What kind of spider is this?

[BrandonPrry]

http://www.dedicatedpain.com/spider.jpg

 

The piece of wood it is on is a 2x4. Any thoughts?

 

 

 

EDIT: I found this, maybe it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider

Edited April 25, 2011 by BrandonPrry

[hypervalent_iodine]

As I said in IRC, looks like a huntsman spider. We get them a lot in SE QLD, Australia. Supposedly you get them around where you are too.

 

If it is a Huntsman, I would normally leave it be. Mostly because killing them means getting in close proximity to them and secondly, they don't really hurt you. They just chill out eating insects, which I'm okay with.

[TeslaFan]

If I wanted to kill that thing I would shoot it with a BB gun from 10 feet away. No paper towel or shoe for that beast.

[xxSilverPhinxx]

If I wanted to kill that thing I would shoot it with a BB gun from 10 feet away. No paper towel or shoe for that beast.

 

Ha! My dad once shot a spider from the wall. What happened was he hit its leg and the spider when crawling under the bed, which of course, scared my mom (she doesn't like creatures with too many legs, and one less didn't seem to alleviate those fears) and it took forever to find the spider. I suggest there are better ways to remove them.

 

But I think it it's not too poisonous, let it be. They can get rid of nasty little insects for you.

[Arete]

Looks like a huntsman spider to me. They used to get into the letterbox where I grew up and we just let them be, we also come across them under tree bark doing herpetological field work in Australia all the time

In my experience they are reluctant to attack, however I did get bitten once when I accidentally put my hand down directly on one - the initial bite feels like being jabbed with a thumb tack and the venom is only a mild irritant not much more traumatic than an ant or a mosquito bite - so on the scale of mean bitey things they're pretty low

Edited July 13, 2011 by Arete