My hero!!!!!

Last night, as I am inclined to do, I visited the loo in the wee hours. (Excuse the pun). I had the bedside lamp on which does not give a lot of light. As I was ambling back to the bed I saw a huntsman on the wall. Damn those Huntsmen!!!! The spraying has helped but they are still showing up…I may have to phone the pest control man again…

Anyway, I saw this one, not a big one, but not a tiny one either. I keep some fly spray on hand in the bedroom. I use ‘Atlas’, from Aldi supermarket, and I reckon one of the best and quickest fly sprays to be had. This ‘Atlas’ usually knocks Huntsmen down pretty quick. It did last night. I sprayed it, and what they usually do, is drop to the floor wherever they are and then run, very fast.  Well, last night this one dropped and ran. But I didn’t see where he ran. I checked under the bed….but couldn’t move the bed completely, and standing back contemplated my next move, then in the half-light I saw this spider like shape running up the sheet and into the bedclothes.

  

Somewhere in this pile of sheets and bedspread lay a Huntsman. One hero needed to find it!

Horror!!!! Where had the blighter gone? I gingerly pulled the bedclothes apart looking for what could be a dead or alive spider, who would not be happy, and therefore not a good companion at about 3 am.  What to do?

I admitted defeat at this time and headed off to the other room and slept in the spare bed.  This morning, my hero, the spider saviour of my life, the man of iron with nerves of steel was seconded to find this missing arachnid.

He pulled all the bedding apart. Not to be seen. He lifted the mattress off the base. Not to be seen. We moved the bed as much as we could and looked underneath. Not to be seen. Maybe I dreamt it? But then, aha, within the folds of the duvet cover which is coloured dark red, dark green with a spider hiding pattern was my culprit. He fell onto the floor, with is long spidery arms all curled up, dead as a door nail.

 

Yay! In this picture he might not look much, and he was not a big one, but you need to remember that a large part of their size is the leg span. When they are dead they curl them all up tight. This one is now in the bin.