Hi there, just a quick post about australias Bugs! Would love 2 move over & both have been accepted. But partner is worried about bugs & spiders etc also we have a 7 month old baby boy, can someone give some insight ... how often are we likely to see gigantic spiders & dangerous crawlies?? Much appreciated! Sammy

Where you thinking of moving? It's a big place!

From what I can gather, there's less stuff on the West side.

Hi, we spent 3 months travelling Australia with our two boys who at the time were 18mths and 3yrs, my wife was very worried about red backs and snakes etc, the only ones we seen were at melbourne and taronga zoo. We went from Melbourne up to Brisbane and returned in a camper van staying in caravan parks, only thing we saw was one lizard in a caravan park at coffs harbour. There are millions of Ants though.

Alan

I haven't yet thought about where to move because he's so against it because of the 'killer spiders' and things, but just wanted a general idea on how bad it really is, because i have friends & family moving to perth & along gold coast an they've never mentioned fears about bugs

I used to run pesticide around the window and door frames, and at the top and bottom of all the doors, inside and out. This would at least kill any that got in the house.
Make sure you have windows and doors fly screened, and never leave food crumbs out on the kitchen benches over night.
Do this and the spiders and cockroaches won't be to much of a problem. It won't get rid of them all, but it certainly cuts the numbers

If you have a garden and are walking outside in the dark, it might be helpful to have a stick and just wave it front of you, it might save you from doing the "Manic Spider Dance"

I think once you're over there, it won't be such an issue. Parents often let their kids play in their backyards etc and walk around bare-footed.

Most things will stay the hell out of your way.

Hi - we went over on a reccie in March/April and I was worried about spiders too. Must admit we didn't see too many. Only about 3 or 4 but they were HUGE!!! Found one in my handbag one day when I was in the bedroom of all places - I screamed very loudly and hubby had to take it outside to get rid of it! The other biggie was in the rainforest toilet!!!

Here's a couple of pics........... (hopefully they will load - I haven't done this before)

Some older figures, but probably still fairly accurate in terms of natural predators. I'd be more scared of the trip to the airport on the motorway or the your flight here falling out of the sky en route.

Human Deaths in Australia Between 1980-1990, Inclusive (from Stevens & Paxton, 1992)

Cause of Death

Total Deaths

Average per year

Cause of Death

Crocodile Attacks
Total Deaths 8
Average per year 0.7


Shark Attacks
Total Deaths 11
Average per year 1.0


Lightning Strikes
Total Deaths 19
Average pear year 1.7


Bee Stings
Total Deaths 20
Average per year 1.8


Scuba Diving Accidents
Total Deaths 88
Average per year 8.0


Drownings/Submersions
Total Deaths 3,367
Average per year 306


Motor Vehicle Accidents
Total Deaths 32,772
Average per year 2,979

The times i have been there i havent seen many. In Brisbane your pretty much ok with the poisonous spiders.

I did see a brown snake on noosa beach last year.

I have been several times spending in total 9 months, I saw a few spiders, quite a few cockroaches and a big lizard type thing in my sisters garden that i did not hang round long enough to have a look at! My dad has lived there 9 years and seen the usual suspects and one snake in his back yard which soon went away ( he does live next to a nature reserve). He said its really not a problem.
I did laugh though when he went camping last year and he and my 9 year old half sister were playing I-Spy and she said," I Spy with my little eye something begining with 's'." After a few wrong answers she said " do you give up dad? Its a snake, look!!" My dad said he has never jumped up so quick!

So where are the pictures of the BIG ones?

I arrived in Oz seriously arachnaphobic - I am talking about not being able to even be in a room with a spider the size of a five cent piece on the ceiling. I now go, urgh - huntsman if I see one the size of a sideplate. I considered hypnotherapy, the aversion therapy courses run at the zoos and all sorts but at the end of the day I wanted to live here so I just had to force myself to get over it. We live in prime funnelweb territory with a huge yard and I have never seen one. I get my house sprayed inside and out every year, make sure neither myself or the kids leave shoes outside, spray around the metal bits of the trampoline in the garden occasionally and still check my visors EVERY time I get in the car but the reality is they really don't affect your everyday life.

you can always tell the people who have never been to OZ before becasue they are worried about the wildlife, those that have been to OZ know its not something anyone downunder worries about. It seems to me most of the people who have trouble with nasty creatures live in the northern tropical part of OZ . More people are killed in OZ by lightning strikes. The only creatures that ever bother me are flies in summer , l guess they might annoy you to death. If your worried about children dogs are the creature that cause most death and injury to children in OZ.

Honestly, it isn't a problem. Our daughters were just turned one and two and a half when we arrived, and although I did think about it a tiny bit in the start, it isn't something I even think about now. I do check their climbing frame in the garden sometimes, and we don't leave shoes outside or anything, but other than that I don't worry.

We have been here for 18 months, and have seen four or five huntsmen (hubby even had one come out from behind the visor in his car, but only one in the house), one redback on the handrail of the balcony, one whitetail, a few different non-nasty ones in the garden, a couple of house spiders and lots of little daddy long legs. We get the house sprayed once a year in the spring for those. We haven't seen any snakes, but we do have a rather gorgeous eastern water dragon that inhabits our garden (we call it Eddie), and we had a big goanna/lace monitor on the roof once, which caused our children huge amounts of excitement.

I live in sumi bush and work in the desert and have rarely seen any of the so called nasties. Have come across the odd snake at home usually squashed on the road, do see red backs at work and home, and we had a couple of guys at work bitten recently. Neither required anti venom. They reported it was similar to a bee sting.

The most common wildlife i see are dolphins - which it always amazes me to be in the water with, birdlife inlcuding amazing eagles and kangeroos, who although make the dog go wappy i adore. The "positive" wildlife is far greater than the "negative".

Most city Australians have never seen any of the nasties out side a zoo