Australia is well known for its deadly snakes, poisonous jellyfish and man-eating crocodiles - but new footage suggests giant killer spiders should be elevated on the list of the country's scariest creatures.
A 20-second video posted on Facebook shows an unusually large huntsman spider preying on a full-sized mouse. The arachnid, which appears to be around six inches in size, can be seen dragging the seemingly dead rodent vertically across the door of a fridge.
Clearly at ease carrying a creature much heavier than itself, the huntsman even manages to evade a fridge magnet as it hauls its prey.
“What’s he gonna do with him?”, a man in the video can be heard saying as the spider, which has been named Hermie, scurries across the fridge pulling the mouse.
“Man, that is so cool”, another remarks.
Jason Womal, a tradesman in the town of Coppabella, Queensland, posted the video on Facebook. He wrote: “So I am just about to leave for work about 0030 and me neighbour says ‘You want to see something cool’ and I say ‘Hell yeah’."
“So we proceed to his place and he shows me this. Huntsman trying to eat a mouse.”
The huge creature became infamous after the video of its dinner attracted 7.3 million views and 128,000 shares.
Mr Womal later posted to reassure viewers that the spider was alive and well, although the fate of the mouse remains unknown.
He wrote: “Ok guys so just letting you all know that the spider is fine. We have named him Hermie, we have adopted him and he is now running his own extermination business out of our town Coppabella. Oh and he is now paying rent.”
Huntsman spiders are common in Australia and much of the southern hemisphere. They use venom to poison their prey but are not usually dangerous to humans.
Huntsman generally eat insects such as cockroaches and crickets, and sometimes lizards, but - until now - have rarely been seen feasting on something as big as a mouse.
