In life, it seems that each of us has subconsciously developed a healthy fear of spiders. Don’t let anyone fool you — deep down we’re all a little wary of the eight-legged monsters. Namely, because they’re creepy, unpredictable, and look rather alien.
It’s hard to tell which ones are venomous and which ones are just scary-looking, and honestly, it’s usually best just to trap it in a jar or sweep it outside. Out of sight out of mind.
Brianna on TikTok learned this lesson the hard way when she and her fiancé encountered a huge creepy crawly in her garage. It was truly massive — whatever you’re imagining, times ten. In response, they went to kill it by smacking it with a broom.
Instead of leaving the spider squished on the concrete, the mama spider released hundreds of tiny babies who quickly scurried across the floor. Naturally, the audio of this video includes nothing but screaming and hyperventilation.
Apparently, lots of people in the comments have encountered this before and, understandably, Brianna is confused and frustrated as to why she missed out on this peace of knowledge. That said, most people shared her strife, chiming in that they would be hiring both an exterminator and a realtor that day.
A few people even found her response rather calm. One commenter said she would’ve booked it right out of there and called the police. Another said it would’ve been her last day on earth because she would’ve had a heart attack on the spot.
According to one commenter, this was a wolf spider. Per Live Science, wolf spiders are large, hairy brown or gray arachnids with dark, striped markings. Their size ranges from .6 centimeters to 3 centimeters. They do bite but only when threatened and their venom doesn’t really pose a threat to humans.
What Brianna encountered was likely a female spider. Mama wolf spiders carry their egg sacs on their back after laying several dozen and attaching them to themselves using the silk they create webs with. This extra load also causes them to appear larger. They’re most common in grasslands and meadows but tend to pop up all over the world.
So if you ever see that ginormous brownish-gray spider and it looks larger than any spider you’ve ever seen in your life, learn from Brianna’s mistakes and DO NOT CRUSH IT. Instead, put a cup over it, slide a piece of paper underneath, and release it into the wild.
Or just give it to the house. The choice is yours.