You may never look at the dew on your lawn in the same way again. A couple from Hervey Bay, on Queensland’s southern coast, were horrified to discover a colony of spiders had taken up residence in their backyard this week. What they believed was a patch of dew covering the lawn under their children’s trampoline was actually a huge spider’s web. They tried to disperse it themselves but the determined arachnids rebuilt their giant cobweb overnight. The couple have now called in professionals to get rid of the spider colony and no one has been hurt – but how many of us have not been so lucky?
We asked Guardian staff about their run-ins with Australia’s creepy crawlies. Share your story in the comments below.
‘I sealed the door to his room with duct tape’
I love my children but I once discovered that my arachnophobia is an even stronger instinct than my protectiveness as a parent. I was snuggled with my young son reading a bedtime book when a huge spider crawled down the wall beside him. Some parents might have dragged their child away, or thrown themselves between their offspring and possible danger. My uncomfortable truth is, before I’d even registered a thought, I’d propelled myself off the bed and onto the floor, pushing my son closer to the spider in the process.
My partner, the designated dealer-with-spiders in our household, was away. (He takes an inexplicably humane approach, catching them in a glass and taking them outside, with me at the backdoor checking that they are released as far away from the house as possible).
So as I crawled towards the door I told my son to get his uniform for the next day and his school bag and then I sealed the door to his room with duct tape so the thing couldn’t crawl into the rest of the house in the night. I’ve told this story to other arachnophobes and they agree my behaviour was entirely normal. – Lenore Taylor
‘The spider did an Indiana Jones style swing into the car’
I had just arrived in Australia from the UK and was driving over the Anzac Bridge in my cousin’s car in rush hour when a huge spider appeared on the car bonnet heading towards my open window. The spider did an Indiana Jones style swing into the car interior just before window closed. It then jumped on dashboard and seemed to be squeaking at me. I was in terror. I stopped the car in the middle of the Anzac Bridge and tried to flag people down. The first guy who stopped was also scared of spiders. The second guy, a tradie in his ute had no rego and warned me about it, but I didn’t care. We swapped cars. I drove his ute off the bridge, he drove my car. I dumped the car in Lilyfield, miles from my cousin’s house. Left it there. I never travelled in it again. – Bonnie Malkin
‘I jumped up howling, commando-rolled over the coffee table’
I have severe arachnophobia. I was lying on my couch one evening when I saw a huntsman coming toward me, crawling along the arm of the chair. I jumped up howling, commando-rolled over the coffee table, cutting open my leg in the process, and stripped off my clothing as I ran down the hallway in case it had ended up on me. I then curled up in the middle of my bed where I had a view of all my surroundings and got a friend to come over and dispose of the spider. Another time, when I was a teenager, I was driving along and a huntsman dropped down from behind the mirror. I swerved off the road and onto someone’s lawn, turned on the hazard lights, jumped out of the car, and called my dad to come get me. I drove his spider-free car home and left him with the contaminated vehicle to deal with and fumigate. – Anonymous Guardian staffer
‘The spider in my bedroom refused to leave’
I’m no arachnologist, so I shan’t make the case for spiders being territorial. Still, the spider in my bedroom refused to leave. It was a huntsman, about the size of a 50 cent piece, and I was a tearful six-year-old. After repeated attempts to move the spider outside, my father decided to name him Sidney and enquire about his wellbeing every morning until I felt I was entertaining a house-guest. About 10 years later, in another house, we discovered a clutter of Sidneys living under the rotted wood of the old sheep yards. Unlike Sidney, these spiders were pale, fleshy nightmares with long, hairy legs that blended into the greying wood, some 10cm out from their body. They made an unpleasant splat sound when we dropped the log. – Calla Wahlquist
‘My tent buddy was worried about leaving her boots outside the tent’
On school camp in year 9, my tent buddy, who was terrified of spiders, was worried about leaving her boots outside of the tent in case a spider started to make a web in them. I told her, don’t be silly, as if a spider will find your shoes and decide to make its home there overnight. So she left her boots out there. The next morning, she opened the tent to find a redback, of all things, making a web in her boot. – Stephanie Convery
‘Tiny creepy things crawling all over the place’
One of the first ever times my parents and siblings were away, leaving me the house (next to the national park) to myself, I came home to discover a spider had laid eggs on our living room ceiling. I opened the front door and something moving caught my eye. I looked up, confused at what my eyes were taking in. There, covering the whole lobby ceiling and half the living room ceiling, were thousands of baby spiders. Tiny, creepy things crawling all over the place. I closed the door behind me and went straight to the neighbours’ place for reinforcements. Luckily they were not at all bothered by the scene but seemed extremely troubled that I’d recruited them to kill. The following year the same thing happened but this time, it was a funnel web spider hatching on the floor. We called in pest controllers for that job. – Gabrielle Jackson
