Creepy job for spider admirers

IF CREEPY crawlies don’t send a shiver up your spine and you’re looking for a job, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory may have the perfect job for you.

Staff at the museum are looking to employ an “invertebrate zookeeper” to take care of 40 spiders that will be on display in Darwin during an exhibition called Spiders opening on December 15.

Senior curator Dr Richard Willan said candidates for the job should not scare easily and have the stomach to hand feed all of their eight legged creatures, some of which are poisonous, regularly with crickets.

“It’s a definitely a quirky, interesting job all rolled into one,” he said.

“But you need skills because when you handle spiders, some of them can jump and run quite rapidly. You need to be able to anticipate their behaviour and expect the unexpected.

“But overall, spiders are quite friendly and gentle but like any creature you don’t threaten them.

“Like snakes, they’ve got a bad reputation but it’s undeserved. They are really fascinating creatures.”

He said their zookeeper will be paid $35 an hour and be responsible for the day to day care of all live spiders on display and back of house areas at MAGNT Darwin, for the duration of the exhibition which warps up in April next year.

“The zookeeper will have to handle and check the health of the spiders, maintain their supplies of food by cultivating field crickets,” he said.

Applications for the zookeeper role close on Monday, October 22.