# Not Scared Of Many Things...



## zebba (18/12/10)

I've mashed in, and getting the keggle ready to go for it's virgin brew day. There's a big of dust and stuff in it, so I grab the hose, give it a good squirt inside, then grab it - one arm on the handle on top, the other grabbing it by the base, and I start tipping, then lie it down on it's side so the last bits drain out the tap hole. I start to head back to make sure the mash temp is stable, and I see it...

Now, I'm not scared of much. Being a country boy, snakes were a weekly occurance around the house, and they never even raised the heartrate a fraction. But spiders... Just the sight of one is enough to make me go crying to the wife and asking her to take care of it. So seeing this, just centimetres away from where my had was just seconds earlier... I swear, the heartrate went from 70 up to 200 in a flash!





Biggest redback I've ever seen! And to make matters worse, the wife has gone out with the kids so I had to deal with this on my own. Shaking like a little girl, I had enough composure to grab the camera and get a pic, before grabbing a broom (nice LONG handle) and leaving nothing but a black smear of the thing. Once the brew is done, the mortein bombs will be coming out in force. Scorched earth policy. Nothing under 10cm in size will be left alive. I goddamn HATE spiders.

(But, the brew is going well! Hit mash-in of 55, infusion up to 67 was degree perfect, and the keggle, now spider free, is on top of the burner, valve attached, waiting for some precious wort!)


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## Online Brewing Supplies (18/12/10)

Mate hate to tell you thats only a baby compared to the ones we have over here in WA. I could go around the house now and find 10 of them.  
GB


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## zebba (18/12/10)

Gryphon Brewing said:


> Mate hate to tell you thats only a baby compared to the ones we have over here in WA. I could go around the house now and find 10 of them.
> GB


In a couple of days I'll gladly concede that it actually isn't that big, but right now I'll swear black and blue (or red) that it was as big as my hand.


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## manticle (18/12/10)

As someone who grew up dreaming of big black spiders in every corner and who still gets a shiver from them occasionally I'd like to say that redbacks are really, really hard to get bitten by.

Timid and not vagrant (ie homebound) you really have to threaten them to get bitten. A healthy adult will survive the bite without antivenin too. They control insect/pest numbers in your garden.

My first ever tattoo is of a redback - partly protective and talismanic I guess, a bit like the idea of surfers wearing a shark's tooth around their necks.

I guess my point is - relocate it or leave it alone. That smear makes me sad. Any more and I'll have to send you a copy of my drawing of tarantula skins.


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## Pennywise (18/12/10)

Zebba said:


> Biggest redback I've ever seen! And to make matters worse, the wife has gone out with the kids so I had to deal with this on my own.



:lol: You big bloody wimp, it was even running away from you  



Have to admit though, I'm not really a spider person myself, my son how ever is apparently Spiderman, so I constantly have one around on brewday B)


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## Pennywise (18/12/10)

manticle said:


> Any more and I'll have to send you a copy of my drawing of tarantula skins.




:icon_offtopic: Any updates on those pic's Manticle? They're pretty f**kin' mad


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## manticle (18/12/10)

I'll post some stuff up shortly but it will probably be old(ish). Have some incomplete new stuff which I'll be getting into post January.

Sorry for OT Zebba


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## zebba (18/12/10)

manticle said:


> Sorry for OT Zebba


U shouldn't be - I'm all about OT 

And yeah, I am a big wimp when it comes to spiders. I don't know what it is, but they just freat me out. I know I shouldn't kill 'em, especially as after years of trying I'm finally acquiring a green thumb and appreciating the work they do for me in that regard. When I encounter big black monsters pulling weeds from under the passionfruit, i take a breather and let 'em go. But when they get in the brewery, or in the house, I can't be held accountable.


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## legham (18/12/10)

Heres one I found in the infested shed I brew in on one of my first brew days!


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## Steve (18/12/10)

Ive a red back living in my little office at work, hes just moved in since they were doing some work in the attic. He lives up between the top of the bookshelf next to my desk and the vent just above it. Mean looking thing. Not much red at all. I just leave him alone but always check he's there when I get into work and not setting up home under my desk.


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## QldKev (18/12/10)

This thread has helped me work out why Matilda Bay called the beer RedBack, cause after you drank it you feel very sick like you are going to die.

QldKev


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## zebba (18/12/10)

QldKev said:


> This thread has helped me work out why Matilda Bay called the beer RedBack, cause after you drank it you feel very sick like you are going to die.
> 
> QldKev


Well in honour of the event I'm calling this my "amberback ale". Dark crystal, special b, pale malt, styrian goldings and willamette. And, cause it's what I do, she'll be bulk primed with some vanilla soaked in glen fiddich.

Just finished and good lordy having a proper size kettle makes life SOOO much easier. I was doing a two pot stovetop thing up until now, and it was a major pain. This was easily my easiest AG brewday to date.


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## WarmBeer (18/12/10)

Zebba said:


> Well in honour of the event I'm calling this my "amberback ale"...



Maybe "Brownjocks Ale" is more appropriate?


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## Bizier (18/12/10)

Funnel webs scare me because they are fast and aggro. Give me spiders over snakes any day of the week though. I've been chased by tigers and browns, and even the odd pissed off red belly, and if they are warm, they move a lot quicker and further than a spider. But I had one time as a teen, where a funnel web was in my room, but kept disappearing behind and under shelves, made for a few uneasy nights kip.


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## InCider (18/12/10)

I carried an esky full of beer from my kitchen to the car. I carried it high, leaning against my chest. I then drove from home to Mooloolaba, faffed around and got a park about a K from the BBQ area, then carried the bloody thing all the way to the party.

When I put the esky down (2 bags of ice and a box of headache from CUB) I saw in the recess for the latch a nice Redback, who had been enjoying the sweat off my solar plexus for a while. He was very quiet, and wandered off when I gave him a new home in the sand dunes.

To ensure this never happens again, I started brewing.


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## FNQ Bunyip (18/12/10)

I watched a monster Red Back ,in the court yard of a pub in SA. wrap up a mouse and then eat it over a few days , heard the mouse get caught ... 

and I was bitten on the big toe in the shower when I was a jackaroo out there many years ago ,, thought I was going too die , so I grabed a flagon of green ginger and went to my quarters sat down on my bed and started to drink ,, haha next morning I wished I did ..toe was as sore as buggery for about a week , but no long term effects ..don't know if it made me crook or the green ginger but got over it anyway ,, haha .....

cheers


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## pants (18/12/10)

I co-exist with a few red backs in my brewery from time-to-time, and didn't think much of them until my 3-year old junior brewer started hanging out with me. She wasn't too concerned, but let me know where they were and stayed away from them. Then a mate moved over from England, and I mentioned one day that they could be lethal. He was more concerned than I was for my little girl. Apparently, they don't have anything dangerous in the land of the pom!


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## super_simian (18/12/10)

I just relocated a whitetail bigger than a 50c piece not 5 minutes before reading this... I still have a scar on my leg from a whitetail bite, it went ulcerous and sloughed for a month or two. Bloody annoying!


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## peaky (18/12/10)

super_simian said:


> I just relocated a whitetail bigger than a 50c piece not 5 minutes before reading this... I still have a scar on my leg from a whitetail bite, it went ulcerous and sloughed for a month or two. Bloody annoying!



Shit, that's a big one. Bloody dangerous those things!


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## Fourstar (18/12/10)

when i was cleaning out the now brewshed and prepping it the become said brewing chamber i had to move some stacked tiles and clean up A LOT of red back webs (they are easy to destingiush as they typically no no pattern and are very messy/dusty looking, as are the egg sacks.)

anyway, i spotted many small males and let them do their thing whilst cleaning up and then came across the big mother redback. The body seemed as big as a marble and whilst i quickly extinguished the mumma spider i felt quite alright until i noticed a handful of babies over my shoe and one on my leg. Yep, bare skin.

I proceeded to crap myself, swipe away the one on my leg and kicked off my shoes and socks quicker than i could if i spotted Natalie Portman on all fours.

The hair still stands up on my thinking about it. im just glad they where small.

There was a bigb momma huntsman in there once which actually scares me more than the redbacks. as Manticle noted the redbacks are generally quite harmless but my arachnophobia took over when they where on my skin. h34r: 

Probabaly serves me right for killing their momma!


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## InCider (18/12/10)

Here is Mr Snakey who lived in my brew shed a few weeks ago. I like carpet pythons (this ones is a coastal variety apparently) 
and he was a good lad who just ate lots of bush rats - the same feckers who chewed through a plastic bin to spoil a whole bag of grain!






What really scares me that never used to... is FLYING!


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## Bongchitis (18/12/10)

Fourstar said:


> ..... and kicked off my shoes and socks quicker than i could if i spotted Natalie Portman on all fours.



mmmmmmm sorry for the OT h34r: but she is handy... soft spot for her also 4*.

Redbacks tend to bite and ask questions later as opposed to running and hidding so be carefull. You will be happy to know that very few people have died in recent times from redback bite. Apparently a few have made it to Japan and they have bred up to plague proportions... big news over there.


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## TidalPete (18/12/10)

Huntsman spiders all over the house up here (harmless) and lots of redbacks (little buggers) that I squash with my foot if nothing else is at hand.
Used to walk up the track to Point Cartright in the sixties (not a house in sight in those days --- pure paradise!) underneath huntsmen as big as dinner plates without any dinner plates of death dropping all over me.  
This is Australia brewers. lots of spiders, lots of snakes, lots of vampire sand goannas & other creepy-crawlies. Even if you live in a big city get used to it. They are here to stay.
Only one thing turns me off where I am & that's the bloody geckoes that have bred like wildfire over the past few years & leave shit everywhere & I mean everywhere.

TP
Edit --- forgot to mention the dunes in front of me are full of venomous visitors of which I am VERY careful.


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## Sydneybrewer (18/12/10)

Ok someone has to say it but mate eat some concrete and harden up! Lol redbacks are actually not that dangerous i was bitten by one on the back of the neck cleaning out the shed a few years back and didnt even give it a second thought, had some swelling the next day but thats about it.


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## zebba (18/12/10)

On the huntsman front, where I grew up in east gippsland most the huntsmen have some sort of parasitic worm. Step on one and often this pea sized thing will shoot out of it, which then slowly unravels into this worm. Ticks the old man off something shocking, as huntsmen tend to find their way into his horse trough, can't get out, die, then the worms find their way out of the spider and into the trough.

I _could_ harden up, but if they don't kill ya, they rot your leg off, and if they don't rot your leg off they infect you with parasites. Gimme a snake any day, at least you know where you are with them!


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## mwd (18/12/10)

Don't mind snakes at all, not keen on spiders but bloody cockroaches make my blood run cold. It's those twitching antennas.


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## schooey (18/12/10)

I don't mind spiders per se... those big hairy huntsmans, I'll pick them up and chuck them out the back door into the garden. The fat arsed spiders that build outside every night this time of the year don't really irk me if I get one on me on the way to the clothes line...

but Funnel Webs.... :huh:

**** them cranky big hairy fuckers... Sorry, man-tickler, but they end up in a greay smear on patch of ground every time. We live next to a vacant block with lots of rainforesty type plants and leaf litter; a perfect habitat for them. Usually I probably find one a month around here. The winter months are good because they are slower, but lately with the humidity and the rain the bastards are everywhere looking to breed and I come across one every week. I really don't want to get the pest guy in to spray because it whacks so much fauna that are innocent bystanders... but sheesh..


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## TidalPete (18/12/10)

Onya Zebba, really appreciate your input but a quick Google brought up nothing re your post. Happy to be proved wrong here if you can provide any info?
FYI here is a relevant LINK

TP
PS ---- Just saw your post schooey & admit that I've never seen a funnelweb although they're supposed to reside up here as well? Ain't I lucky :beer: 
PPS --- Tropical_Brews


> but bloody cockroaches make my blood run cold. It's those twitching antennas.


Those bastards are everywhere up here. Just point them to the south & they'll go back where they came from. :lol:


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## manticle (18/12/10)

No need to apologise Schooey. I'm a fan of live and let live but funnel webs are aggressive and highly venemous (at least a few species) and I do understand arachnaphobia. I still struggle with white tails, despite having read studies that suggest they have been maligned as the cause of necrotising arachnidism (otherwise known as weepy pustulent sores caused by spider bite)


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## DUANNE (18/12/10)

ive got heaps of white tails around my house and kill them as quick as i can. one bit me on the forehead at night when i was in bed and i have a small chunk out of my skin there now.also got a heap of huntsmans aound but im happy to leave them be on the theory that they wont hurt me but should keep all the mozzies and other bugs under control.


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## Brewer_010 (18/12/10)

My old place was friggen infested with redbacks (I used to spray the suckers all the time but there were far too many to keep on top of), and here is the grandma of all redbacks I've ever seen. Body was as big as a 20c coin, yikes. She's crawling around outside - the brick the bugger is on is a paving brick for scale - before she got stomped on (I've got two small kids and wasn't letting the spider away).


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## RobB (18/12/10)

Zebba said:


> On the huntsman front, where I grew up in east gippsland most the huntsmen have some sort of parasitic worm. Step on one and often this pea sized thing will shoot out of it, which then slowly unravels into this worm. Ticks the old man off something shocking, as huntsmen tend to find their way into his horse trough, can't get out, die, then the worms find their way out of the spider and into the trough.
> 
> I _could_ harden up, but if they don't kill ya, they rot your leg off, and if they don't rot your leg off they infect you with parasites. Gimme a snake any day, at least you know where you are with them!



The 'worm' could have been a wasp larva. Some species of wasps target spiders to lay their eggs inside them. The egg hatches and the wasp larva munches it way out. Fresh food for the baby, horrible death for the spider.


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## TidalPete (18/12/10)

Malty Cultural said:


> The 'worm' could have been a wasp larva. Some species of wasps target spiders to lay their eggs inside them. The egg hatches and the wasp larva munches it way out. Fresh food for the baby, horrible death for the spider.



Good post MC.
On reading this I remember that I often see the hornets up here trundling off with the body of a huntsman in their jaws. Strong buggers those hornets to carry multiple times their bodyweight back to their nests.

TP


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## Adam Howard (18/12/10)

On seeing all these clear photos of Redbacks they sure are pretty spiders. I don't find many day to day. Do lots of firewood harvesting though so encounter shitloads of different Huntsmans and Funnelwebs where we camp. I'm not an arachnophobe, but Funnelwebs die hard when I come across them due to them being mad kents. Everything else I leave alone unless I think it will climb up inside the leg of my pants while splitting wood!


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## jyo (18/12/10)

I don't like killing things very much (the occasional brain cell is fair game though) but we had the outside of the house sprayed a few weeks ago for spiders. It was infested with redbacks and whitetails. I'm always dubious before spraying shit around my house but finding a redback in my baby son's rocker right before I put him in helped to move things along. 
I was also bitten by a redback on the stomach 6 odd months ago. Small red mark at the site and very minor irritation but other than that...nothing. Maybe my natural insulative properties helped to disperse the venom?

Cheers, John.


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## zebba (19/12/10)

Malty Cultural said:


> The 'worm' could have been a wasp larva. Some species of wasps target spiders to lay their eggs inside them. The egg hatches and the wasp larva munches it way out. Fresh food for the baby, horrible death for the spider.


Actually the link TidalPete posted had a perfect example - here's a bigger version. Warning: It's pretty yech! http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/Hunts...-worm-parasite/


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## Zizzle (19/12/10)

Pretty much everyone I have met in the US is piss-scared of even the tiniest spider. I don't even think they have any spiders really worth worrying about... probably the worst is a white tail.

I don't mind spiders. Funnel Webs to be killed on site, but that is just common sense. I kinda like having huntsman around.

I came out to the kitchen to find this visitor on our sliding door. Such a robust and placid spider, so different to the flighty old huntsman.

I played with him a bit and he didn't get aggressive at all. Was happy to keep on his way. He seemed really determined just to roam the yard. Couldn't even get him to show me his fangs.

Apparently it is mating season and the Male Tarantulas wander around looking for a mate.


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## geoff_tewierik (19/12/10)

Adamski29 said:


> On seeing all these clear photos of Redbacks they sure are pretty spiders. I don't find many day to day. Do lots of firewood harvesting though so encounter shitloads of different Huntsmans and Funnelwebs where we camp. I'm not an arachnophobe, but Funnelwebs die hard when I come across them due to them being mad kents. Everything else I leave alone unless I think it will climb up inside the leg of my pants while splitting wood!



You've got a degree in Forestry yet you work as a firewood harvester. Man I hope joining the plod doesn't see you becoming a lollipop lady.

OnT, we've got a shitload of Golden Orbs cluttering up the pathways at the moment, requires judicious use of hand in front of face when walking to catch the webs before the wrap around your face.

Last time I saw a red back it was in the tomatoes and my hand missed it by a bees dick. Hope this years plants haven't been colonised yet.


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## Zizzle (19/12/10)

These blokes are always fun too...


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## InCider (19/12/10)

Zizzle said:


> These blokes are always fun too...




I'll be you've wrestled a few of them in your time :lol:


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## winkle (19/12/10)

InCider said:


> I'll be you've wrestled a few of them in your time :lol:



That's the one he uses in his exotic dance routine  .


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## manticle (19/12/10)

Zizzle said:


> Pretty much everyone I have met in the US is piss-scared of even the tiniest spider. I don't even think they have any spiders really worth worrying about... probably the worst is a white tail.



Hobo spider, recluse or fiddleback spider, black widow (very close relative of our redback) and possibly an occasional visit from a Brazilian Wandering spider/banana spider.

Only the last too are possibly deadly- as with the redback, the black widow will not kill a healthy adult. Wandering spider is the most toxic in the world next to the sydney funnel web.


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## bum (19/12/10)

Nah, he's right, manticle. You should see them jump over shit smaller than a money spider. It is pretty hilarious.

Not entirely related but this reminds me of the first time SWMBO came here from the States. We were around at a mate's place and he was showing us a (torturously long) video of his 4x4 trip around the cape. In this video a mate of his is dragging a 2 meter long python by the tail. She's staring at it terrified so I get a bright idea - I say to my mate "Bloody hell! That thing is huge. At least twice as big as any snake I've seen in my backyard!" She went white as a ghost and I couldn't even let the joke go on because I could see she was ready to walk to the airport.


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## manticle (19/12/10)

I have no doubt they're chicken shit about spiders. We do have an amazing collection of dangerous creatures here and it is funny sometimes to see how superscared visitors to the nation can be. Along with the funnies and reds we also have the mouse spider, adelaide trapdoor, barking spider, salt and freshwater crocs, great white, hammer head, tiger shark, bull shark, box jellyfish, sea wasp, blue ringed octopus, cone fish, stone fish, scorpion fish, Taipan, copperhead, brown snake, death adder, red bellied black snake, South Australians and Ivan Milat.

Hell even I'm scared of South Australians.


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## Dazza_devil (19/12/10)

manticle said:


> I have no doubt they're chicken shit about spiders. We do have an amazing collection of dangerous creatures here and it is funny sometimes to see how superscared visitors to the nation can be. Along with the funnies and reds we also have the mouse spider, adelaide trapdoor, barking spider, salt and freshwater crocs, great white, hammer head, tiger shark, bull shark, box jellyfish, sea wasp, blue ringed octopus, cone fish, stone fish, scorpion fish, Taipan, copperhead, brown snake, death adder, red bellied black snake, South Australians and Ivan Milat.
> 
> Hell even I'm scared of South Australians.




Don't forget our Tiger Snake, beautiful animal and deadly.


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## InCider (19/12/10)

manticle said:


> Hell even I'm scared of South Australians.




I'm with you there too


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## MHB (19/12/10)

Actually I quite like spiders, find them fascinating. Strange how a spider (funnel web) that evolved on a continent with no primates should be so poisonous to us and not bother cats at all. Redbacks are I believe pretty much harmless, well you wouldn't want your kids to play with them, but an adult needn't be too worried.

InCider, nice Carpet, had one living in the horses feed shed for a couple of years, isn't amazing how domesticated they become, almost friendly.

Anyway just to upset Arachnophobes everywhere here is the monologue by Vincent Price introducing the Alice Cooper classic to "Welcome to my nightmare".

_Leaving lepidoptra - please, don't touch the display, little boy, aha cute! 
__Moving to the next aisle we have arachnida, the spiders, our.. finest collection. 
__This friendly little devil is the heptothilidi, unfortunately harmless. 
__Next to him, the nasty licosa raptoria, his tiny fangs cause creeping ulcerations of the skin *laugh*. _

_And here, my prize, the Black Widow. Isn't she lovely?.. and so deadly. 
__Her kiss is fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake. 
__You see her venom is highly neurotoxic, which is to say that it attacks the central nervous system causing intense pain, profuse sweating, difficulty in breathing, 
__loss of consciousness, violent convulsions and, finally.. death. 
__You know I think what I love the most about her is her inborn need to dominate, __possess.
__In fact, immediately after the consummation of her marriage to the smaller and weaker male of the specie she kills and eats him - *laugh* __oh, she is delicious.. and I hope he was! 
__Such power and dignity - unhampered by sentiment. If I may put forward a slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled this world as a stumbling demented child-king long enough! 
__And as his empire crumbles, my precious Black Widow shall rise as his most fitting successor!_


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## bignath (19/12/10)

manticle said:


> Hell even I'm scared of South Australians.



Yep, we are a fearsome bunch of toughnuts!


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## bignath (19/12/10)

InCider said:


>




Boldly brewing what no man has brewed before!


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## Effect (19/12/10)

Big Nath said:


> Yep, we are a fearsome bunch of toughnuts!




yep - we all come from snow town - come to sa and you will go home in a barrel!


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## winkle (19/12/10)

manticle said:


> I have no doubt they're chicken shit about spiders. We do have an amazing collection of dangerous creatures here and it is funny sometimes to see how superscared visitors to the nation can be. Along with the funnies and reds we also have the mouse spider, adelaide trapdoor, barking spider, salt and freshwater crocs, great white, hammer head, tiger shark, bull shark, box jellyfish, sea wasp, blue ringed octopus, cone fish, stone fish, scorpion fish, Taipan, copperhead, brown snake, death adder, red bellied black snake, South Australians and Ivan Milat.
> 
> Hell even I'm scared of South Australians.



You forgot the bird-eating spider up north.


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## bignath (19/12/10)

Phillip said:


> yep - we all come from snow town - come to sa and you will go home in a barrel!




....or a keg!


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## manticle (19/12/10)

winkle said:


> You forgot the bird-eating spider up north.



No mate that's the barking spider (also known as the whistling spider). Endangered and rare as far as I understand - pet trade doesn't help.


To South Australians: Until you can prove to me that this is not a documentary, based around events on the Yorke Peninsula, I will remain respectfully terrified of all and sundry


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## InCider (19/12/10)

manticle said:


> No mate that's the barking spider (also known as the whistling spider). Endangered and rare as far as I understand - pet trade doesn't help.
> 
> 
> To South Australians: Until you can prove to me that this is not a documentary, based around events on the Yorke Peninsula, I will remain respectfully terrified of all and sundry



I look a bit like that!! :lol:


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## manticle (19/12/10)

Actually so do I.

just a bit more handsome.


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## Bizier (19/12/10)

I thought it was Peter Garrett


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## olde (19/12/10)

2 or 3 14' to 16' carpet snakes live in the bottom shed. A 12' one lives in the ceiling of the house (with no cornices, so often needs pushing back up there where he won't give the family the screaming heebies). Death adders all through the garden, blacks, browns, small eyed and tigers make regular appearances. Sorta puts the spiders into perspective, but they do give me the willies too.


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## Batz (19/12/10)

It's a never ending chore relocating snakes around here, and the spiders keep eating my chooks.




Batz


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## InCider (19/12/10)

Seeing everyone is showing off their snake rustling skills...




Why guinea pigs should be afraid of snakes... nom nom nom....that's 'Nicky' inside Mr Snakey.


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## browndog (19/12/10)

When I was in the middle east I was deathly afraid of coming in contact with one of these suckers







just looking at them gives me the shivers.

cheers

Browndog (not talking about the yanks har har)


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## mwd (19/12/10)

browndog said:


> When I was in the middle east I was deathly afraid of coming in contact with one of these suckers
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Good grief I have seen hundreds of Camel Spiders or Wind Scorpians is the other common name. Never seen anything like that size must have been imported from Texas where everything is 10x bigger. :unsure: 

Quote with picture "In fact, the picture of the soldier holding the camel spider is really a picture of two camel spiders attached to one another and held out in front of the soldier to make it appear larger than it really is!"


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## WarmBeer (19/12/10)

browndog said:


> When I was in the middle east I was deathly afraid of coming in contact with one of these suckers
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wikipedia link - Camel spiders



> Venom
> 
> While the absence of venom in Solifugae was long thought a fact,[3] there is a single published study of one species, Rhagodes nigrocinctus, carried out in India in 1978 by a pair of researchers who did histological preparations of the chelicerae, and found what they believed to be epidermal glands.[7] Extracts from these glands were then injected into lizards, where it induced paralysis in 7 out of 10 tests. While this study has never been confirmed, and while other researchers have been unable to locate similar glands in other species, this particular species does appear to possess venom, although *it is not known if there is any mechanism for introducing it into prey*.



I think I'll sleep pretty well at night knowing this. This, on the other hand _does_ keep me up at night


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## ratchie (19/12/10)

HEAD LICE


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## dj1984 (19/12/10)

these things do it for me rain moth we get these after rain sometimes and when they are in full season i like to take holidays from owrk cause the guys put them everywhere in my locker in my boots, im not scared like there going to hurt me but if i tred on one i will start chucking


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## Bizier (20/12/10)

Batz said:


> It's a never ending chore relocating snakes around here, and the spiders keep eating my chooks.
> 
> View attachment 42854
> 
> ...


 

WTF is that?


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## Thirsty Boy (20/12/10)

I'm in Zebba's boat - full tilt, scream like a girl and run away from anything even vaguely resembling a spider Arachnophobe. Have a little trouble with crabs, just cause they look a bit like spiders.

So much so that i cant watch film of a spider on the telly, i had to scroll quickly past the pictures of spiders you guys posted without looking - i once exited a car going at 50kms an hour because i pulled down the sunshade and there was a huntsman behind it. Luckily i wasn't the driver, because i still would have jumped, i once called my brand new girlfriend to come to my house and kill a spider for me, i refused to go on a holiday to south america because thats where the tarantulas live, there is no godamned way i am ever living in sydney or queensland - because thats where the funnelwebs live.

I am actually phobic, not scared of being bitten. Poisinous Redbacks scare me shitloads less than harmless Huntsmen, simply because a huntsman is a lot MORE of the thing thqt i am terrified of. Great big bloody agro deadly funnel webs are the pefect storm, I am vaguely uneasy at being located on the same continent as them. I will never, ever die of spider bite - i will die of fright from having one of the bastards actually touch me in the first place.

There are NO spiders in my house or brewery apart from the odd daddylonglegs (and they dont last long) because over the years i have built up a good half inch thick layer of surface insectcide in any and all locations in which a spider might lurk. And believe me, i actively go looking for those places - Because the only thing that scares me more than seeing a spider...... Is thinking there might be one there that i can't see!!

Typing the word arachnophobe makes me just a tiny bit unsettled, because it has a word in it that _means_ spider.

Scorched earth all the way Zebba... If the dolphins have to die in order for us to maintain a spider free world, i say "so long Flipper". Any bloody thing else that crawls, scuttles, lurks in corners and generally might die when i nuke the shit out of the spiders - well screw them too, because sometimes when i see them out of the corner of my eye, i _think_ that they might be a spider & damn near shit my pants.

Snakes are nice though.


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## Sydneybrewer (20/12/10)

This reminds me of an april fools day joke i played on my mum that backfired badly and almost killed us both.. I was about 11-12 and had in my possesion a plastic funnelweb, so i decided it would be funny if i placed it atop the sunviser in my mums car, long story short we skidded and slid along the freeway narrowly missing the barrier and any oher cars..


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## InCider (20/12/10)

Thirsty Boy said:


> I'm in Zebba's boat - full tilt, scream like a girl and run away from anything even vaguely resembling a spider Arachnophobe. Have a little trouble with crabs, just cause they look a bit like spiders.



I used to be a bit like that TB - until I left Sydney to come to Queensland... especially semi-rural Queensland!

There were times that my 'scorched earth' policy make the lefties cringe, so they would be called upon to relocate the hairy, spindly things. But I've developed since those dark days when I lived in fear.

Bushwalking is a hobby of mine. And I can tell you that spiders are the least of my concern. Often when I'm training in the Glasshouse Mountains, I'll end up with one stuck to my chest, causing me to initiate that dance we all do! 'Shit, feck, erse, aaaghh!'
I got used to that.

I sleep in a swag when I camp. No spiders have defiled me in my sleep. Plenty of brewers, snakes and sheep, but no spiders. 
And brewing... there's spiders in the shed. Lots of Huntsmans - which are my mates (one fell in a cider once... I found it when kegging, it tasted fine...if a bit furry :lol: 
I got used to them being around. On my hand, under the brim of my hat once (climbing a palm tree and the frond fell on my head with a nice wolf spider...I did the dance - and so did he I reckon!!

There's hope yet TB!


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## zebba (20/12/10)

Manticle will be pleased to know that during shock and awe yesterday I encountered a huntsman. I fought my instincts and relocated it out of the strike zone. Whilst doing so I told it in no uncertain terms that it was the luckiest spider in Melbourne, and that it better do what it could to thank me. I'm not sure it got the message.


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## michael_aussie (20/12/10)

Fourstar said:


> I proceeded to crap myself, swipe away the one on my leg and kicked off my shoes and socks quicker than i could if i spotted Natalie Portman on all fours.


I'd do the two, backed beast with Natalie!!!


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## manticle (20/12/10)

Zebba said:


> Manticle will be pleased to know that during shock and awe yesterday I encountered a huntsman. I fought my instincts and relocated it out of the strike zone. Whilst doing so I told it in no uncertain terms that it was the luckiest spider in Melbourne, and that it better do what it could to thank me. I'm not sure it got the message.




Manticle is very pleased. Did a thorough clean of my brew gear and area yesterday and cleaned some equipment I was giving away. Black house spider relocated (unfortunately it was difficult to relocate her egg sacs too) from a keggle. A plastic lid was found, underneath which was a brown house spider with eg sacs. The lid was moved to the back rather than added to the donations.

Brown house spiders look very much like redbacks but without the red. Egg sacs look similar too.

Disappointed in Thirsty boy though.


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## bum (20/12/10)

Anyway, moving right along...

I was shifting some wood for my cousin today and saw this lovely specimen. Sorry the picture isn't the best - I asked it to turn around but it would not oblige. Please note the redgum sleepers in the background for scale.




Dude poo'd.


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## Thirsty Boy (20/12/10)

manticle said:


> Disappointed in Thirsty boy though.



Bah humbug. I'm a nice enough bloke, but i'm no damn buddhist. Many many, more than i could possibly count, things have died in order to facilitate me (and you too) living my life in the way i do, which includes comfortably and not in fear.

I fail to shy away from the fact that some of the things that have died in order to smooth my path through this life, have done so at my hands personally.


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## manticle (20/12/10)

Yes but I have a soft spot for spiders (despite also having had arachnaphobia when younger - I couldn't open a picture book on spiders as a kid for fear the photographed specimen would crawl out of the page and do nasty spider things).

you can kill mosquitoes, goats, kangaroos and ducks. All of those need to be eaten apart from the mozzies. Next time you see a spider, I'll come and take it away for you.


I'm also happy to supply some buttons for your blouse but I won't be able to sew them on for you.


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## InCider (20/12/10)

Seeing we're boasting animal cruelty, I mowed over a few cane toads tonite


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## haysie (20/12/10)

InCider said:


> Seeing we're boasting animal cruelty, I mowed over a few cane toads tonite



They are less messy under the blade of a pitching wedge  
Rats being my phobia, spiders are fine, I work with them everyday thou.


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## Thirsty Boy (21/12/10)

manticle said:


> Yes but I have a soft spot for spiders (despite also having had arachnaphobia when younger - I couldn't open a picture book on spiders as a kid for fear the photographed specimen would crawl out of the page and do nasty spider things).
> 
> you can kill mosquitoes, goats, kangaroos and ducks. All of those need to be eaten apart from the mozzies. Next time you see a spider, I'll come and take it away for you.
> 
> ...



No, no you wont... Because either i will have already run away screaming, or somehow screwed up the courage to kill it myself... I favour sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner, then with the cleaner still running, spraying mortien up the nozzel of the vacuum cleaner, and leaving it running for an hour or so until i am sure the creature is dead. Must leave the cleaner running though, in case spider crawls back up the hose and gets out... Highly pissed off at being sucked up and an attempted poisoning.

I care not for your soft spot - spiders must die (not cruelly if i can help it. There is a differnece between killing something and animal cruelty) if i am calling someone to take care of a spider for me, i will call someone i know will kill it! You'll probably feed the bastard and set it free to terrorise me another day, or it decendants.

And i am a BIAB capable brewer, and therefore perfectly capable of sewing the buttons on my own blouse thank you very much.


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## Zizzle (21/12/10)

SWMBO has never been and is already scared of going to Aus. I stupidly clicked on this while she was in earshot the other day.


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## Batz (21/12/10)

Sun was out for a change yesterday, and a fair size King Brown wanted to come inside with us.




Batz


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## BjornJ (21/12/10)

Holy c..

If that happened to me, we would probably have to migrate back to Scandinavia.

There's now two reasons for brewing on the balcony.
Not being able to afford a house with a shed was up until this the only reason.
Now I have another.

No funnel web, redbacks, brown snakes or anything else (as far as I know) on our balcony.
Seen a cockroach or two but not scared of those  


Hmm, maybe migrate to NZ? Heard there's no funny stuff there trying to kill you.
At least no scary animals and insects.
But then it'll be too cold again.

Bjorn


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## AndrewQLD (21/12/10)

Batz said:


> Sun was out for a change yesterday, and a fair size King Brown wanted to come inside with us.
> 
> View attachment 42868
> 
> ...



Nice Batz, lucky that wasn't the one sleeping next to InCider on the brew day. Scary stuff one of those tapping on your back door.


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## Fourstar (21/12/10)

kirem said:


> found thisone a while ago on another forum.
> 
> View attachment 42860



As you can see the kitty is not dead, it's in a sleeper hold.


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## raven19 (21/12/10)

manticle said:


> Hell even I'm scared of South Australians.





Phillip said:


> yep - we all come from snow town - come to sa and you will go home in a barrel!



:lol: 

Back On Topic, I regulary find redbacks under the lips of my large Hop Pots - I exercise caution with suitable gloves when moving the pots.

Personally I am not a fan of spiders or snakes, no doubt from watching too many scary movies on the tv, rather than actual life experiences.


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## manticle (21/12/10)

BjornJ said:


> Hmm, maybe migrate to NZ? Heard there's no funny stuff there trying to kill you.
> At least no scary animals and insects.



Still got the katipo spider.


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## Bizier (21/12/10)

Batz said:


> Sun was out for a change yesterday, and a fair size King Brown wanted to come inside with us.
> 
> View attachment 42868
> 
> ...


 

There is a creature that commands a modicum of respect, especially if it is niiice and warm.


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## Mattese (21/12/10)

I know around where I used to live - semi rural close to Brisbane, redbacks seemed to get anywhere and everywhere.

Strangest place I ever encountered one was inside a car door under the skin while I was knocking a dent out. %[email protected] knows what there is to eat inside a car door, but there it was...


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## Peteoz77 (21/12/10)

Batz that Brown on the back step is awesome! How often would that happen?


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## jyo (3/1/11)

This one's for you, T.B!
I was just getting my little girl out of the bath, grabbed a towel off the rack and this big sucker was sitting on the wall behind the towel...too close for me. I don't really need to say what happened to this one (sorry Manticle)
This is the biggest whitetail I have seen. Just the idea, all be it unsubstantiated, of necrosis is enough for me to dispose of these little buggers.

Cheers and beers!
John.


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## winkle (3/1/11)

Batz said:


> Sun was out for a change yesterday, and a fair size King Brown wanted to come inside with us.
> 
> View attachment 42868
> 
> ...



I bet you don't forget to shake the work boots out before putting your feet in them :blink: .


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## browndog (3/1/11)

jyo said:


> This one's for you, T.B!
> I was just getting my little girl out of the bath, grabbed a towel off the rack and this big sucker was sitting on the wall behind the towel...too close for me. I don't really need to say what happened to this one (sorry Manticle)
> This is the biggest whitetail I have seen. Just the idea, all be it unsubstantiated, of necrosis is enough for me to dispose of these little buggers.
> 
> ...




Shouldn't you be asking how they get in your home and eliminating the problem, I'd be shitting myself if I knew those things were in my house.

cheers

Browndog


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## jyo (3/1/11)

browndog said:


> Shouldn't you be asking how they get in your home and eliminating the problem, I'd be shitting myself if I knew those things were in my house.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Browndog



The thing is, we had the outside of the house and inside the roof sprayed for spiders about 3 months ago....I hate these things.


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## colonel (3/1/11)

I'm pretty sure Whitetails are harmless to humans (our place is full of them)
I've seen a few articles saying that they hunt other spiders.
I'll try and find the links and post them.
On the other hand, our cars and sheds are full of Huntsmen, which i know are harmless, but freak us out anyway when you're driving on the freeway, and they're running around inside. Brrr!



jyo said:


> The thing is, we had the outside of the house and inside the roof sprayed for spiders about 3 months ago....I hate these things.


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## colonel (3/1/11)

http://australianmuseum.net.au/White-tailed-Spider





colonel said:


> I'm pretty sure Whitetails are harmless to humans (our place is full of them)
> I've seen a few articles saying that they hunt other spiders.
> I'll try and find the links and post them.
> On the other hand, our cars and sheds are full of Huntsmen, which i know are harmless, but freak us out anyway when you're driving on the freeway, and they're running around inside. Brrr!


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## DanRayner (3/1/11)

Medical Journal of Australia article about white-tailed spider bites - it seems the necrosis thing is a myth.

Cool website on all the different Aussie spiders

....

now back to the study (stop procrastinating!)


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## manticle (3/1/11)

Necrotising arachnidism isn't necessarily a myth - it's just that that MJA study (probably the most comprehensive to date as far as I'm aware) suggests the white-tail may have been inadvertently/incorrectly blamed.

It is very likely that the fiddleback/recluse - spider may be responsible (or one spider type that is). Other candidates include the black house spider which I can see a logic for - some black house spiders display white or grey markings on the abdomen and one of the white tails' main sources of food are the black house spider. Wolf spider is another suggested candidate.

Other suggested causes are enzymes they have picked up from feeding on other spiders as I don't believe toxicology reports show anything in the white tail venom itself.

Necrosis in Australia may relate to causes other than spider bite - not that much is known here if and what spiders can cause this but the aformentioned fiddleback (mainly limited to the Americas) is one. How many misattributions have occurred in its case (similar to white tail here) is unclear and there are other causes of necrotic lesions that are not spider related. Furthermore necrosis in cases of confirmed recluse spider happens only in a small number of cases.

Interesting if mildly horrific.


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## Ducatiboy stu (3/1/11)

Spiders are Ok with me

Pythons are OK, but hate them browns and Taipans

But if you really want to freek me out, just wave a needle & syringe at me and I am gone..

VB also has the same affect


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## InCider (3/1/11)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> Spiders are Ok with me
> 
> Pythons are OK, but hate them browns and Taipans
> 
> ...




I spend a lot of time outdoors. On my small property, in the Glasshouse Mountains and the Blackall Range wherever. I've see a few snakes up here in QLD and a few in NSW on the Northern Beaches where I grew up (GO MANLY!), a few in Orange where I went to School too. I saw those Bird Spiders in PNG, spiders all over the place.

When I'm sleeping rough (Case Swap or climbing mountains) I never give the snakes or creepy crawlies a second thought - apart from precautions like checking your boots, never leaving your swag open etc.

But after years of work travel change when I move to QLD... I near shit myself in a plane now!


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## jyo (3/1/11)

Very interesting read, Dan and Manticle. It's going to be hard to let the whitetail off my list though...


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