Massive spider and babies make themselves at home on energy meter

A horrifying photo of an enormous spider and hundreds of babies has gone viral after they made themselves at home on an electricity meter in Australia.

The stomach-turning image was uploaded to social network Reddit with the message: “Energy Australia was unable to read your meter…”

The creature and its offspring, found at a house in the state of Queensland, would have made life difficult for engineers as they completely obscured the meter's digital display and controls.

The post led to thousands of responses, with many fearing the grim picture would trigger nightmares, and debate over whether it was a wolf spider or hunstman.

One user wrote: “Jesus is there anything in Australia that isn't nightmare fuel or actively trying to end you in gruesome ways?”

Another said: “I felt a rush of primal fear rush from my cranium to my spinal cord when that image came up.”