Arachnophobes should stay away from southeast Australia

[marmar]

[font size="1"]What appears to be snow is actually spider webs blanketing an Australian farm. (Daniel Munoz/Reuters)[/font]


Thousands of normally solitary wolf spiders have blanketed an Australian farm after fleeing a rising flood.

Reuters reports that the flooding has forced more than 8,000 Australian (human) residents from their homes in the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. But for every temporarily displaced person, it appears several spiders have moved in to fill the void.

"What we've seen here is a type of wolf spider," Owen Seeman, an arachnid expert at Queensland Museum, told Reuters. "They are trying to hide away (from the waters)."



The Australian Museum's entomology collections manager Graham Milledge told Reuters that there's even a term for the phenomenon, "ballooning," and that it is typical behavior for spiders forced to escape rising waters. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/thousands-spiders-blanket-australian-farm-escaping-flood-165958059.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. In all seriousness, I've always wanted to live in Australia

But I have seen way too many National Geographic shows over the years and my phobias are way too strong...

[librechik]

4. I've visited there severaltimes and the only spider I saw was at the museum

There has not been a death in Australia from spider bit in over a dozen years. It's a lovely place, even for someone like me with arachnophobia.

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Nice try, venomous hungry Australia.

[librechik]

11. lol

(signed librechik, secret agent for the Aussie Tourism board)

[roguevalley]

18. I remember a show where a camera followed at ground level one running to a shoe and

crawling inside. I almost pulled out my eyes. That scene of the farm would be enough to make me die.

[xchrom]

2. Now I'm going to have bad dreams. Nt

[BlueIris]

3. Ahhhhhhh. YIKES.

Disturbing.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.

It's the only way to be sure.

[Avalux]

6. Spiders don't creep me out, and wolf spiders are good guys.

They're not poisonous and eat a lot of bad bugs like mosquitos. They deserve to escape the flood too!

[Yo_Mama]

13. I got bitten by a wolf spider once

The doctor thought I might lose the leg.

It jumped on me in the utility room, and I'm sure it was a total mistake on its part, nor did I even realize it was out there. It was in the morning and I was wearing a sort of long cotton nightshirt. I went out there to get clothes and when I walked back in the kitchen, I saw this huge thing (it was well over 3 1/2 inches) on my leg. I didn't even realize it had bitten me at first. My guess is that it saw the edge of the nightshirt flutter as I went by, so it jumped.

Wolf spider bites can be very serious. I had to go on massive doses of antibiotics for months. I developed a large expanding ring rash within a day and a half. At five days it was over 9 inches wide. The two puncture marks were clearly visible in the center.

So I am having PTSD from seeing that picture, and I don't think it would be safe at all to be there.

Images of wolf spider bites:
http://www.google.com/search?q=bitten+by+wolf+spider&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=WLNXT7LtAaLG0QHErtHdDw&sqi=2&ved=0CFEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=542

They carry bacteria on their mouth parts, and jumping spiders generally do have venom.

[badtoworse]

15. Are you sure it was a wolf spider?

The images look like bites from funnel web spiders which are quite dangerous. We have wolf spiders in the US, but I do not believe they are considered dangerous, unless you are allergic to their venom which is rare.

[TheMastersNemesis]

7. What If

What if those spiders were as big an ancient spider as big as a cat. I saw a fossil 65 million years old where the spider was that big.

[Taverner]

9. Wolf Spiders are cool - they can jump too!

Back in Thailand they would use me as a springboard - freaky the first time!

Non-venomous and I am told friendly

[Arugula Latte]

10. Spiders creep me out more than anything.

That scene in the Harry Potter movie where the giant spiders advance in the forest ... no words ...

[geardaddy]

12. We have wolf spiders in Minnesota.

Totally harmless.

See, she just wants to say hello

[Mojorabbit]

14. We have them in fl

and they are big. They are the only spider in the house that gets killed. I used to have a severe phobia re spiders and finally can put most of them out but these are fast and big and I can't deal.

[Liberal Veteran]

17. We had wolf spiders in Georgia....they love bathtubs.

I can't tell you how many times I opened the shower curtain and said "oh, HELL NO!".

[callous taoboy]

16. I was mowing the lawn one time and there were about 30 wolf spiders

that were all running / jumping ahead of the mower. I like wolf spiders, so I mowed a different part of the lawn until it looked like they had all cleared out of the area.