Some of you may know that Australia is home to several species of poisonous spiders -- not too mention snakes and sharks. While the media has done a wonderful job of scaring the public (IE: National Geographic's aptly entitled "Australia's Backyard Killers), the vast majority of Aussies seem to be walking around happy and spider-bite free.
Last night before I went to bed I turned off the living room light only to notice one of Australia's arachnids hanging in its web in the transom window above our front door. To say that I jumped back about a foot is an understatement. This thing was LARGE by U.S. standards. With leg-span, it would have easily taken up the palm of my hand (that's 3 inches across)...and to make matters even more interesting, I wasn't sure if it was inside or outside the front door.
I called upstairs to Ben - who luckily was home and not in Sydney like he is today. He came down and we both stared at the spider trying to decide what our options were. But first we had to figure out if it was inside our outside the front door of the house.
Guess who did that?
Ben determined the spider was outside the front door by using Kaia's Croc to see what the depth of the transom window was above the front door. He was so relieved until I pointed out that Kaia and I were not using the front door until the spider was not in residence inside OR outside the door (what if it decided Kaia was a perfect morning snack?).
So we walked through our options:
Option 1: Ben thought he would "catch it" with a drinking glass. I pointed out that the spider was indeed larger than the opening of the drinking glass and with legs as long as my fingers, it would probably sprint away onto Ben's arm, run down his body across the floor and tackle me.
We decided not to use the glass.
Option 2: Our rental townhouse has a central vacuum feature in which you stick the vacuum hose into the wall, it turns on and you can vacuum to your heart's content. All the dust, dirt and anything else you feel like sucking up gets deposited into an enclosed container downstairs in the garage. Once it's full, you empty into the container into a garbage can.
We chose the vacuum option and will draw straws on who needs to empty the vacuum container at a later date.
Last night before I went to bed I turned off the living room light only to notice one of Australia's arachnids hanging in its web in the transom window above our front door. To say that I jumped back about a foot is an understatement. This thing was LARGE by U.S. standards. With leg-span, it would have easily taken up the palm of my hand (that's 3 inches across)...and to make matters even more interesting, I wasn't sure if it was inside or outside the front door.
I called upstairs to Ben - who luckily was home and not in Sydney like he is today. He came down and we both stared at the spider trying to decide what our options were. But first we had to figure out if it was inside our outside the front door of the house.
Guess who did that?
Ben determined the spider was outside the front door by using Kaia's Croc to see what the depth of the transom window was above the front door. He was so relieved until I pointed out that Kaia and I were not using the front door until the spider was not in residence inside OR outside the door (what if it decided Kaia was a perfect morning snack?).
So we walked through our options:
Option 1: Ben thought he would "catch it" with a drinking glass. I pointed out that the spider was indeed larger than the opening of the drinking glass and with legs as long as my fingers, it would probably sprint away onto Ben's arm, run down his body across the floor and tackle me.
We decided not to use the glass.
Option 2: Our rental townhouse has a central vacuum feature in which you stick the vacuum hose into the wall, it turns on and you can vacuum to your heart's content. All the dust, dirt and anything else you feel like sucking up gets deposited into an enclosed container downstairs in the garage. Once it's full, you empty into the container into a garbage can.
We chose the vacuum option and will draw straws on who needs to empty the vacuum container at a later date.
2 comments:
Scary! Here's a tip that I use to kill those thousand-leggers that reside in a lot of older Chicago apartments. You know what I'm talking about? The prehistoric looking millipedes who do 0-60 mph faster than a Ferrari? Those things, a lot like your Steatoda Grossa, are just too intimidating to touch. Arm yourself with a spray bottle of 409 or Fantastic, aim at your target, and pull the trigger quickly and repeatedly until it succombs. It will take several shots. Your index finger may become tired. Practicing the hand motion for 3 minutes per day helps to build muscle strength which your body will need when it comes time for spidy combat. Good luck!
AHHH! That's terrifying! Where's John Goodman in Arachnaphobia when you need him?
I hope it didn't live and eat your vaccumm for sustenance. I'm with Beth on the cleaning products method. I used to kill roaches in my old apartment with scrubbing bubbles. They can't move because of the huge, foamy bubbles. Thank god those days are behind me. It also helped if you were wailing/screaming/blubbering while spraying.
Good luck to ya mate!
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