until the huntsman has moved on.
Or just ignore it like normal, sane people do.
Flyspray. I know my fear of them is irrational, and I’ve had a lifetime of ‘exposure’ to them but it hasn’t helped, I literally have full body shivers after a big spider encounter and won’t feel normal again until I have a hot shower :(
It’s silly, irrational, and unAustralian but even putting them outside I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing it might come back
I’m surprised it took my so long to see this kind of response! I’m like, you’re all very brave and adult but if I see a huntsman in my living quarters I’m crying
I get it. Every other type of spider gets flyspray or a swift smack with a thong because I also have an irrational fear of spiders, but for some reason huntsmans are the only type I can tolerate in the house.
If they're in the car, however, nope. They can get bent. I've had two under the visor, now, and my son was laughing his head off, shooing the spider out of the car while I was attempting to beat Usain Bolt at the 100m, while squealing like a toddler in Coles that had just been told they can't have an ice-cream.
I almost crashed my car doing 80 when something crawled up my leg into my skirt one night. I swerved off the road and was out of that car so fast. I never found out what it was but Jesus I was jumping around like a maniac screaming hysterically. I wonder how many car crashes are caused by big spiders or cockroaches etc.
Fly spray if they try to attack, if not I'll stare at it so I don't lose it until someone else comes home to put it outside. I hate killing them but I have an irrational fear of spiders crawling on me after my sister put a huntsman on my back as a kid.
Finally do you know how far I had to scroll to get away from oh we name him and set him up like a roommate, like no, im sorry but spiders can gtfo, literally the only exception is a daddy long legs
I have a really big phobia of spiders. To the point I hyperventilate until I black out. It's horrendous. My dad 'ate' a daddy long legs when I was 6 and the fear that he would die just escalated way out of proportion as I grew older to the point that any spider was a bad spider. I think he regrets the joke as when I lived at home he had to deal with all of the spiders that appeared in my bedroom. Even if it involved a 2am wake up because I dreamt there was a spider on my wall.
You are not alone. I do exactly the same. I can't even handle the dead body afterwards. If I were to let them go outside my brain tells me that they will return and bring their families too.
Finally someone else admitting they have an irrational fear of them too. I don’t know how people can seriously get close enough to catch them in a container. If they are inside they don’t live. I’m sorry. I also feel bad but I just can’t do it.
I sometimes have several huntsman in the house. I leave them be unless the missus manages to see one haha. Then I’ll coax it onto my hand or in a jar depending on the temperament and put it outside. Huntsman are great to have around, they kill a lot of unwanted pests and they aren’t really a threat or danger to humans. I’ve picked up and handled huntsman spiders my whole life and have never even looked like being bitten.
Personally, I just let it hang out. When I was single I used to let them stay, they would keep the other nasty critters at bay (and I'm REALLY not a fan of cockroaches).
But, now... I catch and release. My SO is an arachnophobe. So when there is a spider in the house, he screams like a girl, and I go rescue him. But he laughs when I have a panic attack about the cockroaches (it's not funny, they're vile and disgusting!)
I leave them be usually just chill out of the way on my walls
Plus they take care of any other unwanted bugs
Flies or mozzies.
I take that as their rent payment
As an Australian who has lived in Canada I can tell you, Bears, moose, cougars, Wolves & Coyotes are way more scary and difficult to get away from then any spider or snake here.
It always surprised me how concerned everyone was about our spiders and snakes, when you can literally step over them, yet a bear can run, swim and climb faster then you.
Usually I leave the huntsman with a name and a good understanding that they don’t go on my bed and he eats all the other bugs. If it gets too big then I pick him up and take him outside 😂
Murder them and any kin they spawn, stick a toothpick through the corpses and display them on my window seal as a sign of dominance.
Kidding.... kind of.
Back when I was living at home I’d grab my dad or my sister (lmao), now my partner and I have struck a deal and she escorts the spiders out, and I handle any bugs or reptilian visitors
So long as they stay in an acceptable location like a window or out of the way wall I leave them alone, if they decide they want to hang out on the ceiling above me then relocation is required.
We get quite a few of them due to where we live, so normally they are small to start with and if you leave them alone you can observe them growing up and you start chatting to them.
Most people will give them a name. Fun part is when they are on the move. When you get home from work you hunt the house for them.
One of the big problem is when they give birth - there are dozens of the babies scattering around. Sometimes you will need to cull a few!
When they get big enough (usually over 5cm is leg span) I catch them and chuck them in the garden. Huntsmen like to wander around the house at night so I don't like to get freaked out by one hanging out on the wall right next to my face when I wake up in the morning. Not a fan of bug spray so catching them is easier for me.
If they're inside I try to usher them into the outdoors one way or another haha. I don't *like* spiders but huntsmans are pretty chill.
I'm a bit less forgiving with large spiders inside when I'm in the southern states as I don't trust myself to ID a funnelweb correctly, and those are nasty
Name them. They are your friendly household spider! Every house needs one.
There is an ancient Japanese proverb: a household without spiders is cursed.
We usually give them a name.
Harry?
Sometimes. There are a lot of Steves and Phils.
We often have a Bruce or a Terry. Sometimes Doris.
We have had Greg, Bob, and Gloria to name a few
My high school's resident huntsman was Bruce! He preferred the English and history classrooms, but occasionally wandered over to the languages block to expand his horizons. (I don't think he much cared for maths or science, though...)
In his defence, he could only count to 8
Does terry visit you too mate?
You’re a good bug, Steeve.
Omg we actually have a huntsman we call steeve with 3 e's because we spell it exactly like that. We also have Barry the doorbell spider, a little jumping spider
Jumping spiders are the cutest little things. Their faces are so adorable.
Jumping spiders are so cute
We're everywhere, rock and stone
Rock and roll and stone!
Yep. Ours are always Harry, no matter how far apart we might see them. Except on the rare occasions that we might see two, then one is Henrietta.
Ours is Kevin
Ours are Fred usually
Always Fred!
I have a Fred! It's a baby one!
whaddya want?
Vegemite
I too like to be smeared with vegemite and slipped into a wetsuit
Kinky
Harriets are usually the ones inside.
Same. Give them a name and let them get on with the pest control. Try to get them to agree not to jump-scare you too much.
Came here to say this
Huntsman eat other spiders and bugs so I generally just let them hang out. White tails I kill on sight.
Ditto with this, they are non venomous and pretty harmless. If you do want them out, get a piece of cloth and capture it with your hand and release it outside. I generally draw a line at having one in the bedroom.
They have venom, and if they bite it will hurt but it won’t kill or maim you. They tend to only bite when provoked. And even then, they like to make a big threat display first with their front legs up in the air to warn you away!! I’ve handled hundreds and have never been bitten, so you’re right in saying they’re pretty harmless 😊 I love them and their tippy tappy feet noise when they do that big leggy walk!! I have one living in my car at the moment, she’s great. Her name is Sweetie!
In the middle of the night, dead silent, you can hear the big ones gallop along the walls as they whisper chitter chatter chitter
Fun fact: Male Huntsman drum as part of their courtship. So of you're waking up to an unexplained rapid tapping that lasts a couple seconds there's a guy in your room looking for a date.
Tinder is so different now days 😂
😂😂
Chicks love drummers.
Damn it. I thought I had a mouse. Now I'll never sleep.
You haven't flipped the sun visor down to have her fall in your lap while driving?
This happened to my grandpa. (Who loved spiders and insects, never killed one). He crashed the car, writing it off and hospitalising himself. We assume the spider survived.
As a teenager in the 90s, I drove a Holden Gemini on which the door seals needed replacing, but, as a poor student, I couldn’t afford that luxury. I parked the car beneath a jacaranda tree, which huntsman evidently loved. I nearly crashed the car several times because of huntsmans scurrying across the inside of the windshield. Hope your grandpa wasn’t seriously injured.
When my daughter was 7 we picked up an elderly friend from the hospital after she had a stent put in her heart. My daughter was a screamer, she was also terrified of spiders (she's not now) but back then she saw a Huntsman in the car and screamed so loud and high pitched. Poor Renee I was convinced she was going to have another heart attack. Fortunately I was eventually able to pull over and remove the spider from the car. But I'll never forget it 🤣
I was staying with a friend when I was a kid and his mum made me go to church with them. On the way we were driving directly into the west and a huntsy did the sun visor trick. Mate's mum took both hands off the wheel and started stamping, mashing the accelerator in the process nearly sending us off the road into a dam. I took it as a sign and never stayed with them again.
I love their little spider toes. They look like little paws.
You guys are insane😂
Lol Australians are a different breed. Any critter in my home that has a bite that hurts is OUT! Australians are like "this creature might hurt me but won't kill me, unlike all the others, so it can stay! Also cute."
Thanks for the correction, been bitten once when I tired to pick one up with my bare hands. Kinda like being pinched. Didn’t t hurt afterwards
Haha stop, they are so cute. Them only though lol. Everything else gets taken outside.
>and pretty harmless. Not entirely true. @OP be warned that if you try and kill one with a shoe it's more likely to beat you to death with said shoe. Then go after your family with your collection of shoes. Then subjugate the country. We have a very fragile alliance with huntsmen. You're best off just leaving them be but you're within the terms of the treaty to simply relocate them back outside. If you do this, though, prepare for retaliation in the form of spot incursions on toilet paper rolls, the backs of doors (so you can't get back out), and possibly being dragged outside while you sleep.
Yep, this was me one night. Tiny toilet, walked in, light off so not to wake anyone. Shut door, turned on light. Huge mothef*cker sitting two inches away from door handle waiting to eat me alive.
So you are still in the toilet area.. cant leave yet?
Yep. Been chilling here for 16 years
At least you have water to drink. I guess door dash can slide pizza under the door. Get a current affair involved.. you are being held prisoner and need compensation. Film crew interviewing Spider.. yea well it's my door, I was there 1st, kunt shouldn't have invaded my place. Ps get a lawyer, this could turn ugly fast. Still it's been 16 years, you have my sympathy.
They do have venom, but you would have to be allergic to have an adverse reaction to a bite. HOWEVER, they do not brush their teeth, so they do have some bugs in their mouths which might cause a few problems. If you get bitten and some sort of reaction at the site over the next few days, see a doctor.
They're best placed just outside your house, where they can eat your big ground bugs like roaches before they get indoors. If you keep them inside they eat your daddy long legs, and you need *them* to catch mosquitoes. Spider diplomacy is a delicate business.
More so the other way round.... White tails are the spider hunters and actually hunt actual dangerous spiders that can kill, like red backs. I bet you kill them based on the widely held myth they cause necrotic wounds..... search "white tail myth" and you'll find credible links dispelling as such; https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/04/the-truth-about-white-tail-spiders/ Research paper..... https://biomedicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/department-of-biochemistry-and-pharmacology/engage/avru/discover/spiders/white-tailed-spiders/necrotising-arachnidism This first aid pro link sums up all the information in that paper in a simple way.... https://www.firstaidpro.com.au/blog/white-tail-spider/ You don't have to love them, but you don't have to be as afraid of them.
Thanks for advocating for the science side!! People love to hate on white tails but their reputation is super unearned. They’re actually pretty shy. Also, any ground dwelling spider’s bite (any open wound, no matter what the cause, for that matter!) is at risk for bacterial infection if not properly treated.
Yes exactly 👌
Do they ever get close to you?
Only in the car, which is not fun
No they like ceiling corners normally.
Or behind paintings
Or the linen closet and run up your arm when you grab a towel making me..uh I mean, maybe making a person scream. I leave em be in my house because they're harmless but stay the fuck away from me 8 legs.
Or under your shampoo bottle in the shower, which you don't know until you're naked, wet, and vulnerable, trapped in a tiny glass cage with a soggy, probably pissed off arachnoid nightmare. Outside of that context they are totally fine, live and let live.
Like in the hundreds we’ve had in the house there’s been maybe 2 or 3 arseholes that just wouldn’t chill out and they’d run across the wall at you. Those ones got moved on, but most are happy to hang out and eat bugs and stuff and keep to themselves. It’s generally an accident when the get close like I’m cars when you start driving and one pops out to see what’s going on and you both lock eyes and think oh shit and it’ll go back and hide or run across your dashboard.
Most Aussies live in, or near big capital cities, and our huntsman spiders rarely ever get past the size of say… the bottom of a coffee mug. In the outback, they get much larger. When I was 8yo, I was staying in a farmhouse that had an outhouse, and in the middle of the night came face to face with a huntsman the size of my head. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen one that big, until I went to the far north of Australia, but they weren’t hunstsmans, they were orb spiders. Anyway, that’s totally off track. I let huntsmans live. a- they’re pretty chill. Unless they feel threatened, they move pretty slowly. They don’t flit around, but they can jump if they think they’re in danger. They’ll jump away before they try to bite. And their bite isn’t venemous. So no, they try not to ever get close to you. b-they stick to the high ground. Above cupboards, high walls or cornices. Nice and warm, and out of everyones way. c- they eat other spiders. Here we have white tail spiders too. They’re famously venomous, but I’ve learned that they’ll only kill you if you’re allergic. Which you don’t know until you’ve been bitten. But the venom can spread in your muscle, making it look (and feel) like it’s being eaten away. If you’ve got huntsmans, you don’t have white tails. I let my huntsmans chill. I used to worry when they went out of sight, but usually they’ll move around trying to find the best hunting ground for bugs. If you see one in the same spot for a bit, it means they’ve found a good place. They don’t spin webs, so they don’t leave a mess when they’re gone. My last one was called Steve, and he was with us for around 3 weeks before he went missing. NB: lots of people confuse huntsmans with wolf spiders. Wolf spiders have the same colouring, and a similar shape body to some types of huntsmans, but shorter legs. They also move really quickly and stick to low areas. Wolf spiders are like the huntsmans 8yo cousin. They aren’t venomous, but because they’re fast, agile little buggers, and like playing hide and seek, they normally end up dead. Otherwise we’d find them hiding in our shoes or coats. If the wolf spiders could calm the f down a bit and choose a spot that wasn’t my shoe, I’d totally let it live too. Spiders I don’t kill: huntsman, daddy long legs, black garden spiders, those cute little crab looking jumping spiders. Spiders i do kill: wolf spiders, white tails, redbacks, funnel webs The rest are out in the wild and don’t really come into my arena.
I live in the city a see a lot of massive ones
I've had 2 jump on me at different times, they are also really fast movers
Whitetails are as harmless as Hunstman's are. They're just the scapegoat for unexplained infections
the infections aren't even unexplained, staph lives on everyone's skin, literally any wound that breaks the skin can result in a staph infection from your own damn skin bacteria. Disinfect your wounds.
I evict hunstmans, my wife is the sheriff. Into a container and out into the garden. Smoosh redbacks, whities and stay the hell away from big fat black ones.
I hate to be that internet "actually" guy. But white tails have been unfairly treated apparently. There isn't evidence that they cause the flesh decay that they have a bad rep for. Apparently if they had any weird unidentified abscess they would call it a white tail bite. I have stopped killing these little fellas since I read this. It's an interesting rabbit hole
I pretend I don’t see them and act surprised when my husband points them out Then he gets to play chasey up the wall and ceiling with an ice cream container
Same. My wifes not a fan and she has terrible eye site. Usually after several weeks she will say is that a spider and I say no its a leaf then Leo moves and its like uh oh.
Yeah I pretend I didn’t see them and act surprised when my wife spots them. Then I promptly have to get something to move them outside.
A clever manipulation of the rule: They who sights it fights it.
unless everyone else has arachnophobia and you're tasked with the job, no matter what time of day, like an emergency services worker.
I give it a name, usually Frank or George, and let it roam about the house freely.
I go with either Frank or Jeff
Love him. His name is Bruce. They are all called Bruce. He is your friend and is more scared of you than you of him. Be nice.
Mine's called Harry
Mind if we call him Bruce to keep it clear?
Ours is called Barry
At mine they're called stewie.
Bernadette lives in the corner of my bedroom and eats smaller spiders and bugs. She's very polite and never drops on me in my sleep, unlike Bastable who did so once and I had to put him outside after a good talking to.
Excellent naming.
My mum used to call them Bernadette, great name
I name them and sometimes assign them little personal quirks so we have stuff to talk about. Huntsman are welcome, I like the tappy tap sound when they run and they don't even leave cobwebs around. I tried to buy some once to have extras but they were really expensive.
If a huntsman shows up, I’m happy. Like others have said, they eat other bugs. They become pets and I definitely name them. They tend to stay away from humans, almost always they hang out on the wall right up near the ceiling, or near the tops of windows. They’re so big that they’re easy to spot so you don’t get surprised by them once you know they’ve moved in. My last one was called Margaret. Haven’t had one for awhile now.
We haven't had one for ages either. Ours are always Henry the Huntsman, I started naming them so the kids wouldn't be scared of them. Had no bloody idea everyone else does it too haha
I just had Stuart move in after none for months. Hope he stays for a while.
I normally relocate them outside by trapping them under a container and sliding a piece of card board between the container and wall/ground.
Yup chuck them outside. Too big to kill imo.
Me too. I carry them across the road and let them go on one of the wooden posts and wish them farewell.
When they fall out of the car visor and into your lap, immediately exit the car even if in traffic. We Aussi's see this all the time and it's the law that you must give way and/or render aid to anyone attacked in the car by a Huntsman. Otherwise, you can either leave him in the house and give him a name or gently move him with a broom to the outside.
That last bit about giving him a name is so true.. My wife is foreign and thinks we are all nuts. Every one of my Aussie mates has a huntsman room mate with a name and everything, and she can't fucking handle it.
I’m reading through this thread and losing my mind. I let brown recluses and wolf spiders stay for pest control and name them, but I can’t imagine not having an issue with a spider that fucking big!!! Even me and my spiders have a shaky relationship
We kinda get used to these big cunts climbing all over a walls.. Theres a certain point in every Aussies life where we just go from 'AHHHHHHHHH' to 'Ahhh that's just Fred, he lives in the corner above the TV.. Say Hi fred'
When will i reach this point in my life? I'm still scared of flies.
🤣🤣🤣 ‘it’s Aussie law to render aid to anyone attacked (by a huntsman) in the car’ holy shit is this true?? I’ve lived here 17 years and have been citizen the past ten - I have never once seen anyone stop in traffic and leap out of their car after being attacked by a huntsman 😆. I know it happens, especially the ol’ under-the-visor trick, but you’ve got to be pulling a leg to say that if I saw someone do this I would be compelled by law to pull over and offer assistance? I mean, I would, but…
Aussie gal here. When i lived in Qld (lotsa spiders there) I felt something drop from the sun visor into my lap while in car at traffic lights. I then saw huntsman running up my leg. I jumped out of the car, trying to get this spider off me but i didnt know where it was, so i just kept jumping and swinging my arms around looking foolish at the traffic lights. While I was in panic mode, a couple of pedestrians stopped and I assumed knew what i was trying to do cause all of a sudden 3 people yelled "there it is" as said huntsman ran off along the road. The lights had turned green and back to red by this time but it seems like they all knew what was happening and no one complained about me holding up traffic. It was a scarey moment but its so normal here that everybody understood. When i drove off, i saw a police car was also watching me. He gave me thumbs up signal (asking if i was ok) i returned thumbs up signal (stating i WAS ok). And we all went about our lives. Although, even the Police did not get out of their car...... i guess they knew i was not intentionally holding up traffic, but they technically didnt help either. We all know huntsmans are not deadly, we just dont want them touching us. 😊
I guarantee everyone in this situation was just thinking ‘lucky it happened when she was stopped at the lights’. The crazed swoops of the huntsman removal dance are familiar to all Australians.
I invite all the Canadians I know around for a BBQ, and then casually point out the huntsman. After the Canadians leave, the huntsman and I generally sit and have a beer, and we laugh and laugh and laugh.
We’re coming back with our bears and moose
That's what I don't get about the fear of Aussie animals. Other places have big things that could chase you. With our small venomous stuff you just walk a few metres away and you're good. The fear of our wildlife is on our minds so little that we make animals up when we try to scare tourists.
That’s for the USAians. The Canadians are made of sterner stuff.
I should have swallowed my coffee before I read this. What a mess !
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Got a little colony of them?
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Are they dead :(
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Do they multiply rapidly? How many do you get per year.
They are more dormant in winter when it’s cold, but many will still be alive. Depending on the type of huntsman and where you are in Australia, they can multiply quickly. However, even though their babies grow in egg sacs in groups of up to 200, not all will survive. They can live a solitary life, though some species will live in colonies (Delena cancerides). The Australian museum has a good page of basic info if you’re interested [Huntsman Spiders](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/huntsman-spiders/)
Thanks for the link :)
Fellow Canuck here. Been in Oz 20 years. You get used to them. We name them and call them pets. It’s just a bit unnerving when they get big enough that you can hear their footsteps.
Out of curiosity, do you still have our accent or do you speak like an Australian now?
"G'dEh"
Aussies will tell you I sound Canadian and Canucks will say I sound Aussie. I’m not quite either
Hi. Canadian here too. Have lived in Melbourne since 2006 and met my first huntsman not long after arrival 😧😱. You cannot just hit one of these fuckers with a shoe and kill it. It’s far too big for that. And the general Aussie ethos is live and let live — they totally frown on killing any creature (I once flattened a bull ant crossing a stage in a rehearsal and was met with a collective gasp of absolute horror by everyone in the room, as if I’d strangled a kitten); they much prefer a trap and release approach, which is what I now do too. Nothing a clear bowl and some card stock can’t fix. I’ve had to grow a pair and get over my revulsion at all things insect, particularly spiders, but that’s what ya gotta do if you wanna be a proper Aussie Shiela…😉
sometimes the clear bowl must be replaced with a ten-litre plastic tub to allow for the spider's trajectory & avoid crushing one or more legs the split second you bring the container down, but either way the see-through category is a must. I admire your ability to adapt to local conditions with grace and courage
Why would you kill the bull ant though? What did it ever do to you?
Look, I now see the error of my ways. This was many years ago when I was still a Shiela Noob. The thinking behind this is: kill or be killed, basically. It’s a North American thing I suspect, if you want to psychoanalyse it. But effectively my mentality was that bull ant bites are very painful, which would be disruptive to the rehearsal should an actor be bitten, and the bull ant in question was walking very close to where an actor was crossing, barefoot, unawares. I was the stage manager. I felt it my duty to intervene, and next thing you know the savage Canuck in me took control and smashed that fucker with one blow as if I was wielding a hockey stick. That was several years ago now. Present day Wonderwoman_420 would have found a glass and slid some paper underneath and taken the evil beastie outside.
Sign the title over to the spider.
the trick is to shepherd the spider over an ink pad, then run them across the signature section.
Give it a name, chat with it, and get stressed when you haven't seen it for a few days. Leggy Boi where did you go? Come back. We miss you!
Right? I’m all like, where’s my friend gone 😔
I usually advise them to stay high away from my cats. They don’t listen, and then I’m sad about their corpses.
My cat catches them ever so softly and brings them to me. Drops it, they run, I scream, cat chases again, I call on partner to catch it while I corral the cat.
We have a cat platform that goes around our ceiling for the cats to run around if they wish. My partners desk is under the platform. One evening I heard my partner shriek for the first time after being together for 14 years - our big orange fluffy boy had gently tossed a live huntsman down to my partner 😅
I leave it alone, I have a big one in my house and it feasts on the bugs that get in. It’s the only spider besides daddy king legs that I won’t squash.
Leave em be, they're happy, I'm happy cause they keep the other nasties away. They look scary, but will run away most times instead of attacking
Ask it his name (curiously, it is always Hank). Then we enter a housemate's contract where we both agree to leave each other alone. Side-eye Hank whenever he invades my privacy against my wishes. Hank is a tidy housemate since he doesn't make a web.
Ours is always called Harry!
That Huntsman now owns the house. So when the huntsman wants to leave I can come back.
They are wall puppies and we don't kill puppies!
Octopuppies!
Name them and say hi whenever I see it.
We’re taught to respect wildlife from an early age. This means not killing them unless absolutely necessary.
pfft. Aussies respect wildlife. Good one.
It’s an unwritten law in Australia that every good household needs a pet Huntsman. They will kill all other bugs and spiders and never bother you once. I’ve got one in my bedroom named Frank. He watches over me while I sleep like a guardian angel.
As long as you provide suitable and regular sacrificial offerings they generally leave you alone … goats and your first born are generally considered suitable
Kiss them on the forehead and leave them be
1. Scream, because the buggers are sneaky and always scare me 2. Cuss it out for giving me a fright 3. Remind it that rent is due on Friday's, and no hatching babies in the house
I freak the fuck out and panic, then let my parents take them out
Same but replace parents with partner. I know they are not harmful and eat other bugs but I can't deal with spiders, even less with big and fast huntsman. I don't care about the smaller versions though.
Yeah, nah, they go alright. A decent sized one can help put the bins out and mow the lawns. Useful as! But watch out because Huntsy willl definitely go Nan's shitzu
If you really can't deal with having a house guest who cleans up all the other insects for you then obtain: a large preferably clear container, like a bowl or takeaway container; a piece of stiff card a bit bigger than the container. 1) Take a deep breath, steel yourself and place container quickly over spider, being careful not to pinch its legs. It'll run about a bit and hopefully move away from the wall and further up into the container. 2) Slide the card between wall and container until card is completely covered by the container, but you can still hold the card tight against the opening. 3) Thank your spider for its service and explain that unfortunately it will no longer be required, and 4) take it out to the garden. 5) lean RIGHT out over a plant, turn the container upside down, remove the card and shake the container in one manic movement. 6) run back inside and reap accolades from your household as they praise you for your bravery.
Name him and hope he stays up high enough that the cat doesnt get him. Joe Spiden living in my living room right now
Generally I set the whole house on fire. It’s expensive, especially in this housing market, but worth it.
Finally the right answer
Agreed. Harmless they may be, useful even, but fuck that for a house guest. No, burn it all down and move on.
I have a rule with spiders, if they’re outside, they can chill, but if they come inside, they forfeit their lives.
That's my take on it. Outside, go for your life - the world is yours. Inside the house or the car - nope.
Let him be, But if he takes one step in my bedroom, DEAD.
Nothing.
I ugly cry until my cats deal with it.
Just leave them alone, they eat the more disgusting bugs such as German cockroaches. The huntsman won't hurt you at all, we name them even lol
Usually offer them a beer and some Doritos and get to know my new body guard.
saw one by my door the other day, just said g'day and headed out. he was pretty chill anyways
I give the kids a bag full of breadcrumbs and tell them to hide in the forest until the huntsman has moved on. Or just ignore it like normal, sane people do.
Flyspray. I know my fear of them is irrational, and I’ve had a lifetime of ‘exposure’ to them but it hasn’t helped, I literally have full body shivers after a big spider encounter and won’t feel normal again until I have a hot shower :( It’s silly, irrational, and unAustralian but even putting them outside I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing it might come back
I think more people spray them then what people are letting on in this thread.
I’m surprised it took my so long to see this kind of response! I’m like, you’re all very brave and adult but if I see a huntsman in my living quarters I’m crying
I get it. Every other type of spider gets flyspray or a swift smack with a thong because I also have an irrational fear of spiders, but for some reason huntsmans are the only type I can tolerate in the house. If they're in the car, however, nope. They can get bent. I've had two under the visor, now, and my son was laughing his head off, shooing the spider out of the car while I was attempting to beat Usain Bolt at the 100m, while squealing like a toddler in Coles that had just been told they can't have an ice-cream.
I almost crashed my car doing 80 when something crawled up my leg into my skirt one night. I swerved off the road and was out of that car so fast. I never found out what it was but Jesus I was jumping around like a maniac screaming hysterically. I wonder how many car crashes are caused by big spiders or cockroaches etc.
Fly spray if they try to attack, if not I'll stare at it so I don't lose it until someone else comes home to put it outside. I hate killing them but I have an irrational fear of spiders crawling on me after my sister put a huntsman on my back as a kid.
Finally do you know how far I had to scroll to get away from oh we name him and set him up like a roommate, like no, im sorry but spiders can gtfo, literally the only exception is a daddy long legs
I have a really big phobia of spiders. To the point I hyperventilate until I black out. It's horrendous. My dad 'ate' a daddy long legs when I was 6 and the fear that he would die just escalated way out of proportion as I grew older to the point that any spider was a bad spider. I think he regrets the joke as when I lived at home he had to deal with all of the spiders that appeared in my bedroom. Even if it involved a 2am wake up because I dreamt there was a spider on my wall.
You are not alone. I do exactly the same. I can't even handle the dead body afterwards. If I were to let them go outside my brain tells me that they will return and bring their families too.
Finally someone else admitting they have an irrational fear of them too. I don’t know how people can seriously get close enough to catch them in a container. If they are inside they don’t live. I’m sorry. I also feel bad but I just can’t do it.
Basically just ignore it
Say hello George. I have no idea why they are all named George
I sometimes have several huntsman in the house. I leave them be unless the missus manages to see one haha. Then I’ll coax it onto my hand or in a jar depending on the temperament and put it outside. Huntsman are great to have around, they kill a lot of unwanted pests and they aren’t really a threat or danger to humans. I’ve picked up and handled huntsman spiders my whole life and have never even looked like being bitten.
I usually ask him to kill the wolf and let grandma out of the closet.
Personally, I just let it hang out. When I was single I used to let them stay, they would keep the other nasty critters at bay (and I'm REALLY not a fan of cockroaches). But, now... I catch and release. My SO is an arachnophobe. So when there is a spider in the house, he screams like a girl, and I go rescue him. But he laughs when I have a panic attack about the cockroaches (it's not funny, they're vile and disgusting!)
I leave them be usually just chill out of the way on my walls Plus they take care of any other unwanted bugs Flies or mozzies. I take that as their rent payment
I give them the house keys and move out, it’s their house now.
As an Australian who has lived in Canada I can tell you, Bears, moose, cougars, Wolves & Coyotes are way more scary and difficult to get away from then any spider or snake here. It always surprised me how concerned everyone was about our spiders and snakes, when you can literally step over them, yet a bear can run, swim and climb faster then you.
Usually I leave the huntsman with a name and a good understanding that they don’t go on my bed and he eats all the other bugs. If it gets too big then I pick him up and take him outside 😂
Murder them and any kin they spawn, stick a toothpick through the corpses and display them on my window seal as a sign of dominance. Kidding.... kind of.
Back when I was living at home I’d grab my dad or my sister (lmao), now my partner and I have struck a deal and she escorts the spiders out, and I handle any bugs or reptilian visitors
So long as they stay in an acceptable location like a window or out of the way wall I leave them alone, if they decide they want to hang out on the ceiling above me then relocation is required.
We catch and release.
We get quite a few of them due to where we live, so normally they are small to start with and if you leave them alone you can observe them growing up and you start chatting to them. Most people will give them a name. Fun part is when they are on the move. When you get home from work you hunt the house for them. One of the big problem is when they give birth - there are dozens of the babies scattering around. Sometimes you will need to cull a few!
I get my dad to redirect the bastard to his shed where it can eat all the bugs in the world
They eat cockroaches so we love them. They are quite lovely to have around especially in Sydney where cockroaches are an issue
When they get big enough (usually over 5cm is leg span) I catch them and chuck them in the garden. Huntsmen like to wander around the house at night so I don't like to get freaked out by one hanging out on the wall right next to my face when I wake up in the morning. Not a fan of bug spray so catching them is easier for me.
Introduce it to the others already in the house
Huntsman are harmless, just a bit Scary looking and unpleasant if they are on you by surprise. Just leave them be. Redbacks we kill.
Huntsman is your friend. Harmless and keeps out worse spiders.
I leave them there as they eat mozzies and other bugs. Huntsmen are super shy, so they don't want to come near you.
If they're inside I try to usher them into the outdoors one way or another haha. I don't *like* spiders but huntsmans are pretty chill. I'm a bit less forgiving with large spiders inside when I'm in the southern states as I don't trust myself to ID a funnelweb correctly, and those are nasty
Pro tip.. If he's just chilling, he's a huntsman. If he is ready to throw hands, he's a funnel web.. They are grumpiest little shits
My wife makes me kill huntsmen, daddy long legs get a stay of execution.
I just let them be plus they eat the other bugs in the house so I don't mind them un the house
Leave them. They'll kill all the other bugs for you.
Greet them, then thank them for doing good things for the household.
Thank them for eating the bugs
Cleansing fire.
Name them. They are your friendly household spider! Every house needs one. There is an ancient Japanese proverb: a household without spiders is cursed.
Name them and welcome them to the family.