Wilhammer Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 How the heck do you live there?!?!?! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Wilhammer Up north where those spiders live we used to have a saying about going swimming in the creeks and rivers - throw the dog in first, then the kids. If they're not eaten, its probably safe to go in; if they are, the croc will be too full to bother with you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrocles Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 That is freaky! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ssiissuu Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Well a shoe doesn't seem as if it'd do much to that colossal monstrosity, at least not without a lot of work. Flamethrower? Take off and nuke the site from orbit? Do you have to watch the youngling’s closely when they're out in the backyard lest an eight-legged devil, such as the one pictured eating a frickin' bird, descend from the treetop canopy and whisk the tyke away for consumption? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Wilhammer, Impressive, but hardly in the same league as Minnesota skeeters. They're reputed to carry off cattle! After encountering them myself up in Thief River Falls, outside of their prime season, I understand why people would say that. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 That's nothing. During the war, a mosquito landed on an air force base in Alaska and the personnel gave it 150 gallons of avgas before they realized it wasn't a P-38. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugged Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 The pic is a little misleading. That bird is a finch, which is very small as far as birds go. Still, that is one huge spider. *shudder* I saw a few Golden Orbs when I was in Oz earlier this year and the really weird thing was, the people there seemed to like them. wth? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmar Bijlsma Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 It's Oddstralia. People probably like them because they kill all the poisonous butterflies or sumfink. :eek: Besides, spiders are a whole lot less creepy if you hear it's footsteps as it approaches. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardb Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmar Bijlsma Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I do believe that's an ant. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugged Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I do believe that's an ant. A more suitable headline would be: It Came For The Dessert 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmar Bijlsma Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 He he he 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 The worst thing is when you're out in the evening for a jog or a walk and the f**kers have spun their webs across the footpath. It's like walking into a fishing net covered in super glue and you never know where on your body the big bugger has got to. We used to get them at our old pace higher up with webs maybe 4+ metres across between two trees. They're still not as freaky as huntsman spiders, which spin no web but have a habit of suddenly moving and jumping like fricking lightning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugged Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Even more ghastly than the Huntsman spider is the decor shown in the photo. Who puts a wall clock beside a window, like that? And the curtain rod extends out over the clock...? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Affentitten, How sad for you, and may I add--ick on the web encounter! At least, though, those are outside. Is the one shown indoors, truly the stuff of female terror and many males, too, that variety or the huntsman you describe? What are the respective effects of being bitten by one? Australia seems to abound in nasty biting things. ISTR a deadly tiny spider, an ant that makes a fire ant a nonevent, a wasp of fearsome temperament, etc., all shown on Discovery or TLC here in the States. OTOH, where else can you find earthworms big enough to land a grouper? Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 That is indeed a huntsman that I describe. They will sit in the same place for days on end, but then suddenly move like they've been electrocuted if you approach them. I once had one run up my arm and leap off my shoulder when I put my hand into my mailbox. They don't bite and are overall pretty harmless. But a great way of freaking out foreign visitors. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 PS: one of the huntsman's favourite all time hiding places is under the sun visor in your car. Quite a treat when you flip it down at full speed on the highway and have one of them in your face. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoolaman Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Classic old game that. I'd recommend trying it on DOSBOX if you can find it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoolaman Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 That is indeed a huntsman that I describe. They will sit in the same place for days on end, but then suddenly move like they've been electrocuted if you approach them. I once had one run up my arm and leap off my shoulder when I put my hand into my mailbox. They don't bite and are overall pretty harmless. But a great way of freaking out foreign visitors. They do eat the giant cockroaches at my place though, so I tolerate them unless they are hiding in my towel on the towel rail. Now finding one there really is a surprise. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilhammer Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Even more ghastly than the Huntsman spider is the decor shown in the photo. Who puts a wall clock beside a window, like that? And the curtain rod extends out over the clock...? That oughta be obvious - the damned Spider put it there! -------- Well, at least you don't have to put up with Black Widows- we seem to have a rather healthy population around my house - I've encountered and killed 6 of them this year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 PS: one of the huntsman's favourite all time hiding places is under the sun visor in your car. Quite a treat when you flip it down at full speed on the highway and have one of them in your face. Yike. Looking at the one that was hiding under the clock, I have to admit that my first impulse would be to stand back and shoot it with a pistol. But then I suppose you'd have a hole in the wall to explain to the landlord. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 This is all just a made up Aussie gimmick to discourage immigration, right? Those are just plastic models, right? I don't want to believe that there's any place on earth with such horrors. I'm not normally an arachnophobe, but I think an encounter with something like that could turn me into one. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Wait till you see the fecking ants. The inchies are frightening to look at, but the worst thing is that they are the most benign of them 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Michael Emrys Nah - we used to freak visitors out with a verbal list of stuff that could kill you on Cape York: takes about five minutes. And that's just the animal kingdom. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orwell Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 In all seriousness, how much care do you have to take when living down there not to disturb everything that'll kill you? Do you just get in the habit of checking everything before disturbing it, or is it not the concern those who don't live there make it out to be? Is there much that's actually aggressive, or do you need to agitate it before it's a concern? (Screw a pistol, I'd want a flamethrower to clear the room and then a shotgun for whatever I missed. Or an uzi. ) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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