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Beard

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Yesterday I was out on a mates property cutting firewood. I was stripping the bark off a ringbarked tree before dropping it and as I ripped away a large section of bark I uncovered what appeared a communal nesting site. There was atleast 80 mature spiders (all females judging by the abdomens) and an egg sac that would have been 150mm2, if not a bit larger.

I didn't get any pics, my phone was in my car and my car wasn't nearby.

I've never seen anything like this before and I've been in the bush most of my life.
 
Ill never forget, years ago, splitting wood with a hydrolic splitter when I struck huntsmans.
It was like someone had turned on a tap and hundreds, seemed like thousands, of semi mature spiders flowed from the split.
They covered the log and the splitter in seconds and started coming through the grass in my direction for some reason.
Needles to say, I backed away and when I came back to splitter half an hour later they were all gone, lol
 
Ill never forget, years ago, splitting wood with a hydrolic splitter when I struck huntsmans.
It was like someone had turned on a tap and hundreds, seemed like thousands, of semi mature spiders flowed from the split.
They covered the log and the splitter in seconds and started coming through the grass in my direction for some reason.
Needles to say, I backed away and when I came back to splitter half an hour later they were all gone, lol

I can only imagine how many eggs would be in the sac but it would be a few.

Sounds like Communal Huntsmans Delena cancerides. Quite an interesting site when you come across them!
Delena cancerides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thats the one. Thanks saratoga!
 
l myself have seen lots of communal Huntsmans nest sites roughly between 100 to 200 hundred tidy babies to mediun size and the mother, hiding behind thick loose bark on river Red Gum Trees along the Murray River in Mildura and Renmark SA.

When l use to go there to collect them for Lizard Food during the 90's, as soon as l would remove the thick loose bark from the tree, heaps would fall on top of me and run up and down my arms-back-chest, then they would fall onto the ground and run away from me, least they never tried to bite me only when l catch them by my hand would they then try to bite my fingers.

l manage to work out a way to catch them with my hands without getting bitten.

When l was in my teenage years l use to catch large Huntsmans the size of my hand, and let them run up my arm or sit on my face, l hate it when they leave silky spiderweb all over my arms and face, it shaw feels sticky let me tell you.

l use to cop a bite here and there from a adult Huntsmans, it didn't really hurt me that much other than a minor sting that lasted for a few minutes.

No spider can scare me one bit including Sydney Funnel webs and Red-Back Spiders, for which l had been bitten by lots of times in my teenage years, even they did not make me sick or give me any pains at all.
 
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Ill never forget, years ago, splitting wood with a hydrolic splitter when I struck huntsmans.
It was like someone had turned on a tap and hundreds, seemed like thousands, of semi mature spiders flowed from the split.
They covered the log and the splitter in seconds and started coming through the grass in my direction for some reason.
Needles to say, I backed away and when I came back to splitter half an hour later they were all gone, lol

think i would of left the splitter there and never returned! lol
 
When I was a kid, about 8 or 9, I watched Harry Butler pick up a large huntsman by grabbing it on the sides of its thorax(?) with his thumb and forefinger, and when i saw this i of course immediatly went out and tried it on the first huntsman i saw and it worked well, like grabbing a crab by the shell and avoiding the nippers.
 
Omg. Spiders freak me out. I have arachnophobia I'm sure of it. Just thinking of 100s of spiders like that, **** I'm screaming now. Makes my blood run cold! :facepalm:
 
Wow, so envious, would have have to have come across a huge community of them out bush! Used to keep a few hehe here's a couple :D
 

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I was cramming another bag of rubbish into my already chockers bin one night when I was ambushed by a huntsman who proceeded to fly up my arm from the bin. Scared the be-jesus out of me and it took a little while before I stopped screaming like a girl and rolling around on the front lawn like I was on fire :) I don't mind Huntsmans...but not when I'm half asleep :p
 
I was cramming another bag of rubbish into my already chockers bin one night when I was ambushed by a huntsman who proceeded to fly up my arm from the bin. Scared the be-jesus out of me and it took a little while before I stopped screaming like a girl and rolling around on the front lawn like I was on fire :) I don't mind Huntsmans...but not when I'm half asleep :p



Those bin dwellers can be a little shocking :)
 
Ill never forget, years ago, splitting wood with a hydrolic splitter when I struck huntsmans.
It was like someone had turned on a tap and hundreds, seemed like thousands, of semi mature spiders flowed from the split.
They covered the log and the splitter in seconds and started coming through the grass in my direction for some reason.
Needles to say, I backed away and when I came back to splitter half an hour later they were all gone, lol

i would've literally pooped my pants and legged it, there is nothing more frightening to me than huntsmans, creepy little bastards they are, i can't count the amount of times i've tried to usher them out of the house only to have them jump toward me, it scares the absolute crap out of me every time..
 
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