I used to tease these little black monsters out of their burrows.
The female (as the one you pictured) digs in up to a metre
Missulena "occatoria" and "bradleyi"
Nasty bitey and dangerously venemous. Shorter spinerrets than the Sydney Funnel Web. (That's the two small feeler things out the tail.)
Otherwise its difficult to tell them apart.
Marc is fortunate not to have that in his shirt. Otherwise we would be hearing from him in hospital.
I don't kill safe spiders. I like to have them rather than mossies.
Many people will kill everything off and then complain about all the nasty mossies they get. Its their own doing sometimes. They have killed off all the mossie predators. The frogs and toads leave because they are very sensitive to insect repellents and the propellants, etc.
Look after some of your spiders. They inadvertantly look after you.
Don't mind daddy long-legs, but anything larger and bitier can take a detour outside, thank you very much
Is it true that the daddy long-leg venom is actually extremely nasty but they don't carry much and can't pierce your skin anyway? Urban legend perhaps.
All those spiders are tame compared to the one I used to have dealings with. If you got in a session with him on the rough red in the wardroom or on a bar stool you would be sick for a week!
Is it true that the daddy long-leg venom is actually extremely nasty but they don't carry much and can't pierce your skin anyway? Urban legend perhaps.
Marty??
Daddy long-legs actually have the deadliest venom of any spider, any terrestrial creature for that matter. The only reason why they don't kill people is that their fangs are so small, they'd actually break them trying to pierce your skin
What's scary is that they've been hybridising with red backs.
funniest spider related story I have to tell is of my father....
Driving home from work one Friday afternoon after a long hard week, he had stopped off at the bottle-o to get a beer to drink on the way home (I know, I know). He was in that relaxed frame of mind that comes when winding down at the end of a long week when he rounded a bend in the road. The sun was getting low and he flipped the visor down to shade his eyes. On top of the visor was a very large huntsman spider that plopped down into his lap. I think there was much screaming and weaving across the road as he frantically tried to brush the spider away.
Needless to say the relaxed frame of mind took some time to return....!
Daddy long-legs actually have the deadliest venom of any spider, any terrestrial creature for that matter. The only reason why they don't kill people is that their fangs are so small, they'd actually break them trying to pierce your skin
There is an urban legend stating that daddy long-legs spiders have the most potent venom of any spider, but that their chelicerae (fangs) are either too small or too weak to puncture human skin; the same legend is also repeated of the harvestman and crane fly, also called "daddy long-legs" in some locales. Indeed, pholcid spiders do have a short fang structure (called uncate). However, brown recluse spiders also have uncate fang structure, but are able to deliver medically significant bites. Either pholcid venom is not toxic to humans or there is a musculature difference between the two arachnids, with recluses, being hunting spiders, possessing stronger muscles for fang penetration.[5]
In 2004, the Discovery Channel show MythBusters set out to test the daddy long-legs myth episode 13 - "Buried in concrete"[6]. Hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage first established that the spider's venom was not dangerously toxic by injecting it into a mouse, which showed no ill effects. After measuring the spider's fangs at approximately 0.25 mm (average human skin thickness varies from about 0.5mm to 4mm), Adam Savage allowed himself to be bitten, and reported that the bite produced little more than a mild short-lived burning sensation. This appears to confirm that, contrary to popular belief, pholcid bites can penetrate human skin but will deliver a harmless envenomation. Additionally, recent research by Alan Van Dyke has shown that pholcid venom is relatively weak in its effects on insects as well.[7]
According to Rick Vetter of the University of California at Riverside, the daddy long-legs spider has never harmed a human and there is no evidence that they are dangerous to humans.[8]
The urban legend ostensibly stems from the fact that the daddy long-legs spider is known to prey upon deadly venomous spiders, such as the redback, a member of the black widow genus Latrodectus.[9] By extrapolation, it was thought that if the daddy long-legs spider could regularly kill a spider capable of delivering fatal bites to humans, then it must be more venomous, and the uncate fangs were accused of prohibiting it from killing people.[10] In reality, it is merely quicker than the redback.[11]
But lets not let all that get in the way of a good story
I didn't know the answer about DLL. I never researched it. Any harmless spiders were not an issue.
Thanks to Ken I now know what the facts are.
But! Yes, it was what I had heard about DLLs as well (them being highly toxic) and that was from rather poorly informed sources.
Just another way I used to play with spiders (when I was about 7-11)
I'd catch a fly, keep it alive and unharmed, throw it into a spider web.
Then watch the spider rush out from its harbourage and attack the fly.
It would wrap the fly in web material and eventually move the secured fly to its storage area. This was called fun.
I disliked both spiders and flies but they fascinated me. Particularly how such sticky web material was so expertly manipulated by the spider.
Thanks Marty, that's the one. It maybe harmless but I'm still glad it didn't sink its fangs into me. They were freaking huge. When I felt it under my sleave it rolled into a ball and played dead. It didn't do anything nasty or try to run away. Just got scared when I saw the red back. I now have a fair idea where I collected it. One of the front palm trees. I was working at the back on my pier so it must have been there for a while (in my T shirt) before I noticed it.
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!!.
Yeah I recognise those ones. Nasty buggers. I hate them. I sprayed them all though. The ducks love'em. Apparently they're only deadly to humans.
Spray??? Ducks??? Do you eat the ducks or their eggs? Ever heard of bio-accumulation?
Yeah I sprayed all the ones inside the house. No I don't feed the ducks anything I spray. They like the live stuff so whenever I find one or roaches they love them. The vet told me it's fine.
I used to eat the eggs but she got too fat and stopped. She's on a diet now. Bio-accumulation... I'll check if I grow a third eye next time I get a hair cut.
Hi Marc,
Its often not a good thing to use sprays. Phosphates are very deadly to birds (ducks) where as pyrethrins are deadly to fish and aquatic life.
Both ranges of chemicals are used in insecticides.
Some phosphous compounds are used in agriculture controlling fruit pests. They are available from produce stores for the public.
The concentrate, straight out of the bottle is so toxic to birds that one drop, 1cc, can kill up to 2,000 pigeons. The LD50 is 240ugms/Kg.
Farmers spray it on fruit. There is a with-holding period before they are allowed to harvest. The chemical breaks down to harmless H2O, CO2, etc.
That is only while the fruit is still attached to the tree. It does not breakdown if the fruit is harvested before the end of the withholding period.
Most of the Mortein and Rid type of products are pyrethrins. Quite dangerous to the fish.
We all need to be aware of what the affects are on wildlife when we spray. Googling helps. Have a look at the active constituents.
I'll check if I grow a third eye next time I get a hair cut. 
