With all the posts about people's fears of spiders in OZ l was wondering if OZ spiders such as the red back or funnel web accidently immigrated to the Uk in a shipping container or something would they breed in the Uk or would it be too cold for them and they would die off. l was reading in the NZ forum about how the OZ whitetail spider was introduced there from OZ.

It seems there is quite a large colony of Redbacks living in Belgium and The Netherlands already. They seem quite happy and have adapted to the cold and wet weather very well. Kind of funny hey, lets ship them all over so we can relax here without the nasties. What do you think the chances of a Tigersnake would be in a London park?

Yes read that in the news too, a bit of Australia in our backyard

Miranda

There are Wallabies in the peak district....they have been there for years.

Also on an island in the centre of Loch Lomond (scotland). I thought my 9 yr old was winding me up and getting a bit to Oz giddy when he came back from a canoeing trip in the hols and told me he'd seen them....I checked on the net and he was right had to apologise to him for being disbelieving
Andrea
xx

We have serpo around the corner (which is a reptile house) and they are having to move because so many snakes and other reptiles are being discarded by their owners, and are being found in the wild. As Miranda says, we have had a few reports of redbacks in Holland, and a Bird eating spider was found in a car which was stilla live after being shipped, stripped, painted and put back together again last week.

I'm actually emigrating to get away from all the creepy crawlies.

Don't know about those specific ones, but on GMTV the other morning there was a report on about how big the spiders are getting here :scared: something about the warmer weather and more flies for them to get fat on :scared:

It is migrating you are scrared of not spiders!

Spiders are all over and have been for years, just the fact that a couple of spider bites have killed people years ago scares you from moving?

So the odd one migrating is not an issue they have been around for years - it is called suvival of the species whether they catch a boat or plane.

http://www.srv.net/~dkv/hobospider/recluse.html

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ent...ruct/ef631.htm

http://spiders.ucr.edu/

The talk on the US site is not about the spiders is it?

In the UK the bite of an adder can kill you - and at one time I did worry about moving from Ireland to England and you would have laughed at me!

Cheers from a complete spider/snake/creepy anything phobic living in Aus person

Our garden if full of these fellas.

Not exactly a huntsman, but a good size for european spiders , and when I walk down the garden to the garage and keep walking through the spiders webs in the dark it puts you off the buggers.

Yes we have lots of the brown stripey ones in our garden. We have lots of decking and they like the wood

I've got no worries about creepy crawlies at all. My father used to work in the banana ripening cellars in London 45 years ago, and he used to come home with all sorts of exotic creepy crawlies. I used to have a tree frog as a pet 30 years ago

I even had a pet python at one time. (The reason I "left" home )

gimme a few spiders & snakes instead of the bloody moles and mice that infest my garden and garage

And in Devon.

We've got green parrots in the local park in South East London. I thought my son was on the booze when he claimed to have seen them in the snow last Christmas, but then they screeched. Please don't send me any spiders.

Mhhhhhhh, bit curious as where you think you
will be safe from those creepy crawlies

Antarctica