Giant Spiders

@ Lemina, You make it sound like Australia is over run by spiders Lemina . It really depends were you go however if you stay in the cities and towns you'll most likely never see a spider. Its only when you mindlessly wander into the outback or bushland you may find one but you have a very slim chance too as they usually all hide from things larger then them.

@ Rune, yeah we have bird eating spiders but I have never seen one because they live out in very arid places I've never been outside Queensland so unless I plan to go the Northern Territory or South Australia I will probably never see one.

I'm normally not squimish when it comes to spiders... but that Australian one is waaaay too big for me to handle. I'd definitely run the opposite way

I hate, hate, hate, hate, spiders. To be honest, I don't know what I would do if I saw a spider as big as the ones that the article described.

The biggest spider I ever saw was a huge web-builder in my backyard. It was black, shiny, and it was as big as my mom's hand.

The largest spider I have ever had the misfortune to encounter was a black widow. It built a web inside my window when I was young. We had awning windows (the kind with a crank you turn to open the window diagonally outward) with a screen inside. That thing was huge.

Thoul wrote:

The largest spider I have ever had the misfortune to encounter was a black widow. It built a web inside my window when I was young. We had awning windows (the kind with a crank you turn to open the window diagonally outward) with a screen inside. That thing was huge.

Like, bigger than the diameter of a quarter?

Oh yes, much bigger than that. I'd say the body was a little bigger than that at the widest point and at least twice that in length. The longest legs were at least as long as the body, too. I just looked out my window one afternoon and there it was, hanging in a web between the glass and screen, big as life and twice as mean looking.

I forget exactly when this happened, but I was probably between 5 and 10 years old at the time. Just old enough to realize what I was looking at and that it was something I shouldn't go anywhere near. So I went and told my dad about it right away and he killed it.

Thankfully, I've never seen another widow in the same area or any spider even near the same size. But I will always remember that one because of the size and, window screen keeping it out or not, it was just a few feet away from my bed.