Sydney Funnel-Web Spider

Life Cycle

• Following impregnation, the female constructs an egg sac (which holds around 100 eggs) in her burrow.
• Males take four years to mature; females take five years. Males usually die after mating.

Habits

• Funnel-webs prefer cool, moist environments, such as burrows and holes in logs / tree trunks.
• Funnel-webs usually surround their burrows / homes with silk trip-lines, which alert them to prey.
• The male funnel-web is considered the more dangerous and aggressive, and wanders about in the warmer months looking for female mating partners.
• Funnel-web venom can kill a human. An anti-venom is available, but needs to be administered quickly.