Creepy Crawlies

Last summer there seemed an unprecendented amount of spiders around. Was this due to the fact we had rain? So far this year, I haven't come across that many. (touch wood) I always seem to walk through the web, as I am looking down. Any ideas on how to avoid the hazards?

Gday AUgirl and welcome to the forum
Your not wrong about all the Spiders out there the past few years and your right about it having to do with the extra rain. The whole insect food chain has kicked off so the Spider population has exploded as well.
We have alot of Mouse Spiders here in the Central NSW gold fields and they can make you very sick if bitten. There were also stacks of St george Cross Spiders hanging in the trees,which can also give a nasty bite. Its hard looking at the ground for Snakes and watching the trees for spiders as well
The first thing you know about the tree spiders is when you find one sitting on your shoulder!

Hi there AU, isn't nature fabulous. A bit of rain and it knows to breed up like mad. We have a lot of the beautiful golden orb spiders here making webs between the trees and there were a lot more this year as well. They are non-venomous, very pretty and the webs are like spun gold, so I don't mind them at all, being a keen photographer.
You do have to watch out when detecting though, I find if you're heading towards some trees, keep on the edge when you walk through as they're more likely to be out in the middle with their web. At least you get warning of feeling the web before and can move away.
For me, I have a phobia of huntsman spiders, would rather face a taipan or a giant wombat that one of those!
Welcome here, don't seem to be many of us women who are keen detectors, good luck and hope there's lots of the yellow stuff with your name on it!

I guess out my way on the south coast of NSW there will be an explosion of "ticks" and "leeches" this year and already I can feel the pain coming on when I'm out bush next. "ouch"

Those little spiky backed coloured spiders hurt too.
My pet hate is the Bull ants also known as soldier ants and jumper ants. I usually have to get a needle when they bite me. Not only do they bite, but they have a sting in the tail.

Don't you love it when the webs that strong, you have to back away, then comes the dance and shuffle and for the next 10 minutes it feels like something in your hair, when it's only your hair getting back to normal after the beating it just went through! Gotta love it!

Panther wrote:Those little spiky backed coloured spiders hurt too.

Ive always though that Jewel spiders were harmless.

I have almost walked into a Maltese Cross spider on a few occasions.
The biggest was about 10' across from leg to leg, well it looked like it as I only looked up at the very last second, it was mm's from my face... I would have hated to have walked into it.

iluvthebush wrote:Hi there AU, isn't nature fabulous. A bit of rain and it knows to breed up like mad. We have a lot of the beautiful golden orb spiders here making webs between the trees and there were a lot more this year as well. They are non-venomous, very pretty and the webs are like spun gold, so I don't mind them at all, being a keen photographer.
You do have to watch out when detecting though, I find if you're heading towards some trees, keep on the edge when you walk through as they're more likely to be out in the middle with their web. At least you get warning of feeling the web before and can move away.
For me, I have a phobia of huntsman spiders, would rather face a taipan or a giant wombat that one of those!
Welcome here, don't seem to be many of us women who are keen detectors, good luck and hope there's lots of the yellow stuff with your name on it!

Just thought I would mention:
The Golden Orb Weaver can give you a quite a nip and it like all spiders has fangs and injects an anti coagulant gunk that turns your tissue to sludge.
The bite although not deadly can be pretty painfull for a few hours and like a lot of spider bites, they can become infected easily.

G'day AUgirl. Welcome to the Forum.

If you thought last year in VIC was teaming with insect life wait till you see whats install for us this year.The only words I can find to describe whats awaiting us (not to mention anything else that slithers,crawls walks or fly's) this year is "Plague Proportions"

Cheers kon61.

kon61 wrote:
G'day AUgirl. Welcome to the Forum.

If you thought last year in VIC was teaming with insect life wait till you see whats install for us this year.The only words I can find to describe whats awaiting us (not to mention anything else that slithers,crawls walks or fly's) this year is "Plague Proportions"

Cheers kon61.

God help me...!

God help all of us.

Cheers kon61.

This spider was at face height when my detecting partner warned me not to take another step. I looked up and realized this little jerk would have been plastered onto my face in a couple of inches. It was so close to my face that my eyes didn't even focus on it. I think I jumped back when I realized it was within licking distance.

Sure, the Golden Orb Weavers are harmless but all spiders can bite and the last crab-type Orb Weaver to bite me stung like hell... I was bitten on the neck and it was as bad as a bee sting.

When I was in the tropics, I saw a LOT of these spiders stung out by the hundreds every few feet. The ONLY way to get around was to use a big stick and sort of wind them all onto it as you walked. This meant the buggers would climb up the stick until they got to your hand and you had to find a new stick and start over again.

I don't mind the critters as long as they're not Jumping Ants or Wasps. Anything else and it's fodder for my cameras.

Yikes...I'm sorry I asked...I would have been happier in my ignorance! Thanks for the pic! It will be on with the 'Bushman' thick!

Does anyone not think these spiders are beautiful!? Their webs are so big you can't miss them so they give you plenty of notice and their webs shining golden in the sun are a photographer's dream.
Not like huntsman spiders who are very uncivilised and don't even have a home. They just lurk and scare the pants off you, turning up on your walls or under things when you least expect it. Give me golden orbs any day!

something i`ve noticed recently about the place is little red and green caterpillars about 1" long decending out of the trees on what looks like a spider web. i was at Tarnagulla a couple of days ago and there were trees with hundreds of these things hanging off them.

Gday

Huntsman spiders are good fun, nothing funnier than seeing the look on someones face when you grab one and throw it at them, the golden orb weavers are harmless but its still creepy when you walk into the web and wonder where the spider is.

I try not to damage the webs and walk around them, sometimes I will stop to have look at them as some are massive, they also dont appreciate being patted or poked and will quickly dissapear into the trees when you hit the web, I am pretty sure that they know the difference in size of a person to a fly so any violent hit on their web sends them running.

cheers

stayyerAU

stayyerAU wrote:
Gday

Huntsman spiders are good fun, nothing funnier than seeing the look on someones face when you grab one and throw it at them, the golden orb weavers are harmless but its still creepy when you walk into the web and wonder where the spider is.

I try not to damage the webs and walk around them, sometimes I will stop to have look at them as some are massive, they also dont appreciate being patted or poked and will quickly dissapear into the trees when you hit the web, I am pretty sure that they know the difference in size of a person to a fly so any violent hit on their web sends them running.

cheers

stayyerAU

That cheers me up - thanks!

Gday

All jokes aside its important that you protect yourself against creepy crawlies and other bities in the bush, its sometimes the ones you dont see that will have the worst effect on you.

Protection of your eyes, ankles and other exposed body parts is important, I have had conjuctivitis ? from flies getting into my eyes while detecting, I had to leave the area and drive the 120 klms back to town to get medicine with partial sight, if I had stayed there any longer I could have been in serious trouble.

Another person I know got very sick and had to be hospitalised after being bitten multiple times by sandflies around the ankles and feet, march flies and ticks can do the same, also there are also biting ants, many of these can cause toxic shock in some people, just as bee stings can.

Three things that I always wear are flynet, gloves, bug spray, I dont consider myself soft I just dont like the inconvience that even a minor injury can cause when in the bush, so its easier just to cover up and get on with it.

cheers

stayyerAU

Whenever trees are a couple of metre's apart or less I always consider spiders are between them so I hold my pick by the digging end and use the handle to swipe away any possible spider webs.Then I wipe the webs and spidies off on a tree trunk. I can't concentrate on detecting fully if worrying about spiders so I clear a little area and then continue. Works for me anyway.
Cheers,
Adam

blackwhisky wrote:Whenever trees are a couple of metre's apart or less I always consider spiders are between them so I hold my pick by the digging end and use the handle to swipe away any possible spider webs.Then I wipe the webs and spidies off on a tree trunk. I can't concentrate on detecting fully if worrying about spiders so I clear a little area and then continue. Works for me anyway.
Cheers,
Adam

Good idea....thanks Adam

stayyerAU wrote:
Gday

All jokes aside its important that you protect yourself against creepy crawlies and other bities in the bush, its sometimes the ones you dont see that will have the worst effect on you.

Protection of your eyes, ankles and other exposed body parts is important, I have had conjuctivitis ? from flies getting into my eyes while detecting, I had to leave the area and drive the 120 klms back to town to get medicine with partial sight, if I had stayed there any longer I could have been in serious trouble.

Another person I know got very sick and had to be hospitalised after being bitten multiple times by sandflies around the ankles and feet, march flies and ticks can do the same, also there are also biting ants, many of these can cause toxic shock in some people, just as bee stings can.

Three things that I always wear are flynet, gloves, bug spray, I dont consider myself soft I just dont like the inconvience that even a minor injury can cause when in the bush, so its easier just to cover up and get on with it.

cheers

stayyerAU

Yes I'm with you there. I don't want to be injured ... can't detect from a hospital bed!!!

Hey if you threw a huntsman at me there would be hell to pay!!

phoenix wrote:something i`ve noticed recently about the place is little red and green caterpillars about 1" long decending out of the trees on what looks like a spider web. i was at Tarnagulla a couple of days ago and there were trees with hundreds of these things hanging off them.

Haaven't seen any, but I'll be looking!

someday wrote:Don't you love it when the webs that strong, you have to back away, then comes the dance and shuffle and for the next 10 minutes it feels like something in your hair, when it's only your hair getting back to normal after the beating it just went through! Gotta love it!

Hi, just spent the last 8 days swinging, with a watered down tea tree oil in a spray bottle applied once in the morning.
And we went thru some serious scrub.
Other guys had 2 or more ticks a day on them, myself and my partner had 0 bugs in total.
Ticks often hand on spider webs, have a close look at a web next time, you will see what i mean.
Tea tree oil is a great repellant, especially for scrub itch.
P.S it doenst help when you sit on a cactus !!!!
Or when they go thru your shoes..

iluvthebush wrote:For me, I have a phobia of huntsman spiders, would rather face a taipan or a giant wombat that one of those!

Hey ilovethebush,

I cut a big tree down once, when it hit the deck, the bark came to life with huntsmens- literrally thousands of em. Made it look like the bark was crawling everywhere and I suddenly thought i was hallunicating !!
It really was an incredible sight.

There was no houses or other trees around except for 1 house about 30 yards away.....

I dont mind them except for when they are on the inside of the windscreen in front of my face....

Saw a car pull off on a side street once, come to hurried stop. All 4 doors thrown open simultaneously with all occupants leaping from the car as fast as they could !! funny sight to watch !

FF

Goodday All.
I don't know about creepy crawley's but on monday I left camp on my last day of my week trip & I got to my spot & realised I was wearing thongs & as it was about 20km. from camp I detected anyway. after about an hour in long grass I walked up this gully with grass up to my waist when I looked ahead of my coil I could see coils of brownish coloured snake so I pushed the grass back with my coil & there was 5 feet of Black headed python laying there, so I left him in peace & went out to the open ground.
Cheers Greg

ferrousfinder wrote:

iluvthebush wrote:For me, I have a phobia of huntsman spiders, would rather face a taipan or a giant wombat that one of those!

Hey ilovethebush,

I cut a big tree down once, when it hit the deck, the bark came to life with huntsmens- literrally thousands of em. Made it look like the bark was crawling everywhere and I suddenly thought i was hallunicating !!
It really was an incredible sight.

There was no houses or other trees around except for 1 house about 30 yards away.....

I dont mind them except for when they are on the inside of the windscreen in front of my face....

Saw a car pull off on a side street once, come to hurried stop. All 4 doors thrown open simultaneously with all occupants leaping from the car as fast as they could !! funny sight to watch !

FF

Heheehee! So relate to this! When it happened to me I drove off the road in fear, up the gutter and ended up in someone's front yard and before the car come to a stop I exited in two second flat. Wouldn't get back into the car as the little rotter disappeared (see, very uncivilised!). Had to call a friend to come and pick me up and drive my car back home. Didn't drive it again till another friend maxxed the car with spray and found the body. How about some good scary spider stories from other forum members? bet they would make good reading. Thanx for starting this thread AU......
Ferrous finder, what happened to you would be my worst nightmare, yuuuuuuk!

Hey, 'I love the bush'. I keep Taipans and used to keep spiders (including Huntsmen), but I've never met a giant wombat!
My male Tai. is about 2m and 5 yrs old. Female smaller and only three yrs old. She is too small to breed this season but will be next year!
(Been keeping and breeding snakes most of my life)

Some years back a mate bought me down from up the bush, a female huntsman, nearly the size of a bread and butter plate. I kept her in a clear plastic pet cage and feed her crickets and the like! Some times when I opened the cage she would walk up my arm and sit on shoulder, head or face! (Imagine having one that size on your face!) At no time did she ever bite me. Had I grabbed and restrained her I'm sure she would have. Regularly, she would spin an egg sack and lay a lot of greenish eggs. These would hatch and - baby huntsmen all over the house! No guesses as to why I'm not married anymore!! As she never had access to a male spider, but laid fertile eggs each time one then assumes she had mated and could store sperm.

As this is a prospecting forum, I best speak of same! I have not found a bit of yellow in over five weeks! And I'm out 2-3 times a week! Mind you the good old Bendigo Whipstick is still producing. Local friends do ok. She found a lovely 1 oz piece about three weeks ago. He's found about 1/2 oz small pieces this last month. I dont know where they go.

Belive me, 'I love the bush', despite your phobia, you would be far safer, stareing down a huntsman (or a giant wombat) than a taipan, promise!

gday suz

ok, my story ...

cutting wood one day and huntsmans coming out everywhere, so whats a girl to do? yep, kill them with the chainsaw (sorry spider lovers)
thats all well and good.... you chop 20 or so and think you've got them all.
Then its time to swing the splitter. You raise the splitter above your head and just before you put all your effort down onto the block of wood, you notice a huge HUGE spider sitting on your shoulder.
The splitter gets dropped behind your back but your body is in full motion to hit that block of wood. Your back goes out. The pain hits you. And you struggle to knock that darn spider off your shoulder because your arms just wont work with a buggered back. So whats the next best thing you do?
You scream, right? But you open your mouth and nothing comes out. And through all this fear and anxiety, your husband casually looks at you and says "watch that spider by your foot"

oh but then the icing on the cake.... the mother-in-law told me to "stop carrying on".... sheesh