AS if spiders couldn't get any more scary. What with all the legs n'all.
At the end of August, Ireland faces being invaded by a swarm of sexually aggressive, fist-sized spiders to really make your skin crawl.
And these aren't just any sex-crazed, fist-sized spiders. These ones can apparently go from zero to 60 in one second.
One second.
2020 just kept getting better and better, didn't it? And it is due for repeat this yesr 2021.
According to experts, these eight-legged freaks were on the prowl for a mate, so the Irish wee being advised to "keep your eyes peeled as well as your wits about you".
The male house spider can grow to have a leg-span of up to 10cm in the mating season (August to September) and people in Ireland are being warned agian this year 2021, to check their sheds, gardens and warm spots in the corners of their homes for the creatures.
Leading ecologist Dr Chris Terrell-Nield of Nottingham Trent University says spiders can look "imposing" and can frighten people due to the way they move and are "rather alien and we do not have a connection with them."
But he urged people to remember the vital role these arachnids play - and that they are more afraid of us, than we are of them.
"The spider that is coming into houses at the moment is the house spider and it is one of the world's biggest spiders," Dr Terrell-Nield told Nottinghamshire Live.
"The males are up to 10cm across the leg span and can be the size of your hand - that is the top range but it can be two thirds of that size. The size is down to how much they have eaten.
"They are not dangerous but they can give you a nip. They have biting fangs.
"These things have been breeding and started their life span in the spring.
"This time of the year, August and September, the male spiders have the urge to mate and start wandering and looking for females.
"When they find them they mate and she lays eggs and the male usually dies."
** Originally Published on: Aug 28, 2020
