kcheek Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 Hi Gang, So I have a question for all the Australian members here at FoH. I was watching a show on White-tailed spiders which are native to Southern and Eastern Australia and got to wondering how you all deal with all these nasty venomous creatures, from snakes to spiders and anything in between, in your everyday lives? From watching the video reviews it would seem Ken's house is a spider and snake farm, have you ever been bit by one Ken? I live in an area where there are no venomous animals, so when I head out to the garage, I don't think twice about sliding my foot into my shoes and not worrying about getting bit by something that has crawled into it in the night. Anyways, I was just wondering since Australia seems to have an unusually large number of potentially nasty creatures.
El Presidente Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 how you all deal with all these nasty venomous creatures, from snakes to spiders and anything in between, in your everyday lives? We have an agreement...... They don't bite us and we don't bite them
kcheek Posted March 8, 2011 Author Posted March 8, 2011 We have an agreement...... They don't bite us and we don't bite them Lol! Like on Seinfeld, we have an agreement with the pigeons in New York, they can poop on the statues, but they have to get out of the way when we drive down the road.
Fuzz Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 I have a rule. If it comes into the house uninvited... it dies (I've come close to extending this to people... ). Otherwise, we just live with the damn things. You can never spray enough pesticide to kill all the spiders, and they just come back in a month or so. If I collected all the spiders (whitetails, redbacks, common black house spider, etc) I killed during the spring/summer months, I could fill a 9L bucket. They are just that numerous. Then of course you got the snakes and lizards. I live in a pretty developed area and we still get the occasional blue tongue lizard and red-bellied black snake.
jay8354 Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Common Sense for most part. You get a feel for what types of critters are around. I got mostly harmless wolf spiders (big and scares my wife) but there are redbacks (small and really painful). Inside the house, a spider catcher helps with the big and harmless. Roll of newspaper and can of pesticide for the small and deadly. Yearly pest control also keeps numbers down. So you check gloves and boots that are left outside, be careful with containers. I make sure my 4 yr old is careful as well.
Fuzz Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Common Sense for most part. Common sense my @$$ Jase! Try waking up in the middle of the night with a fully grown whitetail on your pillow! You at least live in the inner west, where spraying once a year is good enough. I have to spray twice yearly or I get inundated with spiders.
CDNeh Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Given everything I have just read, I guess I will not complain about all the snow and sub zero temps we have to put up with. I will take the snow over spiders any day of the week. CDNeh
bstarrs Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 I may sound like a 3 year old girl, but I refuse to ever live anywhere where the spiders are more than 2 inches across.
cigcars Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 *Hey Bstarrs, I'll join your club. It's because the palmetto bugs are reputed to be the size of the palm of one's hand that I won't go down to Florida! And yes - being a former wildlife & National Geographic show fan, Australia's little fun guys were shown all the time. You guys have got some "somethin' else" critters down there. You've got wildlife so lethal they can LOOK at you and kill ya! When they Olympics were being filmed there during the nightime events the cameramen said the moths being attracted to their bright lights were the SIZE OF BIRDS! Yeah, I'll email and write.
El Presidente Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 *Hey Bstarrs, I'll join your club. It's because the palmetto bugs are reputed to be the size of the palm of one's hand that I won't go down to Florida! And yes - being a former wildlife & National Geographic show fan, Australia's little fun guys were shown all the time. You guys have got some "somethin' else" critters down there. You've got wildlife so lethal they can LOOK at you and kill ya! When they Olympics were being filmed there during the nightime events the cameramen said the moths being attracted to their bright lights were the SIZE OF BIRDS! Yeah, I'll email and write. What freaks a lot of overseas visitors when they come to my house is dusk when the sky turns black with millions of bats as they leave their roosts on the river and head out into outer suburbs and bushland to forage. Harmless....but more than one visitor has moved inside
Fuzz Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Ah, I remember those Bogong moths during the Olympics. Those poor suckers sitting near the cauldron kept getting rained on by half burnt moths! It was hilarious watching tourists get whacked in the face by a 2 inch moth. Every morning you'd see clean up crews carrying out garbage bags full of them. Rob, it may not be fear of the bats themselves that make your guests go inside, but fear of bat guano! We have that problem in the Botannical Gardens in Sydney. Too many tourists come walking out covered in the stuff.
dicko Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 I always shake out my shoes/boots and jackets i have hanging outside or in laundry to get rid of any spiders. I hate them!
LeafLover Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Sharks, snakes, spiders. But y'all have some fine ass chicks though!
Guest rob Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 We're experiencing a spider plague at the moment... even though we keep our house extremely clean, this week we've had to deal with Red Back Spiders (I think theyre called Black Widows in the US) and some White Tail Spiders.... Being an arachnapohobe I'm surprised I'm dealing with it as well as I am We also had a Brown Snake in our garage about 6 weeks ago... but that didn't bother me a great deal because he was a small fella only about 3 foot long.
Fuzz Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Yeah, apparently all the rain has been a boon for spiders. I sprayed only 2 months ago and I've gotta top it up with the Mortein DIY outdoor spray.
leojvs Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 I get lots of white tail spiders in my house. I deal with them by killing the ones I see. I have been bitten on the hand whilst sleeping and had some swelling and some skin fall off but it wasnt too bad. I had one visit me in the shower the other night which was propmptly killed. I check everything. Tonight I was eating dinner on the riverbank when a 1.5m long red bellied black snake swam out of the water and slithered past me close enough that I could touch it. It decided that sitting at my feet was a great place to spend 10 or so minutes before I lost my nerve and packed up and left.
cigcars Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 *You know, speaking of insecticides...there ARE more natural and potent remedies (cedar we all know is "iffy" due to tobacco beetles getting into our stash anyway!). While that deadly stuff is potent, I get mint, peppermint, spearmint, etc. tea bags and place them in strategic locations in corners, etc. I find these are more effective at times than even moth balls (which I'm sure doesn't agree with aroma-sensitive humans as well as critters). Just thought I'd share this with our "web of horror" forum today!
Fuzz Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Cig, our insects are the least of your worries. And don't worry about salties, great white or the blue ringed otcopus. The worst predator by far in Australia is Thylarctos plummetus, otherwise known as the Drop Bear (see link below). Australian Museum Once thought to be mere myth, it has finally been confirmed by science. Their distribution is mainly on the eastern coast (along the great Dividing Range, down through to Tasmania) and in central Australia. If you are going to be bushwalking on your holidays in Australia, take all the recommended precautions. Smear Vegemite behind your ears and memorise the words to a Cold Chisel song (preferably Khe Sanh), the song tends to placate the creature (but if it starts to sing... run!).
Fuzz Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 lions and tigers and bears - oh my....... Colt, that is a particularly nasty destructive creature. When angered, it ruins your cigars and will drinks copius amount of your wine. Luckily, only one has been found in existence.
kcheek Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 Cig, our insects are the least of your worries. And don't worry about salties, great white or the blue ringed otcopus. The worst predator by far in Australia is Thylarctos plummetus, otherwise known as the Drop Bear (see link below).Australian Museum Once thought to be mere myth, it has finally been confirmed by science. Their distribution is mainly on the eastern coast (along the great Dividing Range, down through to Tasmania) and in central Australia. If you are going to be bushwalking on your holidays in Australia, take all the recommended precautions. Smear Vegemite behind your ears and memorise the words to a Cold Chisel song (preferably Khe Sanh), the song tends to placate the creature (but if it starts to sing... run!). Fuzz, I read if you put forks in your hair it will deter the Drop Bear also, is this tue?
Fuzz Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 Fuzz, I read if you put forks in your hair it will deter the Drop Bear also, is this tue? Putting forks in your hair? Only if you want to provide cutlery for the drop bear while he feasts on your brain!
kcheek Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 Where's Ken at? It seems pretty woolly out at La Casa del Gargetto. Ken have you ever had any unwanted animals crawl in your bed at night?
gr8tdanz Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 Okay, so I'll admit it. The more I read this thread the more I felt like I had bugs crawling on me. I agree with some earlier posts, perhaps the snow and freezing cold here in Indiana isn't so bad.
Warren Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 The thing with the white tail spider that is the most annoying is not so much the poison but the necratizing fasciitis that it causes. Basically the area around the bite rots away and the hole just keeps getting bigger. Come to Australia you might accidentally get killed.
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