Rare photos from inside a huntsman spider colony are captured by conservationists

Rare photos from inside a huntsman spider colony are captured by conservationists and will make your skin crawl

  • Nest discovered by conservationists at the Monjebup North reserve in Australia 
  • The images show the different coloured critters piled on top of each other
  • Huntsman spiders can grow as big as 11.8 inches and prefer woody places 

Terrifying photos show a huge huntsman spider colony that has invaded a nest box built for tiny possums.

Conservationists at the Monjebup North reserve in south western Australia discovered the spiders after lifting the lids of the nest boxes. 

The images show the different coloured critters piled on top of each other in the confined space.  

Terrifying photos show a huge huntsman spider colony that has invaded a nest box built for tiny possums

Angela Sanders, of Bush Heritage Australia told The Sun: ‘Pygmy possums quickly took up residence in the nest boxes we erected in restored habitat.

‘What we didn’t expect were the large colonies of social spiders that also moved in. It all started about the same time we were finding pygmy possums in the boxes.

‘But on lifting the lids of some, we found many huntsman spiders of all sizes whizzing around inside.’

Huntsman spiders can grow as big as 11.8 inches (30cm), and normally prefer to live in woody places. 

The images show the different coloured critters piled on top of each other in the confined space

The images show the different coloured critters piled on top of each other in the confined space

Huntsman spiders can grow as big as 11.8 inches (30cm), and normally prefer to live in woody places (file image)

Huntsman spiders can grow as big as 11.8 inches (30cm), and normally prefer to live in woody places (file image)

Huntsman Spiders 

Huntsman spiders are large, long-legged spiders. They are mostly grey to brown, sometimes with banded legs.

They are commonly found living under loose bark on trees, in crevices on rock walls and in logs, under rocks and slabs of bark on the ground, and on foliage.

Many huntsman spiders have rather flattened bodies adapted for living in narrow spaces under loose bark or rock crevices. This is aided by their legs which, instead of bending vertically in relation to the body, have the joints twisted so that they spread out forwards and laterally in crab-like fashion.

Huntsman spiders of many species sometimes enter houses. They are also notorious for entering cars, and being found hiding behind sun visors or running across the dashboard.

Source: Australian Museum

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