Woman terrified to see spider carrying hundreds of babies on her back
A woman was terrified to find a large spider covered in what appears to be hundreds of baby arachnids insider her home.
Bessa Richards, a resident of Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands, discovered the mama spider walking along the skirting board in the middle of her house on Monday.
She told Yahoo News Australia she had a “freak out” after making the discovery and believes it was a wolf spider.
“One of my cats and our little dog saw it just after I saw it, so I had to make sure they stayed away,” she said.
Ms Richards used a lolly container to trap the spider and placed her on the bench.
“I’ve never seen a spider look like she did,” she said.
“I thought maybe she was moulting and when I swapped her to a clearer container I had to flip it.”
Ms Richards didn’t realise the spider wasn’t alone and was carrying babies.
“That’s when I saw the tiny ones that had fallen off and her whole body started moving,” she said.
According to Australian Museum wolf spiders are one of few spiders who show “such a high degree of parental care”, with females often carrying their young on their backs.
The Bowral resident believes the spider might have been exhausted after giving birth. It also only had seven legs, so it may have been injured.
Ms Richards placed the spider outside her home where the arachnid later died.
The woman added she’s also caught four funnel web spiders in her home since moving in 12 months ago.
She shared photos of the spider on Facebook with many horrified at the sight.
“Tip some petrol in there go out back and light it the rest will take care of itself,” one man wrote.
“It’s a big f***ing nope,” one woman wrote.
“I’ve never seen a spider look like she did,” Bessa Richards said on finding the spider carrying babies.
In January, police in Perth were called to what was believed to be a tragic incident at a home with a man screaming death threats.
It turns out he was trying to kill a spider.
He later said he may have overreacted.
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