Social Media Freaks out Over Australia’s Giant Spiders

People on Twitter are discovering that Australia isn’t for the faint of heart, especially for those who suffer from arachnophobia.

With sunny skies, pristine beaches, and an endless amount of coastline, Australia may seem like the ideal getaway spot. However, Twitter users are beginning to change vacation plans after discovering one little hiccup about the land down under: they have massive spiders.

The revelation, and storm of tweets that followed, was sparked by Twitter user Marc Fennell, a proud Aussieland resident. “Every so often I just think “farrrrrk living in Australia.” When my kids asked me at 7am if we should make breakfast for the spider too. That was one of those moments,” he wrote, sharing an image with Twitterverse of a Huntsman spider.

The image of the massive spider, which can have a leg span of anywhere from five inches to 12 inches depending on the species, had Twitter users freaking out.

“Burns down house,” one user commented.

“Because of this story/pix I’m Crossing Australia off of my list as far as countries I’d like to visit someday,” wrote another.

“It’s no longer your house, it belongs to the spider,” commented somebody else.

Other Aussies shared stories of their own encounters with the spiders.

“Of course, this is what you want to see on your window when you walk into the house late at night. Until I turned the light on I wasn’t sure if it was inside or out,” user Natalie Potts added to the discussion.

“I found a little friend this morning – or rather, he found me when I grabbed the cereal box. I let him stay for breakfast and then gave him safe passage to the backyard,” added another.

While many may think that Australia at least has cute and cuddly koalas going for them, a video that surfaced in December showed two of the fluffy marsupials stopping traffic after they wandered out into the middle of the street to fight.