Facebook | Bush Heritage Australia

Massive Huntsman Spider Cluster Turns Possum Box Into Unpleasant Surprise

One of the last things people want to discover in their home is a massive group of spiders in a forgotten crevice. Although we've often been told that spiders are good for a happy home, there's something about a whole army of them that makes that lesson very easy to forget.

I'll gladly say that I'm someone who actually likes spiders, but even I won't pretend that I'd be happy to discover a bunch of them wriggling out of a hole in the wall at once.

And yet, that's essentially what a conservation group in Australia had on their hands in a place they least expected to find them.

Last month, a nonprofit group known as Bush Heritage Australia restored a habitat in Western Australia.

Reddit | bisousx

Part of their work included establishing nesting boxes they had intended as safe havens for Pygmy Possums like the one pictured here.

As the group wrote in a blog post, they observed the possums quickly taking shelter in the boxes as planned.

What they didn't expect, however, was that the possums weren't the only creatures that would take to the boxes like a duck to water.

Reddit | 420th_Doctor

As they wrote, tons of huntsman spiders of all sizes were also discovered inside the boxes.

One particularly packed nest ended up making for a photo that many considered eye-catching for all the wrong reasons.

Although this seems like a group of spiders that would only star in someone's nightmares, the photo actually didn't capture particularly unusual behavior for the crawlers.

Facebook | Bush Heritage Australia

This species is known to live together in large groups. The only reason we don't often see them like this is that they usually do it inside of tree bark.

However, the restored area doesn't have a lot of usable tree bark at the moment, which is likely a real problem for many parts of Australia right now.

Reddit | biccccc

So while they may not be possums, the huntsman spiders in the area have apparently found the nesting boxes an acceptable substitute until greener pastures emerge.

As for the members of Bush Heritage Australia, they seemed surprised, but not really bothered by the sudden intrusion.

Twitter | @BindiIrwin

Much as Bindi Irwin was happy to see Harriet here, the group seemed to find the clusters they discovered more fascinating than anything.

And it likely came as a relief to know that their work was helping more animals than they expected.

h/t: Bush Heritage Australia

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