23 out of 25
 

I thought the title would make you take a look:)
Apparently Australia as 23 out of the 25 most dangerous snakes in the world, have any of you actually met any in your back gardens or out in the parks at all?

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Not to mention Box jelly fish, Red black spiders, Crocodiles or sharks. But I know where I rather be.

Oz :thumbsup:

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Yep, red belly blacks on a regular basis.

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Why do people watch these shows on tv and think every Australian is living in fear of its wildlife.
I have lived in Melbourne since 1973 and have seen near my house :
a mouse -a rat-Possum-fruit bat.
When we first moved in at the back of the garage were some old flower pots
living inside were a family of red back spiders.
Quick spray with fly killer as they staggered out squash under shoe.
Just wear garden gloves when weeding.
I think you have more chance of scratching up the jackpot on a scratch
card than bumping into a snake in your backyard in Melbourne.

Re: 23 out of 25
 

...and that's Melbourne. This last year I have had two snakes in the garden, redbacks abound all Summer long on the fencing, I've had scorpions walk across the front room while I'm watching TV, huntsmen are regular visitors, my North facing house wall looks more like one gigantic collection of paper wasp nests by the end of Summer.... and I don't live in the bush in Woop Woop.

Not all of Australia is like Melbourne.

Re: 23 out of 25
 

No snakes, but I went down to my garage one day and opened the door up, something caught my eye just above me so I looked up and just above my nose living on the inside of the garage door was a red back spider. Didn't bother me that much actually, left me alone so I left it alone.

The thing that freaked me out the most was when we moved in to our first property in Sydney. Had only been there for a week and I decided to get to grips with the garden which had become over grown. I dived in to the deep weeds with my hands and there all of a sudden looking back at me was a great big blue tongue lizard, totally harmless of course, but being new to Australia it was not the sort of thing I was used to seeing. I staggered backwards and fell on my ***se, I then jumped up and went running inside to get my wife to sort it out :o My wife being Australian and used to these monsters just laughed for ages :o

I have come to appreciate blue tongue lizards now, it is a very good sign if you have one in your garden, my wife used to leave food out for it, they got on really well. But there was always a distrustful stand off between me and that lizard :sneaky: Would always get in places to make me jump :sneaky:

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Snakes? not in the garden (recently anyway) but less than 1km away up the local bush tracks then yes, red bellied blacks and browns quite common. Spiders - redbacks are endemic especially in the wood piles. Lizards in the garden - very common. We have a dragon (water dragon) that has been around for some time and we spot him every now and again.

My son lives in the bush and they have loads of snakes. One trip a few years ago we saw half a dozen red bellied blacks in a single day but that was a bit out of the ordinary.

Re: 23 out of 25
 

I'm going to jinx myself now aren't I? Been here since Mar 09, not seen one snake or redback, seen 3 or 4 huntsman, a few paper wasps.

It's the ants you've got to watch out for, they're evil! :eek::)

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Not poisonous, but there's this middle aged fat man at my house who keeps wanting to show me a one-eyed trouser snake.


We really need a vomit smilie here

Re: 23 out of 25
 

This was one of my wife's main concerns before coming to Australia. As you are in the UK is this a worry for you too?

If so, I can report that we have never seen a snake in five years. We have seen plenty of red backs in the garden, my wife is terrified of spiders, but she puts her gloves on, gives them a spray with something noxious, and comes back into the house with a big smile on her face.

Huntsmen spiders look scary but are harmless. Don't worry!

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Yup, keep the grass short in the yard is my best advice ...

Re: 23 out of 25
 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...smiley-015.gif

Incidently,

1 snake, 1 goana, 1 ekinda, heaps of spiders inc a redback nest in loft of prev house.

Currently got a rat or possum the size of a cricket ball running around in me loft, see the thing when up there over the weekend.

Re: 23 out of 25
 

:rofl: Yep, I have one of those as well!!!

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Um, I'm not in UK. I live north of Perth.

Re: 23 out of 25
 

Australian red backed spiders are a type of 'widow' spider, of which species also exist in Europe and North America. One of the US species is actually more dangerous than the Australian one. There is a species in NZ as well.

Many Australian snakes of course are very venomous but you are highly unlikely to get bitten by one, they don't attack unprovoked and are not commonly seen unless you spend a lot of time out in the bush or in long grass. I've only seen a couple in 28 years of my life and I live in a forested/bushland area near Melbourne surrounded by grassland which is prime habitat. They exist, people do see them, they do exist near populated areas but the effect they have on the average person's life is close to zero.

The bulldog ants are another story. Many people are severely allergic to them, especially the jack jumpers which are everywhere and hard to avoid getting stung (they sting rather than bite) at least once in your life, especially if you live in bushland areas. A substantial number of people have been killed by these ants and a certain number die every year.

Other than that there is not much else that is dangerous, at least in Victoria.

I'd be a lot more worried if i lived in parts of Europe, Asia and North America that have bears, tigers, coyotes, pumas etc close to areas where people live. You can get anti venom for a snake bite but there's no cure for a mauling from a bear.

Surely Africa has the highest number of dangerous animals in the world?