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Mad Aussie
06-13-2009, 03:37 AM
The Huntman is a large family of spider that grows to the size of a dinner plate. Commonly found the size of a mans hand. This one was about 100mm (4 inches) in diameter. They are very fast. Not considered dangerous to humans.
I found him when shooting the night races at a recent event. He was on the tree I was leaning against about 150mm (6 inches) away. Too close for my liking!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/3621726572_08cae1234f_o.jpg

kat
06-13-2009, 08:24 AM
Shiver shiver shiver.

Nice shot of a scary looking spider. I would of died when I noticed that hanging beside me!

Greg_Nuspel
06-13-2009, 02:00 PM
I love the 'baboon' face I see on his head.

Iguanasan
06-13-2009, 03:04 PM
Without going into too much detail, let's just say it's a darn good thing my wife wasn't standing next to that tree. She would have lost her mind! ;)

Mad Aussie
06-13-2009, 05:02 PM
These are quite common in houses if you live close to bushland and don't keep your house pest sprayed. On tiles and wooden floors you can hear the bigger ones running across the floor. 'taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap'

They do have webs but build them under lifting bark on the tree or similar. They don't hang down on you Kat. They also tend to sit very still even when you are right up to them.

I remember years ago when I was painting an old house for work. We had to burn off all the old paint and the boss told me to tie back some bushes from the house. I did this and found a giant spider like this on the house boards. Without a word of exaggeration, this thing was about 270mm (3/4's of a foot) in diameter at least... maybe a bit more. :eek:
It didn't look real. I didn't think it was real. I figured the boss had set me up. :rolleyes:
So, I grabbed a small stick (about 300mm (1 foot) long) and I moved one of it's legs about an inch or so. 'Huh' thinks me ... it's a fake! Then the spider, very slowly, lifted this leg ... kind of shook it slightly ... and put it back where I found it!!! :eek:
I went and got the boss ... and he immediately thought I was setting him up and went to grab the spider :headslap: I stopped him of course ... and I did the stick thing again ... and the spider did the leg thing again. And the boss fainted! Not really but he went a kind of pale green and white colour! http://www.mtbdirt.com.au/home/smf/Smileys/classic/biglaugha.gif

Never seen one that big before ... or since :cool:

Michaelaw
06-14-2009, 01:11 AM
Awesome spider MA, well seen and captured. Never seen anything that big here in Canada and not really looking forward to the day when I do :)

Mad Aussie
06-14-2009, 02:44 AM
There are bigger ones further north. In the town of Bowen recently a bunch of bird eating spiders (a type of Tarantula) that are normally only found in the bush made themselves known to the town folk. These things can be seriously huge (much bulkier than the Huntsman) and eat small buses and burp out the wheels!

MoinMoin
06-14-2009, 08:41 AM
ARRRRG! STEVE - it is your fault, if I have bad dreams tonight! I can't stand just the photo of this spider. And I definitly would faint meeting it alive! :eek:

Marko
06-14-2009, 08:57 AM
I like the baboon face too. That spider looks almost flat.

Mad Aussie
06-14-2009, 02:40 PM
ARRRRG! STEVE - it is your fault, if I have bad dreams tonight! I can't stand just the photo of this spider. And I definitly would faint meeting it alive! :eek:
Oh come on insect girl ... get your macro out and show us the glint in his eyes :)

Actually Marko these spider do flatten themselves down very much when they need to. It's amazing where they fit sometimes.

They are not aggressive spider at all. Many people just pick them up ... buggered if I would.

Mad Aussie
06-17-2009, 04:00 AM
Hey Kat and Moin Moin ... (I'm taking a stab you'll look back in here again) ... we had an interesting coincidence this morning.

That huntsman is the first one I've seen for quite awhile ... maybe a year ... maybe a bit less.

This morning my wife heard some crying coming from somewhere in the house. I'd long gone to work so it wasn't me :p

Anyhow, Allyce our daughter was the only one who could have still been home so Leanne opened her bedroom door to find her sitting on her bed crying. "Oh no" thinks Leanne ... "her boyfriend has left her!"
Nope. Above the door on the wall was a Huntsman ... about half the size of that one I posted above. But Allyce is such a sook when it comes to spiders that she sat on her bed crying thinking Leanne was out riding her bike and she no way to get out of the house! :headslap: The silly thing is ... she could have left the room ... had a shower ... done her hair and makeup ... a quick oil change on the car ... maybe pruned some of the trees in the yard and the spider probably wouldn't have moved!

Not sure if she's figured out it was probably in there with her night long anyhow :rolleyes: She'll be home soon ... I'll let her know they usually travel in pairs :laugh: (Which actually often true!)