FREAKING SPIDERS

[Tylderon]

I was opening the front gate, back from the grocery store.

The 8-legged demon came out OF THE KEYHOLE right before I was able to insert my key.
Right. Before. The key.

Damn thing was expecting me.

IT WANTS MY SOUL


Of course it was tiny, but it was definitely on Pym Particles. It would've sprung to a Shelob-sized behemoth. REPENT

[Trithemius]

No pics cos it didn't happen.

I need to believe this is impossible.

[Tylderon]

It seems we're automatically excluded from Australia, Trithy.

[Trithemius]

It seems we're automatically excluded from Australia, Trithy.

HA.
GUESS WHERE I LIVE

[Tylderon]

YOUR CITIZENSHIP HAS BEEN REVOKED

But really, what's been your experience with the eight-legged-freaks so far? Were I to believe the Internet, you'd have to wear a Mecha suit everyday to avoid not only the casually MONSTROUS spiders roaming places, but also other venomous beasts.

While I know it's of course mostly in jest (even though the beasts *do* exist), it would be cool to have your perspective on it. A few of the videos of hunting spiders casually roaming inside people's houses are freaking terrifying. In my case, I physically cringe when watching those.

[Trithemius]

I am in the ACT which can get pretty cold so they are not too bad. We get pretty big huntsmen but not as big as the ones we had in Queensland. There are creepy trapdoor spiders around but you normally have to go and bother them. Redbacks turn up any time you leave something propped against something else outside - they are the ones that I get most annoyed with thanks to having a few little people around.

We get someone to poison the place once a year or so because I am huge wimp in account of being a New Zealander who lives in Australia (New Zealand is pretty much horrible spider-free by comparison).

[Tylderon]

We get pretty big huntsmen but not as big as the ones we had in Queensland.

Your definition of "big" is very important here.

Redbacks turn up any time you leave something propped against something else outside

Drat, that must be annoying (and a bit scary). A bit more than a decade ago (crap, I'm old), I had moved to the countryside, and I had to get used to the higher amount of critters. Most don't bother me, but the garden spiders (yes, I know) were much bigger than what I was used to, being from the city. Your not-that-big huntsmen would make me run for dear life.

I'm glad that the Brazilian wandering spider is pretty much restricted to either jungles or big amounts of green areas mostly without humans. Those are scary, but I haven't ever even seen one.

[Ymochel]

I like how for Aussies huntsmen spiders are just some cutesy harmless thing while what everyone else sees is Shelob. The first night I visited Brisbane there was one waiting for me in the living room of my friend's house. About as big as my palm. A child I assume?

[Tylderon]

... that I intelectually know that most (maybe all?) huntsmen are actually quite harmless (or, at least, not really *dangerous*, not medically relevant)...

... and the fact that I know that this is absolutely irrelevant to the world-record-breaking-run-for-my-life I'd begin as soon as I spotted the monster.

WISH I KNEW PEOPLE WHO STUDIED BRAINS so they could explain that to me *wink wink nudge nudge*

[Ymochel]

The short answer is that there is a part of your brain much older than the bit you use to decides whether they are medically relevant/harmless that determines how you respond to spiders