Miriam&#39;s Dreamwidth blog

:) Philistine

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We killed, by hand, 300-odd Huntsman babies over the last summer.

It was not a fun task, but it was an accomplishment.

I hope we got them all.

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Oh man! Huntsman spiders are totally innocuous. They control pests without getting web everywhere and without you having to spray poison into the air you breathe. They stay hidden most of the time, really only coming out at night, and then keeping mainly to the ceiling and upper walls and behind cupboards. They can't stand to touch humans, and even if you did, by accident, grab one without seeing it (I never have, but I've heard stories) then its bite is not even as bad as a bee sting.

I've never, ever been bitten by one, and I've picked them up many times, removing them from the homes and offices of panicked humans. Admittedly I've rarely touched them with bare skin (because they quickly leap away from such contact), but I have had accidental brushes with them, skin to exoskeleton, and, as I say, never been bitten.

When I say picked them up, I don't mean that I grabbed them (a surefire way to get bitten); I mean I've shooed them onto my clothed arm. I'd then transport them outside to get them to jump off and scurry away.

The few times huntsman spiders have been directly in contact with me I have been completely safe.

One time when one was in my car when I was driving into town. It was clearly freaking out and ran up the doorpost of the car to hide between the ceiling and sunvisor. Unfortunately my car was a bit of a bomb and the vibration convinced the spider it was in harm's way so it leapt from there... to land spreadeagled on my face. I was, to put it mildly, surprised, but I didn't get a chance to react as the spider immediately leapt clear again, obviously terrified that it had landed on the warm, live skin of a giant predator. Now on the floor, it scurried safely away to hide under the passenger seat (and probably have a quiet little arthropodic nervous breakdown).

The other time that I remember direct contact with a huntsman was when I was working at a tyre place and noticed a large huntsman among the rubbish tyres. I was scared it would get accidentally crushed in there, so I coaxed it onto my arm... just as a customer entered. Unfortunately the spider was scared and ran up my arm to hide in my, at that time, long, curly hair. I figured it would be safe there and I'd better attend to the customer before I took it outside. Anyway, I was squatting down, examining the customer's tyres and he was chatting away friendly. Suddenly he stopped and began flapping his arms and jumping up and down shouting "There's a spider in your hair! There's a spider in your hair!" I tried to calm him down, telling him I knew; that I'd put it there, but he heard nothing. Panicking, he flipped it off my head and stomped on it. Splat! I looked, sadly, at the poor, flattened wet spot on the concrete. Great job I'd done of saving it.

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gothxxangel.livejournal.com

I love your spider stories!! They completely made my day, er, night. (^^)

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Heheheh thanks. :)

Those are about the only two I have...
Oh, there is the one about the pet funnelweb spider I had as a kid.

The funnelweb spiders that live around Sydney are among the most deadly spiders in the world. I guess Mum & Dad weren't too keen on me having it. They imposed a rule that I couldn't have it in my bedroom -- it had to be kept outside. Next morning I found the large jar I housed it in, tipped over, and the spider nowhere to be found. Mum and Dad were suspiciously unconcerned that the spider might be loose.

Oh yeah, there is the one about the smart orb-weaver. My sister, Sue, told me about this. There was a spider that wove its web across the driveway every night, with a vertical anchor line that got broken by the car every morning. After some days of this, one morning Sue found the spider had woven its web across the driveway again as normal, but had run the vertical anchor line down, fastened it to a pebble, and hoisted the pebble up high enough that the car could pass underneath without damaging the web!!! How amazing is that??!

Spiders are truly wonderful.

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pet funnelweb

Wow. Reports I've heard indicate funnelwebs are mean spirited, spiteful little buggers (along with being deadly).

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My one never struck me as having any kind of personality. Perhaps I didn't really have it for long enough (thanks Mum & Dad!), but its seemed to me as being fully involved in surviving, with not much room for anything else.

Mind you, bullants definitely have different temperaments. The big, black, one-inch-long ones are quite mild, and avoid confrontation if they can, only chasing someone if they are quite close to their nest. The large, red ones are quite a bit more aggressive, and will chase an intruder to a much greater perimeter around their nest. The smaller "jumping jacks" are quite horrid little ants and will chase you whether you're close or not... at least the ones I tested years ago when I was a kid, reacted like that. I didn't test them in a number of localities, but my contact with large black bullants and smaller jumping jacks since then, have tended to reinforce my earlier experiences.

So perhaps different spiders do have different temperaments.

Hmmm... I adore little jumping spiders. They are so cute and smart and curious. The are full of personality. So maybe you are right.

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heh. Jumpy spiders are too cute.

If you take into account the different "hunting" techniques, they would have to have different personalities. A huntsman that was content to hang about and wait for food to get stuck to the wall next to it wouldn't eat much :)

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The Huntsman (which I will kill in sight anyway) were birthed in our toilet.
Needless to say the democratic vote required genocide.

Of course, I just went out and doused the front and back lights with bug spray. Bloody moths.

Somehow, I suspect our policies towards the Insect Nation do not match.

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I'm puzzled. Why kill moths? They're harmless.

Having huntsman spiders in your toilet will help to keep dangerous critters away. I am pretty sure that huntsman spiders prey upon other spiders. They sure as hell won't bite you though.

Spiders are astonishing creatures, as are a lot of the small arthropods. They've been perfecting their systems since way before backboned creatures. They were the first land colonisers (well, after the plants).

With incredibly compact and efficient nervous systems they can do truly mind boggling things. They are intelligence distilled down to its purest form.

A spider was taken into space to see how it would manage with weaving a web in zero gravity. The first times it tried, it produced a mess, but it didn't take long for this wonderful creature to work out how to do it in zero-g. That shows remarkable intelligence. Pure instinct wouldn't have been able to do that.

Have you ever watched a spider working away? It is truly mind boggling. I am deeply interested in robotics and artificial intelligence. Spiders manage to perform complex feats of adaptive intelligence with brains of a few tens of thousands of neurons. Each neuron might have tens to hundreds or thousands of connections, so this is still pretty darned complicated, but a modern desktop computer has more complexity. How the hell does a spider do it? It seems to be all in the connectivity.

These are little eight-legged marvels.

Next time when you look at one, know that it is looking back. When you kill one, know that there is a very good chance you are killing a consciousness.

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I'm puzzled. Why kill moths? They're harmless.

They buzz around while I sleep.

Having huntsman spiders in your toilet will help to keep dangerous critters away.

I could let nature whittle down all 300 to ... one. Why bother? Why not kill'em all.
Huntsmen are too large to live.

Insects and me get along fine ... generally. So long are they are outside.
Except cockroaches, hunstmen, redbacks and Peruvian centipedes(?).

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Hmmm... why do I get the feeling you're yanking my chain? :)

Peruvian centipedes? Supposedly the world's largest.
You didn't happen to watch CSI NY the other night did you? The things they showed as centipedes were actually millipedes. Centipedes are carnivores and have a poisonous "bite", whereas millipedes are vegetarians and the worst they can do is make a terrible smelling fluid (it might be a bit toxic too so don't rub your eyes after handling a millipede).

By the way, I put quotes around "bite" because their first pair of legs are modified and sit up under a centipede's head like a pair of jaws. They're hollow and can inject poison. That's what they use when they "bite" you. Most centipedes are harmless to humans, though their bite stings pretty badly. I've only ever been bitten when I've been digging in the garden, generally after turning over a rock or log.

I'm not keen on redbacks. I kill them whenever I find them around the house. They're way too dangerous.

I have a soft spot for cockroaches. They are cute.

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Hmmm... why do I get the feeling you're yanking my chain? :)
Absolutely not. I'm far more obvious.

Peruvian centipedes? Supposedly the world's largest.
These definately are not them. I'm sure I was told they were Peruvian... they are everywhere.

I have a soft spot for cockroaches. They are cute.

Hmmm... why do I get the feeling you're yanking my chain? :)

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We seem to have a lot of centipedes in Australia. You're probably thinking of that pretty one with the light greenish, sometimes bluish body, and orange legs. I don't know what they're called. I should find out. That's something else for me to do next time I'm in at the museum.

No, I'm dead-set. Cockroaches are truly cute little critters. Though I must admit I draw the line at them being near my food... or my books (though silverfish are the worst for books). They don't get much chance in this house though -- too many predators.

Cockroaches have a truly phenomenal ability to repair genetic damage. They may help us live longer one day.

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Redbacks breed like rabbits (or worse). Not a good idea to let them get started or they end up everywhere. Especially if you remove the competition for them.
I note that I lived in a house that was riddles with huntsmen and redbacks. The huntsmen obviously weren't eating the redbacks :(

Cockroaches are WAAAAAY to keen to crawl over everything and fly into/onto people. They also can breed out of control in short order. They've an instant death sentence in my house.

Millipedes are cute, but they do smell. Not as bad as ants though.
I frickin' hate ants.

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The huntsmen obviously weren't eating the redbacks

Interesting. Maybe the redbacks are too dangerous.

[Cockroaches have] an instant death sentence in my house.

Death sentence for being nearsighted! Nobody can accuse you of overreaction, can they. :)

Awwww... ants are waaay cute. They are the best of all. When I was a kid I used to spend hours squatted on the edge of our 2-meter diameter red-ant (or meat-ant) nest. They were so cool. I swear they knew I wasn't there to hurt them. They were very gentle ants and would tolerate me there just watching them. Occasionally one of the less bright members would try to bite at my toes, but all I had to do was softly discourage it and all was well again.

We used to tip any waste food that we and our dog didn't want, onto the edge of the nest for them. The nest grew so large and successful that one day it split in half. Somehow half the members decided to up and leave. They made a highway through the bush cleared of leaves and twigs and for a few days travelled back and forth moving house. Eventually the new nest was up and running and didn't seem to have any further contact with the original. It was never as big or successful as the first nest though... perhaps because of our continued practice of feeding the old nest (what can I say, we were fond of it), though I did share stuff out with the new nest from time to time.

Hmmm... just re-reading that... am I weird?

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DSL/server_install_files/Sol10-03082006.xml

Yup. My wife once walked through the web of a big web weaver spider (St Andrews Cross? something like that) in our driveway. As we got onto our porch she realised the spider was in her hair. After a quick arachnaleptic fit, said spider flew off and landed on the porch with a *splot*.

It promptly was pounced on by a huntsmen. The fight was kind of comical - a rolling ball of legs. We didn't stick around to see who won (since we figured the huntsmen was odds on winner).

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DSL/server_install_files/Sol10-03082006.xml

Where the hell did that come from? yeesh. I meant to qoute:

I am pretty sure that huntsman spiders prey upon other spiders.

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Wow! That is amazing. I'd have loved to see it... even though I like St. Andrews Cross orb weavers. Heaven knows how many orb weaver webs I've walked through. I hate that, and must admit it panicks me a little. I've never been bitten by one though. I know I'm anthropomorphising here, but I get the impression they think "Oh crap. Another bloody human blundering through my nice web. I'm outa here."

Yeah, I'd figure the huntsman to win too. They're kinda muscular.

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Web dwellers are so ungainly out of their webs too. Mind you, I guess it would come down to which one got the fangs in first.

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Good point about web dwellers being ungainly. Delicate too. All the huntsman would have to do is grab and overpower it... and avoid the fangs. :)

Have you ever noticed how web dwellers tend to bite their catches? They throw several loops of silk over them to ensure their prey doesn't get free, then they get a foot or leg of the poor unfortunate insect and bite it for a while, injecting poison. After that they retreat and wait for the struggles to die down.

Not nice, but fascinating.

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spongebobjess.livejournal.com

Oh man...even after reading all of your stories, I am still freaked out by spiders. Especially BIG HAIRY ones like that. :/

SBj

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heheheheh :)
Someone must have freaked when you were little. Most spiders are nice enough critters, especially the big, hairy ones. I worry about the middle-sized, fairly smooth ones. The best way to tell how dangerous a spider is is to get a stick and tear its web. If it rips easily and silently then it is pretty safe. If it makes a loud tearing noise then the spider is probably dangerous. This is because a spider that catches strong prey needs a strong web and strong poison.

It doesn't necessarily hold completely true though. As I mentioned above, I've stumbled through countless orb weaver spiderwebs. Their webs are very strong -- some of the strongest I've encountered -- but I don't think the spiders are dangerous. Certainly I've never been bitten by one and I've never heard of anyone being bitten by one.

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sharpblonde.livejournal.com

Wow. Sounds like you have a lot of spiders around. I guess you must have to have a pretty decent basic knowledge of spiders to not run into trouble? That's one thing I don't think I'd much like about Australia, I'm not so fond of big spiders. I don't think it's a phobia, but definitely a healthy respect. I prefer the little guys we get here who only give you occasional little itchy bites which aren't at all dangerous unless you're quite allergic. My girlfriend on the other hand, thinks spiders are cute. I think she's crazy! Spiders may be a lot of things, but cute isn't one of them in my opinion.

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Yeah, we have a lot of spiders here. :)
I probably have more interest in them than most people though. The average person here probably just knows to be careful about redbacks (similar to your black widow) and the funnel web. Not much you can do about funnel webs though. The female stays within a few inches of her burrow so isn't much threat. It is the male that is dangerous. Each year they are responsible for a spate of bites as they go wandering in search of females.

Most of the other Australian spiders are fairly safe. More people die of bee stings. And those aren't even Australian bees; they're the European honey bee. Most of the native Australian bees are stingless.

Spiders may be a lot of things, but cute isn't one of them

Heheheh :) Depends. Next time you see a little jumping spider, get up close and move around it. Watch it turn and look directly at you with those big eyes and try to work out what you are. Now that is cute! Makes me grin just remembering them.

I have a photo of one, but my stupid computer needs to be switched off then on again to recognise the scanner. I'll post it later and you'll see how cute they can be.

Jumping spiders are small (generally smaller than the nail of your little finger), totally harmless, and occur around most of the world. They have remarkable brains and are candidates for the smartipants of the arachnids.

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xxclovergrrlxx.livejournal.com

wow. that is enormous. i would have crap my pants. where do you live?

btw, i'm not sure if i've ever commented in your journal...but i usually read your entries and find them pretty interesting.

i would like to not kill spiders, but i used to always wake up with spider bites on me so now i can't comfortably go to sleep knowing they are alive and in my apartment. it makes me feel like there are things crawling on me, even when i know they're not. and forget about the whole coaxing them onto your arm/paper/other item thing... i'm way too terrified to get that close.

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