Huge Spider Crawls Over Door Camera: 'House Has Been Torched, Homeless Now'

Footage captured the moment a gigantic spider made itself at home on a doorbell security camera in Australia.

The video, captured at night time by Ring, begins by showing the empty driveway of Evan Smith's home in Sydney.

The spider's long legs then suddenly come into view, as it crawls over the lens. The arachnid rests over the camera to the point where the drive way can no longer be seen. It appears to sit comfortably on the lens for a while.

The spider then twitches a little and shifts its position, its legs now covering a large portion of the camera. It then begins to move back and forth across the camera.

Towards the end of the video, it peers directly into the camera with its eyes.

Its long pedipalps (which are leg-like limbs beside the fangs, used to hold down prey while the spider bites into it) are clearly visible.

Smith shared the video to his twitter page, leaving social media users horrified. One commenter, Iain Brew said: "So you've moved out, right?"

To which Smith replied: "House has been torched, homeless now."

Australia is home to 10,000 different species of spiders. It is not clear what species of spider was caught lurking on Smith's doorbell, however, many Australian spiders can reach a large size due to the country's warm temperatures and conducive environment.

It is currently the tail end of 'spider season' in Australia, which lasts from November to April, during the summer. This is the time of year where large spiders are typically more active.

Smith told Newsweek that he lives near native bushland, so spiders are not uncommon in the area. "I keep honey bees and native bees in my backyard so I try not to spray any insecticides around outside," he said.

Smith said this attracts a fair few species to the area.

"We get golden orb weavers, huntsman, St. Andrew's Cross spiders a fair bit. They are all fairly harmless so happy to let them be outside. If any make a web in a bad spot I just keep knocking the web down each night so they go somewhere else," he said.

The largest of these spiders is the huntsman. Huntsman spiders are common globally, but in Australia, they can grow to a very large size. These spiders can have a leg span of 12 inches, and are usually found lurking under loose bark on trees, under rocks, and on foliage.

However, they can often wander into properties when on the search for prey.

Ring security cameras can be linked to a phone app, alerting homeowners of any unusual activity.

Smith, who had been out at the time, said he was getting alerts on his phone while the spider rested on the lens.

"The footage was a little funny. Not too scared by it but I was wondering why I was getting so many motion alerts on my phone," Smith said.