The other day, I was bent over cleaning the bathroom floor around the basin. I looked up and got a surprise when I saw this hanging under the sink right next to my nose. It's not dead, it's the shed skin of a very common large Huntsman spider, Palystes superciliosus. We call them Rain Spiders because they normally live outside but due to the fact that they don't make webs, they always know when it is going to rain and then they come inside the house to stay dry and give you quite a surprise because they are so big. They can comfortably fit on your hand and the poor things often get killed by people because of their size. They are in fact harmless and non-venomous and are victims of most people's inherent arachnaphobia.
Sure, those jaws could give a nasty bite but they don't go out of their way to bite. I have handled them many times when taking them outside and I have never been bitten.
Here's a side view: I find the soft hairiness very appealing, as well as the stripey undersides of the legs. Check out the structure of the leg-joints, seen from the inside
