In Sydney, Australia, a terrifying encounter was posted on Twitter by Petra Rogers last Saturday and ran I to, an infestation of hunter spiders in the bedroom of a friend’s daughter who asked not to be identified. The reaction was funny: “Gaaaahhhhhhhh, a friend of mine in Sydney just walked into her daughter’s room and found this,” tweeted Petra.
Gaaaahhhhhhhh, a friend of mine in Sydney just walked into her daughter's room and found this: pic.twitter.com/3UKMEHtGHt
— 💧 Petie R 🇦🇺🌟💉💉💉😷🦄🌱🌈🌏 (@PrinPeta) January 27, 2021
The teenage daughter told her mother that there were spiders on the ceiling of the house. When Rogers’ friend came up to investigate, she ran into some arachnids in the corner of the room. Okay, she said, it must be 50 or 60. But when she turned around, she noticed more than a hundred babies strolling across the ceiling and walls.
After filming the furry pets, the woman researched and found that they were baby hunter spiders, of the Sparassidae family, extremely common in Australia and elsewhere with hot climates. Although numerous, these spiders have a maximum body length of 8 feet and a wingspan of up to 5 inches.
This hunter spider infestation is common in Australia during the summer. According to a spider specialist from the Queensland Museum, Dr. Robert Raven, during the dry season, hunters go in search of water sources. And the best place is under the bathtubs or down the drains. They lay their eggs there, just above the water.
In times of low atmospheric pressure, explains Raven, the hot air and the humidity of the rains constitute “one of the triggers for the emergence of the egg pouch”, as baby spiders have relatively thin skin, which dehydrates in very dry environments. And these egg pouches often give rise to hundreds of baby hunters.
Unfortunately for people who, like Petra Rogers, find these “fluffy” spiders, these groups don’t last long, explains arachnologist Lizzie Lowe of Macquarie University. They are “highly cannibalistic” and quickly devour each other in a day or two.
So, for everyone saying it's Photoshopped, here is her actual video. pic.twitter.com/2Zcro0nra7
— 💧 Petie R 🇦🇺🌟💉💉💉😷🦄🌱🌈🌏 (@PrinPeta) January 28, 2021
Experts also explain that the hunter spider bite is non-toxic and is considered to be of low risk to humans. Furthermore, they are not aggressive, except in some cases in the summer, when the female spider may be watching her eggs or her brood.
