aka R’acquel

We had this male spider pay us a visit a few weeks ago after the first heavy fall of rain. My son & I were headed into his bedroom down the hallway. As soon as i turned around, i saw this black spider hanging out in the hallway. My husband came around to our rescue, with the heavy duty Baygon. I had to time-out on the bed afterwards, because my mind couldn’t stop thinking about how my son could have missed this spider by a whisker.

We think it is a blue mountains funnel web. All funnel web pics match it’s body pieces. I’m too scared to pull him out and inspect the second set of legs for spurs, but i think that would make it more definite for me. For now, he’s hanging out in the tumbler all shrivelled up, which often sits on a shelf in the kitchen pantry, awaiting for further identification! Many sightings have been reported in the area recently.

According to the real estate agent, they’ve apparently gone through 3 breeding cycles this year which is supposed to be unusual. I’m suspecting the strange weather could be influencing it. A number of my plants have been equally confused by the move too!

A solid read up on first aid skills the day after, gave me reassurances that things would still be okay in the event of a bite. My husband cheered me up by saying that he’s seen scarier looking funnel webs walking down the streets of Newtown. Ironically, it’s probably me who has the greatest potential of getting bitten by anything here, due to pottering about in the yard so much. 5! Can they really bite through the leather of boots, or is this just an urban myth? I’ll have to be more vigilant with the gardening gloves nevertheless!