Dangerous wildlife...

[flossybeth]

or is it?

 

I was thinking about it this morning as I walked barefoot along the water edge;before we arrived it was one of the things that was very much at the forefront of our minds - the dangerous sea, the dangerous beaches, even the dangerous back garden but since we've been here the most dangerous thing we've seen are the ants that love a good nip!

 

Our youngest daughter has spotted 2 snakes - one down at the 12 Apostles and one on a bike track and we've had a couple of red backs in the garden and that's about it.

 

So for people who have been here a while how dangerous have your encounters been? and those thinking of coming - what are you most afraid of encountering?

 

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

I have a phobia for spiders!

I was bitten by an ant (don't laugh!) about 6 years ago. OMG was that painful. Apart from that...nothing. I think that most of the nasties are in the Northern Territory!

[Blossom]

My last house we had some of those massive ants. My poor old guy neighbour wondered what I was doing one day as I sprinted towards the house with my jeans already being half undone to get the bloody thing which had climbed right up to my thigh (that happened often). Luckily when we got chickens they are them all lol.

I got bitten by a spider last year while I was driving. It was on the neck and luckily was just one of the little jumpy spiders so I managed to stay surprisingly calm. Me trying to squish it was probably the worst bit lol (and it escaped even then).

There have been a couple of huntsman spiders making me pull over pretty quickly while driving too, plus a MASSIVE one on my arm.

 

Ive seen one snake. Lots of lizards. No sharks.

 

Mozzies cause me the most hassle. I can't go outside close to dusk without being bitten to death.

[NicF]

Mozzies are most definitely the most prolific and annoying wildlife here. After 3 years here I'm not reacting quite so badly to bites but I'm also staying inside at danger times much more. We have a red back that lives in the irrigation control box in the garden. He's pretty shy and hides when ever we open the lid. I've never seen him but my OH assures me he's there. Spiders don't bother me in the slightest but I really don't like milipedes. Not that they are particularly dangerous.

 

I've never seen a snake here despite looking out for them anywhere they might be.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

I was chatting to the Telstra technician. Our internet line went down a few weeks ago and they were out to fix it. He used to work for British telecom. Anyway, he opened up an inspection pit outside the house and it was full of spiders!!! He had the most horrible purple scars on his legs...he said that he gets bitten when dangling his legs inside the inspection pits! (and he still wears shorts!)

Not a job for me!

[snifter]

We've crossed paths with a brown snake. Hope not to do so again

 

Had lots of red backs and also one or two others than have a painful bite. White tip?

 

Son got bitten by an inch ant (or maybe a fire ant but seemed too big). That was painful for him

 

Didnt know jumping jack ants could be a real worry and so we keep son away from them now. He did have a heap of them running up and down a stick one time when we were walking up Waterfall Gully . If I had known then I'd have made him leave the stick alone.

 

We get lots of lizards in our garden. Also see some spiders I've yet to identify.

 

Mozzies are horrible, I react badly to them here so summer is a problem for me. And have learnt what all the ant types are as some of them can give some nasty bites.

 

O puffa fish. Even the skeletons can be nasty someone said.

[geoffuZz]

The last house we lived in had lots of red backs, but the current house doesn't have any - I guess they are eaten by something else..

My youngest boy had a nasty sting from a jelly fish one of the hottest days of last summer down on Brighton Beach, which got us out of the water just before the surf life savers asked everyone to get out of the water cos a shark had been spotted in the water... (that's an annoying sentence!!) Anyway, I reckon it was a seal that was hanging around the jetty that day.

 

i have seen only one or two snakes in eth two years I have been here - one was in the river - one was close to the sea down at Hallet Cove.\

 

...and yes, the bloody Mozzies. The only creature I get pleasure from killing.

[snifter]

Just met this one while doing some gardening

[snifter]

Not dangerous but ergh, cockroaches.

 

Not a fan

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Dangerous wildlife? In Australia?

 

[jdinaus]

By far the most aggressive animal I've come across since moving here 4 weeks ago is the Australian Magpie! During our first 'swooping' we were a bit slow to realise that we were actually being attacked so he got pretty upset!

[soo_the_panda]

In almost 8 years I've been stung by a jellyfish at Somerton Park (not that painful but freaked me out at the time), seen 3 or 4 redbacks, about the same number of huntsman (only one inside the house, thank goodness, it came inside on a load of firewood) and been bitten by about 50,319 mosquitoes!

 

Happily have only seen snakes in captivity at wildlife parks!

[zebedee]

A mauled seal on the beach down at Maslin a few weeks ago was a reminder of big teethy sharks in the sea but nothing, NOTHING, comes close to the fear I have of drop bears.

[kelbert]

Had our first snake in the backyard tonight! (Been here just over a year now). Red bellied black slithered past as we ate our tea. How very Australian! hehehe

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

My eldest son said that there was a snake in my back garden but I haven't seen it. I don't know whether he's winding me!

 

He phoned this morning and told me that a rescue cat (hubby found some kittens in Bunnings car park years ago and 5 of the staff rescued them and gave them homes) had been bitten by a snake on the farm in McLaren vale. She died from the bite...the vet said that cats get bitten much more often that dogs.?

My own cat is a prolific mouser and is always bringing things home! One in 3 homes in Australia has dogs so I don't know whether the snake bite issue above is correct as cats are quick (but curious)!

[John Browning]

since 1978 I've seen a grand total of..... -let me think ........ZERO snakes in Metropolitan Adelaide,

 

-and have never met anyone who has been bitten by one

 

 

JB

[John Browning]

mozzies!

 

-spent ten years and a lot of money on repellants, buzzers, zappers,citronella candles, Kero in the rainwater tanks and fish in the pond etc etc , - tried the lot

 

then hooked up a very cheap fan on the back verandah....not a bite since

 

 

JB