This is about the size of a 50c coin and it was crawling under my T-shirt this morning and came out of my sleave under my arm pit while I was gardening. I didn't get bitten but it looks like it has a major set of front hooks. Just checking with you guys it's totally begnin. I nearly s||t myself though.
eeeeeek, any spider is a bad spider, unless it is a dead spider. double eeek, in your shirt. Sorry Marc, could not look at spider, but am sure someone will help.
Cool - it's just a big scary nothing then. When I saw the red on its butt I thought wow that can't be not good. I knew it wasn't a funnel web as I had plenty in the house when we had the brick work exposed upstairs when building the extension. They don't back off, they just face you with their legs up in the air when you tease them with a wooden broom stick. I had one that jammed its fangs in the wood once and I had to shake it off. You wouldn't like to be bitten by one of these for sure. That's gotta hurt.
Mouse spiders have long spinnerets....they're mygalomorphs (primitive spiders). That's what was worrying me with that piccie of Marc's. Some male mouse spiders have colour but they're mainly black/brown/reddish brown in colour as you mentioned.
It probably is a huntsman, but you still don't want to be bitten by one!!!.
The fact it was so calm even after Marc putting his T shirt on would suggest it's a huntsman. Most mouse spiders would either skidaddle or curl up into a ball. Some will bite, though.
As JJJ said, the piccie really made it hard to identify. That's why I thought it may have been a mouse spider of some sort.
I've seen a mouse spider munching on a gecko......gecko had no chance despite being a rather large one. Needless to say I killed the spider as I didn't want it coming in the house!!!.
Last edited by renormalised; 02-01-2012 at 12:08 PM.
Yep, we really do need better photos, preferably before it was mashed - and without so much shaking!
The options seem to be huntsman or mouse spider and I'll give long odds it's the former. They are far more common - I've seen hundreds in urban areas (including indoors) compared to only several mouse spiders which were always in the bush - and famously non-aggressive (I've carried them outside in my hands). They are good around the house as they feed on bugs, including cockroaches, though we did find the several hundred hatchlings on the kitchen ceiling a bit too much.
Given the time you've been here I'm a bit surprised that this is the first one you've seen. A bloke I know, a Scot, met is first huntsman when it crawled out of the vent and onto the windscreen of the car he was in traveling from Mascot to Wollongong about an hour after he landed in the country! Apparently it just raised a claw and said "Welcome to Australia, mate!".
The fact it was so calm even after Marc putting his T shirt on would suggest it's a huntsman. Most mouse spiders would either skidaddle or curl up into a ball. Some will bite, though.
Yep it curled up alright when I rolled it off. Sorry it's in the bin now so no chance of a better photo.
Just had a look at that site, Dave. Said mouse spiders have short spinnerets. Yet have a look at a red headed mouse spider....they're typical mygalomorphs with long spinnerets
Common Badge, Garden, House or Brown Huntsman. Bitey but no venom to worry about.
I have them in the house sometimes.
I've been bitten a few times. They have enormous strength to drive those curved pointy things in.
Everytime I've been bitten its been because I pick them up or::: once as I was teasing it. Just two tiny pin-pricks on the end of my finger.
Only reason I pick them up is to throw them out of the house.
Have not had any for a few years. Probably the Geckos have sorted them out lately.
Common name:Badge Huntsman SpiderScientific name:NeosparassusFamily:SparassidaeOrder:Araneae
Yep....beautiful spider. Not like these brutes (below). It was a female eating that gecko I mentioned before. You wouldn't want it to sink its fangs in anywhere!!!. Considering they do have a nasty venom!!.
eeeeeek, any spider is a bad spider, unless it is a dead spider. double eeek, in your shirt. 
Sorry Marc, could not look at spider, but am sure someone will help. 
ewwwwww OMG if i found that in my t-shirt i would so be screaming like a girl 
When I saw the red on its butt I thought wow that can't be not good. I knew it wasn't a funnel web as I had plenty in the house when we had the brick work exposed upstairs when building the extension. They don't back off, they just face you with their legs up in the air when you tease them with a wooden broom stick. I had one that jammed its fangs in the wood once and I had to shake it off. 
You wouldn't like to be bitten by one of these for sure. That's gotta hurt.
