I know what you're thinking: how many spiders did I find in my home in the first 24 hours?
How many? More than I wanted to! I encountered six spiders, one unfortunate cricket who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the largest beetle I have seen in my entire life.
Within the first half hour of moving into my new home in Kavango West, I foolishly had both my doors open to create a draft, as I had seen my host family do in Okahandja (where big spiders are less common). The back door leads to a large outdoor area where I can wash and hang my clothes. It is through this door that the largest spider that I hope to ever see in my life walked in-and I'm telling you, it was big. Big!
Luckily, I had read articles in the past that talked about the need for Doom spray, so I grabbed the bottle and sprayed it as close as I dared (read: not close at all). Instead of keeling over and dying, this monstrosity simply backpedaled through the door with more agility than I wish to acknowledge. I was horrified.
Luckily, I had been gifted with a First Field Guide to Spiders and Scorpions of Southern Africa book (fun!) and forced myself to actually look at the pictures. Without being an arachnologist, I would call this spider a Rain Spider. My book is letting me know that their leg span reaches 110mm, they love to eat geckos, live in houses, and are usually harmless to humans. This site also wants you to know that they can be called lizard-eating spiders-which is a fact that I don't find fun at all.
After that encounter, you bet I closed all my doors and carried the Doom with me everywhere I went. The good thing about starting off with the Rain Spider is that all the rest were smaller by comparison, but, please, please know that these spiders were not small.
The next three spiders were the equivalent of walking through an abandoned home that you know has zombies in it. I'm talking tip-toeing around the house, Doom in hand, looking in every direction, waiting for something to jump out and attack me. The worst part was that two of them were in the shower, a process that involved me sticking my head into a narrow door frame to first look, then locate them, gather my strength, and finally spray.
After those three, I got a bit braver! At my peak, I ditched the Doom and dropped a shoe on a large black one that had made its way to my bedroom as I was trying to put things away. It was at this moment that the cricket hopped in through my room. Unfortunately for him, I already had the shoe in hand and...
I thought I had got them all until I passed by my spare bedroom and saw what I believed to be the almighty biggest Goliath of them all. I grabbed my Doom and got straight to work. As I was nearing this King Kong, though, I started counting legs and was thrown that maybe my counting was off. Was this a spider? Whatever it was, it was too big to be in my house, so I felt OK spraying it.
This is a Ground Beetle called an Anthia Cintipennis, and there is oddly almost zero information on the beetle, except for the fact that it can shoot formic acid up to 30 centimeters. Please enjoy a comparison photo between the dead bug and my finger below. Yes, I know my finger is not very close to it, but it was because I was so terrified it would rise from the dead and bite me.
In conclusion, I know my mosquito net is designed as malaria protection, but please know that to me, its primary function is to keep the spiders out. It is currently my safe haven, and also where I've been writing this blog this whole time.
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