Close shaves with redbacks
 

Not sure if others have noticed but came across several redbacks indoors which is unusual here in Adelaide. The first two appeared on the underside of shelves in office and the third under a table. in each case I scared them more than they scareed me and they had the usual "damn it's a human and I'm going to get squashed" premonition just ahead of its fulfilment. Then today I was shopping and tried on a suit. Just took the top off and caught somethng moving out of the corner of my eye and there heading uo from my shoulder to neck was a fully grown redback. Less brave on this occaion I tried ti flick it off gently so it didn't bite me. Missed the first flick and caught the second but scared the life out of the spider just ahead od its demise and probably made everyone in the shop think there was a mass murderer in there with me given the screams. Cane home perfectly in tact with the reminder that we are far more liklely to kill a redback than vice versa and that they are beautiful creatures that we need to be vigilent about at the moment as they seem to be coming inside a bit more. Nonetheless part of living here that makes you feel less invincible than living in the cocoon we so often do in developed countries..

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

We've found a couple here in WA. The second one I discovered hanging from my tea towel in my kitchen when I went to dry my hands on it :ohmy: Needless to say it got sprayed rather quickly & we've since had the house sprayed as I really don't need one of the kids finding one.

When I rang the people to book getting the house sprayed the lady on the phone told me it was unusual to find them indoors & the poor thing must have lost it's way. Poor thing nothing!

Alison x

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Sorry about the spelling folks. Did this on my phone and thought I could read the letters!!! Clearly not. :unsure:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

I did meet one mom in playgroup who said she found one under her sofa. I had to resist the urge to tip all my furniture over when I got home.

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:eek:I was bitten by one just over a month ago and spent the night in hospital, bloody painful and made me feel like crap but entirely my own fault for curling my legs around my garden furniture before I had sprayed it.

In fact it was more painful than I ever imagined it could be.:eek:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

I used to have one that lived in my letterbox.
Everyday I would stick my hand in and be reminded of that bit from flash gordon where they put their hand in the tree stump with the creature in it.

It lived there for a couple of months until the girlfriend saw it and promptly sprayed bug killer all in the letterbox, spoiled my fun.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

opened the bedroom door one day and a brown snake was slithering on the lino down the hall- I had to double-take:eek:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Now that's really something! Only had a copperhead in my garage. Partner in Brisbane has had to deal with large pythons on a couple of occasions when living in Mackay and even in Brisbane, and actaully had one slithering around in his loft - Yuck, so glad I'm moving to Queensland... :thumbsup:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

I got up one morning and went to the shower in our ensuite, I moved the bathmat with my foot and out slithered a brown snake - I totally freaked! It was only 4 metres away from the bed. The last one we found in the house was underneath the desk in the study about 10 months ago, we have never found out how they are getting in though. A guy was bitten by one in WA in November that was under his desk in his study and he died :eek::eek:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

This thread's going to make everyone want to make that move to Aus...:p :rofl:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

It's just that we're not alone in loving living in Oz. If tt's a good place for humans it's good for other species too!! Nearly migrated to Medicine Hat before emding up in Adelaide btw. don't get redbacks in the shops there....

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

I shouldn't read these threads as all of the above are just my worst nightmare... I am just going closing the laundry door :o
J x

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Huntsmans seem to be in abundance too, even though house sprayed not long ago,(suspect rain washes most of that away) they are good at keeping mozzies down.I read somewhere that Huntsmans eat cock croaches too!

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Yes they do, we get some of those here.

Not had redbacks or snakes in the house yet though, probably tempting fate saying that! :rofl:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Eeek! have you got screens on all your windows and doors?

I'm forever telling the kids to make sure they close the sliding screen doors properly. They have a habit of taking them off the wires and leaving them open.

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We used to have a dark brick letterbox. I was too scared to just put my hand in to get the mail, so used a pair of tongs to safety extract letters:).

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Medicine Hat? :rofl: *kidding* I've been through there...it's not too bad. It also has snakes...rattlesnakes though, out in the country. No equivalent to redbacks there though...some of my friends in southern Alberta found brown recluses, which was enough for them.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Yes I kind of worked out early that the Brits in the Hat all work out of the Suffield base. Would have been an easy run in from the town to work each day though, 10 minutes each way. Often wonder how it would have been living in a town that size compared to Adelaide. Still have a burning desire to spend some time in Canada. Daughter into opera singing and thinking of heading over at some point for proximity to the States without having to live in the US. If that happened I'd certainly be up for the fun, have experienced 46 degrees above zero now want to try a fair number below for comparison! Maybe one day?

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Found one under the wardrobe and on the towel rack in the downstiars loo.

Brownsnake in the toilet that takes some beating. Could be a right pain in the ass that.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Sure, why not? You might like it. :thumbup: And southern Alberta is certainly beautiful...I've been to Cypress Hills a couple of times (south of Medicine Hat), Waterton, all that area.

The "I've tried 46 above now for 46 below" reminds me of the conversation we had with our friends at New Year's dinner. One was saying he could take -40C no problem, it couldn't be that tough to live in etc. But he's never experienced anything below -10C. :rofl: We were explaining to him what life was like for us when it was, say -30C...running out in the biting cold and wind to start the car, running back to the house. Letting it run for 10 minutes to warm it up (and that was with the block heater plugged in, otherwise many cars as old as ours was don't tend to start at all when it gets that cold). Bundle kids up in winter coats, snow boots, hats and mitts. Buckle everyone in and while they're in the toasty car, I stay outside to scrape the ice off the car windscreen. Drive on roads covered in snow and ice (most cities can only afford to remove snow off residential streets once a winter, if that).

When it's -30C plus windchill, there's no playing in the playground. Recess at school is cancelled. People get to where ever they're going and back home as quickly as they can. Yes, there will always be the ones who bike ride, snowshoe, jog all through winter no matter the temperature (I have friends who did this), but that was never our thing and was part of the reason we moved. The last winter we lived in Edmonton, it got to -43 (without windchill) one night and it froze our water pipes. That was the first time in 11 years they had frozen solid. I thought, "Well, that's a sign. Time to get to Australia already."

I've had family at home say, "Wow, we could never live through 40C summers" but from our experience, it's not so bad. The kids still play in the parks in the mornings and evenings. Back in Edmonton, when we had -30C cold snaps, there was no point in the day where the temps warmed up enough for the kids to play for two hours outside. We tended to hibernate all winter. We're more active, throughout the seasons, since we moved here, so it looks like Perth suits us better in that regard.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

They eat redback eggs as well. Always keep one in your garden shed for that purpose :thumbsup:

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I recfkon being out in minus 30 is painful at least 40 C is unpleasant. Nonetheless both extremes result in fatalities. People freeze on Canadian highways if they break down and don't get assistance whereas people die in the Outback under similar circumstancvces where they dehydrate. We rush from the aircon house to the aircon car to the aircon School, shops or office. Funnily winter in Adelaide is colder than the UK cos the houses aren't designed well here and central heating by way of ducted heating and cooling is a luxury.

Don't like the sound of frozen pipes. When it gets hot here the water out the cold tap is hot too which seems really odd.

Good luck with P,erth.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

We decided to hose down the patio area last weekend and clean under the furniture that hasn't been moved for maybe 12 months...when we turned it over several large redbacks came running out, a couple had egg sacks hanging from them too!! There was also a really big black spider under there that could've been Shelob's big sister:eek:

Think we need to look under there more often from now on:)

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

:eek::D:D sick.......lol

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Not convinced I'm going to be a total happy bunny with all of these creatures around! Used to live in South Africa as a child and remember the initial trauma of creepy crawlies......:eek::blink::eek: The worst thing we have to deal with here in the Highlands is our beloved Midges! :p

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

I have a phobia of cockroaches, they make me feel sick. As for spiders, i am scared of them as well.:o

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We didn't find it any where near as bad as we were expecting. I think when you're planning to move to a new place you watch & read everything you can & there are way to many 'Most Deadly' programs to be viewed :lol:

Alison x

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

You're right Alison.......far too many! lol If it were that bad really then nobody would live there.......surely.......:eek::D

Either way, it will take a lot more than spiders, snakes and whatever else to stop us now! Bring it......:thumbsup:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

you are not exempt in UK...
our container arrived from Aus with a large healthy happy family of redbacks. The packers and the environmental health people had a field day panicking as they rampaged over suburban London/Surrey.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

That's why they have them in NZ now, Japan, and apparently, Lancashire...;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...5/IMG_5038.jpg

Oh and I found this guy in the garage a couple of days ago...I thought of posting a "name that spider" thread just to be silly...:rofl:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

Lancashire - are you serious?:eek:

Beautiful spider the redback but by god they hurt when they bite.

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

IntroductionsMedia in Japan have reported the discovery of Redback spiders in Osaka, Japan within a hundred kilometres of Kansai International Airport. It was speculated that they arrived in Japan by "hitching" a ride on the outside of airliners, or carried in cargoes of wood chips.[13] In 2008, Redback spiders were found in Fukuoka, Japan. Over 700 have been found near the container terminal in Hakata Bay, Fukuoka city.[citation needed] Warning signs about Redback spiders have been posted in parks around the city as Japan has had no dangerous venomous spiders before now.[citation needed] This has led to confusion in Japan since the native spider Latrodectus elegans is also commonly known as the redback spider.

Redback spiders are also found in small colonies in areas of New Zealand. These spiders were imported on Australian hardwood poles used for electric power and telephone.[citation needed] They are found around Central Otago in the South Island and New Plymouth in the North Island.[14]

Tourist Guides in UAE warn visitors of Redback spiders.[15]

Redback Spiders have been found in the UK after a container of parts from Austraila arrived in Preston, Lancashire; some may have escaped into the countryside before pest controllers could destroy them. [16]

Innit typical!
All the stringent checking of our container and at the airports and having a pair of shoes thoroughly decontaminated of uk soil.The Australian customs and quarantine seem to be quite ok with letting the rest of the world have their wildlife and fauna.;)

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

this post is putting me off Oz.........please tell me these are extreme cases...........Ive never once seen a snake or a spider on ramsey street :unsure::unsure:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

We've had a Bandy Bandy snake in the house - that was a beautiful snake - and one night found one similar to a red bellied black in the hall by the bedrooms which was a bit freaky. Last year found a brown snake skin in one room we don't use a lot - never found the snake that grew out of it though :eek: Can't think how they get in. We're getting quite a collection of snake skins from around the place outside.
Don't seem to get redbacks at our place - maybe the monster huntsmen eat them all :lol: The huntsmen here seem to get bigger every year. I got bitten by one on the hand last summer - it was in my towel unbeknown to me when I got out of the shower - it hurt at the time but that was all - I think it hurt me psychologically more than anything - still shiver to think I was bitten by one of those beasts :ohmy:

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

These are extreme cases!:)

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

might start looking into new zealand or canada :(

Re: Close shaves with redbacks
 

It's not that bad, for the first week paranoia may set in that everything that tickles your skin in the night is a deadly spider but this soon subsides as you realise that they aren't everywhere and indeed the reason we take these photos is because it is unusual, just get yer house sprayed once to two times a year and you will never see any.;)