A real Australian Spider

Garbz · Nov 15, 2004

It's amazing what a lens can do. That little cross spider in the other thread looked menacing yet has a 2cm legspan.
On the other side this Golden Orb Weaver which comes out in Brisbane at night and spins webs stong enough to catch small birds has a 7cm legspan.

I wish I had the guts to get closer.

Now the real surprise. Both the garden variety spider and the Orb Weavers are harmless. THe real killers are tiny in Austrlia. It's a bit like compensating :roll:

Corry · Nov 15, 2004

I LOVE how you caught the web highlighted!!! Nice job!

2Stupid2Duck · Nov 15, 2004

Yeah great shot mate.

Where the heck in Brisbane are you? I am a north side boy.

Niki · Nov 15, 2004

Great image! Gj!

hobbes28 · Nov 15, 2004

Great shot. I can feel the anxiety about being closer from here.

Aga · Nov 15, 2004

I love this shot, it's great... (even though I'm scared of spiders :mrgreen: )

aggiezach · Nov 15, 2004

EWW!!!!! The one thing I can not stand is spiders!!!! I don't mind big bears, mountain lions, or pirhana for that matter but spiders just really freak me out for some reason!
But this is a cool shot. Just glad I'm not the one on the other end of the lens!

Zach

bitterillusions · Nov 15, 2004

I adore the lighting on this! And the black in the back! Rocking picture! I know how hard it is to get close to spiders... or bugs in general....

Garbz · Nov 15, 2004

Heya thanks for the comments.

I'm on the northside, in Toombul, but the picture was taken at our other house in Brackenridge. (which is for sale atm so if you like spiders gimme a call)

I took this last year and forgot about it untill I saw that other spider reference. This spider used to build a web every day around 7pm, right infront of the floodlight in the backyard. I got kindof accustomed to ducking without even looking when walking there.
Mum never did and she allways freaked out.

The pic was taken from 2-3m away with a zoom lens. I would have gotten closer but there was a washing line in my way.

An interesting fact for thoes bored. The Orb Weaver spins the largest and strongest web in Australia. The largest web i've seen stretched from the side of our house to a palm tree in the back yard. The suppoting strands were about 7m long. When I put my finger on it it had a play of about 1m before it snapped.
Very scary spider but ultimatly harmless.

Also golden orbweaver. Pool tube is 9cm in diameter!

jadin · Nov 15, 2004

a very disturbing web

Garbz · Nov 15, 2004

Now if thoes were 10 million golden orbweavers i think the earth would officially no longer belong to us :shock:

2Stupid2Duck · Nov 16, 2004

Hey I'm at Eatons Hill which ain't far from Braken Ridge or Toombul either to be honest.

LOL. I got plenty of spiders of me own mate.

And for you Americans - we are coming into Redback season (Black Widows for you). Last summer my wife picked one out of her stocking, I got one in the bath with me, I got one in the toilet with me and killed one as it ran up my hallway.

John E. · Nov 16, 2004

Fascinating, spiders are soooo interesting. Good thread and pictures

Garbz · Nov 16, 2004

Man Eaton's Hill must have the plague. We had 1 redback and that got squished.

The key to avoiding redbacks are not to kill huntsmans. We basically breed them in our house. They eat redbacks, and the bugs off the ceilings.

For thoes not in the know, they are flat spides even larger then the orb weavers above. The largest i've seen had a legspan of around 10-15 cm. But once again big spider, in australia, and harmless. I got bitten about 4 months ago while on the phone, I just put some ice on it and got back into the converstaion.

Woulda killed the bastard but my cat ate it as it was runing away. 8)