Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town 373
youth68 writes "Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as 'bird-eating spiders' and can grow larger than the palm of a man's hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane."
Where have I seen this before? (Score:4, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Legged_Freaks [wikipedia.org]
I didn't know this was based on a true story.
Re:Where have I seen this before? (Score:5, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Legged_Freaks
I didn't know this was based on a true story.
What's so freakish about eight people having legs?
Re:Where have I seen this before? (Score:4, Funny)
the number of legs each of them has
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What eats them?
Eagles? Hawks? Tasmanian Devils?
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Re:Where have I seen this before? (Score:5, Informative)
Or flame throwers, napalm, etc.
But seriously, tarantulas may be annoying, but they aren't what most people would call poisonous. This particular one is among the worst, as it can cause several hours of vomiting in humans; it won't kill you, but you might wish you were dead. :-) And they can kill pets. Fortunately, they are also not particularly aggressive towards people. You have to really, really piss off a tarantula to get bitten. We used to pick up tarantulas (not this particular species) and let them crawl around on us as kids. They look scary, but in general if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.
Re:Where have I seen this before? (Score:5, Funny)
I don't care. I don't care if they just want to cuddle, make you dinner, and sing sweetly in the dusk. I don't care if they all have a sack of a million dollars they're dragging behind them. I don't care if they know the keys to long life and perfect health and are just dying to tell us.
Kill them. Kill them all. Every last one. Then kill everyone who ever saw one, just in case.
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
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Tasmanian Devils 700 miles NW of Brisbane?
Mmmm, I can see a Monty python sketch coming up.
"but then of course Tasmanian Devils aren't migratory"
Re:Where have I seen this before? (Score:4, Informative)
Only one word is appropriate: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Only one word is appropriate: (Score:4, Funny)
As in you hit a Giant Spider with a bolt of lightning for 1,024 points of damage!
You have killed a Giant Spider!
You gain Experience!
Is that what you meant?
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Re:Only one word is appropriate: (Score:4, Funny)
I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
...say g'day to our new tarantula overlords.
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I say we try to stomp em with The Boot.
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we try to stomp em with The Boot.
It was super effective!
Re:I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
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But only if they are half pig. Spiderpig, Spiderpig, rips your heart out, wearing a wig (to get trough the airport controls).
Did you know that spiders mate their mate that they just did meet, before they transform them into meat to eat, mate?
Re:I for one... (Score:4, Funny)
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Thankfully the town in question seems to be fairly isolated if the nearest city is 700 miles away.
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Brisbane is the capital (and largest) city in the state of Queensland. The nearest cities are Mackay and Townsville; it's about half-way between them, about 100km each way.
More crucially, though, Bowen is in the middle of a fairly major tourist area, given that it's right next to the Great Barrier Reef. It's also had a larger influx of tourists recently because bits of Baz Lurhmann's Great Patriotic Extravagance were filmed there.
Re:I for one... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
Then they walk around the ranch a little, and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately says, "We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows".
The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, "And what are those?" The Aussie replies with an incredulous look, "Don't you have any grasshoppers in Texas?"
Correction (Score:5, Informative)
They breathe through their skin via osmosis and not via lungs.
Sorry to be pedantic, but spiders do not breathe by osmosis! Osmosis is a mechanism (normally involving liquids) where salts can pass through a semi-permeable membrane from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, to achieve equelibrium.
Spiders (and insects etc) actually breathe through small holes in their sides called spiracles. These lead to small air-tubes (brachia?) which run throughout the body. The air is moved around the body by the normal movements of the animal. If you watch a spider or insect at rest you can see it 'pulsing' slightly. It is this action which allows it to respirate.
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One thing that always annoyed me about huntsman [wikipedia.org] spiders is that they do, in fact, chase you around. I think they have a climbing instinct, and when they're sitting on a floor they really really want to climb something; and if a person happens to be nearby it must look like a tree or something equally climbable.
I've noticed it a few times, but one time in particular I remember was in our tiled entry (which was basically just a room that happened to have the front door to the house) and I was trying to catch
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I've had a huntsman or two attempt to climb me too :)
The scary thing about huntsman (for people afraid of spiders) that I have found is the further I go north in Australia the bigger they seem to get and the faster they seem to mo
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Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:5, Funny)
I just found a new use for "adblock image". Assholes.
Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:5, Funny)
Could the interwebs please, please stop showing me pictures of gross disgusting huge spiders when I least expect it?
You clicked on "Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town" and didn't expect to see photos of giant spiders?
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science.slashdot.org isn't a place where people might commonly expect to find pictures.
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Yes some might bite you, but there are far greater dangers out there.
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I used to have a mild fear of spiders. I'm over it now.
See, where I used to live (North Queensland, Aus - not far from Bowen - where the story is) we had a *lot* of bugs, insects and other creepy crawlies. While watching TV late at night, there were these two massive huntsman spiders that used to come inside and hunt behind the tele. You get used to seeing them and realise that they are just doing their thing. Sure I had an elevated heart rate the first couple of times, but living where I did you realis
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"And sometimes you get one with only three legs left, and they lurch about in the most adorable way!" ...For a second there I thought you said they were 'lunch'... eww.
My story of phobia (Score:3, Interesting)
I do think that mostly it's a learned behaviour.
Another story from up north:
Years ago when my family first moved there, we were driving through town on a Saturday morning to do the usual get groceries and it was really busy. Not a car space to be found in the main street. That is until, we came across what looked like perfect car parks. Under the shade of a massive tree were three parks either side of what I think was a mango tree. Beautiful. Dad thought he was shit hot and pulled our little honda hatc
Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:5, Interesting)
I caught a fly for one once, in one of those little plastic eggs you get from those old fashioned vending machines that have crappy toys in them. Shook it and threw it around a bit so it was nice and dazed.
The huntsman was on the wall a metre or two off the floor (unusually low) so I chucked the fly at the wall a little in front of it. The fly managed to grab on to the wall and started wandering around aimlessly. The spider seemed uninterested for a while, then suddenly came to life. Apparently it didn't have a really good understanding of gravity though, since it decided to pounce on the fly. Perhaps it did know what it was doing; it got the fly and they both fell to the floor, then it scurried back up the wall a bit to enjoy its meal.
The huntsman's primary enemy seems to be wasps - the wasp stings the spider to paralyze it, then drags it into its nest (a hole in the ground generally) and locks it in with its young. When they hatch they eat the still alive but paralysed spider. Wasps are assholes. I watched a huntsman and a wasp having a battle once, the huntsman shot up a tree and jumped off a brunch. It eventually lost. Wasps are such assholes.
My worst huntsman experience was waking up in the middle of the night after feeling something on my face. I instinctively "knew" it was a huntsman, so I sat bolt upright while trying to work out what to do. Fortunately that motion catapulted it off of me and onto the floor. I got the light on and there were actually two of them; pretty sure they were doing the business on the ceiling right above my head and one of them happened to fall. That freaked me out a bit. While sitting on my bed waiting for my nerves to calm down, a fly or something flew right into my ear. That was too much for me. Too many bugs. I went and slept in another room.
Generally we didn't mind the huntsman though. We'd leave them alone if they were somewhere reasonable, but if they were in the way we'd catch them by putting a plastic container over them and sliding a sheet of stiff paper underneath, then carry them outside. I had a friend in school who would just pick them up with his bare hands. I was never game to try that.
Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:4, Insightful)
Thanks for this story, it'll be a new nightmare for me
*shudders*
Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:5, Informative)
Dropbears.
Dropbears are pretty damn dangerous. You can walk around, minding your own business, and then suddenly.
POW.
Another dropbear victim. They disappear as fast as they appear. Nobody is safe.
Nobody.
Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! (Score:4, Funny)
Not that big, or that venomous. (Score:4, Informative)
They're only 6 inches across which means they're relatively small tarantulas, and they're not venomous enough to kill you, which by Australian standards is a blessing. And there aren't even that many---the article talks about people finding individual spiders. "It's not plague proportions but a number have been spotted around the district," according to Mr Geiszler. This is a non-story.
Lets see how far this non-storey can get (Score:5, Informative)
WHAT THE HELL!?
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Anything that makes Aus look weird scary or stupid will invariably be pounced on by the British tabloid media.
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I see these spiders all the time, i use a broom to get them out of the house.
Do you mind if I use that for a submission?
Re:Lets see how far this non-storey can get (Score:5, Funny)
Australian English really is different. What they call a "broom", we call a "bazooka".
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Holy crap you're like Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee all rolled into one super-badass.
I'd scream like a 13 year old girl if I saw one of those damned things in my home.
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One bite will make a healthy adult very, very sick, It will kill young kids, large dogs, the elderly.
Re:Not that big, or that venomous. (Score:5, Informative)
They're only 6 inches
CENTIMETERS!!!!
/Just in case you thought this article had any worthyness whatsoever.
They are 6 CENTIMETERS! We Australians were one of the first to convert to metric and that's a metric ruler in the article.
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They are 6 CENTIMETERS! We Australians were one of the first to convert to metric and that's a metric ruler in the article.
You are correct. However, I meant the leg span, which is 16cm (6.3 inches), as it is the measurement that arachnophiles tend to use when comparing the size of spiders. The length of the body tells relatively little, as the shape varies so dramatically from family to family, or even from genus to genus.
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In any case doesn't hurt to reiterate that this article has no worth.
Re:Not that big, or that venomous. (Score:5, Funny)
They're only 6 inches
CENTIMETERS!!!!
They are 6 CENTIMETERS! We Australians were one of the first to convert to metric and that's a metric ruler in the article.
You call that a ruler? *whips out yardstick* THIS is a ruler!
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The second country in the world to adopt the metric system was the United States. Strange but true....
Do you mean after France?
Giant Spider Flu . . . (Score:2)
. . . coming soon, to a neighborhood near you? Hopefully, Tamiflu will be able cure that as well . . .
Ruler in photo (Score:2)
I hope the ruler in the photo is in centimeters and not inches. Otherwise we'll need to make room for all those Australian refugees. Scary shit!
Fallout 3 (Score:5, Funny)
Story overhyped by Media (Score:5, Informative)
Story sounds like typical Media hype and exaggeration: Tarantulas are venomous in the way all spiders are venomous (and Bee's too! Venomous Bees == normal Bees.) This type of spider venom isn't harmful to humans and they're not aggressive spiders. This is why they let them crawl over kids at Wildlife parks. Oh BTW despite calling them bird-eating spiders it's rare for them to eat birds. Plus if you did into the article you'll see the unlabeled scale of that photo is centimeters and not inches. 5 centmetres. I have wolf spiders > 10 cm running around and often through my home. They're shy of people, never even came close to being bitten and they eat cockroaches.
If they're having a "spider plague" in Bowen then there must be lots of roaches, locusts or other insects. Let them be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula [wikipedia.org]
This shock story will get web hits and the reporter will get a pat on the back. But ll note the COUGH COUGH journalist didn't even bother talking to anyone from the local University; Just the local "Pest Controller" who is trying to whip up business. They're probably Wolf spiders anyway, not "Bird Eaters". The media should stop trying to whip this up and go back to what they do best: Reporting false wiki quotes by Jean-Michel Jarre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider [wikipedia.org]
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I have wolf spiders > 10 cm running around and often through my home.
Giant Wolf-Eating Spiders, More Than Twice The Size of Bird-Eating Spiders, Invade Area Resident's Home! :)
Re:Story overhyped by Media (Score:4, Funny)
Oh BTW despite calling them bird-eating spiders it's rare for them to eat birds.
As in "scores of 'bird-eating humans' descended upon a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet..."
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I have wolf spiders > 10 cm running around and often through my home.
I agree with your overall point that the story is a massive exaggeration, but then again...
The wikipedia link you posted says Wolf Spiders don't grow to more than 3cm... so either those aren't Wolf Spiders running around your house or you're rather prone to exaggeration yourself.
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The wikipedia link you posted says Wolf Spiders don't grow to more than 3cm... so either those aren't Wolf Spiders running around your house or you're rather prone to exaggeration yourself.
Or the wikipedia page is just wrong. He's probably got Carolina Wolf Spiders, which can grow substantially larger [petbugs.com].
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I have wolf spiders > 10 cm running around and often through my home.
Remind me to never spend the night at your place.
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This shock story will get web hits and the reporter will get a pat on the back.
Paid by the pun are we? ;)
I did NOT RTFA... (Score:2)
...I saw the movie and its numerous remakes and the weird twisted version that involved mutant sheep.
World's Worst Jobs (Score:2)
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Pest Controller in Australia has to rate right down there ...
Life expectancy: 3.6 days.
I hope this spirals out of conrtol (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds familiar (Score:5, Insightful)
Reminds me of when my home town hosted a political convention.
ohhh whacking day, ohh whacking day... (Score:2, Funny)
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Not big enough to eat (Score:2)
Spiders are related to crabs and lobsters, so I want to find some that are big enough to make a decent burger, or at least a crab-cake equivalent.
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Don't be silly, of course you can [travelpod.com].
To the Rescue! (Score:2)
HEY! (Score:5, Funny)
HEY! I take offense to that!
im not THAT deadly.
Interesting factoid about Aussie spiderwebs (Score:5, Funny)
Austrailian spiders spin their webs in the counter-clockwise direction, the complete opposite of the clockwise webs American spiders spin.
I'm sure I've seen this one... (Score:2)
Do they eat cane toads? or vice versa? (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe the Austrailian authorities should import something like a giant Cane Toad to eat all the spiders? What could be the harm in that? Oh wait... they already tried that. Maybe the spiders will eat the cane toads...
One of many bird eating spiders (Score:2)
It may be *a* bird eating spider, but not the one most often referred to in the press. That would be the "Golden Orb Weaver" spider. I offer the following as proof:
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/bird-eating-spiders-australias-giant-golden-orb-weaver [trendhunter.com]
All you need to know about bird eating spiders (Score:4, Funny)
why? (Score:3, Funny)
Goddamn you, Slashdot. Not 10 minutes ago, a spider literally jumped onto me and then jumped away under the desk before I could catch the thing. And then you post a story like this right before I go to bed.
Goddamn you, Slashdot.
Kangeroo Internment Camp (Score:5, Funny)
This is almost completely off topic but I visited Magnetic Island once which is the same general area as Bowen and one afternoon I saw a sign advertising a Kangaroo & Wild Animal Sanctuary which, bored of the beach, I decided to visit hoping to learn something about Kangaroos and other native Australian creatures.
The sanctuary was at the end of a dusty track and turned out to be a collection of dilapidated shacks and some worn out fencing surrounded by trees. Having rung the bell at the turnstile to summon an attendant my friend and I were already having our doubts about the place which were only heightened by the appearance of a jolly old crone who told us she was the owner of the sanctuary and would be happy to show us around.
The smaller kangeroos were in cages and shacks dotted around the property with a couple of paddocks with groups of kangeroos in them.
"What sort of Kangeroos are these ?" we asked
"Ah, you know the sort that lives around here" she replied
"Right ?"
"Yeah, I mean really there's lots of kangeroos round here you might have seen some running around on your way up. All I do when I'm running out in the sanctuary is go out and trap a few and put them in the paddock so I don't go for any particular sort just whatever's about but you can see I've got the big ones in there and then the smaller ones in the sheds so you can get up close to them."
She also had a talking parrot in a cage she wanted us to meet and her annoying little yapping dog which had been following us around was also told to come and see the parrot because apparently they got on like a house on fire.
"He usually talks" she said banging on the side of his cage "Go on you bugger say something !"
The parrot was just staring out the dog which had stopped yapping and was beginning to look nervous.
Bang ! Bang ! Bang ! "Ah well the buggers staying quiet today alright but listen I need to get back to the TV but you blokes just have a look round and let yourselves out OK"
Once the crone had left the Parrot sideled up to the dog and said
"Fuck off bugger" and the dog started yapping at it so the parrot started laughing at it and then gnashed it's beak and said "Come here bugger I'll have you !". The dog whimpered and ran off and the parrot told us to "Fuck Off !" so we did.
That's not a big spider (Score:4, Interesting)
This bugger [headru.sh] was about 18 inches across (leg span) and pretty mean looking. I would have put my hand in the photo for scale, but, well you know
So 6 cm (< 2.5 inches) is not a big spider.
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"The tarantulas are fatal to dogs and cats; they bite people quite regularly; they're quite a painful bite."
No one is believed to have been harmed during the recent unusually high presence of the arachnoid in Bowen.
Source is from the ABC report on the story [abc.net.au] /.
The thing is, I live in Sydney, and I only herd about this story when I checked
Re:Think of the children! (Score:5, Informative)
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Heck with the spiders, I'm voting for #164...
http://www.b105.com.au/shows/labratcamillaandstav/features/yummymummies-09-4 [b105.com.au]
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According to the article, these things can kill a dog in a single bite. Even given that venomous spiders the size of an adult male's fist aren't really photogenic, (won't have some "humane solution" protesters) what can the town do about them? Poison all the possible breeding areas? Make a civil patrol with bug zappers? Should be interesting to see how it works out.
If this was Florida, this wouldn't be an issue. Giant spiders? Wouldn't be an issue, though the cleanup of the shotgun shells and beer cans m
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Use a shop vac it suck them up, then drownd them.
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(imagines a shop vac like this):
http://www.madvac.com/images/photoGallery/61.1_LR.jpg [madvac.com]
I think 5-6 inches would probably clog anything smaller...
Plus, if you read the original article, they killed the thing with an entire CAN of bug spray. Gotta love how tough bugs are in Australia...
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That shit's creepy, man... I'm going to wally world tonight and buying some .22 ratshot in case those things make it to the US... they freak the hell out of me.
And if the ratshot won't do it, 30 rounds of .223 will. I hope.
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Count the lines. That's a metric ruler.
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Of course it took an entire can of BUGspray! It was yelling, I'm an arachnid, moron! Bring it ON! Bring it ON! Bring it O--
Re:Think of the children! (Score:5, Informative)
According to the article, these things can kill a dog in a single bite. Even given that venomous spiders the size of an adult male's fist aren't really photogenic, (won't have some "humane solution" protesters) what can the town do about them? Poison all the possible breeding areas? Make a civil patrol with bug zappers? Should be interesting to see how it works out.
When the rain settles down they'll go away. Like they normally would. Don't see how this got to be news... We have more poisonous things that creep, crawl or slither than I'd care to name, but it's just part of the backdrop of where we live. Who cares? Certainly not news...
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Metric ruler, those are centimeters. It's a 2 inch spider.
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I agree. I was prepared, and the instant my brain registered that there was a photo, I scrolled down. (It's the whole train-wreck thing. I am truly phobic of spiders, but I had to read. Now I'm afraid to scroll back up to try to actually read the story part.)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Come to Australia... (Score:5, Interesting)
Huntsman Spider? They're scary looking but totally harmless. Bloody big (bigger than an adult male hand) and hairy (like a tarantula), but BLOODY fast.... like an olympic sprinter... except this one can run really fast on your ceiling. And they have pretty big fangs too (need 'em to tackle the huge cockroaches here). But like I said, totally harmless to people... not poisonous, and run away from you most of the time.
You went to Malaysia and expected less creepy things? That Orb Spider you have there is related to the Orb Spiders here in Aus.... just love the huge Golden Orb Spider in Queensland... maybe the biggest spider in the world?? :)
Nah, over here in Western Australia it's the Redback Spider you have to watch out for.... bloody poisonous and likes to make home in your home and outside in any little cranny it can get.... where you like to put your fingers. I won't even mention the deadly trap-door spider. Oops, I just did :)
Shit, even our cute/cuddly Platypus has a poisonous sting. And the Kangaroos can rip your guts open so they fall out on the ground with just one kick/slash of their feet (they balance on their huge tail and rip you open)... you'd be lucky if they just punched you in the face (which they do).
But even that's a joke compared to the deadly snakes here.
But even the snakes aren't really a problem... it's the Blue-ringed Octopus and the Stonefish which you step on while out in the rocky/reefy sections of the coast. Step on one of those and you're dead within minutes... which is why alot of beachgoers wear the rubber surf-shoes.
And then there's the sharks :)
So, when you coming to visit Australia everyone?
Re:Come to Australia... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hey, Anonymous Aussie - go fuck yourself. I'm never, ever visiting there, for all of the reasons you listed.
My wife does want to move someplace warmer than Ohio, though, but it ain't gonna happen. I want to move north, where the bugs are smaller, and the spiders die off every year.
Even here, we get big (about 4") shiny, hairless jet black spiders in our house (never have seen one outside), with legs that are neither quite as meaty nor as curled-up as those of a tarantula. They move fast, and seem aggressive toward whatever moves (no matter how big), and don't appear inclined to jump. They have, so far, defied my attempts at identification.
It's not a wolf spider - I'd know, since I've slain my fair share of those here, as well. The shape of the body is totally different. And they don't seem to have as many eyes. *shudder*
Any further south than this, and things just go even further downhill.
I wasn't always afraid of spiders, until one day when I was a kid, and I saw this big pink spider in the garden. It was the biggest spider I'd ever seen, with big tubular legs. It looked almost like a crab, but it wasn't. When it saw me coming, it scurried off, noisily rustling some old leaves as it went. (Who, at age 6, would've thought that a fleeing spider makes noise as its weight crushes the surface it walks on? Honestly? Who?)
That was bad enough. About a year later I saw it (or maybe one just like it) in the living room, running across the floor in front of the TV. Dear mom eventually found it and killed it in a flurry of footfalls (the first couple of which only seemed to piss it off).
And, yeah - that was about it. I'm now very annoyed by little spiders (which must die), and utterly terrified of large spiders (which must also die, preferably if my screams are sufficient to get someone else to do it. If the screams don't work, fire generally does).
Learned phobia? Irrational? You bet. I'm still never going to go to Australia.
In the war against bugs, I prefer a swarm of well-trained and hungry indoor housecats and an assortment of poisons and traps, to any of these huge and twisted looking spiders - any fucking day.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
But like I said, totally harmless to people... not poisonous[...]
Slight clarification: No spiders are poisonous. All spiders are venomous (well, technically there are a couple of species without venom glands, but the other 99.9% do have them). Of course, the number of species that are actually dangerous is something like 0.05% of the entire population (one-twentieth of one percent).
Apologies for pedantry.
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