Things that bite?
 

Looking to move to Perth next year, son has fear of spiders and snakes. Are there many in that area or is it in the bush??Are mosquitos a problem at dusk? Are sharks and box jellyfish just on East side? God my family are right wimps, so thought I'd better check it out.

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Sharks all round australia and jelly fish and blue ringed octpus and various spiders and snakes. Loads of stuff here that "can" bite you.
Worst thing we've had to deal with is cockroaches. Seen a shark last weekend at the beach, was chasing fish though. Have been told more likely to see a snake in built up areas as higher concentrations of rats? Personally been in WA (rural) for 7 week? and not seen a deadly spider nor snake :fingerscrossed:, loads of cockroaches and some big lizards so far oh and billions of ants that do bite....

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Has anyone been attacked by a shark in WA?, the ones I hear about tend to be in Queensland.

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http://www.theage.com.au/national/ma...1227-75t9.html

Note: Nearly all shark attacks occur only when you are wet. ;)

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forget the things that bite, just don't stand on any of these buggers,:ohmy::ohmy:

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What the hell is that?

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it's a portuguese man-o- war jellyfish,i used to take my dog a walk on whitfords dog beach in perth,there was loads of them washed up dead,even then they can give a painful sting as i found to my cost....:eek:

have a look at the thread i did some time back, entitled ,aussie wildlife.
i put a few pictures up.:thumbsup:

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I lived in Australia for 26 years and here are my viewings of the deadliest creatures in the world!!

Sharks - only saw them in the Aquarium

Snakes - seen 3 red bellied black snakes in all that time, one of them dead in the road, 2 in long grass, 1 in Nowra, 1 on Bulli Pass.

Spiders - few huntsmen, a few red backs, a few assorted others, never saw the Sydney funnel web (thank God)

Jellyfish - only dead on the beach.

Seen lots of disgusting cockroaches and LOADS of bluddy annoying flies!!!!

Don't let the scare mongering TV programmes put you off, unless of course you plan to live in the bush. The majority of people live in the suburbs.......

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Thank god for that, I was getting nervous and I don't even mind spiders.

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I'm sure lots of people will come on here with horror stories!! :rofl:

My (ex) husband used to check in and under the kids beds every day for years looking for all kinds of deadly creatures, never saw a one!! :lol:

Mind you as I said we lived in the suburbs of either Sydney or Wollongong NSW, not sure about WA though............

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I've been in WA for a year now, so far I have seen . . .

Snakes - none
Sharks - none
Spiders - numerous redbacks, a couple of huntsman, a couple of white tails
Scorpian - one in the baby's chair
Jellyfish - tiny ones dead on the beach

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We live fairly rural and have had a couple of red backs, but none in the house.
Have seen a couple of snakes - usualy Tiger but mainly when dead on the road.
Havent seen any jelly fish and i surf a LOT. Nor any sharks, though we did have a warning last summer and the beach evacuated. But it was probably a pair of dolphins.
I also work in the bush and dont even come across much there. Snakes are very timid and will hide away from humans.
The only pest are the flies!

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Been here 6 months...

Snakes - one dead, coiled up at the start of the trail into the nature reserve
Sharks - none
Spiders - two redbacks in the garage, one huntsman, about four white tails
Scorpion - none
Jellyfish - tiny ones dead on the beach, yeah, don't step on them
Roaches- a few in the garage, don't know why as there's no food out there and recently one found its way into the stroller basket on the walk to school
Flies- thousands

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3 months northern brisbane semi rural

snakes
2 green tree snakes
1 baby eastern brown
1 carpet python that wrapped round our border collie puppy and bit him just above his eye both were ok after

spiders
2 redbacks in the garden almost none in the house
sharks
never seen one
horse flys
loads in the garden (painfull bite)
jellyfish
a couple of blue bottle stings
mossies
we seem to always have a fresh mossie bite somewere

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I'm obviously living in the 'wrong' bit of the Illawarra. In four years I've seen...

Snakes - plenty. The area I take the dog walking is classic red belly country. In four years I must have seen 30 or 40.... Including one huge one. Dog knows to steer well clear.

Sharks - none

Spiders - redbacks on the garden fences are a permanent fixture. Huntsman are a daily occurence at some times of the year. Actually been bitten by a white tail... flesh didn't rot and no part of me dropped off. Paper wasp sting is MUCH more painful

Scorpion - three in the house. never seen any outside but they must be there

Jellyfish - Can't say I've seen many/any. Bluebottles abound.

Roaches - everywhere. Mortein is a must. I was thinking of training a couple to take my wheelie bins out.

Flies - billions.

Bees and wasps - buggers seem to love my house. I've had pest exterminators out three times in as many years to tackle bees setting up home in my house. I've just been outside and counted the number of paper wasp nests on one wall of the house and there are 11 of them.

Mozzies - The biggest pain of the lot. Aeroguard is a must at some times of the year.

Thread is lacking in piccies... so here's one of a paper wasp from my back garden. :)

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Yikes. Remind me not to visit. LOL. We've hardly got any mozzies around here. And we go walking at dusk too...it's funny, like every neighborhood has its own individual pest population rates. I know at our house, we've hardly had any roaches (*knocking loudly on wood*), yet drive 5 minutes away to a friend's place who lives on the edge of the nature reserve and she's got thousands of them.

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I share a fence with a nature reserve... I'm thinking that might have something to do with it. :)

I can add that its Dragonfly season as well at the moment... lots of the smaller red ones about and some of the big blue, Vulcan bomber size, ones. Totally harmless and very impressive.

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Don't worry about all the above just wait till it's magpie nesting season. :lol:

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Okay my turn :D

Been in Perth (Yokine area which is around 10 min drive from the City) for around 2 years:

Sharks - only in the aquarium

Snakes - Only down south near Margaret River where my inlaws live. Have seen a few.

Spiders - Couple of redbacks in garden and one in kitchen, huntsman down south

Jellyfish - none

Cockroaches - occasionally get one scampering around

Flies - total pain in the arse around November

Wasps - had a nest built in our garage but I left them alone, it was only small and they've all gone now

Mozzies - again, only really down south

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Hi, been here thirteen years and love it, i dont actively go looking for 'dangerous' critters but i tend to enjoy it if i see them, if you keep your eyes open they are all around you. I live out in the bush so i reckon we get more than the average.
snakes, lost count of the number i have seen, browns, red bellies, green and brown tree snakes and 3 pythons so far this year, they are after all everywhere.
spiders, our garden is literally crawling with funnel webs, but not the notorious Sydney variety, there is a reasonably large huntsmen living in the breadbin as i type and if you go looking for redbacks you will find them, very common, i have seen a fair few white tips but its not certain that they cause the types of wounds that everyone attributes to them.
Scorpians, seen only one and that was on the kitchen floor.
Sharks, i have seen a few from the Great Barrier to south of Sydney, i once saw what i think was a 3 metre bull shark 6 kilometres up stream in the Nambucca River, i still swim in there.
I go snorkeling on a regular basis and once ended up wearing a blue bottle jellyfish on my head, i had a few other stings but nothing bad. I once got spiked by a saltwater catfish which was very very painful and
it was my own stupid fault, seen a couple of blue ringed octopuses but like most other stuff if you leave them alone you have nothing to worry about.
I reckon the worst things are the insects, the thing i hate the most is jack jumper ants, nasty and they even seem malevolent sometimes, there are plenty more ants but i reckon they are not as bad as jack jumpers. Ticks are pretty foul things too, one nearly killed my dog last year, it ended up costing me just shy of $500 to save the dog, leeches, disgusting little things but basically harmless. Oh my god the flies in are just so bloody annoying, Canberra is not the place to be if you dont like flies!
Im sorry if this all seems to be worrying for you, but the good thing is this, 99.999% of the time you dont even see the critters and they hardly ever bite, apart from them damn mozzies! but that depends on where you live.

Bob

Sorry i forget the goanna,s, never ever try to catch a large goanna, or a shingle back...or a big water dragon!

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I bloody forgot about the paralysis ticks.. almost lost a cat to one. $400 in injections costs and an overnight stay in vets 'hospital'.

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Yeah that. Nothing like them dive bombing you when you're out walking.

As for the flies, they're at their worst here in Nov to about mid-January. It's a totally different story now...just the odd one here and there. But December...ugggh. Just clouds of them...

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Oh yes I remember them attacking my daughter when she was a new mum taking the baby for a walk in her pram. She is now very wary of them! :eek:

Also I know 2 ladies from work who were both attacked more than once (not together), they seem to go for people with blue eyes I believe??

I have heard of putting an ice cream container on your head, but it's not a look I like for myself. :p

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My dog got repeatadly dive bombed and now hates birds. But its fairly funny to watch this tiny chiuhua trying to "chase" the huge crows that are perched half way up a house. Though, after a girl lost a eye last year in Mandurah, i now use saftey specs from work as sunnies. That and i am a cheap skate :D

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There was a fatal attack in recent years.... a relative of a friend of mine :unsure:

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Practically everything over here is extremely dangerous.

Some of the flies actually bite you, and it hurts, a lot.

Birds aren't feathered friends - they can, and will, attack. You will get swooped by magpies, mynah birds, plovers, all sorts really. And if you're unlucky enough to disturb a nesting adult cassowary - :ohmy:

Even the trees aren't safe ! If you touch the leaf of a gympie stinger, not only will it be a painful experience, but it will be with you for the rest of your life, flaring up depending on the weather.

Even the fish are dangerous ! I'm not talking about sharks, just your bog standard fish. Some are extremely venemous and will have you crying like a baby and feeling like death within minutes if you get spiked. Most aren't strongly venomous but have lots of sharp teeth and razor sharp fins, gills and spikes.

It would be far easier to draw up a list of non-dangerous Australian animals.

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This sounds like the promo for a show, "When Australia Attacks!" :thumbup: LOL

Truth is, no matter where you're living, you can probably get bitten, stung, poked, injured by something. Living in Canada, we have ticks in the mountains, rattlesnakes down south, brown recluse spiders (aside from the usual black widows we find in our imported grapes), millions of West Nile carrying mozzies all summer, even in the city, we had packs of coyotes roaming the urban river valley trail system and attacking small dogs. I never thought, "Cripes...I can't live here. Death awaits me at every turn."

I did cut myself while making dinner last week. I tried to tell my husband that the kitchen is a hazardous place (for reasons other than my cooking now) and that he has to do all the food prep. He's not buying it. Drat.

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There are only 3 types of animal in Aus:
1) Weird,
2) Poisonous, and
3) Sheep.

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Still want to go just wont let the kids read this first. Thanks for all your replies, I'm glad your all here to tell the tale.

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oh, and when you get here, be careful of the fish that you eat.

If you are unlucky enough to be served meat from a big reef fish, and that fish has ciguatera, then you'll be vomiting for days, in pain all over, stuck in bed with exhaustion, hot things will feel cold (and vice versa), and you may start hallucinating.

Doctor will tell you "no alcohol for 12months" (I reckon that's worse than the actual poisoning symptoms). ;)

Oh, and there's no cure. You've got it for life and this is the worst bit - for the rest of your life, each time you get drunk, there's a good chance you will experience the initial poisoning symptoms again. :(



But these are just little things. Australia is great ! :thumbup:

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I think that if you are from the UK, the bites and stings are just from wasps, bees (more rarely) and midges..and you can go walking in woods without fear you will disturb snakes...and swimming in the sea (if you can stand the cold) without any fear of sharks or dangerous fish....and thats why we are pretty worried about all the stuff in Australia. Oh and ants do bite, but they aren't exactly agrressive ;) I know I am concerned about all the dangerous stuff, its another whole set of things to teach your kids about and I think mine definitely would be anxious..

I know I'm not saying anything new here, I'm just saying its hardly any wonder we would be bothered since all the dangerous stuff is totally outsdie our previous experiences...

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Ha ha...it sounds just like that chapter from Bill Bryson's book...for anyone who hasn't read it (and you should, it's a great laugh), he's in Qld telling an English friend travelling with him about all the things that will bite, sting...can't go swimming because of stingers, beware mad cassowaries, don't pick up coneshells (the buddy replies, "they have killer seashells here?") and they discover there's nothing to do but go for dinner and have a few beers. The buddy orders snapper and Bill says, "so, you've never heard of ciguatera then?" and the guy's like, "no, what is it? am I sitting on it? Is it on my head?" So, Bill goes into this lengthy explanation, the friend changes his order to steak and they both end up boozing so much that Bill says they eerily mimic the symptoms they were trying to avoid.

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:D haven't read that one yet.... my mate recommended it several years ago.

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Yeah, it is...and it'll take a little while before you stop checking under every ledge for redbacks and searching your bed for white tails, but you will (stop worrying about it, that is). All of these species are new to me as well, but we've been here 6 months now and I kinda know what to expect...(although now that I've typed that out I'm sure something will happen this week that'll surprise me).

When you know what to do to minimize risk, then you just get on with your life. We were just at the beach two days ago. It's great this time of year...not boiling hot anymore. And we're outdoors a lot...mostly mornings and evenings. Sure, there are some unpleasant critters here, but it's not usually a problem. I had more mozzie bites living in Canada than here. And there's been tons of wasps and bees about, but my last sting was in Canada as well.

As for the snakes, my neighbors go for bush walks all the time. They've rarely seen them and say that the noise and vibration of humans tromping through the bush usually sends them in the opposite direction. The only snakes I've seen was a dead one, but it sent ME in the opposite direction...at full speed. I didn't bother checking if it was dead and my neighbors nearly busted a gut laughing at me.

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Snakes ... yes (in the house too) ... Redbacks ... yes (since removed) ... Mossies ... hell, yes (but it's getting colder ... hoorah!) ... Bluebottles ... yes (I'm not a big one for the beach anyway).

Does it bother me? No.

More likely to get totalled by a tailgating 'ute on the M1.

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Been semi rural inland for nearly a year now and no snakes as yet, plenty of spiders but no problem with them, we leave the Huntsman's alone and squish the red backs and so far to date only a couple of white tails squish them as well........ Ants have been a pain during summer but they were in England as well. Brought a zapper for Mozzies and have fly traps up that work a treat :)

I was worried for the dogs mainly but commonsense really and it's not a problem.

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Take all the deadly wildlife in OZ snakes, spiders, jellysish, crocs, sharks and so on, they only kill around 10 people a year compared to 1,600 in car accidents per year in OZ .

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Actually l think as many people die from bee and wasp sting in the Uk then people in OZ die from snake and spider bites. 2-6 bee and wasp sting deaths per year in UK. Around 3 snake bite deaths and zero spider bite deaths per year in OZ. ( last spider bite death in OZ was in 1980)

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Ha ha, never even heard of this, they should serve it up in rehab centres, then the success rate would be 100%.

You learn something new every day. :thumbsup:

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Spiders lots off Redbacks

Cockies just remove them from the house

Snakes none


the most deadly things are the bloody Magpies in nesting season