Ladies and Gentlemen, Atrax Robustus.

[Chundles]

Just caught this little deadly beauty in my laundry - normally they don't come wandering inside till the summer is upon us but yet, here we are in August with the most dangerous spider in the world having a little look-see inside my parents' house.

Oh, and I can't take any more photos - he's dead. There's just no good reason for letting these little mongrels live when they come sneaking inside.

iPod nano for size comparison.

It's a Funnel Web alright, glossy body, spinnerets on the back, does the whole sit back and flick the fangs out thing when it's angry. Got the willies now - freaking hate spiders of all kinds, massively arachnophobic so this little bastard is like my Darth Vader. Good thing it's dead.

 

[kretzy]

I'm so glad we don't get them down here!

 

[Chundles]

I'm so glad we don't get them down here!

'king oath. Angry little bugger he was too, went psycho when I dropped the cup down on him.

 

[PlaceofDis]

oh my, i'm glad that we don't get anything like that here at all. worst thing i get is either a daddy long legs or a very small chance of a black widow.
:: shudder ::

spiders give me the creeps. most insects do.

 

[BakedBeans]

Ahhh, come on, he was only listening to some toooons

 

[Chundles]

oh my, i'm glad that we don't get anything like that here at all. worst thing i get is either a daddy long legs or a very small chance of a black widow.
:: shudder ::

spiders give me the creeps. most insects do.

Yeah, Redback Spiders (aussie Black Widows) are our number two, maybe number three on the "list of scary spiders" but really don't do too much damage. My father was bitten by one as a child, made him sick but he survived. Funnel Webs are a whole new level of bad, they're incredibly aggressive and their bite is most definitely deadly.

-still shivering from delayed attack of fear-

 

[bartelby]

Makes the spider I caught last night seem a little pathetic now!

This is the little bugger in a 330ml glass.

 

[Chundles]

Makes the spider I caught last night seem a little pathetic now!

Yeah, it pretty much s*its on your spider.

 

[bartelby]

Yeah, it pretty much s*its on your spider.

Stupid crappy country with it's non deadly spiders!!!!
I'm gonna move!!!!

 

[Chundles]

And wouldn't you know it? It's raining.

Nothing like a Funnel Web coming inside to announce the arrival of "the rains" - don't blame him really, it's so dry his little hole in the ground would've filled right up with water.... hmmmm..... still don't care. He's dead, as he should be.

A bite from one of these suckers brings death within a range of 15 minutes to 3 days if you're a big person - of course, with treatment you're fine but you need to get to a hospital quick smart to get the anti-venom.

 

[Leareth]

poor spider, came in to get out of bad weather and ends up dead...

I am not afraid of spiders or snakes, I respect them especially the venomous kinds., but the first spider looks kinda freaky, I am not sure how I would react if I had one in my house... I generally catch spiders,moths and other critters and release them a few meters away from house.

I don't like it when people kill bugs just because they are bugs...

 

[iGary]

And wouldn't you know it? It's raining.

Nothing like a Funnel Web coming inside to announce the arrival of "the rains" - don't blame him really, it's so dry his little hole in the ground would've filled right up with water.... hmmmm..... still don't care. He's dead, as he should be.

A bite from one of these suckers brings death within a range of 15 minutes to 3 days if you're a big person - of course, with treatment you're fine but you need to get to a hospital quick smart to get the anti-venom.

I'd have to burn the house down or move out to everbe able to sleep again.

 

[benthewraith]

And wouldn't you know it? It's raining.

Nothing like a Funnel Web coming inside to announce the arrival of "the rains" - don't blame him really, it's so dry his little hole in the ground would've filled right up with water.... hmmmm..... still don't care. He's dead, as he should be.

A bite from one of these suckers brings death within a range of 15 minutes to 3 days if you're a big person - of course, with treatment you're fine but you need to get to a hospital quick smart to get the anti-venom.

One wonders how exactly you can possibly get to the hospital in fifteen minutes. The nearest hospital to me is.......wow...I don't know where the nearest hospital is. More than fifteen minutes.

 

[Chundles]

poor spider, came in to get out of bad weather and ends up dead...

I am not afraid of spiders or snakes, I respect them especially the venomous kinds., but the first spider looks kinda freaky, I am not sure how I would react if I had one in my house... I generally catch spiders,moths and other critters and release them a few meters away from house.

I don't like it when people kill bugs just because they are bugs...

I kill them because these spiders aren't of the "they're more scared of you than you are of it" variety. They're aggressive, used to human interaction and they're venom has it's greatest effect on humans - other mammals aren't affected much at all.

I kill them because if I don't, once they're inside, they'll try and kill someone else. I'd rather risk offending the karma of the universe than risk a massive coronary breakdown whilst I slept.

Make no mistake, these are not your average venomous spider, these are on a whole new plane of dangerous.

 

[NickElls]

It wasn't that big, but it looked scary...

 

[iGary]

I kill them because these spiders aren't of the "they're more scared of you than you are of it" variety. They're aggressive, used to human interaction and they're venom has it's greatest effect on humans - other mammals aren't affected much at all.

I kill them because if I don't, once they're inside, they'll try and kill someone else. I'd rather risk offending the karma of the universe than risk a massive coronary breakdown whilst I slept.

Make no mistake, these are not your average venomous spider, these are on a whole new plane of dangerous.

Why does your spider have ten legs?

 

[Allotriophagy]

Why does your spider have ten legs?

Must be a fake!

Post more pictures!

iGary refuses to believe it is a spider and that it is real without further and conclusive evidence!

TWELVE LEGGED SPIDERS NEXT TUESDAY!

 

[iGary]

Must be a fake!

Post more pictures!

iGary refuses to believe it is a spider and that it is real without further and conclusive evidence!

TWELVE LEGGED SPIDERS NEXT TUESDAY!

LOL

The funny thing is, after watching election results, Rob and I were talking about what country outside the states we would want to live in. I said Australia has a bigger economy than New Zealand, but Australia has more critters that can kill you. That's why I dug up the post to show him.

I want answers. Spiders have eight legs, Chundles has 10.

 

[Allotriophagy]

The front two are fangs, not legs.

 

[iGary]

The front two are fangs, not legs.

Nope - look closer - they look like legs but come out of the head?

The appendages that the red arrows are pointing at look like fangs. The white arrows look like legs to me.

I'm not doubting the validity - it's just interesting.

 

[bartelby]

Spiders have eight legs, Chundles has 10.

Chundles has 10 legs!!!!

 

[Chundles]

Nope - look closer - they look like legs but come out of the head?

The appendages that the red arrows are pointing at look like fangs. The white arrows look like legs to me.

I'm not doubting the validity - it's just interesting.

It is interesting, thanks for drawing it to my attention. It's most definitely not a fake, I'd assume those are just big-arse feelers rather than actual legs. The Funnel Web rears up on it's back legs in order to expose the very long fangs (the things that look like boxing gloves between the two "feelers" the fangs are actually curved underneath the head and it needs to rear up to swing them out) and I don't think the things you've pointed out are actual legs, they're not taking any of the weight or used by the spider to move.

It's very odd though.

EDIT - Have a look at the post immediately above the one where you asked why my spider has 10 legs - it too has 10 appendages but only 8 of them are legs, the two feelers near the head are less pronounced.

We have a bunch of critters that can kill you but in all fairness, you would hardly ever see them. The States have bears and cougars and wolves and stuff - big carnivores that rip you limb from limb. I'd rather get done by something small than see my death coming at the massive clawed hands of a grizzly the size of a cow.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

I just wish we had something as exciting as that in England instead of mad cows and dumbass politicians... although im thinking they are one and the same anyway!

The 'extra legs' are 'pedipalps' they are more pronounced on the males and are used to transfer sperm to females. Scorpions pedipalps have evolved into pincers!

 

[wonga1127]

Biggest i saw was on a *perfect* spider web in between my fence and my garage gutter. Probably about an inch and a half long, eating some big green insect. Looked like crusty on the outside, like something from the Titanic wreakage. Well i did what I always did to spiders who look like they can kill me, I torched it. Man was it pissed.

Another cool spider story. I was standing in a gravel driveway and i saw this average sized spider crawling around. I decided to throw a rock at it. So i did, and the b***ard DISSAPPEARS. So i was like, WTF. Then I look closer and theres a bunch of little spider babies running around, but the mom was no where to be seen.

And of course, the jerks who crawl around on my ceiling. I HATE it when they do that, I HATE it. So this guy is trespassing, and I dont take kindly to that, so I sparyed him with Axe body spray until he died, which took a while, so here i am, spraying this damn thing for like 5 minutes at point blank range like im pepper-spraying someone.

 

[Applespider]

I know it's poisonous but it is kinda cute...

I love watching spiders move and spinning webs - just absolutely amazing creatures...

And in general, I'd rather have a few spiders (OK, so your lethal ones are slightly different!) round the house than flies and beetles.