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Home / Lifestyle

Woman shares huntsman infestation behind painting leaving world horrified

By Shireen Khalil
news.com.au·
27 Nov, 2020 03:47 AM3 mins to read

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The terrifying moment a woman finds a massive huntsman and its babies behind a painting on a wall. Video / Jordan Staheyef via TikTok

Warning, if you're an arachnophobic look away now, because what you're about to witness will no doubt give you nightmares.

They say "only in Australia" for a reason because this is the only place in the world where you will find a giant crablike spider known as a huntsman.

But one woman's TikTok video of the arachnid has taken the word terrifying to a whole new level after she discovered an infestation of the spiders behind a wall painting.

The footage shows a cluttered kitchen bench before the camera pans upwards to show a bright red and yellow surf painting.

Above the artwork are hundreds of baby huntsmans on the wall and ceiling.

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The woman can then be seen removing the painting to reveal the massive huntsman mother surrounded by her children.

Understandably the clip, captioned "Only in Australia", has left people from all over the world in absolute dismay.

Nothing to see here yet, just a shot of the woman's kitchen bench. Photo / TikTok
Nothing to see here yet, just a shot of the woman's kitchen bench. Photo / TikTok

"I'd literally die," one woman wrote.

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"This is the stuff of nightmares," another declared.

"Thought they were flies at first. That would have been a nightmare," someone else wrote.

Most of the commenters joked that the woman should just "burn the house down".

After removing the hanging artwork, she found this. Photo / TikTok
After removing the hanging artwork, she found this. Photo / TikTok

"How house fires start," one person said.

"Give them the keys and cya later," added one woman.

"Oh hell no, Huntsman season is in full swing," another commented.

Here's a closer look. Photo / TikTok
Here's a closer look. Photo / TikTok

One woman in a similar situation said she "just vacuums them and they're all gone", while others shared their equally as terrifying experiences.

"STOP. One Christmas we brought the tree in from the garage and the next night we noticed a SWARM of baby huntsmans crawling toward the ceiling light," one woman said.

"No joke, this happened to me last night," another wrote.

While some said they thought the creepy-crawlies were "cute".

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Huntsman spiders prefer to mate when the weather is warm and humid meaning summer is the time of year when you're most likely to encounter the spider.

The spider is not considered dangerous to humans and while it possesses venom and a bite that can cause irritation, they are rarely known to attack.

Huntsman spiders usually choose to run away and hide rather than be aggressive, which is why you will often notice them crawling at top speed when you go near them.

They are members of the Sparassidae family, known for their speed and mode of hunting.

They typically survive in homes or in the wild by eating bugs and insects such as flies.

But either way, we can all do without an infestation of them in our homes.

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