Hortense in the corner of the letterbox before the egg sac expanded. Natasha Joyce and a cohort of neighbourhood kids had been so excited about the big day for a hunstman they had dubbed 'Hortense' they built her a nursery. "We checked on her every day since she moved in six weeks ago and yesterday the eggs hatched," Ms Joyce said. "There were hundreds, at least 200… we were incredibly excited." The La Trobe University student and self described "science geek" said she had been using the arrival of Hortense – full name, "Hortense Protector of the Post" – as "a bit of a science and nature lesson" for her weekly childminding duties.

"It's been a real hit with the neighbourhood kids," she said. "They love it. "As soon as my four-year-old nephew comes here he says – 'I want to see the big spider lady'. "And when I looked after friend's daughters, who are six and eight, they were so excited about the babies they made Hortense a little nursery, complete with a nappy changing table, cot and sofa." Though a neighbourhood experiment, the letterbox incubation received advice from some of the state's highest scientific authorities. When the backyard scientists and midwives first found the large egg sac in Ms Joyce's letterbox they turned to Museums Victoria for advice.

They were cautioned that the incubation period made a mother huntsman "extremely protective of her egg sac" and "will bite much more readily than at other times". But Ms Joyce believes the spiders are misunderstood. "They're big and they're scary because they move fast and they're hairy," she said. "But they're pretty harmless ... they do have a nasty bite but it's very, very unlikely that they'll attack you in any way.

"I've been educating my friends about how good they are to have in the garden as a natural pest control. "And if they do come into the house they normally move on by themselves in a few days." Nor is she worried about her garden being overrun by giant hairy spiders. Of the hundreds of hatchlings, only two or three are likely to reach maturity. But what of the poor posties? "When you open the letterbox she does rear up and get aggressive," Ms Joyce said.

"So we originally made up a spare post box just in case. "But Hortense went into a position in the corner where we could still access the mail – and the postie probably never even even knew she was there." Bendigo Advertiser