In between the leaves, we found this lovely visitor.
It's a Sydney Funnel Web. Classified as "Deadly and Dangerous". Aggressive, one of the worlds' deadliest spiders. And they can survive under water for up to 14 days. We get a fair few of them in the pool. I don't know why they like it so much, we have a little creek not far away where they can go for a drink. Why they chose a chlorine pool with a resident snake is beyond me (we have found out through the neighbors that the snake family has been living under the pool for about 15 years now).
The wildlife, it's one of the joys of living in Sydney!
4 comments:
Ooh Heike, would a pool cover keep those beasties out along with reducing water evaporation? Funnel webs are so aggressive.
Nope. We have a pool blanket on the pool right now. I don't know how they get under it (we had 3 mighty big spiders in the pool, but only one Funnel Web). The blanket works a treat for the leaves, though, far less of them in the pool since we got the cover.
I think maybe one of those new fandangle roller blinds type cover might keep the spiders out. Maybe one day, when we have a few spare thousand....
The kids know never to jump in the pool before an adult has done a spider check. It's just part of living in Sydney. At least the beasts are black and stand out clearly.
Yikes!
I think you should move to Canada!Our wildlife is distinctly less scary!
I enjoy reading about your lovely family, Heike.
I loved Beaver's comment (a while ago) about the "instrument that made him feel sad" when he heard an orchestra.I would love to try teaching him cello-it's a great fine motor therapy and so good for the soul. But I guess the commute might be a bit much!
Dunno, Jo-anne. I find Brown bears not a very comforting idea...
It's just one of those things. In the beginning it gave me the heebie-jeevies, now it's just another spider in the pool. Same with the snake. Once you know what your're dealing with, and how to handle it, everything just becomes normal.
You could come on a holdiday (i promise to remove all spiders from the pool before you arrive) and do a "cello intensive"! Give me some warning though, i'd need to work on the boy's patience. He loves the guitar, but will he sit down and learn? No such thing.
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