Tapuhi

Oh bugger, thought New Zealand was a safe bet, had disregarded Oz because of all their creepy crawlies and thought I was safe.

Do you see many spiders or am I just being a big girls blouse?

lardyl

Hey - I am dumb, it is late but I love the Arachnophobia spider - from Avondale......pretty big.....and here:
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/Eng...t/Avondale.htm

Head to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and look in the insect collection - they have drawers full of specimens of Weta, etc - that'll get over the fear!!

lardyl

not that many and most are harmless and small.......
not as dangerous as a night out in Tipton!

Bo-Jangles

I used to be the stand on a chair screaming and waving my arms type, but it gets a bit embarrasing when you are at work or in the shops.

I had exactly the same fears coming here, but without being too unkind you do have to 'harden up'. Only for the fact that if you let these things get to you you would never go out.

It's not unusual to find a cockroach or two in the mailbox, but they are not the congregating en-masse types that we associate with dirty houses and restaurants. They are bush cockroaches and usually are only intereted in being outside; the odd one may stray in through an open window.

Being rational about these things I have only seen one obviously identifiable white-tail spider indoors in three years and one weta which a cat brought in and a dead stick insect.

As for coping mechanisms, I have vast array of bug killing sprays and weapons. The shops sell every conceivable sprays and powders for just the job. Got a Robocan -permanently sprays a squirt of insecticide at intermittent intervals, a fly swatter and keep a spray can in each room for easy access in 'emergencies' and two cats sort out most of the rest that I miss.

We spray barrier spray around the outside of the windows and at ground level around the external brick work, which sorts out the entry points, but you can also have your whole house sprayed, or have screens fitted to your windows. We've not gone down that route due to the cost and it's really not bad enough for me to justify that cost.

I'm still a scaredy-cat, but can behave more rationally these days and can despatch most beasties on my own without having a hissy fit. I can cope if I can see that they are not going to leap or fly in my face, but the less predictable things like the huge Crickets that jump about all over the place are still a challenge.

RobClubley

How could I resist an opportunity to post photos:

Black tunnelweb - fairly harmless but can bite (grows up to 50mm across)
monarch butterfly and caterpillar (loads of these aorund this year)
Giant weta - extinct on the mainland
Wellington weta - harmess but freaky looking - can bite if scared!
Praying mantis
Fake scorpion spider - harmless. Apparently has the biggest brain of any spider as it has to stalk and pounce on its prey
White tail
Stick insects

Maz

Can you try harder next time?

Bo-Jangles

OMG, FFS yes please try some restraint in future!

There's me thinking I am being oh so strong and brave, when in reality if ever I saw a stick insect that big, I would need to be hospitalised in the cardiac unit.

RobClubley

Stick insects are cute. And they have sticky feet

Maz

"cute"... that's a new one on me for stick insects!

markar41

I need to ask a really stupid question so here goes...

Can anyone tell me if you see more spiders in new zealand compared to in the UK? Based on living somewhere like Auckland as I am terrified of them...

Thanks

RobClubley

I don't think you see any more here in Wellington than in the uK.

Browner_

There don’t seem to be many house spiders about in NZ at all.
However two are worthy of mention.

Very occasionally, I have seen truly massive hairy spiders (4 inches maybe) in Wellington, possibly Avondale spiders, but the World Atlas was used to despatch the devils before I checked what they were.

Then there are the Whitetail spiders which are pretty common in parts of Wellington. These are noted for their very nasty bite which is reputed to sometime cause necrosis and very painful swelling. I have my house sprayed every year, and then the only whitetails I ever see are dead ones. They are not that big, but quite easily recognised once you know what you are looking for.

The Katipo spider is a type of redback which is rarely ever seen . There are reputed to be localised colonies of aussie redbacks in certain parts such as Rotorua, but I cant comment on the truth or extent of this.

Plenty of huge Weta’s (crickets) about , but they are harmless although quite disgusting looking.

But compared to Queensland, there is absolutely no spiders about!
NZ doesnt seem to have the common black house spider like in the UK

Kiwiprincess

Well, perhaps I am just used to the spiders I see around the home in NZ (Wellington) but when i went to the UK the house spiders scared the living hell out of me. Couldn't sodding believe it. They were the size of mice i swear. (No, i am NOT prone to exaggeration or hyperbole). Evil things that look like they would fight the tube mice and WIN.

But I have very rarely ever seen bigger spiders here. Yes I saw one furry legged spider when i stayed in Silverstream recently (and was told by other people I was with to "grow up, it's not like it will bite you"). Apart from that evil little nasty fellow I don't recall ever seeing big hairy spiders.

Certainly not the arachnophobia avondale spiders (though i guess they must be around....).

Be more afraid of weta. They would outlive nuclear war. Ignore what people say about Helen Clark and Cockroaches outliving a war, these guys would be sipping pina colada's and playing texas hold 'em when the war occurs.

But, like all scary creatures (which everyone should know if they have ever watched Beauty and the Beast), scary looking doesn't mean scary and bitey

sean n

We have been in Auckland for 3 months and the only spider I have seen are the tiny little ones that jump (and are harmless). We do see the odd praying mantis in the garden but apparently they eat flies and are harmless. They look like big green grass hoppers!

I am told that white tails are so rare you have more chance of winning the lotto than getting bitten by one. If you saw a red back or a a Catapo you would probably make the National news.

I was actually bitten by a grass snake in the UK! Creepy crawlies are not an issue here as far as I know.

lardyl

well I must be unlucky - had to see off 2 whitetails in the past fortnight - the one tonight was a fair size one on the curtains in the dining room.......wouldn't want to tread on one! Especially as I've seen the nerve damage on the knee of my karate instructor from a whitetail bite, and he is a man who you would not want to take issue with in a dark alley.....former bouncer and built like a brick-outhouse....also the damage to tissue on a friend's leg - this might support the argument that they introduce other poisons/infections sometimes when they nip you, another friend insists that some form of bacterial infection was introduced into them as a result of a whitetail bite....
best advice we got was not to leave your clothes around on the floor overnight if your home is prone to whitetails. When the weather changes seems to be a time to bring them out, and almost all of the ones I have seen have been on the walls, curtains or other vertical surfaces.
They are pretty immune to a dusting with Raid but are better given a concentrated dose after being caught in a glass/paper trap - the one tonight was swimming in raid when it finally stopped wriggling!
Sorry if I sound cruel but its the law of the jungle with me and whitetails......:curse: