MonoMonday:Small

It's quite big enough thank you, but the extra shows that it is relatively tiny as it approaches Mr isbi.

We had friends staying at the farm at the weekend and they reported finding a funnel web spider.
They thought it came from the wood box just outside the door. Sure enough it had a distinct funnel shaped web.

So I got the camera ready, unfortunately didn't think to photograph the web, and we tipped over the wood.
Out crawled this creature.

It certainly looks like a funnel web although I am not convinced it is quite shiny enough. Still variations can occur and if there are any experts out there opinions would be welcome.

Being one of the world's deadliest spiders (although the only mammals affected are humans and monkeys) I am afraid to say it was hurt after the making of this blip.
I did want Mr isbi to try and trap it but he wouldn't. He said that's how people get bitten.
However in my subsequent research I have just discovered that they are calling for people to hand them in to milk for antivenom so perhaps we should have.
I am also sorry we didn't poke at it to see if it reared up. We did do that to one once and it leaves little doubt that it's a funnel web.

If you are wondering why an arachnophobe such as me got this far, I have a fairly normal aversion to funnel webs and other small spiders. It's the big, hairy ones that climb the walls that really freak me out.

Thanks Skeena for hosting MonoMonday this month.

PS. On looking further, I am starting to think this is more likely a black house spider.
Spoils the story a bit, but I'll sleep better tonight :-)