EnglishLass

I've lived here for 24 years and freaked out the first time I saw a snake. Since then, I've been to an information session on snakes and learnt that they are more afraid of us than we are of them, and the best thing is to leave them alone. So that's what I do when I see one. I think I've only seen 4 in all these years.
Seen lots of frogs, but I like frogs.
Seen a LOT of crocodiles in the NT - but all were on a crocodile farm!
Haven't seen any sharks. And I don't think we should be culling them either.
Have had possums on the roof when we were on holiday, but that was just noisy, not scary.
Seen lots of kangaroos and koalas, but again, nothing scary there.
The only damn thing that I'm petrified of is cockroaches, and I've seen a tonne of them. I had a massive one fly into my hair and get trapped when I was living in Darwin, and that almost got my committed to the funny farm. And we had an infestation of them in the carpet, and they only showed themselves at night and climbed all over the walls. Again, nearly landed me in the funny farm that one.
So unless you're terrified of cockroaches, I don't think there's anything to worry about lol

carolinephillips

I'm not scared of cockroaches, just hate them. When we first arrived and were camping on the floor of our rental, one of the huge ones dive bombed me in the middle of the night and tried to crawl up my nose!!!! Cue massive flailing, and demands for OH to kill it. (I have very bad eyesight and can't see where to aim.)

BadgeIsBack

Interesting you should say that, we have never been called out to get rid of a snake (etc) but now I wonder if perhaps it might be part of our remit after all..most of the dangerous animals we deal with are teens in cars...

After a red-bellied black snake crossed my path in the backyard, we called out a snake catcher who crept under our deck forgetting his net behind...he was so annoyed he couldn't find it, he came back the next day at no charge- but he still couldn't find it.

I've seen 3 snakes on bushwalks - 2 in one day, and I almost stepped on the last. Gaiters are quite handy here but you couldn't rely on them.

EnglishLass

Oh my God, cockroaches going up the nose definitely trumps cockroaches stuck in hair! Yuk.

lesleys

Lots of snakes outside, mostly pythons (one sleeping amongst the rocks today), but none inside. Called the snake catcher (local cop) once when we had an injured, irate ridge-back just ouside the door. He was taken away in the panda car.

Inside - ants, the odd bird, skinks, millipedes, a scorpion, a leech, mice, spiders. All were easily removed and placed back into the wild.

Pollyana

Cane toads.....the choice of golfers Australia-wide

As ever Queensland lags behind, even in the world of the toad.....Cane toads in the Northern Territory and Western Australia have evolved "very very rapidly" to hop in a straight line and cover up to six times more ground than distant cousins back in Queensland, scientists say.
The headquarters of cane toad research is located an hour out of Darwin among mango farms and goose hunting reserves, and past a notorious bikie hangout as well as a military radar facility.
Officially it is called the University of Sydney Tropical Ecology Research Facility, but its handful of scientists call it Toad Hall.

Cane toads evolving into 'straight hoppers' accelerating advance to 60km a year - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

fish.01

No, no, it's just that the cane toads in Qld aren't in a hurry to get somewhere else

Molly Coddle

Something woke me up this morning running on my roof. Hope it was a possum.
They are noisy little buggers aren't they?

carolinephillips

Wait until they fight!!!

Pollyana

oh yes, they don't half make a racket. Got about 12 that visit my place at present, including two babies. They have some amazing battles at times, doesn't bother me cos I'm up most of the night anyway, but I'm not sure the neighbours are keen!

Molly Coddle

Nowt wrong with a good scrap! Lol


OK I have a question, what makes the sound like a fog horn? I'm sure it's a bird, it happens early hours and it's loud and in a tune, I've looked on YouTube and Google to try and identify it, but can't find anything like it. It's a really comical sound, I like it and I'd like to see what bird/ animal makes it.


So Caroline, seen as though you love birds so much ( ) I thought you might know.

fish.01

Like this ?

Molly Coddle

Thanks fish but that isn't it. That does sound very much like a fog horn though, more than the bird I'm trying to identify so maybe, I'm describing it badly.
It's so hard to describe, I've never heard anything like it before. Rather than just one chirp or sound it's more of a tune or playful call, albeit very loud.

cresta57

Is it a bird or a frog?
Have a listen to some of these sound files Sound file index - Australian National Botanic Gardens
You might find it in there somewhere lol.
Number one noisy bird for me is the Storm Bird [Eastern Koel]

carolinephillips

I've not heard a foghorn bird Molly!!
I have one which I call the tardis bird because it repeatedly makes a da-da-da-daaaah like the introduction to the Doctor Who theme tune- exactly 4 repeats.

We also have the whip bird which makes the noise of the crack of the whip.
Lyre birds can imitate anything, so it could be one of those, but they tend to do it in the day.