If a huntsman bites
Better Health Channel advises washing the bite with soap and water and holding a cold pack on it for 15 minutes, and getting medical help if symptoms become severe. Don't cut the bite or use a tourniquet. For advice, call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26. If you're not sure what bit you and it was a big black spider, treat it as an emergency and call 000.
How to recognise a huntsman
Huntsmen are mostly grey to brown, sometimes with banded legs. A female's body is about 2 cm long and a male's about 1.6 cm, but the legs are what you notice: a span of up to 15 cm, twisted at the joints so they reach forwards and sideways like a crab's.
Many species have a flattened body built for squeezing under loose bark or into rock crevices, which is how they fit behind a picture frame or a sun visor. Badge and brown huntsmen are a little chunkier than the rest.
Why it's on your wall, or in your car
Outdoors, huntsmen live under loose bark on trees, in rock walls and logs, and under bark slabs on the ground. They don't build webs to catch prey; they wander and hunt, and wandering spiders come into houses at ground level, often under doors.
The Australian Museum describes them as the hairy spiders often seen on house walls, sometimes running out from behind the curtains. They're also known for getting into cars and hiding behind the sun visor, then strolling across the dashboard at the worst moment.
They're found right across Australia, though Tasmania has only a few huntsman species.
Is a huntsman dangerous?
The Australian Museum says huntsmen have venom but aren't considered dangerous, and are quite reluctant to bite. They're fast but not normally aggressive. Better Health Channel says a bite may cause short-term swelling and pain.
The fright is usually the bigger problem, especially in a car. If one appears while you're driving, pull over somewhere safe before you deal with it.
Living with huntsmen
You can
- Leave them be in the garden; they eat insects.
- Guide one out of the house with a broom, as the Australian Museum suggests.
- Keep car windows and doors shut, especially at night.
- Fit draught strips to doors and flyscreens to windows and vents.
Leave to a pest business
- Rarely needed for huntsmen alone.
- Worth asking about if you're also finding spiders that do matter, such as redbacks around play areas or funnel-webs in the garden.
Our take on the huntsman spider
One huntsman on the wall isn't worth paying anyone for. Open the nearest door and walk it out with a broom. If spiders in general are building up around the house, our spider control page explains what a treatment can and can't do.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
