By ANEEKA SIMONIS
FOR many people, the sight of just one spider is enough to make their skin crawl.
So it’s fair to assume that most people wouldn’t want to set foot on a property outside of Officer which was found to be infested with thousands of eight-legged terrors last week.
Shannon Grohs, the owner of Gippsland Pest Management, was called to a multiple-acreage property between Officer and Clyde last week after the tenant’s dog was bitten by a Melbourne Trapdoor Spider.
Though the medium-sized dog lived and has since recovered, Mr Grohs said the potency of the spider’s venom has the potential to kill smaller dogs, cats or household pets.
“I have worked in pest control for the past four to five years and have never seen anything like it. There were around five to 10 (burrows) for every metre of land … it is certainly very rare to have so many spiders in one area,” he said.
But it is not just this Officer property that has reported alarming numbers of the eight-legged critters.
According to posts on the Gippsland Pest Management’s Facebook page, residents from Beaconsfield, Nar Nar Goon and Kooweerup have reported seeing the same burrows in their backyard.
Thankfully for the many people concerned by the finding, the native spider doesn’t warrant the fear it creates.
“The Melbourne Trapdoor Spider has large fangs and can inflict a deep and painful wound, but the venom is not dangerous to humans,” Mr Grohs said.
“They generally stay out of our way … most people don’t even know they are in their yard. If people see similar holes in their backyard, I wouldn’t be too concerned unless it is a really severe case where there are lots of holes.”
Despite this, Mr Grohs said the tenants of the trapdoor infested home “have not been walking around barefoot” since the call-out.
