The Spider Incident
On Thursday night I went into the bathroom to have a shower before bed. When I looked in the mirror, I could see a HUGE Huntsman spider on the ceiling above the door. I spun around to see this
The photo is a bit blurry as I took it with my arm outstretched, and it wasn't too steady.
What to do? I thought of closing the bathroom door and sealing off the gap under the door and going to bed, but in the morning I would have to face up to my denial, and who knows where the spider would be then? Hiding under my towel? So bravely (not) I sprayed it with half a can of flyspray, which did nothing but make it mad. Then it slowly dropped, ninja-style, from the ceiling with its legs outstretched. I watched in horror as it slowly made its way to the floor. When you look at the photo, see the piece of timber that the spider is straddling? It is about 2 inches wide, and note that the spider has only one leg properly extended in the shot? Imagine it with all of them out, and you have 6 inches plus.
I cornered it in the shower recess and tried to toss my towel over it to trap it within the towel, which I then planned to toss out the sliding door in the sewing room, which I had opened in readiness. It took me about 30 mins to get the spider wrapped up, shrieking all the way, as it kept climbing out from under the towel to sit on top. The shrieking was loud enough to wake the dog 70m down the road. Simon (typical male) stayed on the bed, but Chloe got out of her bed and retreated to half way down the stairs, where she sat with a concerned look on her face.
Finally it went out the door, wrapped in the towel, where it will remain for a few weeks I expect. Very dramatic, I tell you. If it had been a snake, I wouldv'e slept in the car, and employed someone to remove it, I tell you! The perils of living alone.
No sewing to report. Just haven't been in the mood, and it just seems too hot and humid to do anything much.
Vacuum cleaner.
ReplyDeleteAlways use surface spray, not insct spray. Then when he's feeling worse for wear suck him up the vacuum hose and let the vacuum run for a few minutes. I've never had one come back from this treatment!
I hate em too, but they have to be dealt with. I wish God had made butterflies do the same job in the eco-system as hairy 8-legged monsters. Then we could eradicate spiders from the face of the earth.
Spiders here are nothing but over there they are scary things! I like the vacuum idea. Saves having to deal with the spider-filled towel.
ReplyDeleteew..ew..ew
ReplyDeleteWe had Wolf Spiders in Ohio, they were SO hairy and gross.
I've tipped a bucket over them before and waited until help came by!
Icky! I can do spiders but that one looked a bit intimating to me as well. Snakes? Yeah, I'd be in the car as well!
ReplyDeleteThe needle case your mom made for you is a beautiful piece of art, what a treasure to have.
Pam@
www.pamgwillim.com
Hi! I've visited Australia once, and have always thought I would love to come back. Just now, I'm not sure...What a horror that spider!!
ReplyDeleteLise in Oslo
MMm brave woman ... YOU are woman ... we hear you roar!
ReplyDeleteI use the vacuum also. Very handy, can use the extension piece.
Ewwwww - if it had bitten you would it have killed you? It looks pretty big and ugly all right. We have big spiders like that here but they are really harmless - just look terrifying. Now - the vacumn idea is a good one, I will have to remember that one.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Is it really that big? Ewwwww! I like the vacuum cleaner idea. I'll have to remember that. But the things are just so FAST!
ReplyDeleteOMG!! I would have been totally terrified! Good job dealing with the horrible thing! Seeing a spider that size makes me really re-think any desire I may have had to go to Australia!!
ReplyDeletecreepy! you're quite brave! I'm very good at catching mice, but big spiders are a different story. maybe I'll bring my own vacuum cleaner when I visit my sister in Tasmania next November...
ReplyDeleteThat's funny....I tend to let them share-my kids are not so spider friendly as me though and want them out! The vacuum is the easiest, but make sure you get the bag straight out and into a sealed bag...or he may crawl back! Tracey
ReplyDeleteOkay...I am horrified by spiders. Argh! You poor girl!! Call the exterminator! That spider probably ate mice for lunch. We have wolf spiders in MN. Black Widows here in CA.
ReplyDeleteThe perils of living alone, indeed - especially living alone in a country with snakes and large spiders...
ReplyDeleteOh my, I have lived this *s* The Princess always calls when she finds a spider in her home . . . I am there to talk her through the entire process . . . shrieking and all.
ReplyDeletehehehehe!!! Love this story! and sounds just like me.
ReplyDeleteI'm for the vacuum!
JulieQ
Oh, a baby huntsman, they are so scary! LOL we get some big buggers in our house too, but they dont bite, so I leave them alone, the kids have coronary's when they see them, but they eventually move out.. we had one once and if you ask the kids, they'd tell you it was bigger than a dinner plate! LOL
ReplyDeleteI love Australia, but I'd be happy if there were less creepy crawlies, less snakes and definately less heat!
Lissa
I've never seen a spider that big! That would have freaked me out, too. Eww. Gives me the creapy crawlies just reading about it.
ReplyDeleteYuck yuck yuck yuck!!!!!! Creepy! I am sure you slept better knowing it was out of the house. If it were me, I probably would have had spider dreams.
ReplyDeleteI would have died...right then and there!!
ReplyDelete...and this is one reason I won't ever be able to go to Australia. I saw a show once about the Funnel Web spider that is really aggressive & can KILL you, then someone told me about the Huntsman. I couldn't handle it! We have wolf spiders here, too, but they're nothing compared to what you have over there.
ReplyDeleteYou are a brave girl! I would have run in the opposite direction. Are all spiders in Australia that big???
ReplyDeleteOk, you are a braver woman than I am. And kinder. You sent it out to live in the garden. I tend to kill anything with 8 legs that comes into my house. Outside I can leave them be -- inside? Um, no. And one that big? I would have been screaming for my husband -- I am terrified of spiders!
ReplyDeleteI hate spiders....
ReplyDeletelove the statement: if it would've been a snake, I would've slept in the car. My thoughts EXACTLY!
Reminds me of the day oh so many years ago when a lizard got into my house. Fortunately, I had an empty box in the living room (one of my children's favorite toys was an empty box) and I was able to trap the lizard inside it and take it outdoors. I was screaming the whole time.
ReplyDeleteshudder!
ReplyDeletei would have ran screaming lol!!
I will just say in a very quiet little voice that I try to capture them in a glass, & I liberate them.
ReplyDeleteI am a big scaredy cat about spiders, but the Huntsmen are not violent or given to biting.
EW...all the hairs on the back of my neck are all prickly now....scary stuff!!!
ReplyDeletePoor spider! I always trap them in a wide necked glass jar. Even big ones like that, although it can be hard to get the jar around them, sometimes. Then I release them near a power pole ... lots of food there!
ReplyDeleteThe only spiders I kill are funnel webs, redbacks and white tips.
I love the big orb weavers best.
Like your blog, btw.