Apparently a new species of huntsman spider has been discovered in Laos. It is called Heteropoda Maxima, and measures 30cm across.
I loved Laos when I visited it in 2001, but fortunately I didn’t come across any of those 30cm creatures. I was freaked out enough as it was by their smaller cousins. Now I will have to tell my Laotian spider story…
We were staying in a jungle hut. My American roommate and I were settling down for bed when we noticed a large hairy gray huntsman on the roof. Of course there were mosquito nets over our beds, but still, I didn’t like the thought of it plopping onto the top of my net in the night. Still, we tried to be very brave about it. “It probably won’t move,” said my roommate hopefully, and I decided to take her word for it.
We tucked ourselves up. I had a bottle of water by my bed, and thought I might have a sip before I nodded off. It was then that I noticed the spider had descended, and was right next to my water bottle. My roommate and I both screamed, and a staff member came running.
“There’s a big spider in our hut!” I panted.
The man looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Yes?” he said.
“We don’t like spiders,” I explained.
“But this is the jungle, there are spiders,” he said with gentle bemusement.
“Can you get rid of it for me?” I asked. He nodded reluctantly, and fetched a rolled up newspaper. Thwack! Thwack! His aim was terrible, but the spider disappeared.
“I’m sure you didn’t get it!” I said. “I did, I did,” he assured me. I was too tired to argue the point, so I went to sleep.
The next night, as my roommate and I were settling down for bed, out came a familiar shape, limping slightly…it was our friend the spider. I ran out of the hut again, and came across the same man.
“You didn’t kill that spider!” I said accusingly, as we went to my hut with a rolled up newspaper again. The man looked at his shoes and said quietly, “I am a Buddhist. I cannot kill.” Then I felt really guilty.”Why ever didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have asked you to do something you were uncomfortable with.”
When we got to the hut, the spider was hanging from a thread from the hut window. I thought for a second. “Hmm, do Buddhist principles prevent you from kinghitting the spider into the jungle?”. The man beamed, and said “No worries!” The poor old spider sailed off into the jungle, but we slept easy.
I don’t think I’d like to take a swipe at a plate sized spider, however. Eek.