A rude awakening: Man's terrifying eight-legged alarm clock

A man has received a wake-up call which might give a few people some sleepless nights.

The man posted on Reddit “old mate” fell on his face as he was waking up on Monday.

“Some colourful language and then released outside,” he wrote.

The man pictured a large spider, believed to be a huntsman, in a clear plastic container.

He later added his partner slept through the entire ordeal.

“She still has no idea,” he wrote.

Huntsman spider – the 'perfect housemate'

People on Reddit were less than enthused in hearing about the spider waking the man up.

“I would be dead. My heart would explode from sheer terror,” one woman wrote.

One man added the post will fill overseas viewers with “more existential dread”.

It’s not clear exactly what breed of spider it is but a number of people believe it’s a huntsman spider which one man called “the perfect housemate”.

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While huntsmans might look threatening due to their sheer size in relation to other creepy crawlies, they rarely do any harm to people outside of a rare bite.

They mostly feast on small insects such as flies hence “the perfect housemate” label.

The man added he put the spider back outside to "catch those damn mozzies".

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