fish.01 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 To be fair that is a HUGE cane toad in that picture!! Most of those i've encountered in Brisbane are more like the size of a tennis ball, with a big one being about the size of a grapefruit. You dont generally see them around much during the day, but at night, particularly if its been wet they do pop out occassionaly. Our King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Xena, does bark at toads, but doesnt have the confidence to touch them, I've never seen her bothering to interact with spiders at all (but we have plenty of Redbacks around the house and the odd huntsman inside) - and as far as snakes go I've only once see her keeping a safe distance and barking like mad at a 3m long Python that looked like it was eyeing her up as a meal! The bigger problem for dogs to be honest is going to be paralysis ticks. These are REALLY nasty and Xena has been hospitalised twice. Both occassions we got her to hospital before symptoms were noticable by anyone other than us (very slight drag of a hindleg), and on both occassions she was very nearly killed. There are tick-repelling collars available - but you have to remember to change them frequently!! Cost of not buying a $15 collar can be scarey (we paid about $3000 for Xenas last tick episode) I would like to second DadAgain's post. Most other concerns are quite uncommon compared to ticks...they should be your main focus. The spider thing is way overblown for both humans and dogs...in the cities anyway. We have way less cane toads then we used to as well (not saying it doesn't happen but I have never heard of a dog being affected by one so it can't be that common). But paralysis ticks...they can kill a dog in hours and you need to check your dog after they run through scrub or play with other dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gemf Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 OMG, im shocked by the size of that frog, its like a monster, lol!! we dnt have a dog but we do have an 18 months old little girl who will grab anything without giving it a second glance, and im the biggest wuss when it comes to spiders, the scare the life out of me. Is there any particular areas in australia to avoid that are known to have a large amount of scary spiders?? or are they just all over the place?? thanx p.s is it true some spiders live under your toilet seat?? or am i being totally gulable on this one?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozac Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Is there any particular areas in australia to avoid that are known to have a large amount of scary spiders?? or are they just all over the place?? thanx p.s is it true some spiders live under your toilet seat?? or am i being totally gulable on this one?? :biglaugh::biglaugh: Yeah they're all over the place. Best thing is to just get over it, otherwise you will pass all your phobias onto your kids. Better they get bitten occasionally than live a life trapped inside their head. Toilet seat? Yeah True. It has been known. Most people here have been bitten by something at some time of their life and they are still around to joke about it. Just don't blow it out of proportion. prozac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gemf Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 :biglaugh::biglaugh: Yeah they're all over the place. Best thing is to just get over it, otherwise you will pass all your phobias onto your kids. Better they get bitten occasionally than live a life trapped inside their head. Toilet seat? Yeah True. It has been known. Most people here have been bitten by something at some time of their life and they are still around to joke about it. Just don't blow it out of proportion. prozac Im looking into hypnotherapy to get over my phobia, lol, just the thought of being bitten by a spider petrifies me. Altho i have no problem with snakes or any other creature. i cant see me passing it onto my daughter, she grabbed a rotwieler by the ear the other day and tried to kiss it!! she has no fear, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 :biglaugh::biglaugh: Yeah they're all over the place. Best thing is to just get over it, otherwise you will pass all your phobias onto your kids. Better they get bitten occasionally than live a life trapped inside their head. Toilet seat? Yeah True. It has been known. Most people here have been bitten by something at some time of their life and they are still around to joke about it. Just don't blow it out of proportion. prozac Yeah most of us have been bitten by ants. The big one's bloody hurt for a minute... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Just took this 7 ft python from in front of the wild ducks drinking bowl and returned it to the National Park behind my garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Great photos! No snakes for us yet...best back yard wildlife spotting for us is a blue-tongued lizard and a flock of flying foxes that goes over most evenings at dusk. I hope when we do get a snake it'll be a python and not one of the poisonous ones! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhus Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Just as a reference for those you have scared the poo out of, How often do you see snakes?? Even with living next to a reserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozac Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Yeah most of us have been bitten by ants. The big one's bloody hurt for a minute... Ants (Bull Ants- the big red ones, the big black ones too), spiders, funnelweb spider (sick for a week), shark (4 foot), morray eel, blablabla. You get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Just as a reference for those you have scared the poo out of, How often do you see snakes?? Even with living next to a reserve. In summer, about 3 each week, mainly tree snakes, in winter, about 1 each month. We are in a very rural area, no suburbia, towns etc and so the wildlife is still quite common in, and around the house. Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 To try and help Andyhus reclaim his poo... I live in a typical suburb in a city of 100,000 and haven't seen a single snake in the 20 months we've been here. The most dramatic wildlife to date has been an absolutely beautiful golden orb spider (not particularly poisonous, just large and pretty), a blue-tongue lizard and some flying foxes/fruit bats. Oh, and lots of huntsmen but they're boring. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Ants (Bull Ants- the big red ones, the big black ones too), spiders, funnelweb spider (sick for a week), shark (4 foot), morray eel, blablabla. You get used to it. If that was normal I would be emigrating to the UK :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DadAgain Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 After ten years of living on the edge of suburbia with untouched bushland just over the road I've seen: 2 Pythons in our backyard (there was a 3rd but I didnt see it, neigbours relocated it) .... no other snakes at home... BUT on bushwalks I've seen 3 snakes (all unidentified) and from the car I've seen 2: -1 writhing Taipan like thing in NT that had been run over -1 harmless green tree snake crossing the road Not something you need worry about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozac Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Hmmm, don't know about the taipan, lots of other snakes I'd rather encounter given a choice. You bods in Queensland have the wildlife, though we don't do too badly in Sydney either. Thing is Andyhus we're all still alive with relatively little interference from the medical profession. To encounter some of these wild things is exciting and interesting, just how close and personel you want to get is up to you. Keep your distance and there is nothing to fear. I will qualify this by saying that if you don't know what you're doing leave it alone and it won't bother you. Most snake bites happen when someone tries to kill a snake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Hmmm, don't know about the taipan, lots of other snakes I'd rather encounter given a choice. You bods in Queensland have the wildlife, though we don't do too badly in Sydney either. Thing is Andyhus we're all still alive with relatively little interference from the medical profession. To encounter some of these wild things is exciting and interesting, just how close and personel you want to get is up to you. Keep your distance and there is nothing to fear. I will qualify this by saying that if you don't know what you're doing leave it alone and it won't bother you. Most snake bites happen when someone tries to kill a snake. G'day mate, a very true statement, indeed. Also, there is a $10,000 fine if one is caught killing any native wildlife anywhere in Australia; doesn't matter whether it is poisonous, or not. Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhus Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Sorry to confuse i wasn't scared i'm a big tuff bloke!! It is just you hear all the horror storeys before you come out here (Mainly my parents to my kids to try and persuaade us not to go) then when we got here our next door neighbour told us all about snakes/spiders etc then i asked her how many snakes she had seen and in 9 yrs she had seen 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was trying to encourage those who are a little fearful of such things thatits not as bad as you think it will be. Personally i think one of the most dangerous things if you are uninformed is the rip tides in the sea!! Also quite amazed how small redbacks/funnel webs are. And bluming amazed how big and quick huntman are. Just to finish off and leave you all under no illiusions yes i will scream like a little girl next time i see a non-piosonius huntsman sprinting across my lounge floor fasting than i can run, i hope it will be running away from me!!!!!6ft2 15stone andyhus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshfitter Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I have yet to see a toad that big!! geezzzz........ !!! Try not to worry about the spiders, you mainly get wolf, which are very fast and dont hang around to be eaten, they run as soon as you approch them also huntmen they to are quick and not dangerous. and ya ge alot of common harmless types just like in the uk....Yo do get ya red backs etc but rare for your dogs to meet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olly Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 We thankfully don't see those cane toads in Victoria, but a while ago I was visiting people on a couple of acres of bushy land in the outer east of Melbourne and while I was walking up the pathway to their house something cut across the pathway in front of me. Well I had a a box of bits and pieces in my arms at the time, and my immediate impression was that it was a snake, so I threw the box about 4ft in the air and screamed, causing my friends to run out wondering what the heck had happened. Nearby we found a blue tongue lizard. (probably laughing his head off).:biglaugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olly Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Oh, and thankfully it isn't illegal to bang huntsmen spiders on the head with something, and I do, or else sneak up on them and suck them into the vacuum cleaner:yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DadAgain Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Oh, and thankfully it isn't illegal to bang huntsmen spiders on the head with something, and I do, or else sneak up on them and suck them into the vacuum cleaner:yes: Gotta be quick though - if they see you coming they'll spin around and rip your arm off when they're angry!:arghh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olly Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Gotta be quick though - if they see you coming they'll spin around and rip your arm off when they're angry!:arghh: I believe you are right DadAgain. I belted one the other day, it fell off the roof, and then I couldn't find it, turned up on my plasma TV when I turned it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozac Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Oh, and thankfully it isn't illegal to bang huntsmen spiders on the head with something, and I do, or else sneak up on them and suck them into the vacuum cleaner:yes: Please, please don't!:no: The Huntsman is your friend. They will eat all the mozzies, flies etc in your home. If you really cannot live with that the easiest way to get them outside whilst you stay inside is as follows; You will need a bottle of good Scottish Single Malt. Take the bottle out of the tube container it comes in. Now grab yourself a sheet of paper. Quietly place the open Single malt Scotch tube over the spider....be very careful not to damage its legs. Now assuming it is on the wall slip the sheet of paper between the tube end and the wall. You now have said spider in your tube and the sheet of paper preventing it from getting out. Now take it outside and shake it into the garden. That was easy wasn't it. Now have a glass of Single Malt. Can you see how much better it is to save than kil them? prozac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olly Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Please, please don't!:no: The Huntsman is your friend. They will eat all the mozzies, flies etc in your home. If you really cannot live with that the easiest way to get them outside whilst you stay inside is as follows;You will need a bottle of good Scottish Single Malt. Take the bottle out of the tube container it comes in. Now grab yourself a sheet of paper. Quietly place the open Single malt Scotch tube over the spider....be very careful not to damage its legs. Now assuming it is on the wall slip the sheet of paper between the tube end and the wall. You now have said spider in your tube and the sheet of paper preventing it from getting out. Now take it outside and shake it into the garden. That was easy wasn't it. Now have a glass of Single Malt. Can you see how much better it is to save than kil them? prozac Yes prozac, very true, an empty jam jar, wait till it crawls in then head for the garden, a much better option which I try to do as much as possible:yes: My apologies for suggesting otherwise.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozac Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Yes prozac, very true, an empty jam jar, wait till it crawls in then head for the garden, a much better option which I try to do as much as possible:yes: My apologies for suggesting otherwise.......... So now you are going to have JAM? I like my idea better...hick prozac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ChewyMonster Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Ants (Bull Ants- the big red ones, the big black ones too), spiders, funnelweb spider (sick for a week), shark (4 foot), morray eel, blablabla. You get used to it. Eeek. You are joking right :err:. Not sure I would ever get used to that! Where are you based? I'm not too worried about snakes and sharks but spiders do scare me, especially funnelwebs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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