I think I forgot to mention the snakes and the spiders. And Star, there is a big difference between an opossum, and an Aussie possum. Ours have big black eyes and soft fluffy fur and are usually very grateful for any help they get.
Here is a fact sheet with some photos, although these photos don't show how adorable they really are.
http://www.marsupialsociety.org/04wi03.html
The snakes - my vegetable garden has to be covered in bird net to keep the birds out of it (the cockatoos would uproot plants just for the fun of it, they're really malicious sometimes) and I have to have the net going right to the ground and weighted down, to keep the possums out, so every now and then the net at ground level tangles a snake. Most of the time it's an Eastern Brown Snake, very venomous. But it's at the end of the bed next to the fence, I never walk there so the first we know about it is the smell from the dead snake. We still have to be careful about the fangs in the skull, though. The venom is still there but as the skull ages the venom dries and concentrates. The last one went in the bin after we carefully confirmed its identity with a textbook key. I still hurt my feet stepping on the occasional snake vertebra, though. I tend to garden in bare feet.
We also regularly have Red-Bellied Black Snakes (also venomous) living under our rainwater tank. It's cool there in summer, they like it there. The tank is a large plastic one going right to ground level but it has hollow places inside (it's three cylinders joined together, with plastic snap-on panels to hide the space between the cylinders). It's next to our sleep-out room, which is 2 metres outside our back door, with paving between and tin roof overhead which extends to become the sleep-out roof. Occasionally in summer we'll see a red-belly slither along the bricks at the back door. They are very sensitive to vibrations and will feel footsteps anywhere near. Also they're cowards; as long as they're not cornered, they'll run to get away rather than attack.
We also have two Diamond Pythons which visit every couple of years.One we've called Monty is over 3 metres long, bigger than the books say they grow to. We've actually handled him and measured him as he slithered past the back of the sleep-out - he stretched for more than the full length of the room. And the other, Diamond Jim, he's shorter by about a metre. They like to hang round near our chooks, I think looking for rats trying to steal the chook food. I also suspect they've nicked a few eggs in their time. But they visit for a few nights, then they're gone. I've seen them in other parts of the village, heard reports of sightings, so I know they cover a lot of ground.
Spiders - we do have Sydney Funnelweb Spiders but we rarely see them. People with swimming pools see more of them because the spiders fall in and stay there. A neighbour with a pool said she would be fishing out a couple every week in summer. And a spider can stay alive underwater for days, so I'd be nervous about getting them out without a long pole and someone handy wearing a big pair of boots. Since we developed antivenin to funnelweb venom there have been no deaths. First-aid treatment is now refined - if you're bitten you strap tightly over the bite and most of the time your own body will destroy the venom before it gets into your circulation.
Redback Spiders are our other nasty - but they're cowards, they'll run if they can. The bite is generally not deadly these days. But we do have lots of them, so we learn to be careful from very young. You check where you put your hands when picking up things left outside. Always check inside your shoes or boots, or preferably don't leave them outside. Our redback is closely related to the Black Widow - in fact, so closely related tat they can interbreed. We get widows arriving in Australia with imported bananas and they've found that these have interbred with our redbacks in some areas to produce hybrid offspring for whose venom the antivenin won't work. So we're teaching people to assume that anything the same shape as a redback should be assumed to be just as bad.
Other spiders - generally not a problem. We have wolf spiders which scurry round on trees sometimes, hunting for insects. Large Golden Orb Weavers whose webs shine gold in the sun, but who catch a lot of mosquitoes. We had one a few months ago whose web was like an arch outside our back door. We watched her eat a cockroach one evening, and despatch a number of prospective husbands.
We have St Andrews Cross spiders, which spin a white diagonal cross into their webs, then align their bodies to match the cross so they can hide.
In autumn it's spider season, we get webs everywhere outside and we carry a stick to wave up and down as we walk, so the stick knocks down any web before we walk into it.
Oh, I forgot Huntsman spiders - these are very flat and can be very large, bigger than the palm of your hand. They often get inside and are the spider so many Aussies are terrified of, even though it's harmless. But they can be very aggressive if you try to move them. They do bite, but only as a last resort. I've never been bitten although I've moved them a number of times. I avoid touching any spider with my hands, though. I'll use a glass jar and sheet of paper if I have to, or a rubber thong (the foot kind!) if I have no alternative.
I like snakes, preferably the non-venomous ones. But Abbey, if anyone had ever sprayed them out of a hose at me I guess I'd be terrified of them too.
Marg
