This is the unsettling moment hundreds of venomous funnel web spiders burst out of their egg sack (even typing that makes me feel a bit queasy) at the Australian Reptile Park. Check it out below, if you dare:
Credit: Australian Reptile Park
Poor little spiders, eh? All they do is just scuttle around, trying to stay out of everyone's way while keeping the house free of flies and moths, but most folk will still smash them into oblivion with a rolled-up newspaper given half a chance. To be honest, though, having seen that clip it's not really difficult to see why.
The footage, which was taken by staff at the Australian Reptile Park, shows the baby spiders being carefully cut from their sack before venturing out and crawling all over the place.
But what were they doing at a reptile park?
Good question. Weirdly enough, the facility in New South Wales milks the venom from the spiders so that it can be used to create life-saving anti-venom to treat dangerous spider bites.
We're not entirely sure how they milk the spiders, but presumably they have to employ someone with very small hands and there's probably a magnifying glass involved.
The staff posted the video on Facebook with the caption: "Baby Funnel web spiders coming out of an egg sack is the stuff of some people's nightmares - but we love them!"
Kane Christensen, Head of Spiders at the Australian Reptile Park, told Daily Mail Australia that the funnel web spiders are bred at the park to provide vital anti-venom.
"The venom is used by BioCSL, to manufacture anti-venom that saves spider bite victims," he said.
"I'm a proud dad with all those babies,' he added.
"Each egg would have an average of 100 spiders inside each one, but last week one gave us 175 little spiders, which was awesome.
"The Australian Reptile Park is the sole supplier of the venoms required for the production of anti-venom for funnel web spider."
In order to keep the venom supply flowing, staff at the park milk around 150 spiders on a fortnightly basis.
However, the facility didn't receive as many spiders as usual this year, so they decided to go out collecting egg sacks instead.
Mr Christensen now has roughly 1,300 funnel web spiders in his care and he's pretty chuffed about it.
"I just love funnel web spiders. I love all types of spiders, but they're definitely my favourite. They're awesome, there's over 40 species of them, all different."
Whatever floats your boat, mate. Just keep 'em well away from me.Featured Image Credit: Australian Reptile ParkTopics: Zoo, Spiders, Animals, Australia