Hello everyone, welcome back to Da Nang, a quickly developing beach city in central Vietnam. Da Nang, like the other major Vietnamese cities, is expanding rapidly, with many new construction sites popping up daily around the city. Despite this, I find the city is always just on the edge of nature, and I frequently find bits of wildlife throughout my day-to-day. Sometimes my own house feels like a kind of nature preserve with all sorts of living things passing through.
Today, I would like to introduce you to my newest unexpected houseguest, an eight-legged arachnid I found in my living room. This is the largest spider I have seen in my house since I moved to Da Nang, but I have seen much bigger ones before, especially when I lived in northern Vietnam. I am fairly confident that this is a type of Huntsman Spider, which is common to this part of Asia.
This one is still young, but I have seen others that are bigger than an adult hand. Despite their creepy appearance, these spiders are mostly harmless to humans. They are relatively shy creatures that would rather hide away in a tight crevice or shady corner than think to attack you. That being said, I am sure they would bite you if provoked, as is the case with pretty much any wild animal. If you do get bitten, I read their venom isn’t deadly to humans, just causing mild pain and swelling.
I wonder how long this spider has been hanging around the house, as I had only seen the occasional small one until now. Huntsmen are super useful to have around the house, as they are similar to the geckos with their insatiable hunger for mosquitoes and cockroaches. I like to think he has been here awhile, bulking up on the mosquitoes and other freeloading insects lingering around the house.
Huntsmen are unique among other spiders in that they do not build webs, but instead prefer to hide in small, dark spaces and hunt their prey at night. This is possibly the closest I have ever been to one before, and I can say this guy was more unique than I thought. The way he walked was quite interesting, very meticulous and carefully tapping around with his legs to find the right footing, almost like a blind person tapping with their stick. Despite having 8 legs, it didn’t use the two front ones very much, mostly keeping them closely clutched to the body. I wonder if this spider is somehow injured, similar to the gecko I found the week before.
After he curls around the corner behind the chair, I let him continue in peace. I do not want to scare him away, as it is good to have a healthy Huntsman guarding your home from the shadows. If he does get much bigger, I know he will be much creepier looking, so I hope he keeps to himself, which is honestly the preference of this spider anyway; the reclusive hunter.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my new spider friend.
All photos were taken by me. Have a great day.