Encounters with creepy crawlies!!

[SomeRandom]

So this may pertain more for us Aussies lol, but still.
Can you think of any interesting encounters with spiders, insects or other animals of that nature?

When I was a kid I found a red back spider hiding in my school shoe. Have thoroughly checked my shoes after that lol
Huntsman’s have been lurking in my room for years now.
Scary looking spiders but they’re harmless to humans normally, so I try to leave them be.
Seen a couple of red belly blacks (venomous snakes) in my school over the years. Our school had a sort of “forest” next to it, so we saw a lot of animals there. Koalas, kookaburras, snakes and indeed other creepy crawlies. It was a protected space though. Unfortunately it was also subject to arson through the years.

When we went camping as a school trip, we had to be wary of venomous snakes and spiders. Indeed we saw at least one or two on such trips.
Typically we gave them a wide birth and nothing really happened.

My friend found a funnel web on an interstate trip once. Legit chased her through the camp. So she must have angered it lol

What about you? What encounters have you had?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I wouldn’t survive in Australia

 

[Mock Turtle]

Nothing much in the UK is dangerous, and when I travel abroad the dangerous species must recognise I'm British and stay away out of respect. Had a few encounters with snakes - adders in the UK (mainly Scotland) and what I believe was a Western Whip snake whilst cycling around Corsica. This latter snake had apparently been run over - still alive then but no doubt not for long. Neither of these snakes are dangerous to adults it seems. I think I did see a Scorpionfish whilst swimming in Greece once, and a Ray, but kept away from them - suspecting the former and not knowing if the latter was dangerous or not.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

What about you? What encounters have you had?

I've encountered some creepy-crawlie people having lived in the Midwest, if that counts.

 

[exchemist]

So this may pertain more for us Aussies lol, but still.
Can you think of any interesting encounters with spiders, insects or other animals of that nature?

When I was a kid I found a red back spider hiding in my school shoe. Have thoroughly checked my shoes after that lol
Huntsman’s have been lurking in my room for years now.
Scary looking spiders but they’re harmless to humans normally, so I try to leave them be.
Seen a couple of red belly blacks (venomous snakes) in my school over the years. Our school had a sort of “forest” next to it, so we saw a lot of animals there. Koalas, kookaburras, snakes and indeed other creepy crawlies. It was a protected space though. Unfortunately it was also subject to arson through the years.

When we went camping as a school trip, we had to be wary of venomous snakes and spiders. Indeed we saw at least one or two on such trips.
Typically we gave them a wide birth and nothing really happened.

My friend found a funnel web on an interstate trip once. Legit chased her through the camp. So she must have angered it lol

What about you? What encounters have you had?

Some years ago I was amazed to discover stick insects in the garden of my wife's family's holiday house in Brittany. I was surprised to find out that actually stick insects are not only indigenous to tropical countries, as I had always assumed, but are widespread in continental Europe too.

In Europe, unlike Australia, most of the arthropods are not hostile - unless you annoy wasps, hornets or bees, that is.

Which reminds me, we used to get huge red and yellow hornets in the UAE when I lived there. They were to be found in the mountains, rather than the sandy desert, so towards the Indian Ocean coast. These seemed fairly docile, but alarmingly inquisitive - and consequently could give you a scare. We referred to them as "bloody hells", as that is what a typical Brit would exclaim when one flew up to him. The really big ones would be a "bloody hell- JEEEESUUUUS!!"

I've looked them up and they seem to be these: Oriental hornet - Wikipedia

 

[Brian2]

Kreepy Krauly VTX-7 Triple Clean with Vortex Action Pool Cleaner

Not all Creepy Crawlies are scary. We have one of these but it does not work as well as the ads claim, at least not in out pool. It is an older model, maybe that is why. It gets caught on the ladder and finds it hard to get up the hill from the deep to the shallow section. But I do find other Creepy Crawlies sitting on this Kreepy Krauly's hose and waiting for a chance to be get to the safety of the edge of the pool, which I sometimes provide them with. Spiders and bees and wasps etc in swimming pools are not the best thing and as their saviour I feel as if they should be grateful and not bite or sting, but I usually don't naively test my theory on them even though I have been known to overcome my fears with foolhardy feats of daring.

Luckily I have not found all these spiders in the pool yet.

spiders in swimming pools - Google Search

 

[Erebus]

There was one occasion when I was in southern France and found a spider I'd never seen before and have had no luck in identifying since. It was some kind of jumping spider, roughly the size and colouration of a zebra jumping spider. The difference was that its front two legs were enormous and bright orange. They were far chunkier than anything I've seen on a google search so I wonder if it actually had pollen stuck to it or something.

Another time, I found a washed up thing on a UK beach (I was a kid so I don't remember exactly where it was) that looked like a large, whitish blob with octopus tentacles. There was a small crowd gathered around it trying to work out what it was. In retrospect, I think it was probably either a particularly large barrel jellyfish or a seven arm octopus.

 

[ChristineM]

Although there are venomous animals in France they are rarely a problem.

Last year was the first time i came acros one. We compost potato peelings etc in a bin outside. I opened the lid poured in the veg peelings and a viper stuck its head out. You've never seen me move so fast.

Then last summer i was bitten by one of the two venomous spiders. Doctor told me it was a brown recluse.

I have seen a couple but not close up, the copyu is not a creepy crawly but a big rat like river beast. They are not actually venomous but the bacteria in the mouth is deadly to humans if bitten i know of 2 local people who have died of copyu bites.

Edit.
Reading @Erebus post above i reminded, as a child on holiday in italy, swimming in the sea i was stung across the cheek and ear by a Portuguese Man of War.

 

[Augustus]

Huntsman’s have been lurking in my room for years now.
Scary looking spiders but they’re harmless to humans normally, so I try to leave them be.

"There's another one of those huntsmen. I'll just leave it be, it's harmless. Won't notice it's there. Won't even think about it. I'll just turn my light off and get some sleep in the dark."

 

[Daemon Sophic]

"There's another one of those huntsmen. I'll just leave it be, it's harmless. Won't notice it's there. Won't even think about it. I'll just turn my light off and get some sleep in the dark."

Yeah. I'm picking up the huge weight of sarcasm in your post.

My rule is generally, "remove them all".
If less than about 1-cm diameter, removal means eviction out the front door. Larger than that, and "removal" means a quick death by squishing in a tissue paper. I don't eat wild mushrooms for the same reason, I'm not taking the chance that I misidentified it.

 

[Augustus]

My rule is generally, "remove them all".

When I was little, I woke up with a spider on my face. Now, they gone...

Not sure what i'd do with a huntsman though, probably buy a new house in a different city.

Larger than that, and "removal" means a quick death by squishing in a tissue paper.

The hunstman might make quite a squish

 

[Audie]

So this may pertain more for us Aussies lol, but still.
Can you think of any interesting encounters with spiders, insects or other animals of that nature?

When I was a kid I found a red back spider hiding in my school shoe. Have thoroughly checked my shoes after that lol
Huntsman’s have been lurking in my room for years now.
Scary looking spiders but they’re harmless to humans normally, so I try to leave them be.
Seen a couple of red belly blacks (venomous snakes) in my school over the years. Our school had a sort of “forest” next to it, so we saw a lot of animals there. Koalas, kookaburras, snakes and indeed other creepy crawlies. It was a protected space though. Unfortunately it was also subject to arson through the years.

When we went camping as a school trip, we had to be wary of venomous snakes and spiders. Indeed we saw at least one or two on such trips.
Typically we gave them a wide birth and nothing really happened.

My friend found a funnel web on an interstate trip once. Legit chased her through the camp. So she must have angered it lol

What about you? What encounters have you had?

Hiking a nature trail in Sai Kung dist of
Hk, I stopped to rest by a liitle shrine.

After a minute, I realized there was a
big brown cobra, right there beside me !

Mom taught me to respect not to
fear such as insects or snakes, and
I had seen cobras before.

So I did ot scream or jump, just
sat regarding him.
He never moved except to flicker his
tongue.
The sunlight showed its wonderful
iridescent colors.

It was a magical experience, sitting
there with such a remarkable being on
a peaceful morning.

 

[SomeRandom]

"There's another one of those huntsmen. I'll just leave it be, it's harmless. Won't notice it's there. Won't even think about it. I'll just turn my light off and get some sleep in the dark."

Ahh that’s just a baby though!

 

[Debater Slayer]

"There's another one of those huntsmen. I'll just leave it be, it's harmless. Won't notice it's there. Won't even think about it. I'll just turn my light off and get some sleep in the dark."

It is at that point that I would research the real-estate market and list my home for sale at the nearest opportunity.

 

[Augustus]

Ahh that’s just a baby though!

If you fell asleep with that in your room, you'd be an enwebbed desiccated husk by morning.

Other than with an elephant gun, how do people get rid of them btw? Surely people can't just stoically accept their presence.

 

[SomeRandom]

If you fell asleep with that in your room, you'd be an enwebbed desiccated husk by morning.

Other than with an elephant gun, how do people get rid of them btw? Surely people can't just stoically accept their presence.

Lol ironically enough huntsmans are usually regarded as a good thing to have near the home, since they are known to eat other much more deadly spiders and insects.

So they’re more likely to be “relocated” to the outside shed, rather than killed.

The issue really is that they can lay completely flat. So they can actually sneak into cars and hide under the sun visor very easily.
You learn to check your surroundings very thoroughly in Oz lol

 

[Augustus]

Lol ironically enough huntsmans are usually regarded as a good thing to have near the home, since they are known to eat other much more deadly spiders and insects.

So they’re more likely to be “relocated” to the outside shed, rather than killed.

The issue really is that they can lay completely flat. So they can actually sneak into cars and hide under the sun visor very easily.
You learn to check your surroundings very thoroughly in Oz lol

How do you relocate them though?

How often do they appear in your house?

 

[SomeRandom]

How do you relocate them though?

Usually with the help of a broom in my experience

How often do they appear in your house?

Not very often, really.

Whenever we’d go on international trips for a few weeks, typically I’d find a baby huntsman waiting for me in my room. So my poor beleaguered dad had to capture and relocate it. Again usually to the outdoor shed.

But I live in the suburbs, so usually spiders are content to chill away from the houses lol

When I was a kid, my cousins lived in a more remote location surrounded by forests. So huntsmans were a pretty common sighting.
Well them and what we call daddy-longlegs, now that I think of it

 

[Augustus]

Usually with the help of a broom in my experience

I once brushed a snake out of my house.

They lack the deceptive speed and unpredictable movement of demonic giant spiders tho...

Well them and what we call daddy-longlegs, now that I think of it

A slightly less intimidating creature fortunately

 

[SomeRandom]

I once brushed a snake out of my house.

They lack the deceptive speed and unpredictable movement of demonic giant spiders tho...

Lol ours aren’t even the biggest of the species. In Laos there is what’s called the Giant Huntsman
And it’s exactly what it sounds like. A huntsman, only bigger.

A slightly less intimidating creature fortunately

Indeed. I know honest to god arachnophobes who will tolerate a Daddy-longlegs

Though you learn not to judge a spider by its size in Oz. I mean sure huntsmans are scary looking, but they can’t really inject much venom into humans. So they might hurt you, usually only if you annoy them, but they’re not very dangerous
By contrast redbacks are tiny but if they bite, you have to immediately seek medical care and indeed they can kill you. Though that is actually pretty rare

A Sydney funnel web is far more scary though. Those blighters will actually chase you!