Arachnophobia – you either have it or you most certainly know about it. It’s the fear of spiders. And honestly? We get it. They have eight eyes, eight legs, they can move quickly, they have fangs. Eww. They’re not exactly the most lovable creatures in the animal kingdom. Unless…you’re a mother-son duo in Australia. Then, apparently, you’re not afraid of spiders at all – even when they’re absolutely massive and live inside your home with you.
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Australia is known to have some super scary animals, snakes, insects, and sea creatures. It’s pretty much the mecca for all things terrifying. One of those creepy critters is a huntsman spider. Huntsman spiders are huge. In fact, according to Wikipedia, “they are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance”.
One of these insanely huge spiders happened to wander inside the home of Annette Gray and her son Jake.
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Jake immediately recognized the type of spider, as they are common in these parts of Australia. These types of spiders also happen to be venomous, but luckily for humans, they aren’t poisonous enough to incapacitate a human. Knowing that they weren’t dangerous to humans, the mother and son decided to let the spider stay. They assumed it would leave after a while.
For the time being, Annette and Jake called the spider Charlotte, after the famous spider in the book ‘Charlotte’s Web’.
Well, contrary to what Annette and Jake assumed…Charlotte apparently had no intentions of leaving their house. In fact, after a year passed, they basically considered her part of the family.
“We’ve watched [Charlotte] grow over the last year or so,” Jake told The Dodo. “[She] never bothered us. She moves about the house, pops up room to room, eats all the bugs.”
Since Charlotte moved in, she grew to a size of over 6 inches!
Of course, Annette had to share their ‘friend’ on social media.
Posting photos of the massive huntsman spider was, of course, shocking to everyone that saw it. After all, it’s not every day that you hear that your friend or neighbor lives with a hairy, huge spider! That’s a nightmare for most.
Annette’s photos began to spread like wildfire and people are absolutely horrified that she could live with such a big ‘bug’ in her house. In fact, some people even suggested that she burn her house down! But, of course, Annette has grown to care for Charlotte.
“I don’t kill them,” she wrote. “[Charlotte’s] harmless.”
Could we all learn a lesson from Annette?
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Spiders are actually really useful animals. They get rid of unwanted pests in our home – like mosquitos, flies, and cockroaches. And they even help benefit our gardens. They might be scary looking, but they really are beneficial to the ecosystem.
Would you have a spider as a pet?
It’s not uncommon for people to have tarantulas as pets, but they’re usually kept enclosed in a cage. We’ve never seen anything quite like this situation before, though. We wonder how long Charlotte plans on living with Annette and Jake. Maybe they’ve created an everlasting bond that will last through Charlotte’s lifetime.
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