dazzac

Saw a few threads on snakes and spiders - and the family who had an upset snake hissing at their patio door and had to call the snake lady to remove it.

Got me thinking about natural deterrents/predators.
I was thinking I could keep a couple of large Iguana to deal with the spiders. Easy to maintain , light enough to toss in the direction of a red back or huntsman, should they have missed one on their daily rounds.

Snakes - well I thought I could get a couple of Mongoose (not sure what the plural is). They prey on snakes.
Build a little mound in the corner of the garden for them to call home.
They'd be quite good to watch in the evening to, there little heads bobbing up and down as they sit on top of their mound keeping watch.

If it was successful perhaps I could breed them. Even train them perhaps - take them out on a leash.
I could have a security round in the mornings, sweep all the neighbours gardens with my good friend , Terry, the mongoose.

Would anybody be interested in this service?
Thoughts please.

koala_mac

LOL

you could set up a franchise operation across the country, and you could also have a crack team of specially trained SWOT mongeese and iguana for lucrative emergency jobs "any time, any place, any size"

rajj

Keep the Huntsmen, they are harmless and munch on the mozzies around the house.

Julie Martin

What a fab idea. i mean introducing non-indeginous species such as the cane toad to Aus has been a overwhelming success, oh and theres the feral cat, the fox, the rabbit...............blah blah blah

markeh

Hi Julie Martin,
do you include "us" non indigenous peoiple as well?

Bye
Markeh

dazzac

Indeed . On my last trip I did see quite a few middle aged men using the cane toads for golf swing practise. I guess in their eyes the cane toad numbers are a bonus.

I have to say I neither play golf or would ever consider hitting any type of animal.
However if my mongoose takes a shine to a cane toad then fair enough. Law of the jungle.

Paul&Ann-Marie

ROFL

How much for a perimeter check and weekly maintenance ?

With my LOVE of spiders you'd have a job for life finding and re-homing / crucifying the little bastards.

:scared:

Paul

Andiii

LOL! It's not as bad as some are making out...

I mean, closer to the city I've NEVER seen a snake, nor have I seen one 4 hours from the city (Horsham, Garoke) though, I'm sure there are many out there!

We get a huntsman maybe once every 6 months.

Just use the vacuum cleaner!

Paul&Ann-Marie

wonder if dyson do one with metal blades.........................

Paul

HiddenPaw

Hi Andii...there was a woman in Kew killed by a snake in her garden last summer . (That's 8km-10km from the city). Not sure what sort of snake it was.

LOL Julie....I read they are now removing the wild horses from Fraser Island as they are causing too much soil erosion....I wonder if they will also remove the non-indigenous 4WDs that tear up and down the beaches all day

markeh

Hiya Paul&Ann-Marie,
you might be onto something here.

Bye
Markeh

Andiii

Wow, really?

But i guess when you put it into perspective... how many people have been killed by snake bites in total in Australia?

Not many! The statistics are fairly low...

Either way, it was probably a brown, or tiger snake.

HiddenPaw

Yes! She maybe lived down by Studley Park or somewhere with lots of trees and parkland?? (sorry the 8-10km from the city was for the benefit of the non-melbourne dwelling population, not you!)

I've still not seen one alive - just a handful of road kill - but not even in the city - these have all been out rural. My brother-in-law trod on a brown snake in his garden last weekend - it tried to bite him but it couldn't reach as he was still standing on it! (they get loads of brown snakes cos they live on a farm )

Simone

Yeah, and goats and pigs (they're in Kalbarri NP, as far as I know )

Vicky88

I'll definitely take one of those mongoose. Spiders don't bother me as I know I am bigger than them, but snakes scare the crap out of me.