Thousands of spiders blanket Australian farm after escaping flood

butwhatif?

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Thousands of normally solitary wolf spiders have blanketed an Australian farm after fleeing a rising flood.

Reuters reports that the flooding has forced more than 8,000 Australian (human) residents from their homes in the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. But for every temporarily displaced person, it appears several spiders have moved in to fill the void.

"What we've seen here is a type of wolf spider," Owen Seeman, an arachnid expert at Queensland Museum, told Reuters. "They are trying to hide away (from the waters)."

waggaspiderwebs-1.png


Great slideshow of photos at link:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...hlc2lkZXNob3cEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Wagga is in my mums neck of the woods. Glad it's not holiday time, because we would definitely have to cancel.

But it's flooding practically everywhere here atm....


This is just a few mins from home.(photo taken today)

parraforeshoreflooded.png


Which normally looks like this:

parraforeshore.jpg


Blackhawk helicopters keep flying over.
 
"Certainly, when we were there working, if you stood under one of these trees, dozens of small, very, very tiny spiders would just be dropping down onto your head."
(Referring to the spider infestations in Pakistan last year.)
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...hlc2lkZXNob3cEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

I would die. Literally. I'm phobic, and forget to breathe when I see a big spider. So, if they were blanketing my home and falling from the trees, I'd die.
 
I thought the picture of the farm and fields was of water roiling through! Yibahhh!!!!!

How do you clean up a sticky mess like that? ooky spineshivers!
 
"Certainly, when we were there working, if you stood under one of these trees, dozens of small, very, very tiny spiders would just be dropping down onto your head."
(Referring to the spider infestations in Pakistan last year.)
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...hlc2lkZXNob3cEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

I would die. Literally. I'm phobic, and forget to breathe when I see a big spider. So, if they were blanketing my home and falling from the trees, I'd die.

I had a major spider phobia too. My councellor had tried to help me get over it by laying in a hammock under a tree to 'relax' knowing that a spider could fall on me at any minute.....didn't work.

I knew I had to get my phobia under control when my kids were just babies. I had loaded them into the car then spotted a huge ugly, hairy, huntsmen spider on the car door. I didn't grab the kids and run, I just ran solo!!! They're pretty harmless venom-wise,so the kids were safe, but that wasn't what I was thinking in that nano-second before running.

Then I lived up the road from my mum in the country for a year. That was great exposure therapy. Redbacks were everywhere in the house- and they are deadly. But at least they keep to themselves and don't bother you unless you bother them.
I still don't like spiders, but I keep my cool when killing them. I do love dead spiders.

But taking on 1 or 2 spiders is different to dozens falling on your head. And no way would I be walking my dogs through all those webs the way the woman in one of the photos is doing.
 
Those are like photos straight out of my nightmares. I don't know how I would deal with something like that. I really don't. I think my mind would snap and I'd have to be hospitalized. That's if I didn't die from a heart attack. I hate spiders. I can deal with just about any other creepy crawly critter, but I hate spiders.
 

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