Neil_Oz

Maybe as good a time as any to advise unwary visitors on how to eject an Australian huntsman spider - very big, with long hairy legs, scary at first sight, fast runners but harmless enough. Getting rid of one is easy if it's on a flat surface: simply pop a wide-mouthed jar or glass over the beast (avoiding the removal of one or more of its legs in the process); then carefully slide something flat like a piece of cardboard under the spider to trap it inside. Take it outside, up-end the jar and shake vigorously. If you're lucky it will fall out - if not, you could have a very unhappy spider on your hands. I've only met one person who claimed to have been bitten by one (having had a beer or three too many he decided to catch it by hand) and he likened that to being stung by a mosquito. Stomping a huntsman is not in the spirit of fair play.

A huntsman vs. a NYC roach; there's an interesting thought.

michi

I have just finished reading the 100 postings on how to pack light. After all that I now find, as an unwary visitor, I have to pack a wide-mouth jar. Well maybe not since they (spiders) are fast runners you say and I can barely put one foot in front of the other these cold damp days.

Did you notice how you all went off on tangents and made 9841182 look rather ridiculous? I'd like to go off on my own tangent. Talk about two locusts! Have you heard about two silk worms sharing the same cocoon? According to our (China) guide they spin inferior silk which is used for lesser quality items. And for this they give their lives. And tangent number two: is a spider an insect?

AndrewDavid you are insightful indeed. That's what 9841182 is trying to do: have Australia to himself/herself. Well it won't work will it? At least you and I will be there too. And by the way, what countries have you been voting in lately?

See you soon Australia!

crazymina

My friend told me about the huntsman. I shuddered when I heard about it...and am glad I never saw one!

But you all are right...those roaches are amazing. They would not DIE! I stomped and stomped, and I swear, they just gave me the finger and scurried off.

My friend lives in Elizabeth bay, not far from King's Cross. The customs officer asked me "who lives in Elizabeth Bay?" to which I responded "a friend." He shot back with a "rich friend!" I told him my friend was not rich at all and he was in a studio apartment. He scoffed and informed me that "poor people don't live in Elizabeth Bay."

Well, apparently then these were upper crust cockroaches!

Neil_Oz

Generally the only Australian spiders that are worth worrying about are (a) funnelwebs (the deadly variety is confined to the Sydney area, but few people ever see one) and (b) redbacks (similar to the American black widow, extremely common under garden rocks and similar habitats but unlike the funnelweb sluggish). The huntsman is just nuisance value. Spiders are arachnids, not insects.

Alan

You can now all relax. The terrorist-alert practice which was going to disrupt tourism all over Australia has come and gone, and the news is that relatively few terrorists, or tourists, were actually affected in any way. A few dummy bombs went off in a few isolated areas, but they weren't even strong enough to kill Liz's cockroaches. The locust plague made something like page 28 in the Sydney paper; we have more important things to worry about, such as, will they make another Matrix movie and block off all our best streets again (with all those movie people hanging around, you can hardly squeeze into the dining room of the Intercontinetal nowadays).

wlzmatilida

Alan,

even more of a concern....will anybody actually be able to figure out the PLOT to another Matrix?

Melodie

Neil_Oz

And this reassuring letter from a rural resident in today's "Sydney Morning Herald":

"I drove from Dubbo to Parkes yesterday and witnessed the locust swarm, but I think the plague is now over. From the look of my car this morning, I think I got them all."

And a warning to any prospective visitors to the area - Blue Mountains Tourism, after receiving a consultant's report, has announced that the mountains are to be "rebranded and repositioned". Let's hope they don't lose them in the process.

Neil_Oz

Forgot to mention a story I heard recently about a guy in Sydney who was about to put on his gardening gloves, then worried that a redback spider might have taken up residence. So he put on his lateral-thinking cap and decided to nuke them in the microwave for a while. Opening the door, the first thing he saw was a cockroach walk out of a glove, shake itself off and stalk off.

michi

Alan

Should they "reposition"the Blue Mountains, could you please advise since we will be using your instructions on how to get there.

We're leaving soon. Thanks.

Neil_Oz

After visiting the Blue Mountains, Mark Twain reported being informed by a fellow train passenger that the mountains had been formed by millions of years of droppings deposited by millions of generations of kangaroos. This accounted for the mountains' characteristic blue colour, produced by the gases released by this material's decomposition. This confirmed Mark Twain's view that it was inadvisable to take much notice of the information offered by locals anywhere.

lizF

Mark Twain was a wit as well as being a wonderful writer. Pity there was not more emphasis on Mark Twain in schools here in OZ compared to what we did get to study.

xbgtcoupe

On the topic of nasties in Australia, I have it on the advisory of some esteemed associates of mine from the deepest darkest Africas that Australia is more inhospitable and more of an 'extreme environment' than their land. Scary stuff.

As for the Australian Huntsman Spider, yes, they can be scary, but up north I saw a beach full (cape tribulation, north of cairnes) of spiders measuring up to a foot in size that lived in what I thought was rat boroughs, on closer inspection the hoard of rats that scurried into the holes were spiders. At that point I ran screaming from the scene.

About a month ago there was a female and male hunstman in my study (males are smaller, females are mamoth). About a week into them being inside (hey, I wanted to see what they do for fun) the female ate the male.

This was a bad sign, because it's common after-play in spider sexual encounters. The female dissapeared one night never to be seen again.

Three weeks later, from inside my bookshelf out of sight, has come a hoard of small huntsman spiders, less than a centimeter (1/4 inch) in size. Cute little buggers. The WSPA side of me made me want to save them, after all it's not their fault they happened to be born in an evil human abode.

Thusfar I've rescued about 28 of the buggers. The downside .. I was reading a website the other day ...

The female spider sits on a pancake shaped egg sack of silk for three weeks then the babies hatch with some assistance from mum. During this time and for two months afterwards she will be agressive and attack anything that comes near her nest.

After two months when the babies leave the nest completely she resurfaces to carry on with life as usual.

Unfortunately, it also mentioned how many babies they have .. between two to three hundred.

So .. here I sit at 2:08 AM with a plastic cup and a business card, wondering whether a can of Mortein would be better. But as others have said in these posts, our critters just flick you the bird, lift up their arms and ask if anyone has a loofah they can use during their shower.

I've seen a Sydney roach literally drown in white foam from bug spray rather than have any effect by the spray. Unfortunately due to chemical assaults they have grown quite immune to things we throw at them.

I bet a hundred years ago when our ancestors caught and threw out any bugs inside before the advent of spray didn't have mutant bugs of doom to worry about.

Why, oh why, can't people pay attention to 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentalities of ye olde generations?

Neil_Oz

The reason the giant spiders were running was that a herd of carnivorous pink elephants was in hot pursuit, using a flock of flying pigs as spotter craft. You'll just have to stop smoking those dried cane toad skins.

AndrewDavid

Neil,
You bit again.
A/D

Neil_Oz

Can't help myself.

Canberra cockroaches must be a lesser breed - one shot of fly spray and they turn up their toes.

michi

In rereading the original post I note there are some email addresses, websites and "how to unsubscribe" mentioned. The intention is to get the unwary's attention by being outrageous -- although there could be an element of truth to some of it -- and then get unwary to go to the websites, send emails and unsubcribe.

This may well be the intention of the "hoax" poster whose mission is mischief. Our virus protect companies send out reminders on this. Be careful because:

1. you will be providing your email address to an unhealthy mind.
2. you may be inundated with sick spam.

pat_woolford

Hi Michi - from someone who can't even spell the fairly simple name "Cairns" I and professes to drive through it at 160kmph I would doubt very much if he's ever been here. Truly, I can see a huntsman spider from where I type - it's no more than 4" across which includes mostly skinny legs and is mildy sitting here hoping a small insect will come its way.

michi

H Pat

I should have said "the intention could be" because I can't say what is true and what isn't, but I have received similar emails that have turned out to be hoaxes (checked out with antivirus websites) and I am very wary.

Just curious if the World Watch Advisory is a legitimate organization and if anyone has emailed or used the website sources quoted. Does the poster ever return to the site with the same name.

Anyway, Pat, 9841182 has provoked you Australians into providing us with some good laughs as a result.

Cheers!

Neil_Oz

Yes, they're a scary-looking spider but quite harmless. Our resident Huntsman hasn't moved for days. I used to eject them from the house but finally decided it wasn't worth the effort.

xbgtcoupe's motives are known only to himself. As the psychiatrist said of Basil in an episode of "Fawlty Towers", "There's material for an entire conference there".

bigspider

xbgtcoupe: which website did you read about huntsmans? I've got one with a nest at the moment (they're due anyday now) and I'd like to read up properly on them. Only i can't find anything useful. Thanks.