White Tail Spider

[Thrawn]

Two people, from my count. Do you really care about their thoughts so much?

 

[Kapow!!!]

So this spider was actively hunting you, was it?
I better watch my back then as those redbacks in the meter box are surely plotting my demise.
You idiot, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Nothing more, nothing less.

What about, what a few posters above have posted, the pre-emptive strike to rid a dwelling of a potentially dangerous spider for fear we may unknowingly be in the wrong place at the wrong time? I don't know about anyone else but I tend to think that falls under the banner of the 'evolved conscious thought'. I'm thinking about my safety and the safety of others in that particular habitat, the (venomous) spider may have its right to life but I'm concerned about it's ability to harm myself and others. I wouldn't call that irrational fear in the least.

However I do agree killing for the sake of 'consigning to oblivion' is woeful: the motives for killing aren't for safety, eating or survival and aren't 'predatory' - they're for the sake of death (perhaps one might say a step down on the evolution scale).

Either way I tend to let most smaller huntsmen spiders I find go unless they're in the shower (naked, tackle out it's a reflex ) - prefer them to redbacks.

 

[Schism]

 

[blues4flag]

See a spider on a tree or outside and I'll let it live. Enter my house and prepare to die. No different to an animal protecting its habitat, a bird protecting its nest or a spider protecting its web.

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

You're all a bunch of hissy fitting stick bundles.
I hope the eastern staters among you have a funnel web in your breakfast cereal and the rest of you have a huge huntsman drop on your todgers in the shower.

Which reminds me..Back in the 1950's a very stiff upper lip ABC radio newsreader was deivering the evening bulletin when made a rather hilarious faux par
"This afternoon in Sydney a woman was bitten on the funnel by a finger web spider....*awkward silence**....I do beg your pardon. In other news"


That's gotta hurt.

 

[KevinCat07]

See a spider on a tree or outside and I'll let it live. Enter my house and prepare to die. No different to an animal protecting its habitat, a bird protecting its nest or a spider protecting its web.

Umm ok but it's not like any spiders can really hurt us (other than funnel webs)

People get so scared of spiders yet we are 50 times bigger and are giants to them.

Yellow.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Why does the size of a spider matter if it's deadly?

 

[blues4flag]

Umm ok but it's not like any spiders can really hurt us (other than funnel webs)

People get so scared of spiders yet we are 50 times bigger and are giants to them.

Yellow.

50 times bigger?!

Don't know what sort of giant mutant spiders you've got at your joint but I suggest you burn it to the ground.

Either way, if posters are stating it's only natural for spiders to protect their web, how is that any different to us protecting our home?

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

50 times bigger?!

Don't know what sort of giant mutant spiders you've got at your joint but I suggest you burn it to the ground.

Either way, if posters are stating it's only natural for spiders to protect their web, how is that any different to us protecting our home?

I think you misread his post a tad...

As for me, I kill white tails if they're inside. Take huntsman outside and leave daddy long legs. Hell, much rather a few webs around than being annihilated by mossies and flies. They done me proud so far this summer.

 

[Thrawn]

Either way, if posters are stating it's only natural for spiders to protect their web, how is that any different to us protecting our home?

Because you aren't really protecting anything.

Disturb a spider's web, and you're pretty much physically destroying its home. Whereas a spider will just go walkabout and really only bite you when you actually disturb it, or if it just sheer bad luck.

A case is easily made out of preventative measures, that is, to eliminate the risk that the spider will bite your pets or children (or you). But "protecting your home" is something I'd expect were an arsonist trying to burn it down.

 

[blues4flag]

Fair enough - but how about intruding on an animal's habitat? A man approaching an elephant in the wild isn't much of a threat (unless he's carrying a gun) but the elephant's not likely to stand about doing nothing. Similarly with big cats, dogs, bears and any other number of animal.

Sure most spiders don't actively 'hunt' humans as we do with animals but they can be dangerous and I for one am not willing to share my house with them.

I think you misread his post a tad...

Nope. A spider 1/50th the size of a human would be pretty damn big.

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

No spiders actively hunt humans.
None, zilch, nada.

 

[Thrawn]

Fair enough - but how about intruding on an animal's habitat?

I'd actually say we're the ones who are intruding. The animals have been there longer than our houses were built. When people are encroaching on natural habitats, then there will be that species conflict we cannot really avoid. I'd propose a "live and let live" attitude only when potential danger is not an issue... which is why I leave daddylonglegs/huntsman alone. No flies or mozzies here.

Sure most spiders don't actively 'hunt' humans as we do with animals but they can be dangerous and I for one am not willing to share my house with them.

Fair enough. I just don't get the over the top paranoia, 'tis all. I used to be deathly afraid of spiders too, even the smaller ones. Now I see it with a little more clarity.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

No spiders actively hunt humans.
None, zilch, nada.

Getting a bit tired of the "actively hunt" line tbh. I don't "actively hunt" spiders either, that is to say if I can't see them or they're harmless then I don't care.

Where did all these tree huggers come from?

 

[Ron The Bear]

No spiders actively hunt humans.
None, zilch, nada.

You'd better tell this guy.

"The spider saw him and gave chase trying to bite him."

Also, "the venom of the spider can also cause uncomfortable erections that can last for many hours and lead to impotence".

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

You'd better tell this guy.

"The spider saw him and gave chase trying to bite him."

Also, "the venom of the spider can also cause uncomfortable erections that can last for many hours and lead to impotence".

Funnily enough, I have just returned from 3 years, on and off, in Brazil as an ecologist and I am very familiar with this critter.
Aggressive? Yes.
Territorial? Definitely.
Viagralike? Only if you get bitten

But actively hunting humans? Hardly.

 

[Thrawn]

Ahh, the Brazillan wandering spider, the most dangerous spider in the world. Makes the funnel web look like a daddylonglegs.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Funnily enough, I have just returned from 3 years, on and off, in Brazil as an ecologist and I am very familiar with this critter.
Aggressive? Yes.
Territorial? Definitely.
Viagralike? Only if you get bitten

But actively hunting humans? Hardly.

Alright...I'd like to see you justify this spider's behaviour.

[youtube]Bksvon-hSDM[/youtube]

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

Alright...I'd like to see you justify this spider's behaviour.

[youtube]Bksvon-hSDM[/youtube]

I have failed before, but never quite like that
I don't think that I will sleep properly ever, ever again.

You win.
I give up, and I will never look in my underwear draw with the same confident manner again.
You bastard!

 

[Kerrby]

You're all a bunch of hissy fitting stick bundles.
I hope the eastern staters among you have a funnel web in your breakfast cereal and the rest of you have a huge huntsman drop on your todgers in the shower.

Which reminds me..Back in the 1950's a very stiff upper lip ABC radio newsreader was deivering the evening bulletin when made a rather hilarious faux par
"This afternoon in Sydney a woman was bitten on the funnel by a finger web spider....*awkward silence**....I do beg your pardon. In other news"


That's gotta hurt.

How old are you? Like 80 or something?

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

How old are you? Like 80 or something?

Some stories are passed down through the generations grasshopper.

 

[juddsentant517]

Some stories are passed down through the generations grasshopper.

so you have never killed a fly. Just out of curiosity. And im guessing you are vegetarian

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

so you have never killed a fly. Just out of curiosity. And im guessing you are vegetarian

What a stunning insight.
I drive my car at deliberately slow speeds so that I don't splat anything. Nothing.
My house is an absolute menagerie of creepy crawlies. In my bed, the dunny and, of course, the fridge.
And I buy my tofu and refried beans by the tonne.

 

[juddsentant517]

What a stunning insight.
I drive my car at deliberately slow speeds so that I don't splat anything. Nothing.
My house is an absolute menagerie of creepy crawlies. In my bed, the dunny and, of course, the fridge.
And I buy my tofu and refried beans by the tonne.

Well then, kudos to you for dedicating your life to what you believe in. Just to let you know, if a spider is anywhere in my vicinity, i scream like a girl and kill the thing. Thought that may please you

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

Well then, kudos to you for dedicating your life to what you believe in. Just to let you know, if a spider is anywhere in my vicinity, i scream like a girl and kill the thing. Thought that may please you

Us Buddhist monks are like that.
May you not suffer the cruel fate of reincarnation as a huntsman. However, even though Buddah is generally a kind and benevolent God, he does have a nasty side and he may well make this happen.
And just to spice things up, he may have you placed in one of your childrens houses where, upon sight of you, they will no doubt sceam like a bitch and squash you back into oblivion.