Huge huntsman eats gecko in viral TikTok video

A WA man has joked about burning his house down after capturing footage of a gigantic huntsman feasting on a gecko above his door, but the spider isn’t as scary as it looks.

A haunting video reminds us all about the nightmare-inducing terror of Australian wildlife as a gigantic spider feasts on a gecko.

The video was posted to TikTok by WA man Riley Watts.

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@wattsea98

Welcome to Australia ##straya ##burnthehousedown ##rip ##fml ##australia ##wa ##spider ##lizzard ##youaredead ##4up ##forupage ##foryoupage ##4you

♬ original sound - Riley watts

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“Welcome to Australia,” he captioned the video, alongside the hashtag #burnthehousedown.

Macquarie University department of biological sciences postdoc researcher Lizy Lowe told Daily Mail Australia the spider was a grey huntsman, which are fast and venomous, but generally don’t pose a danger to humans.

She recommended trapping the spiders or chasing them out of the house if you find one, rather than using pesticides.

Ok Australia, it's Spring, this means you're going to see more insects and spiders around.
Please don't be alarmed, it's normal (and frankly, a relief after so many died off last year).
If in doubt, reach out, I honestly love random bug pics and helping with identifications!

— Dr Lizzy Lowe ❤️🕷️ (@LizyLowe) September 21, 2020

A huge spider devouring a gecko. Picture: TikTok/Riley Watts

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“Huntsman do not represent a threat to humans,” she told the Mail.

“It would only bite if you grabbed one and squeezed – but I mean, who wouldn’t,” Dr Lowe added.

“Coulda gone my entire life without seeing this,” one TikTok user commented, while others said spiders were the reason they “would never visit Australia”.

Huntsman spiders tend to be more active at night and are ambush predators who wait for their prey to come close before pouncing.

Unlike some other spiders they don’t rely on webs, instead they inject venom into their prey to immobilise it before eating.