“I was having a shower and I looked down to see this creeping black spider the size of my palm coming out from behind the sink.

“I grabbed a towel and a brush that was on the sink and smashed the spider before running upstairs to get my mum to finish it off for me,” Amanda said.

Amanda was able to identify the spider as a male funnel-web, or Atrax.

Male funnel-web spiders abandon the safety of their burrows over summer in search of females to mate with, so it’s not uncommon that they meet up with people in and around homes at this time of the year.

The male Atrax is one of 36 funnel-web species found in Australia and is highly venomous and can cause serious illness and death.

This spider didn’t survive to meet a mate.

“My mum came down and picked up the brush and the spider started to run away again so she smashed it over and over till it was definitely dead.”

The Bega Valley is home to several species of funnel webs including the Hadronyche and the Atrax.