If you are part of the35.5 pct with arachnophobia , it might be time to exit the tab or hit the back push button .

That is because Australian Reptile Park has just welcome a very large ( and very unreptilian ) funnel web spider into its midst .   In fact , he is so big , he has been named Colossus . Scary .

Foot - to - foot , this creature measures 7.8 centimeters ( 3 inches ) , which is roughly the same size as a credit card . Your mean manly measures in atsix to seven centimeters . female , however , tend to be a small larger and bulkier .

Despite some media account calling Colossus the big male funnel web spider the park has ever witness , it seems he does n’t quite oppose up to Big Boy , who was introduced to Australian Reptile Park in 2016 . Big Boy was a whopper with a branch duad of 10 cm ( or 4 inch ) , grant to this report in theBBC .

Colossus was ground   on the Central Coast before he was reach into the car park . According to   Liz Gabriel , foreland of Australian Reptile Park ,   “ The beginning of the yr is always the peak time when funnel web spider are out and about . " A recent patch of rainy weather has been particularly attractive to the creepy-crawly critter , she added .

In the raving mad , funnel web spiders inhabitAustralia ’s   rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest . Closer to home , they can be find ambush in cool , dampish patches , such as a well - vegetated garden or washables way .

The funnel   web wanderer , named after its unusual - influence web , might not be Australia ’s biggest wanderer – that award goes tothe giant huntsman wanderer , an absolute monster in the arachnid world . However , the funnel WWW spider   is the land ’s deadliest . Its venom can take down a humanin just 15 minutes . fortunately for Australia , no one has die from a funnel shape web wanderer bite since 1981 , the year anti - venom became available .

As for Colossus , he has a very important job to do . He will be enlisted on the park ’s anti - venom program , which involves 200 to 300 other funnel spiders . Males are milked for their raw venom , which is used to produce anti - venom .   Last class , the scheme manage 3,500 milkings . This yr , they hope to do better and increase that number to 5,000 .

[ H / T : Yahoo7 ]