Not everyone knows this but Australia is home to huge animal species. From big, small, venomous, and non-venomous. In fact, they have it all. And the most common are huge spiders. Spides are terrifying for some people. But others find these creatures fascinating.

In fact, this woman decided to share her home with this giant spider that others might be scared to even look at. And they even named her. Since then, “Charlotte” already became a part of this family.

Annette Gray and her son Jake has noticed this eight-legged houseguest but never thought that it would stay there for long. Jake recognized what species of spider Charlotte was. It was called a Huntsman spider.

Huntsman Spiders are known to be large, with legs spanning up to 12.7 centimeters. They are also venomous to the extent to paralyze their prey. But don’t worry, their venom is not enough to incapacitate a human being.

Annette and Jake know for a fact that Huntsman spiders aren’t dangerous or aggressive to people. That is why the family just let the spider crash in their house. In fact, the family did not expect the spider to stay for a long time. But it did. The spider stayed at Annette’s home for a very very long time.

In fact, it stayed there long enough for the family to witness the spider’s growth!

Since then, they also noticed that Charlotte grew 15 centimeters wide. During her interview with The Dodo, Jake said, “We’ve watched [Charlotte] grow over the last year or so. [She] never bothered us. She moves about the house, pops up room to room, eats all the bugs.”

Annette decided that she needed to share Charlotte on the internet. Charlotte is practically family. So Annette and Jake shared about Charlotte with their family and friends. Then, they decided to take it to the next level and share her with the whole world.

A lot were horrified after seeing Charlotte’s pictures for the first time and knowing that she has been living with humans for some time now. Can you ever imagine having a spider that big at your home? If you are afraid of spiders, you might not be happy to see Charlotte the moment you wake up. Some users even joked about burning the house down to get rid of the spider. But if you do like spiders, then you might want to foster her as well like what Annette and Jake did.

Annette said, “I don’t kill them. [Charlotte’s] harmless.” And despite the negative comments, the family got used to Charlotte’s presence. So they continued to let her stay.

In fact, there’s really no need for people to kill spiders. In fact, having them around brings some benefits too. They can help you get rid of pesky pests like mosquitos or cockroaches inside your home.

So it was just right for Annette to keep Charlotte. Despite the spiders’ threatening look and creepy legs, they make good pets to other people. So if you are from Australia and you see a lot of spiders, why not make the best of the situation? Why not adopt one as a pet?

But you have to remember that unlike other pets, keeping spiders is not easy.