Nearly 10 years ago, I had moved to Australia. My new neighbour Ron called me to see him close to his fence in our backyard. Ron lived behind our house and he used to be a famer, he grew vegetables and loved to check us out, he wanted to know what we are doing.
When I walked closer, he said : “Mei, do you know that the red back spider is poison and deadly?” I told him that I did not know that and I did never see one yet!
Then he pointed his finger to the fence just between both of us, and then I saw a spider with a red point on the black who was hanging in a tiny web. I screamed immediately. Ron laughed and put his finger on top of the spider and squashed it, he killed the spider. He told me this is a piece of cake, he kills red blacks all the time.
After then, I did kill one myself when we renovated our backyard. I was moving a brick which has 6 holes in the middle, a red black did hide in one of this holes, when I moved it, I saw a red back spider moving, it was already close to my finger, I was scared and dropped the brick onto the floor, the spider was thrown out and fell onto the floor, I immediately stepped on it.
Then I knew red back spiders are not aggressive, just don’t wait until they bite you, you will be fine.
當我初來澳洲住, 我家後花園有個老鬼鄰居, 常常關注我家的動靜.
有天他見我在後園種花. 他叫我走到圍欄去聊天.
並問我道: 你可知否悉尼紅背蜘蛛是惡毒無比嗎?
我剛來報導, 當然對那些小動物是沒什興趣的, 當他知道我一無所知..... 就開始陰陰咀笑....
佢用手指一指角落, 說: 看, 那隻就是啦!
我看到一隻細小黑蜘蛛, 背部圓圓上是有一小紅點. 動也不動, 掛在蛛網上.
隨著, 老鬼便用手指往蜘蛛上一擠壓, 我"嘩"一聲, 老鬼覺得好不威風. 他說他殺紅背蜘蛛當食生菜.
後來, 我家後園重修, 我自己也看到過不少紅背蜘蛛, 也自己殺死過一隻.
當時是好害怕的, 它就是躲在一磚頭裡, 當我移動磚頭時發現了它, 立即就嚇到掉到地上, 它也被拋出掉在地上, 我好自然就往它身上踩去.
依我所見, 紅背蜘蛛根本不活躍的, 不是網上說的會向你攻擊的. 它們行動不快, 你有足夠時間殺鬼死它們, 肯定快過它們襲擊你.
Red Back Spider - Attenborough: Life in the Undergrowth – BBC
Red Back Spider - toilet spider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider
紅背蜘蛛是一種劇毒蜘蛛，身長在2—8mm之間，背部有個紅色印記，攻擊性極強，被咬中五分鐘後傷口開始發熱發痛，如無血清治療，半小時內死亡。但自1956年以來，並無記錄在案的因紅背蜘蛛咬傷而死亡的案例。
紅背蜘蛛偏好棲息於黑暗乾燥處，雌性紅背蜘蛛會在交配後，把消化液注入雄蜘蛛的身體和把雄蜘蛛吃掉。據研究發現，母紅背蜘蛛壽命有2-3年；公蜘蛛壽命只有6-7個月，有83%的雄性紅背蜘蛛在沒有交配之前就死掉了。
有趣:
1. 紅背蜘蛛網: 晚上建築, 並且是三維建築的, 不單是和橫濶, 而是向下向深. (睇BBC, attenborough – Life the Undergrowth 就是.) 只要你想像天上就是一般的蜘蛛網, 可是他從網中一些線向下再築更多的支線接觸著地面或平面. 當有小動物經過觸摸到, 就被纏著整隻獵物被彈起. 因為彈起在半空, 而沒有了其中東西可以被依靠, 紅背蜘蛛就可以爬下來把你用網絲包起來, 慢慢吸食.
2. 紅背蜘蛛 原來是外來客. 不是原產澳洲! (睇片: Red Back Spider - toilet spider)
