WITH REGARDS TO SPIDERS , HOW BAD IS IT LIVING IN AUSTRALIA ?

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(:elcie;

i'm 15 years old,
live in a coastal town,
i mean, i've seen big spiders i guess,
like in a park on the rare occasion.
but their not a big issue really.

Catherine

Seriously, why do people think our country is covered with spiders?

You wont see many spiders..

I've been living in Sydney for my whole life, I havnt seen a dangerous spider wandering around, heck, i've hardly seen spiders.. I only find them if I go looking for them.. They like to hide, and they wont hurt you anyway, unless you sit or stand on them..

You wont be living in a tree, so you'll be fine.

rustupd

very seldom ever see one unless you go looking for them

bjvettech

There are plenty of spiders here, but there are also plenty of precautions you can take to keep them out of your house.
Every 6 months have a professional pest controller come out and spray the house to keep the spiders away. It really works, that way you can sleep at night without the pills.
Avoid their habitat. Keep your back yard clean and tidy, dont go bush walking, wear long pants if you do, those kinds of common sense precautions.
People from Australia have a wicked sense of humour sometimes and will try to scare you off with wild stories.

- -

Spiders are not everywhere in Sydney, thankfully.
But cockroaches are! :O

ironbarkpark

People delight in trying to frighten someone who already has an obvious fear of spiders. I'm sorry about that.

Yes there are spiders in Australia, yes there are huntsman spiders and they can grow quite large, but contrary to the opinions on this page they do not bite, chase you or lay in wait to pounce on you when you least expect it.

In everyday life mostly you wont even see the spiders unless you go looking for them. I'm also a bit scared of spiders and was really nervous when I moved here from England, but honestly it's only as much of a problem as you let it be.

The best thing you can do is to get some professional help to deal with your phobia and turn an unreasonable fear into a healthy respect. It would be a huge shame if you miss out on seeing the great things that this wonderful country has to offer just because of a tiny spider.

wilo_chick

As others have said they don't run around the street I am terrified too and I can live here just fine.

Elizabeth

I have a good friend who is a real arachnophobe.
She was born here and doesn't have any problems, and she's in her late 40s.
She has lived up and down the east coast from Melbourne to Gladstone and many places in between including Sydney.

You'll be fine, just don't listening to horror stories from people who don't know what they're talking about.
Some people take great delight in scaring the heck out of people just because they can.

(I'm always wary of people who feel the need to use Wikipedia as their main source of reference.)

daanie!

nothing like people will say. its like a stereotype! sure we get spiders as much as the next country! chill, aussies a great place mate :)

x

axe_mpt

With regards to spiders..they normally come off second best.

I've lived in the country for over 60 years, you see snakes, lizards, spiders ,wasps, bees etc etc...give them a wide berth and they will do the same for you.

Walk on one without looking, and you will most likely pay the consequences.

Personally, I just go about living normally without worrying about it, and use common sense. Disturb a red ants' nest and you're looking for trouble.

blanket

it's normal - you may get the odd huntsman in your house maybe once or twice a year, but that's it - they are harmless, a good smack with a rolled up TV week will do the trick.

Mick

I'm looking at a Huntsman the size of the palm of my hand at the moment actually. He's alright, if he stays on the wall

Dot

I couldn't agree more with Safyre. She has done an excellant job of explaining spiders in Australia.

sydney_gal

I've lived in Sydney for 8 years, and have only seen one huntsman (and I hope to never see one again).
They are quite big, big enough to leave me standing on a chair in the lounge, whilst I waited for my flatmate to come home & take it outside. My theory was that I didn't want it to touch me, yet I wanted to make sure it didn't sneak up on me - it might sound silly, but I can't stand big spiders.

Aside from that experience, I've been lucky.
There has been the occassional daddy-long-legs, smallish spiders whom once in a while like making cobwebs across the entrance to the front steps of my flat (a bit annoying first thing in the morning, when I'm going outside to get the paper) & of course the resident cockroaches.
I had a roach, which happened to be crawling on the ceiling, fall on my lap once - sneaky little blighter!

I'd be more concerned about the local cockroach population than anything else.

Jim S

Safyre must live in a different part of the country to me.

I don't believe I have ever seen a huntsman but I have lived in many places in south eastern Australia and they all had red back spiders.

Lift up a bit of tin lying in the back yard and there is likely spiders underneath, often redbacks.

I did notice a whiteback spider one time. I know not to touch those because one bite will affect your skin in the bite area for years to come, maybe the rest of your life.

Never notcied a red back inside. Plenty of other spiders inside and outside the house. I don't mind any of them except the redbacks because I know the redbacks can make me sick. Most other spiders I am happy to have around to feed on the insects.

Regards: Jim Sibbick

Jayde T

make sure u carry bug spray just in case :)

oldemystic

Sometimes you can hear them breathing from where they lurk behind pictures and paintings on the walls. Also behind curtains, air conditioning units etc. During daylight they lay concealed, but at night when you're in bed they emerge from their lairs and you can hear them scuttling around on the walls. As soon as you turn on a light, thong at the ready, they will cunningly vanish back to their secret places, making sure you don't see them.

You may get to see the occasional slower one, the size of a dinner plate as it attempts to escape the light by squeezing itself behind a painting.
Normally the only evidence you will see is their shells, hanging festooned from the ceiling or dangling under dark furniture or your bed.

Even the Asian Gekkho, the fierce feral lizard that has taken up residence in most Australian households and is responsible for householders losing the occasional finger tip and toe, is terrified of the dreaded huntsman spider. It is a common sight to see a hand-sized arachnid chasing a screaming, terrified gekkho across the ceiling.

SafÃ¿re

Honey - if you don't like big spiders, Australia's no place for someone with your irrational phobia and propensity to take sleeping pills.

Huntsmen spiders! Whoppers. And the greyhounds of the arachnid world. ONLY go to the link below, AFTER you've had a couple of Jamiesons (to steady your nerves).

Huntsmen are about the size of an adult's hand (fingers outstretched). And they don't build webs. Hence, "Huntsmen". So you find them in your house, in your car, in your garage, in your shed - basically, ANYWHERE.

And hitting them with fly spray only irritates the beggars. You need a good vacuum cleaner or a straw broom.

Bugger your Funnel Webs or Redbacks. Most Australians have probably never seen either of them. But I guarantee there would be very few Aussies (especially in the southern states) that have never seen a Huntsmen. Even the Kiwis give us grief. Little beggars have migrated to the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Then, we also have Golden Orb Weavers, and Wolf spiders. But you usually only find them out in your garden. Whitetails and Daddy Long-legs are pretty much dealt with by thong. Believe me, once you've had to deal with a Huntsmen plopping in your lap when you've pulled down the sun visor in your car, seeing a small spider will see you flattening said eight-legged beastie with your trusty flip-flop without a second thought.

EDIT: I should probably point out that Huntsmen hibernate in the colder months, so you usually only have to deal with the blighters in the warmer Australian months.

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