slimdonnybabe

Opened my oven door last night to switch it on and there was a White Tail spider looking at me. Quickly got a shoe to squash the bleeder but it escaped down a hole under the oven just in time. Must admit it really freaked me.
To make matters worse, a neighbour said that January is 'spider month' in Melbourne. Oh Lordy!!

rubbeldiekatz

IGNITE THE OVEN, IGNITE THE OVEN !!!!!!!!!!

:-)

wombat42

Its an insect not an animal.

tonyk38

Actually it is an animal, and not an insect. It's an arachnid.

Well.....I was voted biggest anorak of the year by Moneypen!

wombat42

l did'nt know that , l thought they were insects. :

stressfree

Arachnid sharachnid, do they kill you!!!! :scared: :scared:

tonyk38

Possibly......maybe.......well.......

stressfree

I thought you were an anorach.

tonyk38

I wear my dayglo outerwear with pride!

Whitetails are poisonous, and their bite is rumored to induce necrosis, like the Black Widow. The bite is painful, but people are rarely bitten.

So dangerous? Probably......

eurotramp

Hi,

this my first posting in this forum.....
As my Husband and I just talking about where to settle, Australia was coming up....
but I'm so afraid of all kinds of bugs, expecially spiders....do you get in contact with them a lot???

ABCDiamond

I think it can depend a bit on the areas that you go to, and on how much time you spend gardening !!

I hate spiders, I detest them, and yes, I am scared of them! But i've lived in Australia for 14 years and have survived without being bitten. In fact I think I can safely say I have so far not even been touched by one, nor have I touched one myself. I tend to spray any I see, then hit them with the fly spray can.

There has been the odd occasion when I see a spider web outside the front door, but I then get my wife to get rid of it before I go through the door

We have a "Pest Control" done in the house each year ($165) and that seems to keep the house spider free for 11 months. Although we do also have one of those electronic spider repellers ($40) in the kitchen aswell.

tonyk38

Everybody's experience is different, but in 5 months of staying in grotty backpackers, I saw no Whitetails, no Redbacks and only a few Huntsmans (which are bloody huge but harmless).

Others have seen loads, though lots of people find encounters are not that common.

You're about a zillion times more likely to be injured or killed on Australia's roads. They are the one thing I genuinely fear in Aus.....

Go Banana's !!

We had one in our kitchen within the first few days of me getting back to Oz. We hadn't seen anything on any of our other trips so this was our first dice with danger !

I kept it alive long enough to show Imogen so at least she knew for the future.

I think its important that the young ones see them for real and not just in a book so they can get a full appreciation of their size, colour and shape so they know for the future.

Oh no, I am turning into an anorach................................

Warren

Badge

In the main, spiders in Australia are nothing to worry about - at all. Wear gloves in the garden and in the garage.

We have a few white-tails in the garage. A few in the house. I wish we could get a decent sized huntsman.

BM

wombat42

l have lived in OZ all my life and have never been bitten by a spider but have been bitten by bees and wasps. No one has died of a spider bite in OZ since the `1950's many more people die from bee and wasp stings in OZ.
Unless you pick up a spider or try to kill it with your bare hand its highly unlikely you will ever get bitten.