Mum Shocked To Find Patch Of Dew Is Actually Huge Cobweb Of Spiders

Imagine staring out across your lawn and spotting a mild bit of dew developing under your kid's trampoline. Not thinking much of it, you carry on as normal and don't pay it much attention. That is until you take a closer look at the patch and notice it's...moving?

That's the situation Denise and Sean Torkington were confronted with at their home in Queensland, Australia. They were shocked to find that what they thought was dew, was in fact a massive cobweb of spiders that was growing with every passing day.

Credit: Channel 7

Denise says Sean had a go removing the pesky arachnids, but they came back thicker. She's told the Daily Mail: "My husband kicked it away hoping they would move on but they rebuilt it overnight and it was grown every day since.

"This is the thing nightmares are made of."

Credit: DeniseTorkington

She uploaded a photo of the cobwebs to a Facebook page hoping to get some answers, but it wasn't much help. One person suggested they were wolf spiders which can pack a painful venomous bite, while another user questioned whether it could be the work of funnel web spiders.

However, the majority of people reportedly just told her to burn her backyard and house to make the job quick and tidy.

via GIPHY

But before Denise and Sean went out to find the best lawn lighter fluid, they were told that their lives weren't at immediate risk. The situation is apparently called ballooning, which is where a spider will climb to a high point (top of grass stems) and release silk threads into the air to help them move between locations.

Spiders usually travel for a few metres, but others have been known to be carried hundreds of kilometres away in a strong breeze.

Credit: Channel 7

But when there are plenty of spiders doing the same thing across a small patch of lawn, it can create this blanket of silk cobwebs.

Arachnologist Dr Robert Raven has told Channel 7: "The legend is, if a money spider lands on the palm of your hand, you will have money come to it. So they may be a sign of good luck."

I don't know about Dr Raven, but I would prefer that my hand stays spider-free for all eternity thank you very much.

Sources: Channel 7, Daily Mail

Featured Image Credit: Channel 7

Topics: Spiders

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie