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Warning: Arachnophobes Look Away!


Dxenion
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As others have said, white tails and red backs are quickly dispatched here, especially if they are near the dogs. The others are no problem. I quite like huntsman, but would prefer if they could stay out of the car and not crawl out of the air vent or run across the roof above my head!

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wicked photos and its been an interesting thread to read

Thanks. A crazy part of me is hoping to come across another one so I can borrow a real camera with a zoom lens and try for some better closeups. My phone's camera is too limited for decent macros. Although it was a relatively docile spider, getting within five centimetres for a photo was pushing even my crazy boundaries.

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Thanks for the update Dx, I was wondering how that went :) It was a Nemesiid after all!

Yes you were correct. Lol I also credit you with my newfound knowledge of the anatomy of a spider.

I went for a wander around the yard looking for burrows and lost count after finding 50 of them in four square metres. I gave up looking after that.

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Can someone explain to me what is so awful about spiders. OK. Some of them bite and are poisonous, but most are harmless and prey on obnoxious insects. It's pretty easy to learn which are dangerous in your area. (I am female, but don't get it. Why are girls so upset by creepy-crawlies . . . and mice?).

I don't mind mice, snakes etc and am not what you would call a girly girl in that sense, I used to keep mice and rats etc but spiders...:eek:

I will try and answer your question from my perspective. Everything about them creeps me out, their hairy spindly legs, the way they move, the fact they can bite, some can be life threatening, the mere thought of one makes me physcially shudder. I have nightmares about them, have trouble looking at pictures of them, quite regularly inspect areas inside before going into them to make sure there are none there and if I get one on me I become absolutely hysterical. It's out of my control.:shrug: And pretty funny for anyone watching :laugh:

When I was a kid I wasn't as scared of them until I was bitten by some kind of jumping spider and developed a shocking infection at the bite site. I think that has a lot to do with how I feel about them. Yes they may be harmless in most cases but I've experienced the harmful side and I wouldn't want to do it again :laugh:

Edited by Aussie3
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Thanks for the update Dx, I was wondering how that went :) It was a Nemesiid after all!

Yes you were correct. Lol I also credit you with my newfound knowledge of the anatomy of a spider.

I went for a wander around the yard looking for burrows and lost count after finding 50 of them in four square metres. I gave up looking after that.

:laugh: since I taught my husband the difference between Mygalomorphs and Araneomorphs he makes the shapes of the chelicerae with his forefingers every time I mention a spider of either type :p It's funny I've examined DNA from many hundreds of trapdoors but all I usually see of them is a single leg so I had lots of fun trying to id a whole one! Best left to the experts obviously though :D

Edited by Weasels
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Thanks for the update Dx, I was wondering how that went :) It was a Nemesiid after all!

Yes you were correct. Lol I also credit you with my newfound knowledge of the anatomy of a spider.

I went for a wander around the yard looking for burrows and lost count after finding 50 of them in four square metres. I gave up looking after that.

:laugh: since I taught my husband the difference between Mygalomorphs and Araneomorphs he makes the shapes of the chelicerae with his forefingers every time I mention a spider of either type :p It's funny I've examined DNA from many hundreds of trapdoors but all I usually see of them is a single leg so I had lots of fun trying to id a whole one! Best left to the experts obviously though :D

How many whole ones would you like? I think I can spare a few.

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I will try and answer your question from my perspective. Everything about them creeps me out, their hairy spindly legs, the way they move, the fact they can bite, some can be life threatening, the mere thought of one makes me physcially shudder. I have nightmares about them, have trouble looking at pictures of them, quite regularly inspect areas inside before going into them to make sure there are none there and if I get one on me I become absolutely hysterical. It's out of my control. And pretty funny for anyone watching

I could've written this word for word. No idea where my fear came from though! It pained me to look at the photos in this thread but for some peculiar reason, I couldn't not :confused:

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And the winners of the 'What spider is that?' competition are LappieHappy, Kayla1 and Weasels.

The Australian Museum and the Victorian Museum have confirmed the mystery spider as a Stanwellia grisea - Melbourne Trapdoor Spider

Thank you to everyone who participated in this thread. It was an educational and hair raising experience!

Ooh, I only just saw this - is there a prize? :rofl:

Before my house mate moved out, I, the girl of the house, was the official spider remover. My house mate was a definite subscriber to the "burn the house down" theory of spider removal, which I found quite hilarious. He had his own personal can of insect spray specifically for any spiders which came through his bedroom window.

I think I have read that the spider shape is one of those that we have an instinctive reaction to, in the same way that we instinctively react to snake-like shapes. I'm fine with small furry creatures, fine with pet snakes I know to be not poisonous, can admire venomous snakes from a distance or on video, and would rather leave a spider alone where possible. The photos you took were fabulous, but made me go ick just a little bit! I like huntsmans, orb weavers and the little jumping spiders, but whitetails and redbacks get the shoe around here and the others are ushered out of the house if they try to move in. Spiders don't trigger my ick reaction anywhere near as much as cockroaches, even though the ones we get around here are harmless native bush cockroaches.

I once had a dog which would stamp on spiders with her front paws to kill them. As far as I know, nobody taught her to do this.

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And the winners of the 'What spider is that?' competition are LappieHappy, Kayla1 and Weasels.

The Australian Museum and the Victorian Museum have confirmed the mystery spider as a Stanwellia grisea - Melbourne Trapdoor Spider

Thank you to everyone who participated in this thread. It was an educational and hair raising experience!

Ooh, I only just saw this - is there a prize? :rofl:

Lol, yes - a free Melbourne Trapdoor Spider. Just PM me your address and I'll send it off in the morning.

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Guest donatella

Can someone explain to me what is so awful about spiders. OK. Some of them bite and are poisonous, but most are harmless and prey on obnoxious insects. It's pretty easy to learn which are dangerous in your area. (I am female, but don't get it. Why are girls so upset by creepy-crawlies . . . and mice?).

I don't mind mice, snakes etc and am not what you would call a girly girl in that sense, I used to keep mice and rats etc but spiders...:eek:

I will try and answer your question from my perspective. Everything about them creeps me out, their hairy spindly legs, the way they move, the fact they can bite, some can be life threatening, the mere thought of one makes me physcially shudder. I have nightmares about them, have trouble looking at pictures of them, quite regularly inspect areas inside before going into them to make sure there are none there and if I get one on me I become absolutely hysterical. It's out of my control.:shrug: And pretty funny for anyone watching :laugh:

When I was a kid I wasn't as scared of them until I was bitten by some kind of jumping spider and developed a shocking infection at the bite site. I think that has a lot to do with how I feel about them. Yes they may be harmless in most cases but I've experienced the harmful side and I wouldn't want to do it again :laugh:

They are ugly, they are creepy, they jump, some of them actually SCREAM FFS.

Evil creatures, I hate them, they freak me out.

I have seen people hospitalised with spider bides and non healing wounds. They are nasty.

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I went for a wander around the yard looking for burrows and lost count after finding 50 of them in four square metres. I gave up looking after that.

Now wait till dark and go out with a torch held up alongside your head around eyeheight (this helps find eyes shine from animals. Those tiny silver dots you see everywhere? Spiders! Mwa ha ha...

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As others have said, white tails and red backs are quickly dispatched here, especially if they are near the dogs. The others are no problem. I quite like huntsman, but would prefer if they could stay out of the car and not crawl out of the air vent or run across the roof above my head!

Yes Its weird how they seem to gravitate to cars. I quite like spiders, far cheaper for eliminating mozzies and flies than oodles of cans of fly spray.

But I tend to draw the line when the huntsman decides to come out of hiding and fall into my lap while driving.......uuuuuuuuuuuggggggg

no i didnt jump out of the car. He/she had the decency to scoot back into hiding.

Although I will never ever forget the day i was a passenger in a friends car when she opened the drivers door and jumped out leaving me and car to roll down the driveway of the property we had just been about to leave.

thank god it stoped safely, will ever wonder if she would do the same thing at 60 k ?

N no never accepted an offer to go with her again anywhere if she was driving.

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A forum member lost her 3 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to a spider bite yesterday. :cry:

It is really sad. It also shows why I was prepared to go to extreme lengths to identify this one. I have four dogs here and I can't fence off the entire back yard because the burrows are everywhere.

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I own a Pet Store, and we sell lots of spiders as pets.

The strange thing is, the people buying them aren't the 'type' of person you would expect to be wanting them!

I have had many "well to do" people, including Women and elderly people in for them.

(Surprisingly, we get very few teen-boys in chasing them to make themselves appear 'tough'....)

They seem to want something 'different', easy to keep, quiet, easy to house etc.

I mainly sell Bird-Eating Spiders (Native Tarantulas), Trap-Door Spiders, QLD Funnel-Web Spiders, Mouse Spiders, Wolf Spiders, Golden-Orb Spiders etc.

I see lots of other creepy-crawlies like Scorpions, Centipedes, Giant Millipedes and Giant Cockroaches etc. These are very popular too, but the Spiders are most in demand.

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A forum member lost her 3 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to a spider bite yesterday. :cry:

It is really sad. It also shows why I was prepared to go to extreme lengths to identify this one. I have four dogs here and I can't fence off the entire back yard because the burrows are everywhere.

I was worried too when I first discovered the trapdoor spiders here, but then I couldn't find anything to say they were poisonous to dogs. None of the dogs here have been bitten, even when digging, as the spiders seem to find a new hiding spot pretty quickly when disturbed.

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