1

Crunchy New Zealand (warning - large insect pics) (Read 3952 times)


Now that was a bath...

    I thought that I would post this in a separate thread as I didn't want anyone to come across the pics without warning, just in case! Ourr Cicada season is about five/six months long and happens every year. I like them. They mean that summer is here and provide a symphony to the heat. They do surprise you if they flick you in the face but that's more the noise than anything else. But then, I live around the corner from Avondale, where the Avondale Spider lives. They can get to the size of plates and you can hear them drop when they hit the floor. They were the spiders used in the film Arachnophobia. They are harmless in all but size as they definitely score high on the fear factor scale! I couldn't post a pic big enough to get them actual size! And this is also Weta country (some of the largest and heaviest insects in the world) and these babies can bite too. They can get to about 20cm top to spikey toe. I was mortified to find one in my shower the first time I holidayed in NZ in 2002. Yuk. I think the states wins on spiders though. I got bitten by a White Tail as we have a territory under our house but the Brown Recluse from the states has got to be the most horrific spider ever. Shudder. I'll take my Weta's & Avondales any day! Claire xxx
  • jlynnbob "HTFU, Kookie's distal tibia"
  • Where's my closet? I need to get back in it.
      Great, now I'll be feeling things crawling on me for the rest of the day! I hate - no, I mean HATE spiders in the worst way. I swear, they make my skin crawl, my heart race...I've been known to avoid a room for an entire day when I've seen a spider in it! In 1989 when I was in basic training in Fort Jackson SC, I was bit by a spider while putting up our tent, instantly a red triangle formed where I was bitten, than a there was a red line shooting up my arm from the bite site. I was rushed to the hospital, ended up with high fevers and chills, and spent the night there, being pumped with some sort of magical medicine. I don't need to do that again.

      Michelle



      zoom-zoom


      rectumdamnnearkilledem

        Ick! We get spiders like the one you posted...huntsman/fishing spiders. They are a couple of inches across, though...so smaller than yours. Benign, but fast and freak me the hell out! I'm glad we don't have much in the way of Brown Recluse around here, either. The hubby of a friend in New Jersey was bit by one. I think he had pretty mild tissue necrosis, but it's still terrible. Michelle, what were you bit by? Ack! k

        Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

        remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

             ~ Sarah Kay

        JakeKnight


          Well, so much for ever visiting New Zealand.

          E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com
          -----------------------------

            Zoom-zoom---- It all happened so fast, I was kneeling down reaching across for something and than all of sudden there was a burning stabbing pain on my left arm, on the inside of the bend of my elbow. I ripped off my jacket and threw it and then grabbed my arm. We never found the spider - although I didn't spend time looking since I was rushed off right away. I used to think I was told it was a Brown Recluse but after learning about how severe those bites can be I truly doubt it was that. I have a small scar from the bite, but that's it. After the fact when I got back to the barracks late the next night, everyone thanked me for freaking them all out. Nobody from my squad slept at all that night!! Creepy crawly thoughts kept them WIDE awake.

            Michelle




            Dog-Love

              I agree with Jake...I used to think of NZ for its beaches and forests and now...eeek. The spider didn't bother me near as much as the plump 100 gm grasshopper thingee. Clair you should get a position with the tourist bureau.
              Run like you are on fire! 5K goal 24:00 or less (PR 24:34) 10K goal 50:00 or less (PR 52:45) HM goal 1:55:00 or less (PR 2:03:02) Marathon Goal...Less than my PR (PR 4:33:23)
                Do those Avondale spiders live around New Lynn/Glen Eden too? I would never have accepted the offer to live there if I knew those things could be creeping up on me at any time. I remember watching one of our kittens playing with a weta in the back garden. It was ever so cruel but strangely compelling.
                  I used to think I was told it was a Brown Recluse but after learning about how severe those bites can be I truly doubt it was that. I have a small scar from the bite, but that's it.
                  Brown Recluse is very common at Fort Jackson (I went to Basic there also). Someone in my platoon was bitten on the knee by one and he ignored the bite for a couple of days. He ended up in the hospital where they literally cut the "bad" section out of his leg. Another spider story. My sister (Also in the Army at the time... coincidence?) was taking part of a mock field battle. She was a designated "casualty" and had to lay down in a field calling for the medics. She loved it, make-up artists gave her all these cool "wounds" on her arms and legs... she was looking forward to just laying there and calling for help... and then, she was bit by a Black Widow! So, the pretend casualty became a real one. She had to convince the medics that she wasn't faking about the bite, they thought she was just a great "actor" in pain from the "wounds!" Of course she recovered, but the following 24hrs were pure hell. UGH.
                    voiceofgrog -- Ouch! Your sister had a double duty of acting placed on her... trying to convince everyone that she wasn't acting, but she was supposed to be acting. Confused I hate spiders. Can we change the subject now? I'll never be able to sleep without checking the sheets about a thousand times. But even still, I'll THINK I feel something move and my eyes will pop wide open. *goose bumps forming* ICK.

                    Michelle



                      Insects hell!! That first one was NOT an insect! It is a freaking spider!! I HATE spiders!!

                      To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

                        I need to stop checking this post, my skin is crawling already. Angry

                        Michelle



                          Omg I have no idea why I opened this thread..... Tight lipped No
                          ---- Cynthia
                            Yep, Claire, you ruined my dreams of a trip to NZ someday! We do have brown recluse in Michigan too. There didn't used to be many, but it seems people are finding them more & more every year. My ex is a paramedic and has carried several bite victims in the last few years. And I can think of three people I know that have been bitten (two were patients where I worked & one was a surgeon). The surgeon almost lost his career because of the bite...he lost most of the feeling in his fingers on one hand for quite some time. The spider was in a glove he put on & it bit him on the finger tip. He ended up in the hospital that same night & was there for a week or so.
                            So do not get tired and stop trying. - Hebrews 12:3
                            Mile Collector


                            Abs of Flabs

                              Claire, that is so awesome! If I ever go to NZ, I'll look you up and we can go huntin'.