Whoa!!!

[zachb55]

I was just working on my Z, when i found something that really suprised the heck out of me!!! I removed the front quarter panel from the passenger side, after removing the one on the driver side, and i noticed the MASSIVE amount of spider webs, i just thought, hmmm, must just be those little ones i see crawling around all the time... but when i flipped the panel over i saw a HUGE Black Widow, normally im not really bothered by spiders, but this is an easily deadly spider, especially at its size... i caught it and put it in a terrarium... I also caught what i believe is a male Black Widow too, but they arent black and dont have the markings, so im gonna take them both to my Biology teacher tomorrow and see what he thinks of them, and after that, i guess ill let them go. Its wierd becaus ive never seen one in southwestern washington, i thought they liked it a bit warmer, but it obviously it did... So my warning to you: Be carefull when you take those panels off... You never know what youll find! And to think i was wiping my hand around up there to clean out those webs just a couple hours before AGGHHH... Scary man. But im still alive so its all good!

See you all around, I hope...

-Zach

[2ManyZs]

Hmm, sounds like a case of arachnaphobia to me.

FWIW, even if it was a black widow their bites are rarely if ever fatal to humans. Much better to be bitten by one of these than the Brown Recluse. Their bites seem harmless at first until the body starts to decompose right on the bone. Seeing a person who had been bitten by a brown recluse on National Geographic was enough to make anyone ill. :sick:

[Ed]

Too bad you didn't find a bunch of money.

[halz]

You did well to catch those spiders. I caught a 'Huntsman' in my daughter's bedroom the other night (the other Aussies will know what they are). This one was about 5" in 'diameter'... you know, from leg tip to leg tip and is had a nice heavy body. Now... They can give a nasty bite but not fatal, however that doesn't stop them from looking deadly. My first thought was was to give it the old Blundstone boot treatment but (a) that would have left a large spidery mess to clean up and ( my daughter, age 4, had just been given a 'bug catcher' toy that day and insisted that I use that to catch it :tapemouth .I did mange to get the spider into the bug catcher but he was not happy. It's quite 'challenging to have a large angry spider in front of your face with only a thin peice of perspex in between! I gingerly released him outside where he can do his worst to the local insects etc. ... Or creep back inside again :paranoid:

[Ivan]

Stange, Australia that has just about every type of deadly animal there is and just accross the ditch the one only deadly thing in NZ lives on the Australian side on New Zealand

[Rob]

A few months ago I had a huntsman crawl across the bonnet of my Z at a set of traffic lights. I figured he would blow off when I took off. I accelerated up to 100kph (60mph) and the little bugger just hung on! I thought I could jar him loose by popping the bonnet onto the the safety catch but even that didn't phase him! I eventually got him when I got home (he walked over the roof when I stopped and was trying to get in through the hatch seal).

[halz]

Well lets face it, he's got taste and determination... sounds like a Z driver!

[halz]

Ivan, I'm sure you're trying to make a valid point but I can't understand what you mean in your post..?

[Mike]

A few months ago I had a huntsman crawl across the bonnet of my Z at a set of traffic lights.

It is now your mission to find a picture of a huntsman spider and post it here. I have never seen one, and I'd love to!!

[Rob]

Pretty aren't they?

[halz]

It gave me the shivers just surfing the n!et for these

[halz]

Eek!