There’s quite a lot of “but tarantulas aren’t true spiders” comments, so I’ll address that here. Spiders form the order Araneae, and are divided into three main groups: Mesothelae, Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae. The Araneomorphae are sometimes colloquially called “true spiders”, which is a really misleading name as it implies the other two groups aren’t actually spiders. Tarantulas belong to the Mygalomorphae, which are more basal than the Araneomorphae, but not as basal as the Mesothelae. But since they’re classified within the order Araneae, they’re still spiders regardless. Saying tarantulas aren’t “true spiders” because they’re more basal than Araneomorphs is like saying kangaroos and koalas aren’t mammals because they’re more basal than Eutherian (placental) mammals.

Huntsman are gentle timid spiders, never killed or hurt in my family ever. As kids we had one living in our room named Herman who we discovered was a girl. Never bit us, used to run up and down my arm. I’m the spider catcher in our house as my 6foot tall Aussie son is terrified of them but if I find one he has to come and check it out and shudder. We had a 3 legged one for a while and I found him dead in the kitchen and another different spider had killed his and I was so upset that I killed the other one with the broom, which I never normally do. My son loved that spider too, and we were so emotionally invested in this disabled soul. It was so distressing. Sounds silly probably but maybe other Aussies will get it.

As a someone with Arachnophobia, watching this video was one hell of an endurance test. By the end I felt all tingly

I love how he sounded all professional but at the end causually drops the f-bomb lmao

In the western state of of Jalisco, Mexico we have the Heteropoda Venatoria. It used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was a kid due to their sheer size and aggressiveness. I once saw one on a wall in my bedroom and tried to scare it away by lightly tapping it with a stick. The spider actually jumped at the stick in a very aggressive motion as if to bite the stick, and then jumped back on the wall. I'm glad I didn't use my hand instead of the stick. It was many years later that I found out that they don't represent a threat to humans, but I never took my chances.

The Giant Banded Huntsman, as featured in this video, is ubiquitous across much of Australia. They're generally docile and harmless and can just be ignored. We traditionally kept two of them at any given time in our house near Perth, Western Australia.....one for each of the kids to claim as a pet. They tend to roam around at night. One evening I was lying on the floor in my lounge room, wearing just a pair of shorts. One of our "pet" Huntsmen crawled up the side of my shorts. I got well bitten in the process of removing said pet from inside my shorts, and certainly knew I'd been bit. There are also some areas I've been in around Australia where these spiders are bizarrely aggressive. I remember one mining exploration camp I worked in in Outback Western Australia where the Banded Huntsmen would attack anything that moved. If you touched a wall near one of these stroppy monsters, they'd jump and attack your hand.

I mean, I always thought that when people referred to H. Maxima as the "biggest", they meant by leg span, not weight. Which indeed it is the biggest by that standard. It's like trying to compare the world's tallest person to the world's heaviest person. They're two completely different things.

During college I worked in a spider lab (working with Schizocosa ocreata and saltatrix), and the amount of people just not knowing anything about spiders astounded me. My professor was one of the only people in the world that had studied ocreata (and wolf spiders in general), and how little is known about them. Thank you for this video! Because of my lab experience I love seeing anything that helps people understand spiders better

Been a subscriber to your channel for a fair while now and I gotta say that your videos are always so clear and informative , Always entertaining for me as well as educational.

Really enjoyed this video. Also thank you for crediting all of the photos and videos!

As a child growing up in Brisbane my neighbours house was the original property for the block as a farm. They have 3 trees with a rough black bark & on one of these trees there is/was a crevice with a funnel webbing & fairly sizable black spider. After watching Dave's Little Beasties channel I did a bit of research & think that spider is the Northern Forest Funnel Web. I don't know how common these are in Brisbane suburbs but I do hope they are still there.

Very honest and passionate detail went into this content... its good to see on this internet medium... thank you! I hope to see more of your videos in the future!

Wow, great video! I didn't expect to laugh so much on a spider video, love your sense of humor 😂 subscribed ❤🕷🕸

I keep tarantulas and have even handled them on a few occasions, but huntsman spiders give me the creeps. It actually makes me want to get one 😆. They're exciting to look at.

Just came across this video and haven't watched the whole thing yet but wow! I didn't think any species was larger than Heteropoda Maxima!

Still have arachnophobia 😱. I'm British, there's no spider in the UK that can cause me significant harm, and I'm less afraid of small (tiny) spiders now. Once a UK jumping spider would send me into a frenzy, now I can let them crawl on me. Big spiders? Nope. I had an invasion of Giant House spiders at my old place. I moved out 18 months ago and I still have frequent nightmares about the spiders. I spent hours researching them, to try and understand them better to overcome my phobia, now I can easily identify a male vs female giant house spider, but I'm no less terrified. I know they can't hurt me. I know it's irrational. I am trying to overcome this.

It's their rapid movement that creeps me out more than size. As a kid I used to be, now regrettably, sadistic in pulling out their legs just to slow them down. Nowadays I catch them and release them far outside the yard, before any kid get the same idea I used to have. The movement still creeps me out, but I remind myself it's an irrational sentiment and get over it.

Huntsman spiders are mostly harmless but i can't think of a more terrifying spider by appearance

Got to see one of these guys in a cave while on holiday to Thailand, it was huge but no one got too close to see it’s full size since it was pretty scary. I’m a lot less scared of spiders after seeing that thing since no house spider where I live comes close in size

Am a keeper of tarantulas, with a small collection of over 30 species. How is the huntsman in terms of longevity? It's the main factor for why I don't keep jumpers. Nice video, and tarantula keepers feel your pain. Not everything is a goliath, and goliaths are actually quite delicate, not some tanky monster.

2 years ago i was terrified of all arachnids. But i started watching tarantula keepers on KZfaq and over time got used to both Ts and true spiders. A couple years ago I couldn't even have watched this video without squirming. Now, while I'm still hesitant about handling them, i can truly appreciate these beauties

Awesome video, by the way ! In France, we have three species of huntsman spiders that are rather small : Olios argelasius, Micrommata ligurina and Micrommata virescens. These last two might be part of the most gorgeous species of this family, with their bright green color ! Always a pleasure to see them in the wild, like little emeralds walking in the grass !

You are ridiculously intelligent, and it comes out not only in the way you care for animals, but also the way you speak. The way you speak is very entertaining to listen to, because you're funny. You have a nice voice, and you speak intelligently.. thank you

you're bang on, it depends on the metric you use. the giant huntsman is the largest by legspan, whereas the goliath birdeater is the largest by mass. and yeah, saying "tarantulas aren't true spiders" is just a complete fallacy, of course they are. eight legs, eight eyes, two body segments = spider

Kinda like how everyone thinks that the reticulated python is the biggest extant snake species because of it's length despite the fact that the green anaconda is a lot heavier in comparison.

Man you are so articulate I could listen to you talk about anything

About 12 years ago we had some glass materials deliverd from Australia to the UK for our business and inside some of the glassware was a dead huntsman spider and we still have it to this day in a see thru plastic sample pot with the lid on in some sort of water fluid must be deionised or something but whatever it is its worked still looks as fresh as the day we found it.

Just came across your channel and really appreciate the spider facts! They will never not scare me, but I have been so fascinated by them for years to the point that I know so much about them. Very misunderstood creatures. I'd love to see a huntsmen in person - but again, arachnophobia so preferably behind glass lol (even though I KNOW they can't harm me).

3:00 Welp, my spelunking career has ended before it even began.

Really interesting video thanks :) their faces are so cute

Huntsman spiders are gentle and will not harm you. I live them.

Living in Europe. Never saw a spider bigger than 3-4cm in the wild. These ones you have there are brutal.

7:07 I've heard a lot about Typostola Barbata (Green-bellied huntsman), you'll notice some aqua green areas if you look closely at its abdomen and leg joints. This is because they have a special form of lifeblood which they use to pump up their legs when hunting on trees. Plus, the Green-bellied huntsman's fangs are large and powerful, so once they've been driven into the prey there are no second chances.

I love your huntsman videos and I'm considering getting one as a pet in the future, is there any particular species in Aus you'd recommend for a beginner keeper? I'm down in Melbourne if that helps, it can be pretty cold down here so I'm unsure how a huntsman from up north would do down here.

If that thing crawled on me I think my soul would leave my body and I’m not even afraid of spiders lol

Used to have a big bad brown huntsman on the window sill i called Jimmy. Peaceful huntsman, never fucked around with jimmy and it never screwed around with me. Loved that spider. Fed it roaches and things it caught on its own include paper wasps and reduvid bugs. Jimmy used to watch me make scale models. I wonder where that spider is now.

You made me laugh! Haha the sun visor comment, skinny legs and fear and misconceptions about Australia 😂

I am Australian and lives in Victoria, Australia where Huntsman can be found anywhere, love's spider's, but hates and is terrified of Huntsman spider's.

Arachnids are one of my hyperfocus animals. I probably spend easily 15 hours a week watching videos about different arachnids, arachnid evolution and biology, arachnid venom etc.

"Let's keep the video somewhat family friendly" *Proceeds to curse the whole bloodline of the poorly-researching content creators*

😂😂😂😂 your commentary is hilarious! Well done

I live in the south west of the states. I have a hunstman as a pet. Absolutely love them!

Really well researched video! Do you know what the largest non-tarantula spider is by mass? Is it Typostola barbata?

Theraphosa scare me, not because of size or bite, but the damn urticating hairs and how quickly they'll kick them and how damaging they can be. I mean it's just a defense mechanism, but that's a big nope for me as far as a pet goes

I was in Borneo at the start of March this year, on an expedition with Chester Zoo.. Seen a huge Huntsman on a wooden post about the size of my hand, couldn’t tell you which type (into reptiles).. Mostly grey with brown on its cephalothorax, brown markings on the abdomen, black/brown evenly spaced patches down each of the legs with a slight yellow fringe around the pedipalps.. Absolute beast, you’ve got yourself a new subscriber..

I live in Australia now, but i used to live in the middle of venezuela. I will regularly find diferent types of tarantula in my house, particularly the Pink toed tarantula. And my god that those where AGRESSIVE! Usually with house spiders, i would gently poke it a stick to make it move towards a container, or toward the door or window if theyre near and exit. But with the pink toe, will actually lunge ad you if you try to poke it, blow on it or bother it in any way. They have fangs the size of my fingernails and while they are not enough to kill you, im not gonna risk a bite from a spider that is the size of my hand, and with fangs the size of a cat's. I have been chased by taratulas, like in a game of animal crossing. Normally my only resort is to pray them with bug spray and quickly back off. Specially since i had little children at the time, and i just dont want a giant agressive spider just chilling around on my rooms

I never understood people's hardcore fear of spiders. Thanks for spreading quality information and doing what you do. 👍

Really enjoyable, putting the half-wits to rest was extremely entertaining 😂

That redefinition of "size" is really important to put into perspective... "Longest" and "biggest" are not synonymous... I wish more people got that. Also, recommendation: ZeFrank1 did a video about tarantulas, he usually puts a lot of effort into researching the topics before doing a video about them. I would love to see you fact-check him! :)

They do grow very big in Australia though and seem to appear in Winter. I am always jarring one on the wall and puting it outside in the Winter.

We have little miniature huntsmen here in Southern California. I've come across a number of them about the size of a quarter in my apartment in San Diego.

That is the most massive broom I've ever seen!

I have always been afraid of small spiders, but bigger ones are adorable. They have their own body language that being able to see makes it easier to understand. I am working on my fear of smaller ones though! Never kill, just use a paper to relocate them outside or to a diffrent room.

I used to see huntsmen as the scariest spiders, but since watching your channel that has changed. I don't really fear any spiders anymore, as long as they don't surprise me that is.

What is the largest (non tarantula) by mass?

Saw one about the size of a human hand. Thought it was a big leaf blowing down the parking lot until it stopped and stood up on all eight legs raising it's body off the ground about 3 inches! Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would see a wild spider that size. I had to go to the internet in 1994 to find out what I just saw. I worked for Hertz rent a car at the time and was at a Dodge dealership near car transports when I saw it run, stop and then eventually up the underside of a new Dodge Intrepid in Normal Illinois, USA!! Yes a few hours south of Chicago Illinois. I was amazed thinking what kind of journey this guy took to get here unnoticed until...poof he was gone again. Life throws you a curveball every now and then! It's awesome when we slow down our daily routine and actually notice them when they happen!

Since I saw the Maxima first time in a disturbing documentary where they catch it with a net, I want to see the thing for real.

The photo at 7:40 is of the spider on a Besser block wall. Given that a Besser block is 190mm tall (you can see the join between the blocks on the perpendicular wall) this will give a good indication as to the spiders size, my guess being about 100mm

I feel like a big part of the problem is this sensationalization of spiders in the media. Of course an article about a very big or very dangerous animal will get more attention than something like a cellar spider, so often times it will just be portrayed as that even though the information proving the opposite is easily available

1:06: Aaww.. Just really sitting and chilling...

This is spine chilling, why did i even click 😂😭

I look at spiders as the cats of the insect world

We have huntsman where I live in Florida. One lives in our chicken coop. They at first are scary but over time you leaned to respect their role!

I got to photograph one on my brickwork on my house in West Tennessee. Beautiful 4" leg span...

Huntsman spiders are very cute in my opinion. I love them

Thank you for these videos. I'm quite scared of spiders but i want to love them. The more i learn about them, the more amazed I am by these incredible animals. I hope I will love them one day.

Great explanation of the truth. Completely agree with the Click Bait top 10's or 20's of any site. No research just money grabbing. I just thumb them down and move on. Long live the giant Huntsman.

I was terrified of spiders until I experienced bed bugs. When you have bed bugs, one will perhaps consider putting a "spiders wanted" sign on your front lawn.

I'm a little surprised that you did not list the three different Goliath theraphosa species.Theraphosa blondi (1804), Theraphosa apophysis (1991) and Theraphosa stirmi (2010).

The Heteropoda aemulans is a different number of huntsman spiders. Similar to the H. Maxima ---I Heard of these from Inaturalist.) Heteropoda strasseni. Heteropoda robusta are look like Yiinthi chillagoe. but im sure that i love this Video!. did you know my friend told you about beregama?

Still curious if it was a wolf spider in my cousins garage since it was as big or larger than a tarantula and there are no tarantulas in my area

Yeah, its true. Hunstman spiders are the widest spiders, but the goliath birdeater is just way more massive in terms of bulk and weight.

Come on humans! You are not afraid of us arachnids, your fear comes from a sutile red spider who walks around when you sleep naively across 4D.

I'd rather talk about "largest" than "biggest" for these types of comparisons. In France, we translate "the largest" as "la plus grande", which also can be translated to "the widest". So for us, the largest spider is indeed H. maxima. But yeah, when we talk about "the biggest", it has the same meaning in French, so the biggest spider for us is still T. blondi.

Similar if not the same as the Rain Spider here in South Africa. Found mostly in rural areas like farms

spiders..fascinating creatures that always create a certain disgust in me...the only living being that I'm really afraid of.....the longer its legs are, the more they scare me..why?

great thing to put on immediately before bed

In wikipedia it says heteropoda maxima bite could be lethal for humans, any thoughts on that?

I was afraid of spiders untill I saw some of the cute jumpers that quickly led the YT algorithm to suggest me tarantulas. Now after two month im considdering to get not just one but 3 cause I can't decide wich one I like more. It's the Grammostola Pulchra, the Brachypelma Hamorri and the Caribena versicolor. And yes im even consider a Theraphosa as 4th. Huntsman still creeps me out a bit, maybe because they are mostly just legs. But it seems they are very docile and even their "face" looks a bit grumpy, it somehow is cute. If some would have told me 2, 3 month ago I ever would want a tarantula I would have said "nope never I hate spiders" What helped me a lot was a guy who made funny Videos of rehousing and feeding his tarantulas arguing with them and put some ai voiceovers for the spider in the video or adding anime noises when the tarantula was running to its burrow what was pretty hilarious. So yeah maybe I will get used to Huntsman too some day. At least they had a cute grumpy face 😅

How do you get your huntsman to be so chill?? 😳 my only interactions with them they move a thousand miles an hour. I can corral them onto my hand for 2 seconds and they’re gone.

currently in laos hunting for this species. Vang vieng me and my partner have found many H.Tetrica, H.Aemulans and we are soon off for 2 weeks in thakhek to collect and find Maxima

Biggest Huntsman I've ever seen was a Giant Banded one similar to that one in the photo on the white wall I guess. Was in the Blue Mountains back in the 1990s before everyone had cameras but it had at least a 20cm leg span. Very different looking from the H. Maxima though, those legs are clearly another order longer

That broom pic is what got me interested in huntsman lol! Always knew it was force-perspective but its still huge. I still want one but can't import anything from Australia cuz the rest of the world doesn't want Australia getting out

I cannot unsee the spider in that thumbnail. 😳 It may not be the biggest in the world, but still doesn’t change the fact it’s massive!

i know tarantulas are spiders but viscerally i feel like they are a whole different matter compared to crablike spiders like huntsmen. they almost seem more like mammals from the perspective of my brainstem id. so i can see why arachnophobes would fixate more on the skinny, fast spiders.

I never see videos of people keeping heteropoda maxima as a pet. I see its rival birtheaters in those videos instead.

Obviously the hetropoda maxima is not the heaviest but it is still very large and is the longest spider which makes it extremely scary and it’s probably a lot faster and climbs better than a tarantula which adds to it,I’d rather see a big tarantula over this monster any day(regarding to fear)

It's the largest spider by length, not mass.....but can be called the largest spider by that measure.

Gives me the absolute willies when I see people allow these things to crawl on them...

Did you see that on morphmarket they actually have some baby heteropoda maxima spiderlings for sale? You never see that they are soooo rare. Never seen them in the hobby before but someone has them and is selling them. $500 a piece/ I wish I had the money, I would buy a bunch of them and hopefully breed them one dayS it’s my dream spider.

You are quite an eloquent orator.

I once read that if you can crossbreed a goliath and Haitian brown you can get a tarantula with an 18 inch legspan. Before people say no way I put a giant house spider in with my tarantula and he started courtship

I really love spiders. I do not want to touch them though. My affection only goes so far. But they fascinate me always. I love watching them and taking photographs of them. I love how they follow you with their eyes. I don't care if they are big or small. All of them are equal to me. Long time ago i moved a spider with me when i moved. Put her in an ashtray and took her to my new home. It was a Pholcus phalangioidus. She already had babies and carried an eggsack again. How could i leave her behind, knowing she would be killed? I freed her in the basement and she lived there for a long time. Her babies grew big and still roam the house. They are the best at eating spiders. They love hunting those big Tegenaria sp. Sometimes i feel sad when they catch one. But that is nature. Zelda (that was her name) lived a long life. At the end she was old and slow. Poor thing looked like she needed a walker 😂 Thank you for the great and funby videos. I really love you!

With venomous snakes technically the gaboon viper is larger than a king cobra because it weighs more up to 20kg the king cobra is around 9kg depending on environment of course.

LOL...I love the bush joke !

careful about kissing spiders, she might turn into Kerrigan ;)

Actually amazing

It would be cool to have picture of H. maxima and T. blondi sitting side by side on quad paper with a ruler. And please make a video about that spider kiss!

@4:22 that is not maxima, that is Sp. giant Thai cave

i have a normal housespider in my bathroom, in a little net in the corner above the tub, i call her Berta and i feed her ocasionally with tiny flies. when i open the door in the morning she comes running to the edge of her net and gives me a high 5 with one of her legs. isn't that funny?