.....Several residents already bitten by the plague of poisonous arachnids


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...y-1874230.html

SV

Yikes!!!!

I can't remember ever reading, here in Australia, of anyone dying from a bite from a Funnelweb spider and they have been in Sydney since I used to stuff their funnelwebs so that they could not get out. Used to block the doors of the trapdoor spiders as well - all this was when I lived there as a kid. Spent years growing up in the country after that where I must have been surrounded by the 9 out of 10 deadly snakes of the World and never saw one of them despite spending most weekends riding horses through the bush and playing and fishing down at the riverbank. We even used to poke sticks into holes to see if there was any living creature in them that might riggle out and even that was to no avail. Never got bitten by a shark, never stood on a stone fish and have never even seen a blue ringed octopus. Either I am blind and lucky but so must all of my friends be as well because we have all survived the enslaught.. I think its much more likely that one will be run over by a bus, hit by a meteorite, than encounter any of these dangerous creatures. However I did think I saw the Min Min lights once but then that is quite another story and of course no one has ever died from seeing those.

I've seen more than my share of Aussie creepy crawlies and I've only lived here 18 months. I've seen close to a dozen tigers and dugites, although only when I'm in their territory, not they in mine (thank God). I saw and squashed my first two redback spiders last weekend while working at an animal shelter...litter trays are one thing, redbacks quite another.

Ho hum. The media thrive son bizzarerie.

I'll bet a lot more Europeans have succumbed to the bite of rabid animals than Australians have expired from spider bites in the last couple of centuries. And a lot more North Americans have been eaten by grizzlies, for that matter.

One day we decided to explore Lynn Canyon, bordering the suburbia of North Vancouver and a fairly short ferry/bus ride from the city. Afterwards, waiting at the bus stop we got chatting to a local lady who told us that she regularly had black bears at her front and back doors. That scared me more than any number of funnelwebs and snakes.

Some time later we took an easy 1-2 km stroll around Lake Louise in the Rockies. I was alarmed to see a sign warning that at that time of the year grizzlies came down from the mountains to feed on seasonal berries. I made sure we were flanked by two sizeable groups of German walkers, each of whom seemed to be carrying enough equipment for an assault on the Matterhorn. Spiders? Hah!

Austraian hospitals stock antivenom for all these beasts. There is no known medical procedure that will reassemble you from the guts of a grizzly.

Must be a very slow news day in the UK, but I'm surprised at the Independent jumping on this tired old bandwagon.

I lived in Perth for 7 years and did not see any snakes there so all I can say is that there has either been and phenominal increase in snakes or Melnq8 goes into some rather pecular places - the zoo perhaps? No, the reason for this is that we Australians teach our snakes and other bities to only bite those people who are not Naturalized Australians. Antivenom will be used on everyone who is not Australian anyway so have no fear. I agree with Neil that the Native big cats and bears in the USA is a certainly something that would make me stay away from the big outdoors and then when you think of Africa and all those animals who want to either eat you or trample you, Europe in the summer when you have to battle such crowds everywhere for anything that is enough to make anyone's blood boil I think I will take my chances with these little things here in Australia.

If national parks, bush tracks and the grounds of the RSPCA are peculiar, I guess I'm guilty.

Comparing Aussie venomous creatures to North American bears and big cats always makes me laugh...the average North American has never seen either one, and although they're definitely more menancing than spiders and snakes, they're also a whole lot easier to avoid.

Mel, you must stop living so dangerously, you old thrill-seeker, you.

Actually, in all my years, including quite a bit of time wandering on bush tracks, I could just about count the number of snakes I've seen on one hand. In most cases they were scurrying in the other direction as fast as their little bellies could carry them - more shocked by me than I was by them.

And despite having lived in the Sydney Basin region for many years I've never seen a funnelweb in the wild. I once thought I'd caught one when I lived near the Georges River to the south of Sydney, but the expert I consulted convinced me it was a trapdoor. Something to do with shale vs. sandstone country.

Mostly I leave the redbacks to their own (very sluggish) devices. If you wear garden gloves when messing around in their territory - which is very rarely inside houses - you won't have a problem.

OK Mel, gotta agree that many people in the US have not seen big bears and cats but you've got Lime disease there and rabies and either of those nasties is as bad as a snake/spider bite anyway and probably just as frequent.

Well, when I lived on Sydney's northern beaches the next-door neighbour's toddler was bitten by a funnelweb, but that was probably because the toddler tried to eat it. He did recover. In nearly 40 years of living in that area only ever saw two funnelwebs in house, both sluggish and easy to catch, popped in a jar to be taken on for milking for anti-venom.

I do try not to kill spiders inside house or out, my Mum would go as far as wrapping them gently in a Kleenex before releasing them outside. She was never bitten, although even she wouldn't have tried this with a funnelweb.

Neil - OLD?

Pat - You've got more restraint than I do. With the notable exception of Daddy Long Legs, I figure most spiders are fair game, although if I saw a huge hairy one, I'd turn tail and run.

oh dear god .... here come the "Eeewwww's"

"Neil - OLD?"

Mel, you'd have to agree that the image in your Fodors profile is a bit problematic, but even so I didn't mean that to be taken literally.

Don't know about far reaches of the empire like WA but around here the only "huge hairy" variety is the pathetically harmless Huntsman spider. Ejecting them, if you can be bothered, is a simple process using a jar or glass and a piece of stiff paper and cardboard.

Most of the time we can't be bothered unless we have a faint-hearted guest, and not always even then. We prefer to leave them alone in the hope that they'll keep the household bugs down, but truth to be told I've never seen one catch or even chase anything. I don't think they're earning their keep.

I live near a very busy hospital here in Sydney with a very active helipad. Every time a helicopter comes in, I'm immediately convinced that it's either a snake bite, spider bite or a shark bite

I jokingly mentioned this to a friend who is a nurse at the hospital....she really blew my theory. She said it's generally a heart attack.

I guess that 'roo does look a bit long of tooth Neil.

I saw my first Huntsman a few months back, perched on the wall in a Perth Hills winery. I asked the girl minding the shop it it was part of the decor, and she said "I was wondering where it got off to" as if it were a pet! Harmless maybe, but that spider has a serious creep factor.

If I saw one of those in my house, this faint hearted old yank would be landing on dkw's helipad, clutching her chest.

I've seen one Huntsman at a very nice resort I was staying at outside of Hobart. It was huge. And dead, by the back of the fridge. Poking it to make sure, I took it to the desk.

They said: "oh, yes, a Huntsman, perfectly harmless". Now, you might get a fright if you were to leave your car window down, as they like to crawl in behind the visor and could spring down on you while driving."

You can bet I've checked everytime since then. Even dead and allowing for some "shrivel factor" it was still the biggest spider I'd ever seen. As Mel said... serious creep factor!

Melodie

There's a huntstman on the wall in my office right now, I think he's looking at me, do you know they have 8 eyes? Like Neil, will just leave him there and let him get on with things.

Did you feed him that drop-bear you promised him?

I'm happy to leave them too, except when they get in my car. That sudden jump out from behind the windscreen visor that they have learned from the drop bears can be very scary.