https://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2016/10/24/161024huntsman_h264_publish.mp4
The huntsman spider can be seen holding the dead mouse by the head as it carries it in the kitchen of a home in Coppabella, Queensland, CNET reports. "What's he going to do with him?" a man can be heard wondering in the video filmed by Jason Womal, who says he had been about to leave for work when a neighbor asked if he wanted to see "something cool."
"OK guys, so just letting you all know that the spider is fine. We have named him Hermie, we have adopted him and he is now running his own extermination business out of our town Coppabella. Oh, and he is now paying rent," Womal says in a follow-up post. Experts say it isn't unheard of for spiders to eat small mammals, though an Australian Museum arachnid expert tells the Guardian that while Hermie is clearly a spider of incredible strength, she doubts that his venom would have been strong enough to kill the mouse, which appears to have been dead for some time.
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The huntsman spider can be seen holding the dead mouse by the head as it carries it in the kitchen of a home in Coppabella, Queensland, CNET reports. "What's he going to do with him?" a man can be heard wondering in the video filmed by Jason Womal, who says he had been about to leave for work when a neighbor asked if he wanted to see "something cool."
"OK guys, so just letting you all know that the spider is fine. We have named him Hermie, we have adopted him and he is now running his own extermination business out of our town Coppabella. Oh, and he is now paying rent," Womal says in a follow-up post. Experts say it isn't unheard of for spiders to eat small mammals, though an Australian Museum arachnid expert tells the Guardian that while Hermie is clearly a spider of incredible strength, she doubts that his venom would have been strong enough to kill the mouse, which appears to have been dead for some time.
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