# A climate change refugee



## Warrigal

We've just had a couple of days of over 100oF in Sydney and it has caused a number of home invasions by little creatures wanting to escape the heat. 

Emily the Huntsman Spider is one such asylum seeker.

I found her this morning taking refuge in my bedroom closet.



To get in there she has had to squeeze through the narrowest of gaps.


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## Shalimar

I assume Emily, who is rather cute, is a harmless spider?


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## Warrigal

She is, except to flies and cockroaches which she hunts with enthusiasm. 
 Hence her designation 'Huntsman Spider'.

She doesn't even make a messy web to complain about.


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## Shalimar

Cool. Organic pest control.


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## imp

Warri, it looks similar to the desert Tarantula (so-called), but the body appears less massive. How large is she across the "footprint" approximately? This is the commoner spider around here, commonly known as a Windscorpion, misnomered as it is not a true scorpion, is non-venomous, but can bite like hell! In three years here now, I've caught one in the house.   imp

EDIT: It's footprint would surround a door-knob sized circle. Frighteningly huge to the non-desert dweller!


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## Warrigal

How big? Roughly this big



They are not aggressive but most people are freaked out by them.

They are designed to live under the loose bark of eucalyptus trees but they don't mind sharing a human dwelling.
During the daytime I find that they like to retreat behind pictures on the wall and at night they come out to hunt.
I can go to sleep with one on the ceiling above my bed but I wasn't always this relaxed about them.


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## Warrigal

Imp, I'm a bit fascinated by that Windscorpion. I don't think we have anything like that over here - my research indicates that is an arachnid but not a true spider nor a true scorpion. An interesting twig on Darwin's tree of life?

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7495.html


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## imp

Warrigal said:


> Imp, I'm a bit fascinated by that Windscorpion. I don't think we have anything like that over here - my research indicates that is an arachnid but not a true spider nor a true scorpion. *An interesting twig on Darwin's tree of life?
> *
> http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7495.html



It is that. Glad it's new to you. Allows me to spout stories, as usual. Having been born and raised in the humid summer-hot, winter-cold Midwest, I had only seen desert denizens in Disney's "Living Desert", a wonderful production, BTW. So, having moved to Nevada, and building a home on  the western fringe of Las Vegas' city-sprawl, I absolutely "lost it" when I saw Windscorpions crawling all over the wall of the new house, outdoors at night! One of the building guys told me they were "Vinegaroons", not poisonous, but DID bite.

Later, I learned the Vinegaroon has a long scorpion-like tail, which it whips forward and overhead, spraying a spurt of acetic acid (!) at it's prey, to temporarily blind it! I have never seen a Vinegaroon in all my many desert years. 

A friend who worked landscaping, told of having encountered dozens of scorpion nests in the heartwood crux of palm trees while trimming them. He had been stung numerous times, painful but little further consequence.  Here is a bit more about the "Windscorpion", thought to have been so-named by early Indians who regarded them to move as "fast as the wind".
*
"The Solifugae are an order of animals in the class Arachnida known variously as camel spiders, wind scorpions, sun spiders, or solifuges. The order includes more than 1,000 described species in about 153 genera. Despite the common names, they are neither true scorpions (order Scorpiones) nor true spiders (order Araneae) – though they are more closely related to scorpions than to spiders. Much like a spider, the body of a solifugid has two tagmata: an opisthosoma (abdomen) behind the prosoma (that is, in effect, a combined head and thorax). At the front end, the prosoma bears two chelicerae that, in most species, are conspicuously large. The chelicerae serve as jaws and in many species also are used for stridulation. Unlike scorpions, solifugids do not have a third tagma that forms a "tail". Most species of Solifugae live in dry climates and feed opportunistically on ground-dwelling arthropods and other small animals. The largest species grow to a length of 12–15 cm (5–6 in), including legs. A number of urban legends exaggerate the size and speed of the Solifugae, and their potential danger to humans, which is negligible."

*Ah, shoot!  Is it OK, anymore, to say, "Indians"?    imp

EDIT: Your image of "creature in hand" indicates similar size to the desert Tarantula.


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## tnthomas

imp said:


> Warri, it looks similar to the desert Tarantula (so-called), but the body appears less massive. How large is she across the "footprint" approximately? This is the commoner spider around here, commonly known as a Windscorpion, misnomered as it is not a true scorpion, is non-venomous, but can bite like hell! In three years here now, I've caught one in the house.   imp
> 
> EDIT: It's footprint would surround a door-knob sized circle. Frighteningly huge to the non-desert dweller!



I've always thought those to be " vinegaroons"....?  Am in the Mojave Desert also, between Victorville & Wrightwood, we get those usually in spring; also scorpions and centipedes.


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## imp

*True Vinegaroon*

Has a whip-like tail which squirts acetic acid forward into it's prey's eyes. Said to be able to spray it up to 15 feet!

"They are also known as *whip scorpions* because of their resemblance to true scorpions and because of their whiplike tail."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelyphonida

In 30 years of desert living, hiking, etc., I've never seen one. Ditto Gila Monster. Will keep lookin' for that guy, though!   imp


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## Ameriscot

:eek1::holymoly:  I am not fond of spiders!  First time we were in Australia my husband ran across a huge brown furry spider and he freaked out a bit.  And he is not afraid of spiders.  His brother said it wasn't poisonous, and he picked it up and put it outside.  It bit him though, but he was fine.


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## Warrigal

Emily and I had a major disagreement this morning. In case I haven't already explained, my refugee spider is named Emily.

I was happily sitting in my bath when Emily made her appearance by emerging from the gap between the bath and the vanity unit.
That was fine by me until she decided to creep down the side of the bath toward the water.

I draw the line at sharing my bath water with anything with more than four legs so I blocked her path and told her to reverse direction, which she did temporarily.
Emily is rather determined and she tried again to join me in the bath and this time I had to deal with her more firmly.
When I emptied the bath she was sulking in the gap.

However, Emily is no shrinking violet and soon emerged and to take up a prominent position on the vanity unit.
This was not a good decision. Hubby wanted to have a shave but Emily was blocking his path by sitting on the shaver drawer.



Hubby screamed and issued an ultimatum - either I remove Emily or he would engage in chemical warfare.

Emily is now making her home in the eucalyptus tree.


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## imp

*"Red Gum?"*

"Emily is now making her home in the *eucalyptus* tree."

If I recall properly, the Eucalypts are indigenous to Australia. Common around our Desert Southwest, when given water beyond natural precipitation amount. Some have drooping, long, thin branches, giving the impression of impending death. Loose, "peely-looking" bark, I've seen some with trunks of four-foot diameter, magnificent trees.

Commonly called "Gum" trees, Red Gum being found extensively. I would love ton attempt growing one from seed, but  would have no idea how to even start! Date Palms are easy; eat the fruit, plant the pits!    imp


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## Pappy

Love your story, Warri. It almost make me sad that you had to expel Emily from the house. However, I really have to agree with you husband.


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## Warrigal

imp said:


> "Emily is now making her home in the *eucalyptus* tree."
> 
> If I recall properly, the Eucalypts are indigenous to Australia. Common around our Desert Southwest, when given water beyond natural precipitation amount. Some have drooping, long, thin branches, giving the impression of impending death. Loose, "peely-looking" bark, I've seen some with trunks of four-foot diameter, magnificent trees.
> 
> Commonly called "Gum" trees, Red Gum being found extensively. I would love ton attempt growing one from seed, but  would have no idea how to even start! Date Palms are easy; eat the fruit, plant the pits!    imp



Yes, we commonly call them gum trees but I understand that this is a name given to different trees in the US.
Eucalypts, like all of our native vegetation, are evergreen. They do drop leaves but they do it all year round rather in one go at the end of Summer.
Some also lose their bark which peels off in strips and it is behind the loose bark that many insects and spiders shelter from the heat.

Eucalyptus seeds are very tiny and tend to lie dormant in the soil until conditions are right for germination. After a stand of trees is destroyed by fire the seedlings will sprout and grow quickly to fill the gap in the canopy. I've had the occasional eucalyptus sprout in my pot plants and have tried to raise them but they usually get attacked by insects that cause them to be deformed by galls in the stem near the roots and I have discarded them. Probably only about one in one hundred seedlings will make it to a mature tree.


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## Warrigal

We had another climate change refugee a couple of days ago. 
Sydney was visited by several thunderstorm cells that day and one classified as F2 tornado.
We weren't in the thick of it but it did strip a lot of bark from the eucalyptus trees.

Late that night I noticed another huntsman spider in the lounge room. It wasn't Emily making a return visit because this time it was a male named Roger.
Roger is lighter and quicker than Emily and disappeared behind the big display units next to the TV.



I didn't think any more about Roger but foolishly he reappeared while hubby was still awake and there was an immediate fatwa issued that said all big spiders must be removed from the house immediately.

Roger had other ideas and immediately dropped to the floor and out of sight.

A while later he attempted to crawl quietly across the floor and was pretty well camouflaged against the imitation slate tiles. Not well enough as it turned out because hubby spotted the movement and noticed that Roger was heading for his sports bag.

It wasn't easy, but I managed to get Roger trapped under a takeaway food container and take him outside to the big gum tree.

Then I realised that I really need to do a more thorough cleaning job because Roger was wearing eight tiny ugg boots made out of the fluff from under the lounge. ops1:


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## Shalimar

Hahahahahahaha. Perhaps you can arrange a meeting between Roger and Emily.


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## Warrigal

They are now in the same tree.
Roger might get lucky and Emily might get a tasty meal.

On the other hand, Emily might like the ugg boots and come back inside to do some shopping.


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## Shalimar

HaHaHaHaHa.


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## fishfulthinking

Warrigal 
How kind of you to just transplant your visitors.  Those are huge!  By Canadian standards.    I find spiders interesting, but not real keen on sharing my home with them.  ... well ones that large anyways,


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