Huntsman spiders (Sparassidae, formerly Heteropodidae)

[bloodhound31]

Found big mama Huntsman under a steel plate out in the bush at Googong Dam today. She was rather annoyed so I put her back with babies before I left.

Baz.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

That 2nd pic is fantastic Baz

All those cute little babies that will grow up to catch mozzies and flies in our homes

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Nice ones Baz.
Our place has heaps of spiders and it can be quite a challenge in a house of 4 ladies to convince them that they're harmless - don't hurt them and they won't hurt you

[Ric]

That second picture is amazing Baz.

[bloodhound31]

Cheers blokes! Yes Ken, I am a big fan of spiders around my house to take care of business when it comes to other insects.

I don't like to kill anything anymore, I have had more than my fair share of killing, so I leave it up to nature now.

Baz.

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Originally Posted by bloodhound31

Found big mama Huntsman under a steel plate out in the bush at Googong Dam today. She was rather annoyed so I put her back with babies before I left.

Baz.

Did you know that when they are still in the egg stage that they actually grow on the outside of the egg with an umbilical over the egg.

Nico.

[Dennis]

Great shots Barry, especially the one with all the juvenile spiders - what numbers!

Cheers

Dennis

[bloodhound31]

Originally Posted by Nico13

Did you know that when they are still in the egg stage that they actually grow on the outside of the egg with an umbilical over the egg.

Nico.

WHOA!! No! I didn't know that Nico. That's very interesting and fascinating. The eggs in your photo are almost identical in colour to the babies I photographed.

Thanks for the scoop! I'm gonna look it up a bit more now.

Baz.

[Nico13 (Ken)]

No worries Baz,
Thought you might like that one, great shots of yours by the way.

Nico.

[OICURMT]

In 2005, my son (then 9 yrs old) raised two broods of about 150 each... he really enjoyed watching the young ones scurry around at night foraging.

The babies would exit through the slats at night and return to mother before dawn. My son had this spider for two seasons (thus the two broods).

[AstralTraveller (David)]

We had a brood of huntsmen hatch in the kitchen once. At night they gathered around the light. For days we were scooping up spiders on pieces of paper and putting then in the garden until most were gone or dispersed through the house. I wonder how many survived and how many were bird food?