If a spider has a leg span wider than a fifty pence coin, my inbuilt response is to shriek like a banshee before immediately locking myself in the nearest loo.
So you can imagine how I felt watching footage of a spider the width of a cereal bowl tucking into a bat it had caught in its web.
The video, which showcases nature and all its brutal glory and was captured by Texan woman Annette Alaniz Guajardo, is every arachnophobe’s worst nightmare. There is even a moment when the spider vanished and I wanted to scream at Annette to run for her life.
The video began with Annette driving along a country road, stopping the car in front of her house.
Suddenly, everything became decidedly less picturesque as Annette approached the property, voice filled with excitement.
There, dangling from the side of the house, was a bat. However, it wasn’t hanging around of its own accord. It had been trapped in an incredibly strong spider’s web.
Looming above it was a banana spider, and you could almost see the drool dripping from its fangs as it surveyed its fresh meal. Annette is clearly built of sterner stuff than my city dwelling self.
Sharing the vid on Facebook, Annette wrote:
This morning on my way to work I saw this on the side of my house. I love the country.
The response to the clip has been a mix of horror and fascination, with many expressing terror that such a beast could be roaming around Texas.
As one person put it:
So these are the kind of things you see happen in Brazil, Thailand, or some kind of foreign jungle place like that, but this was outside of Annette Alaniz Guajardo house in POTEET TEXAS.
Another simply gulped:
Yikes f*ck.
As reported by Owlcation, banana spiders – also known as golden orb weaving spiders – typically they can grow up to two inches in size, excluding leg span. If you include the leg span, some have measured in excess of five inches. Females are generally larger than the male of the species.
Found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the southeastern United States, they are mildly venomous, with their bite capable of causing ‘redness, blisters, and pain’.
They are known for their complex webs of golden silk, which has been used previously by humans to create textiles.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.