Images sent in from readers showed what looked like the deadly spider in Yass a week ago and another in Crookwell late August.

Locals says this isn’t the first time funnel-web spiders have been found in the area, and ANU Emeritus Professor David Rowell agrees, having studied Australian spiders for 38 years.

The professor believes the funnel-web spider found in Yass was female, unearthed when a resident was gardening. Earthworks and flooding are other reasons for females to leave their burrow.

There are more than 40 species of funnel-web spider, and all of them dangerous. However, bites are extremely rare, according to Professor Rowell.

“In Australia, you are 10 to 20 times more likely to be killed by a bee than a spider,” he said. 

“Think about the precautions you take against bee stings and apply them to spiders. Don’t pick them up.”

Don’t leave clothes, towels or shoes on the ground overnight in summer, Professor Rowell said. Shake them out and check for unwanted creepy crawlies if you do.

“If you’re camping, keep your tent zipped up and make sure clothes and shoes are inside your tent or car at night, or check them thoroughly if you forget,” he said.

In the event of a spider bite, stay calm and call 000 for an ambulance. That’s the advice from the federal Department of Health.

"Symptoms of a funnel-web bite include sweating, vomiting and diarrhoea,” Professor Rowell said. “The bite itself is very painful and two clear puncture marks are usually visible.”

Funnel-web spiders are found in many areas. Professor Rowell said it’s a myth that they’re “moving into the area’” or have recently colonised the region.

As for where they live, “In drier areas, funnel-webs build their burrows in the ground under rocks and logs, while in wetter areas they can also burrow into rotting logs.”

Funnel-webs aren’t the only spiders people can expect to find around the garden either.

Professor Rowell said, “The kinds of spiders people commonly encounter locally are orb-weaving spiders, which form aerial webs between bushes, trees etc; wolf spiders, which are large ground-hunting spiders; and, of course, our beloved huntsman spiders, which are large, flat and like to sit on walls, although their natural habitat is under bark on eucalyptus and dead acacias.”

None of these are dangerous, although they can give a painful nip, so be careful where you tread this spring and summer and watch out for those creepy crawlies!