Flood-stricken spiders weave sea of webs

With some devestating floods covering parts of NSW humans arnt the only things heading to high ground the following pics are spider webs as the little critters scramble to safer pastures

Australian Museum spider expert Graham Milledge said the phenomenon was caused by spiders "ballooning" — when spiders let out a thread of silk that catches in the wind and carries them through the air.

This creeps me out a bit as im not a big fan of spiders however its pretty amazing to see

You certainly wouldnt catch me walking across the paddocks while they are like this
Enjoy
news.ninemsn.com.au...

ya i seen this on yahoo about 6 hours ago. man i would be freaking out if i liver there.

also some of the comments on yahoo were cracking me up

I saw this earlier today in the news.
It's amazing! I was traveling through those areas as the floods started. Scary stuff to be in a coach while the water is at chest level height.
It's devastating what's happened, but the webs do look fantastic!

reply to post by Bilder


Nice pics Bilder.
I have seen similar pictures of web covered trees, also due to floods and an instinct to reach higher safe places.

You won't catch me surfing those webs!

reply to post by Timely

Yeah i would have trouble walking around there,my skin would be crawling,Im also guessing there are a lot of nervous bugs keeping their heads down atm

great pics

s & f from me. Just amazing to see this.

Awesome

why are so many ppl scared of arachnids?

i'm way more scared of bipeds ie homosapiens

reply to post by BiggerPicture


Because everything is poisonous in Austrailia, only reason I wouldn't be near it...otherwise this is just like what happened in pakistan when they flooded.

lol i guess they wont be bothered by mosquitoes for a few years. ah i still dont like spiders

AHHHHHH WTF.... I HATE SPIDERS..... I KNEW IT WAS GONNA SHOW SOME CRAZY PICTURES NOW I AM NOT GONNA SLEEP FOR A WEEK..... THANKS CURIOSITY..

reply to post by dayve


I love spiders....here is a Huntsman - they are harmless but look big and scarey. They can bite but are not poisonous



I had one as a pet a few years back and one of my cats ended up eating him.. I was very upset about it at the time.

Originally posted by Thurisaz
reply to post by dayve

 

I love spiders....here is a Huntsman - they are harmless but look big and scarey. They can bite but are not poisonous

I had one as a pet a few years back and one of my cats ended up eating him.. I was very upset about it at the time.

THAT thing does not look harmless i would have to shoot it if i saw one that big, with a 7mm (from the highest point in a tree) burn it to a crisp, shoot it again, run it over a few times, bag it up, and dump it in the river... Im not scared of anything but spiders, idk why but i panic

reply to post by Thurisaz

I had one as a pet a few years back and one of my cats ended up eating him.. I was very upset about it at the time.

I want to buy your cat a case of Fancy Feast, do you have a donation link?

If I saw this place in person, they'd have to rename it Gasoline Fire Island.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
reply to post by Thurisaz

 

I had one as a pet a few years back and one of my cats ended up eating him.. I was very upset about it at the time.

I want to buy your cat a case of Fancy Feast, do you have a donation link?

laughed way out loud then!

Originally posted by dayve

THAT thing does not look harmless i would have to shoot it if i saw one that big, with a 7mm (from the highest point in a tree) burn it to a crisp, shoot it again, run it over a few times, bag it up, and dump it in the river... Im not scared of anything but spiders, idk why but i panic

Believe it or not they ARE harmless to humans and animals BUT they are great catchers of insects and other creepy crawlies. They tend to come inside houses when it's raining, I just grab a broom, get the little (I mean big) bugger on the end of it and show him the door - no need to kill something that is actually beneficial to have around!

They can get pretty bloody big though. The one in the picture on the guys hand is actually small compared to some I have seen.

All that webbing is amazing. I'm kind of creeped out by spiders myself. Although years ago I had a female rose tarantula as a pet. She would bite anyone who picked her up but never bit me. She would run to my hand when I put it in the cage to water her sponge or give her crickets. Freaked me out so I always pulled my hand out before she could climb on. One day her glass cage got knocked off the shelf (friends were over goofing around and they bumped it) She landed on the floor but ran behind the stereo. I knew if I didn't get her quick she could hide anywhere. I stuck my hand out and she ran to it, climbed on and sat down. It was like she completely trusted me. I had to give her away when I had my son (wasn't too sure if she could hurt him). Last I heard, she got really huge, had gotten out of her cage and had made a giant web all over the inside of the garage.

Originally posted by Kryties

Originally posted by dayve

THAT thing does not look harmless i would have to shoot it if i saw one that big, with a 7mm (from the highest point in a tree) burn it to a crisp, shoot it again, run it over a few times, bag it up, and dump it in the river... Im not scared of anything but spiders, idk why but i panic

Believe it or not they ARE harmless to humans and animals BUT they are great catchers of insects and other creepy crawlies. They tend to come inside houses when it's raining, I just grab a broom, get the little (I mean big) bugger on the end of it and show him the door - no need to kill something that is actually beneficial to have around!

They can get pretty bloody big though. The one in the picture on the guys hand is actually small compared to some I have seen.

Not entirely true, some people have bad reactions to huntsman bites and the bite begins to show signs of necrosis, usually not as bad as a white-tip spider but still leaves a large putrid looking wound, plus the little barstools hurt when they bite.

Having said that, i'd rather find this guy in my house then a funnel web, redback, trapdoor or some kinds of mouse spider... big rotting wound or death, i choose the necrosis riddled wound thanks.

Brrrrrrrr!!!!!

I am terrified of spiders but couldnt kill one deliberately.

They are AWESOME creatures and a fabulous part of the ecosystem - love em.

But I would hate one near me or on me!

I couldnt even look at a picture of a spider before..then I lived on my own and had noone to get them out of the house for me...

So now I catch them in a glass and put them out...

It will take me a while to touch one with my hand...but I am working on it.

I've only just come back from a holiday in NSW. I saw a couple of orb spiders while I was up there; huge fat things they were.

They aren't lethally poisonous, though. They will give you a bite that will make you sick for a day or so, but they won't kill you. Our only really bad spiders are redbacks, white tails, and funnelwebs. The rest aren't a problem.

Originally posted by Thurisaz
reply to post by dayve

 

I love spiders....here is a Huntsman - they are harmless but look big and scarey. They can bite but are not poisonous

I had one as a pet a few years back and one of my cats ended up eating him.. I was very upset about it at the time.

They're not lethally poisonous, you're right; but I was bitten by one as a child, and at the time it hurt a lot. They are very intelligent; they have unique personalities. Some of them are easy going, but they can be cranky.