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Denhim,

My wife has been hypnotized to give up smoking. It worked in her case (she's been fag-free for 5 years now). But depending on where you're going, you really may not find arachnaphobia a problem. We hardly see any spiders in our house/garden in Melbourne's SE suburbs. Only 1 has been any bigger than we were used to in Europe. If you live in a city, in a seventh floor apartment, you'll probably never see one. I'd suggest that you cross that bridge when (if) you come to it.

Cheers,
Paul.

Jaffa30

would be nice to hypnotise the spiders to not come into houses.....or JWW's cycling shorts

shaun/lor

you beat me too it jaffa,
we had a biggish one in the lounge tonight, tried waving my watch in front of his eyes that didnt work so the wife waved her shoe at it and that really hypnotised him.
some of the smaller ones are pretty damn fast as well.
shaun

cheriepie

argghh :scared:

these huntmen spiders are a worry. how often do you see them???

yafm

Yes I have had hynotherapy and it worked. I was a chocoloholic (like Dawn French!!!) also for ice cream but after two visits and a tape they give you of the session to listen to at home I have not touched either for 8 years. The house is full of chocs and icecream but I am not interested. However Get one that is recommended I did go to one who was absolutely useless.

yafm

I don't know if anyone can give the precise item I am speaking of but my son (and wis wife) are anti-spiders etc and they used to have lots in their house. They bought a plug in 'silent sound' thing that seems to banish all spiders, mice etc and they say it works. Can't ask them what it is at present they are in Florida - lucky B******s

dog19363

Just to clarify......
1. huntsmen are not particularly harmless.....they just don't kill you, (unless you're allergic). They can give you quite a nasty bite with local pain, headache and nausea for quite a few hours.
2. However...they do a fine job in mopping up all the other nastier beasts, like white tails, wolf, and black house spiders.

I really don't mind the spiders.....anything that reduces the fly/mosquito population is ok in my book!!

I think you'll find, as we did, that for the first couple of months you are totally paranoid....shaking out shoes every morning etc etc. Soon, you figure out that it isn't like a real-life version of "eight legged freaks" after all.
The spiders get on with their business, and you get on with yours.....

don't worry about them


Dog

kizkat

http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/spidersparlour/spider6.htm
Link to spider info and pictures

http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/facts.htm
Link to Unusual Facts About Australia.
Has rude picture of either a spiderbite swelling, or
possibly PB, at top of page. Beware!
kkat

mr mover

Allways check the bed frames of day -nite lounges white tails seem to like to make nests in the frame work, we have noticed this, especially in the southern areas of Adelaide, [noarlunga, hallet cove,christes beach] and for all you nervous poms there's more chance of getting run over by a bus,than a spider bite.....MM

wizzywozza

I really don't like spiders at all. Been here 12 years now and never been bitten but show me a Huntsman and I throw up. They seem to be more prevalent in the warmer weather.

Saw a beauty at the riding stables in Woodcroft last week - he must have been 6 inches from toe to toe! and very furry.

I didn't know I could move so fast!!!!!!!!

cheriepie

there's something super scarey with all those legs moving quickly..... :scared:

steve-d

me and my family would love to move to NZ, more so my wife as i am an arachnologist/IT consultant.
interesting to find there are biters in NZ. At least it is one of the few countries in the world where you can't die when bitten by something.

Ceri

True dog - I keep reading on here about people saying the Huntsman is harmless. It really depends on the person - it can make you ill for a couple of days if bitten depending on the person. They just don't kill you that's all. They are pretty shy anyway - put your hand near one they will run in the opposite direction. I like them - they keep the pests down.



Spiders have never really bothered me either- just take precautions that's all, don't stick your hand blindly into a box in the garage etc, I have plenty of redbacks and Huntsmen around my property - redbacks I leave alone , unless they are on the garage door - near to where I put my hand, I just spray those.

cheers
Pic below was taken in my last house - a smallish one, they come bigger than this.

dotty

Quite interested in the opinion huntsmen can be dangerous. We live in Buderim Sunshine coast and they are all over our house, its in the trees and we dont even try to kill them. The big guys are as big as palm of husbands hand, but they seem non aggessive and definately eat flies and mosquitoes. Redbacks common too but we kill them. We also found two awful things, big as huntsmen, with a bizzare set of white eyes almost a skull on their back and a bit of a yellow pattern. Nobody seems to know what they, killed them and in a coffee jar hoping somebody can shed some light on them, just hope there are no more.

Ceri

Hi dotty,
I don't suppose you have a pic of it do you? I have a couple of spider books in the house and maybe be able to match it up for you. It could also be a type of Huntsman spider - there are a few different types of huntsman spiders in Aus- one of them is yellow sort of orange colour, I haven't seen one of these in the flesh myself.

In most of my books it does say the Huntsman can cause some pain and illness depending on the actual person - it was also once believed to be the cause of skin necrosis , but now they think that the white tip spider is the one that does this in some people (some people have had bad necrosis through spider bites - basically it rots the skin - and the only way to stop it is to cut out the infected skin)

cheers

PS another way to identify anything unusual is to take a pic of it and ask one of the museums, or email them - The sydney one usually will identify it for you. - they do the same for fish species as well.

It could also be one of the Wolf spiders - some of them have an odd pattern on the back - and can be about the size of some some of the Huntsmen - they have funny eyes too. It could be anything.