Do persons living near Sydney have horror stories about funnel web spiders?

Question

Don't Sydney-ites abhor the thought that these ugly creatures are actually walking about your home at night? Was death inevitable following a bite in the past? Are most bitten people now cured? Would citizens make the spiders extinct somehow if they could? What's the worst story you've ever heard? Spider found near your bed? Please get your typing fingers working, and tell me a couple of these stories. This Michigan resident wants to know.

Answer 1

Well I live in Canada...but I would assume that to them...living with Funnel Web Spiders is just like you or I living with our different types of insects...they grow up around them...so it's probaby normal for them...even though I personally would be terrified. Hahaha.

Answer 2

I live in Sydney - have done for 7 years or so. Never seen anything more dangerous than a huntsman or some garden spiders, and really have only had about a dozen spiders come inside in all those years. Different where I grew up on the South Coast - but even then, we were warned about red backs not funnel webs.

I'm not convinced that spiders etc are as common in Aust as Americans seem to think they are. Least not in the cities.

Answer 3

I worked in an area which was infested with funnies for about six months. They receive bad press because every now and then they kill someone, but they are really quite cute and cuddly when you get to know them. We managed to tame a few at the place I worked. We fed them on live mice and large insects and one, which we called Atraxia, became so friendly that we could give him a pat. He particularly liked to roll over and have his belly rubbed.

Answer 4

They arent as common as you may think. They also don't like contact with humans, so wether they are in our yards or not, we usually won't see them. They only attack when provoked. Why is it that so many people from other countries think that the whole of Australia is just covered in deadly creatures just waiting for you to land so they can pounce?? I mean, yeah we have most of the top ten poisiones snakes and spiders living here, but its not like we go out the front door and trip over a red belly black snake every morning.

Answer 5

I live in Sydney, lived here my whole life..

Never seen a funnel web.. the most dangerous i've seen is a red back.. I've had huntsman spiders in my house many times, and daddy long legs all the time..

Just because we have some of the most dangerous things doesnt mean we see them everyday and everywhere. Its the same as you guys in america would see dangerous things..

Is it true that in the "ghetto" people are always shooting at eachother? And is America like how it is on the tv?

Answer 6

Born and raised in Sydney.  Yes I have seen a funnel web but they are not walking about your home at night.  That is like saying that every American street has shootings.  You find the spiders sometimes under rocks in the garden etc. Death is not inevitable now - there is an antivenom.  People from overseas see Australia as a place where there are deadly creatures lurking everywhere, and it just is not so!  Yes there are spiders but hey nothing a tin of fly spray won't kill.  Sorry!