I just had to save my family from a snake

[Marguerite]

I can deal with the snake (non-venomous) but I do hve a problem with spiders. I beleive tarantulas are bigger than our funnerlwebs andalsos a lot less venomous. But as a Sydney-raised girl (from the days when funnelweb spiders were only known in one very small area of north Sydney) I'm conditioned to react to anything small, shiny and black with 8 short stubby legs. Our funnelweb spiders are aggressive, too - they'll go for you if they think you're a threat. Their fangs will go through leather gauntlets and the venom can kill in half an hour. However, first aid is to bandage tightly over the bite and do not let off the pressure, because if you can keep the venom near the bite site and not let it into the bloodstream, your body will begin to break it down in fifteen minutes.
A good thing, too. Nasty. And they're common as dirt in an increasingly wide area around Australia.

So don't show me tarantulas.

When I was studying spiders etc at uni, they gave us spiders preserved in plastic, embedded in a block of polyester resin. You could get your face up close to really examine the fangs, the spinnerets, every bristle on each leg - and I needed a strong drink to be able to do it, even knowing the spider was dead and stuck in a block of plastic.

Marg

 

[Star*]

Um......Marg - I've studied the stuff you have in Australia - and I'm not too sure that there is hardly ANYTHING at ALL that is nice or won't kill you down under -

you have the worlds most poisonous snakes
you have like 5 of the worlds most poisonous spiders
you have the box jellys
you have the rocks something or others (I forget) that sting
you have the platypus that sting
you have crocodiles that will eat you
you have dingos (none of the baby jokes here but seriously)
you have Great whites and multiple other sharks that are killers
you have ants that kill
you have bees that kill
and the Outback -
not to mention Aboriginees
And I've seen Americas funniest Videos - Kangaroos can kick like no ones business, Wallabys are not much better and break bones -
and someone said off the North coast of Queensland they have seen Pteryodactyls???? (MonsterQuest - History Chanel)

and she has tarantualas and a king snake the occasional guila monster and possible a stray non-aggressive rattler unless provoked - I'm just going to hang out here.

HOWEVER - I will agree - arachnids and the like are absolutely fascinating to observe but I wouldn't want to be attacked by your funnel web or mouse eaters...thank you very much!

 

[totoro]

I agree with Star*!!!
Seriously... I had a huge phobia of spiders really bad before I moved here. The tarantulas run fast back into their holes when you come near them.
I have read up on them and educated myself, I realize they are very shy and really don't attack unless you are on top of them.
There are very few bites here.
More scorpion bites... I do not like scorpions at all!!! But I have only seen one. I did have to catch him and almost stepped on him. He was in K's room. Only because no-one had been in our house for 2 years prior to us moving in.

The Gila Monsters are very seldom seen... deadly though!

African Bees are a problem at times! Those freak me out! Just killed an old man a couple weeks ago and his dog.

Stang or anyone else if you came to visit, which I would LOVE! You would never see a thing... I kind of go looking!

 

[Star*]

Sorry - TOTALLY forgot to mention the Blue ring octopus......and the stone thing was the stone fish. Was trying to mention things off the top of my head. Then went and looked and saw the octopus.

Marg I love ya - but I'm telling you without full body armor to survive in Australia you Aussies must be from some really tough stock!

Oh and the sting ray - (thinking about Steve Irwin God rest his animal loving soul)