pippin lara

Lots of threads (and pictures) of creepy crawlies and things that bite. Also, lots of documentaries on sky with far too much information! :scared:

We're hoping to move to Melbourne in January (if DIMIA would hurry up). What I want to know is which of the nasties are found native to Southern Australia and the Melbourne area in particular.

You know the usual rogues gallery - funnel webs, redbacks, mouse spiders, huntsman spider - and which snakes?

Any help appreciated

Lesley

thebears

Heard some builder got bitten on the outskirts of Melbourne by some snake.

Dont sit there worrying though hun, not much chance of seeing any spiders or snakes in surburbia.

carloubateman

we've lived in the SE suburbs of melbourne for 18 mths now, & i can honestly say that i have yet to see a snake!

we have huntsmen here, & hubbie has seen a cpl of red backs but as of yet i havnt ( not in the slightest disapointed! )

we were expecting all the creepy crawlies, but touch wood, theres not that many that i have seen really, we do tend to spray the outside of the house every 3 mths or so, so maybe that stops the critters from invading, not really sure but im not going to stop spraying!

anyway, good luck with everything


louise xx

Teliko21

Been here 5 years, seen redtails, huntsmen and whitetails (got bitten by one of these!) As far as snakes go see about 2 a year on average. Usually tiger snakes which are nasty buggers. See them 5 mins down the road from us here in Newport and have also seen them in the area around Port Melbourne.

They are quite cute though

Jif

Cute?!!

haggis supper

Lesley - the most dangerous thing I've encountered in a year in Melbourne is that particularly nasty species - the Australian driver, hoons in particular. These can be highly aggresive, dangerous and should not be crossed.

Newton Mearns ? That takes me back, have family in Clarkston and Grandfather used to be bank manager at the BoS in NM. Fun days.

Good luck with the move.

flip

Seen a snake crossing a road once in outer suburbs but forgot to run it over and seen a few huntsmen in the house (but they dine on flies so there are far less of them in the house than in UK summers). Most dangerous insects appear to be European wasps.

On one occasion a friend had a few cockroaches in her cupboard (and she's incredibly clean) but I've not heard anyone else complain of them around here.

Other than that we apparently have the other more dangerous spiders but haven't met one yet and apparently death and injury from them is lower than the numbers being maimed by kangaroos or koalas - could be making that bit up.

hawk2005

We had Ray Hoser from Snakebusters over a couple of weeks ago (for son number 2's party - highly recommend him to parents organising parties for boys aged 6-10) who said north /west of the Yarra you get brown snakes, east you are more likely to find copperheads. And where we live (outer east) snakes are a lot more common than you'd imagine, especially if you are near water.

Having said that we've never seen any. A relative in the Spa country said she saw a 5foot brown snake crossing the road in front of her car a while back, and advised that you should try running them over as the can get tangled up under your car whilst remaining very much alive and very angry when you stop and get out.

NickyC

That's what I've always believed. Running them over is not a good idea. They can wrap themselves around your axle and then pop out later when you get home!

flip

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep well clear, even in the car, if/when I ever see one again.

BadgeIsBack

3 Huntsman inside a year on average.

A few whitetails in the shed, 2 inside 2 houses in 3 years.

1 snake shot by neighbour (reportedly) in 4 years.

1 redback seen in 4 years.

1 snake driven over in 4 years.

Lord Pom Percy

If you look at the statistics more people are killed in the UK each year by Bee and Wasp stings then people killed by snake and spider bites in OZ each year.