Yeah, I am Australian. Honestly the dangers are overblown, but there are still a few spiders that make me go a bit wobbly inside.
Orb-weavers (different genus though) are one of them to a tiny degree, not because they’re dangerous, or even fast. It’s because they have thick webs that they spin every single damn night and you accidentally walk through them. And then they freak out while you’re freaking out… and they can really grip on to you.
I don’t go walking through gardens at night in some areas anymore, I’m happy to appreciate them from a distance. But I still feel that instinctive “do not want” deep down.
You are probably dealing with Hortophora transmarina, the “Australian garden orb weaver spider”, though you probably don’t call it Australian in Australia.
I always thought they were very considerate spiders because they are nocturnal and, as you said, build a new web every night. So they actually take it down during they day. Most orb-weavers won’t do that for you.
![[OC] Orb Spider (Araneus diadematus)](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/98132191-3b4c-461c-bc05-2b1f0ff459c9.jpeg){kind=link}
Yeah, I am Australian. Honestly the dangers are overblown, but there are still a few spiders that make me go a bit wobbly inside.
Orb-weavers (different genus though) are one of them to a tiny degree, not because they’re dangerous, or even fast. It’s because they have thick webs that they spin every single damn night and you accidentally walk through them. And then they freak out while you’re freaking out… and they can really grip on to you.
I don’t go walking through gardens at night in some areas anymore, I’m happy to appreciate them from a distance. But I still feel that instinctive “do not want” deep down.
Yep, there’s nothing quite like that unnerving feeling of walking face first into a spider web
You are probably dealing with Hortophora transmarina, the “Australian garden orb weaver spider”, though you probably don’t call it Australian in Australia.
I always thought they were very considerate spiders because they are nocturnal and, as you said, build a new web every night. So they actually take it down during they day. Most orb-weavers won’t do that for you.