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Help my identify this hairy spider!!! Includes Pic.

post #1 of 22
5/7/07 at 1:29am
Thread Starter 
I was sitting down watching TV, when this spider ominously crawled across my living room floor. It freaked me out alot, as it is quite big when its legs are out, so I killed it

But anyway, this is the second time a spider like this has crawled across my living room, so I kinda want to find out what it is. As you can see, its brown and hairy. At one end, there is a white sphere thing attached to it (could be an eggsac?) and its legs are all curled up in the photo, but they stretch out quite a bit longer. Anyone know what it is? It could be a New Zealand unique spider, but it might not as well...

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post #2 of 22
5/7/07 at 1:31am
Damn, those are so scary !!!
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post #3 of 22
5/7/07 at 1:37am
Normally spiders don't bother me, but seeing that in my house (let alone twice) would creep me out...
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post #4 of 22
5/7/07 at 1:51am
That breed of spider is definitely not around my neck of the woods. I was expecting something far, far smaller. When you killed it did it squirt stuff everywhere? I cant see a spider that big being killed without a gross mess.
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post #5 of 22
5/7/07 at 1:52am
Just stay far far away from these.



-Ed
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post #6 of 22
5/7/07 at 1:58am
Thread Starter 
Umm... Just to clear one thing up, the picture isn't life-size

In real life with its legs spread it, its probably around 3cm wide.
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post #7 of 22
5/7/07 at 2:08am
Sorry, I was incorrect.

From what I can tell, a perfect match:

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/Eng...CHAvondale.htm

You may want to phone up DOC or Biosecurity, they might be interested.
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post #8 of 22
5/7/07 at 2:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marados View Post
Sorry, I was incorrect.

From what I can tell, a perfect match:

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/Eng...CHAvondale.htm

You may want to phone up DOC or Biosecurity, they might be interested.
Thats an ALMOST perfect match, but the legs don't seem to come out from that strange angle on the spider I found... I dunno.
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post #9 of 22
5/7/07 at 2:36am
Hmm seems like a toy to me. Lets see, suspicious fuzzy head with only 2 eyes, check, knob feet, check, stitches, check, I win! (sorry if responses weren't serious, I am really bad at detecting sarcasm on the internet.)
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post #10 of 22
5/7/07 at 2:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by arnoldsoccer4 View Post
Hmm seems like a toy to me. Lets see, suspicious fuzzy head with only 2 eyes, check, knob feet, check, stitches, check, I win! (sorry if responses weren't serious, I am really bad at detecting sarcasm on the internet.)
lol no... This spider is not a toy. Thinking about it though, it does look like one.

And I think those two eyes are actually on its tail... I think the other end might be the head. Not sure though, and I've thrown the spider away now, so I cant check
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post #11 of 22
5/7/07 at 4:53am
Can you take a pic of it's eyes? The number of eyes and their position is another way to determine a type of spider. I'm quite familiar with arachnids in North America, but not so much in your part of the world.

Your spider looks more like a young Avondale Spider.


http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/re...s/avondale.asp

FYI, the Avondale Spider was used quite a bit in the movie "Arachnophobia". Ironically, Avondale Spiders are rather docile by nature apparently.

-Ed
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post #12 of 22
5/7/07 at 5:12am
Identifying spiders is VERY difficult unless it's a very common species. Not to mention in different areas the common names for spiders of the same species vary. That's not to say that your spider is not a common species, but there's a possibility it's not.

I once caught a very interesting spider that I kept in a terrarium in my high school biology class. I consulted a local Entomologist to try and determine the species. We didn't come up with a common name for the spider, but narrowed it down to a couple species, none of which were native to our area. He concluded that the spider I caught was probably a stowaway that had been transplanted by someone who moved from a different area.

**Edit** - From a quick google search of "Spiders of New Zealand" I would agree with Edwood that it appears to be an Avondale Spider. Here's the link I found. "Avondale Spider"
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post #13 of 22
5/7/07 at 6:30am
Another fine export from my country!
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post #14 of 22
5/7/07 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 
That Avondale spider does look alot like it... Although its probably alot younger.

I had a theory that it had come from the space under my house, as I had drilled a few holes in the ground for cables to go through (I have also crawled around in the small space under the house to route the cables, and to think that these things could have been everywhere ) and maybe the spider could have come through via that hole. I might fill it up a bit... Anyone know whether these Avondale spiders bite?

Also, the last scary spider that walked across my living room floor was in fact black unlike the brown of this one, and I identified it to be a Vagrant Spider. So I must have alot of scary spiders living under my house
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post #15 of 22
5/7/07 at 9:34am
Sure looks like an Australian huntsman spider. They come in at this time of year as it starts to get cold, and particularly if its raining.

Don't worry, the spider wasn't waiting for you to drill a hole to make its escape; houses aren't sealed (otherwise you would have mould growing everywhere inside).

While the huntsman can bite, it's not venomous and certainly isn't agressive towards people. They can grown quite large. I've personally seen ones with leg spans almost the size of my open hand. They can only grow to this size by avoiding human contact - so if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone.

Unfortunately, most of them end up dead because they look scary. Most people don't want to share their house with one of these (or any others), but I've lived in house in happy cohabitation with these spiders - even had names for some of them - but they are wild creatures and we just couldn't tame them.
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