16 December 2023 , 22:45
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A tourist was left petrified when they found an unwelcome guest after popping into a dimly-lit bathroom to relieve themselves.
The tourist was travelling through the Philippines at the time, and managed to capture a snap of the furry-legged arachnid before bolting out of the loo. Writing about the experience online, she said: “Lucky I turned the light on. Assuming it’s some kind of tarantula but curious to know.”
A lecturer has now answered the woman's question, saying it's "almost certainly a male tarantula", which isn't venomous but can still cause serious pain to humans with its powerful bite, according to Dr Bruno Buzatto, a lecturer at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.
An expert confirmed it was a tarantula, which is usually docileHe added: “And often tarantulas have these itchy hairs as well, so if you touch them you could get their hairs embedded in your skin and that can cause allergies and reactions, so that's another defence mechanism they have.”
But for the most part, the creatures are actually "very docile", so much so that people keep them as pets. Dr Buzatto continued: "I'm not saying people should go do this, but I see a lot of people picking them up and letting them walk on their hands and stuff like that. They're not very aggressive animals, and none of them have potent venom that we know of.”
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The tarantula's known habitats are warm, often in rainforests, deserts and scrubland, so what was one doing in a loo? Dr Buzatto said there are two main reasons it could have sheltered behind the porcelain. The first is that the tarantula may have been trying to escape the heat. Though they live in warm areas, they usually live below ground, where it's cooler.
“The Philippines is pretty humid there a lot of the time, so I'd maybe he was just hiding from the heat,” he said. “Maybe the toilet was like the coolest part of the room, and he was looking for shelter and ended up in there.”
Another explanation could be that it was trying to find a mate. They spend most of their lives in their burrows, only coming out occasionally to look for food, but generally stay close to home.
"But the boys go very far because they look for girls when it's the mating season. So they leave the burrows and walk around and look for girls in their burrows to mate with. That's probably why this guy ended up in someone's toilet".
The woman's post has since gone viral on Reddit, where the tourist explained that she made sure the spider, which was found on Coron Island, was removed safely.
“For everyone concerned we got back up to ensure the spider was removed safely, because I was going nowhere near it,” he wrote with a laughing emoji. “[We] had to get a team of locals in who were even surprised how big the spider was haha.”
Another reddit user said: “I don’t know what this chonky critter is, but I'd sure hate to have it chomping on my dangling bits!”
“I am never going to the toilet in the dark again for certain,” another wrote. “And that's why it's important to always turn the light on before pulling down your underwear,” someone else added.