Queen Nwabueze
An Australian woman has argued that she bluntly refused to kill a giant huntsman spider that lived with her because the dinner-plate-sized creature was too high up to reach and even help get her home rid of insects and bugs without making any web.
Posting anonymously on Reddit, the woman admitted that the spider, which she had named Simon, actually scared her guests, revealing she recently had trouble when she invited her friend and his arachnophobic girlfriend over to stay for a few days.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelShe said: “I live in Sydney, where huntsman spiders are our common house spider. I’ve had one (who I’ve named Simon) in my living room in the ceiling corner for about 2 weeks now. He’s hard to reach for me to trap and put outside, and honestly, he doesn’t bother me. He can chill there for as long as he wants so long as he keeps eating smaller bugs and so long as I can see him.”
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“A couple of weeks ago I had a friend named Ben and his girlfriend, Shay, stay over for a couple of nights. He lives in Melbourne, she’s from Wales and has only moved here recently. They’re travelling around Australia and Ben asked if they could stay at my place in Sydney as a favour. I was happy to do so! But I did warn him that there was a huntsman in my living room since I know foreigners can freak out about them” she narrated.
The woman insisted she warned the couple about Simon’s presence, but her friend’s girlfriend was still terrified by the spider and demanded it be killed.
She claimed, Shay called her “f***ed up” for keeping a spider in the house, but argued, she had pre-informed the guests about her new pet, which is the reason her Simon must not leave simply because she offered some strangers a helping hand.
The new spider mum continued: “Shay and Ben got here and we were all having dinner and watching TV when Shay notices Simon chilling in the corner. She freaks out and says I need to kill it.”
“I said no, I’m not comfortable killing spiders and he’s not hurting you. Apparently Ben hadn’t specified how big huntsman spiders are and Shay didn’t know. Shay kept telling us we needed to kill it. I said I didn’t want to, huntsman spiders are harmless and timid and they actually eat mosquitoes and other bugs you would rather not have in here.”
The host said: “I asked if she had a phobia of spiders, she said spiders are fine but having one inside the house is f***ed up. I got kind of mad at that because I’m doing her a favour letting her stay for free, cooking for her etc and she’s calling me f***ed up for not killing a harmless creature.”
“I said, ‘I doubt he’s the only spider, he’s just the only one you can see’. This p***ed her off even more, which I obviously understand so I get I may be the assh*le for that,” she said.
As a compromise, the woman and her friend ended up capturing Simon in a container and setting him free outside – but Shay was still traumatised by the events and demanded she and Ben stay in a hotel instead.
“In the end, Ben and I ended up getting a step ladder, trapping him and putting him outside. She was not happy with this either and said that I should have killed it after putting it outside. She basically called me an a**hole and gave me dirties the rest of the night.”
“They ended up leaving a day earlier to stay in a ‘clean hotel’ (her words). This again rubbed me the wrong way because my house is clean, it just had a spider in it (ones that clean by eating bugs and not making webs)!”
