Although rarely seen, spiders are plentiful in the land of smiles. This is also very much true for the really big and nasty looking ones. A local resident witnessed this first hand at his home, after having dinner with friends.
Mr. Gary Hills, a resident in Hua Hin got quite a surprise one late evening as he finished dinner with friends and was leaving home to head into town for some drinks. Something quite unusual was waiting for him. What he found was nothing less than a huge tarantula, the size of a standard dinner plate (12cm in diameter).
Gary described the spider as being of a vicious nature with raised front legs ready to attack at any given moment. To make the situation even more tense, one of his cats was nearby and somewhat curious. The big spiders are not dangerous to humans and their bite is no worse than a bee sting, but to small animals like cats they present a real threat.
So fearing for the well being of his cat, Gary threw his sandal at the arachnid and sent it hurtling into the swimming pool. This, however, was not as effective as he first thought it would be, as due to its hairy body and the spread of its long legs, it simply floated on the surface tension of the pool and began to swim towards the edge.
The course of action was now clear, find something long and heavy and strike the spider under the water in an attempt to drown it. Grabbing a mop he made a swing, only a professional cricket player would be able to better. This proved to be rather ineffective at first, as due to its natural buoyancy, it merely popped back up to the surface to continue its swim to safety. It was surely trying to get out of the water and make another attempt to attack. Still armed with his mop, Gary tried to push the spider under.
Surely this thing would not be able to breathe under water and would eventually drown. But it seems that spiders are very reluctant when it comes to sudden death by mop. Each attempt of keeping it under failed and the hairy, and now wet arachnid kept on struggling and managed to get through the flimsy structure of the mop. After the fifth attempt the spider was now upside down and showing signs of tiredness, as it closed in all legs around its body.
Getting frustrated and desperate, Gary now dragged the spider up from the swimming pool and found the nearest and most effective tool he could find to finish the creature off. You’ve guessed it – a golf shoe!
By using the proven and highly effective method of bashing till the job is done, Gary smashed the dark creature until it was nothing but a pile of (his words) “Spidery Gooâ€.
Although this might have been a scary incident, it is very uncommon and I have personally never been up close with a spider of that size in Thailand.
Many thanks to Mr. Gary Hills, from Star Property Hua Hin, for his story.
